Woolgathering Dot Net

We have a finished piece!

Volupta finished her piece and it is gorgeous! Check out those colors! Gloriana has finished the back. Paige has cast on (using US11s) and is off! Jill is finishing the lace section in the back. I've finished the left side and have started working the right.

Two new Salt Peanut knitters! Carrie of ...just keep knitting... is doing hers in Grey Heather Muench Bergamo. Jillz of Purl Up With a Good Yarn is doing hers in Air Blue Muench Bergamo.

Yesterday, I picked up Sex and the City Season Six, Part One, which came out on DVD on Tuesday. I decided to start working on the fern lace stitch as a break from Salt Peanuts. I had to rip it out a number of times. The first time I started was on a walk with Mike. Halfway through my walk, I realized that I started the pattern too soon and I was using knitting needles that were too small (US8) compared to the dropped stitch pattern done by Shannon. When I got home, I tried putting the stitches on US10.5, but discovered that was too tight for my comfort. The US10 was perfect, though, and I began knitting again.

I took one of Mike's suggestions: I would start off with Shannon's dropped stitch for a number of rows, then transition into the seed stitch borders and then the proper fern pattern. This time, it looked good, except I started the pattern too soon and the lacey portion looked too close to the border of the panel. Again, rip rip rip!

Third time's a charm! Or so I thought. I was about 3/4 done when I realized that it looked funny. Really funny and weird. Well, it turned out that I read the pattern incorrectly. On one side of the pattern, it was k3tog. On the other side, it is sl k2tog psso! Barnacle! So, I had to rip that back again. Grr.

Fourth time's a charm, I suppose.

Due to the lace, the pattern dips inward, so it has a convex lens shape. I think it will look better after some blocking, but blocking will only help a little, perhaps to help it lie flatter. Plus, you can't see the fern pattern too well in this photograph; the white tablecloth doesn't show through as well as I would like.

I really love the lace work. Someday, I'd like to make the Forest Path Stole. Learn entrelac AND lacey fun!