Episode 33: Doing the Deeleebo

Download Episode 33: Doing the Deeleebo (34:52)

Nicole and Jenny talk about their lace past and present and drool over lace online.

Contemplating Lace...

• hurrah for Nicole's thesis!
• The Shetland Triangles on flickr
• Artfibers Ming
• Variation on a Frill
• Manos Cotton Stria review on Knitters Review
• knitting lace on big yarn versus fingering weight
• Flower Basket Shawl
• Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud
• Does knitting English style make a difference in lace?
• Jenny's stalled stole
• Nicole's Tulips
• Skaters Top by Veronik Avery
• Tips:
  
  • Count your stitches- it's easy to add or drop stitches accidentally
  • lifelines- remember the row number you put the line in!
  • stitch markers

• triangle or rectangle?
• Candleflame shawl
• A gorgeous example of the Paisley lace shawl from IK Spring 2005 
• swallowtail
• Kelp's Madli's Shawl from IK Summer 04
• Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle

Lace online to browse and daydream about...

• Lacefreak
• Knit the knits
• Monoidal Transformations
• The Purloined Letter
• The Forest Path Stole
• Wendy Knits' great lace list
• Muir
• Elann's free patterns
• Salina Shawl
• sockpr0n's Hanami
• Splityarn's Hanami

Sockburning is still going on! Upload your project to the Stash and Burn group on Flickr tagged 'Sockburning' and win awesome prizes- books, handspun sock yarn and more!

Music
Dig Me Out: Sleater Kinney
I looked all over town: Magnetic Fields
Taireva: Cosmas Magaya

Comments

[Erica]

Jenny - The square baby shawl from the Knitter's Almanac by EZ is a great from-the-center formula for a shawl. You can have as much or as little lace to it as you want. Also, some of the shawls from VLT look great in worsted weight yarn. I sent a bunch of pictures to the S&B Flickr group to show you including (cough) the prize-winning "afghans under 48 inches" from the SM County Fair...

[Bronwyn]

Great episode! What lace knitting tips do I have...?

Use a needle with a good point on it; if you want wood, the new Knitpicks Harmony are sharp, and I like Crystal Palace; they make one in black packaging that is beautifully sharp.

A single ball of sock yarn (as in, enough for a pair, roughly 350-450 yds)is plenty for a gorgeous lace scarf. I knit one out of Dream In Color Smooshy, the Bearclaw Scarfette, which is on Ravelry. I'm hoping to knit another lace scarf in time for the holidays, but we'll see....

[Deborah]

Okay, I feel stupid but I have to ask . . . Deeleebo?

I have been wanting to knit Shetland Triangle in a worsted/aran ever since I saw Brooklyn Tweed's. Thanks to you, I've been obsessively scoping out Artfibers Ming online, even though I promised myself no new yarn until January.

I really love the Garter Backround on the Backyard Leaves scarf I knit for my sister. It adds a really interesting texture underneath the lace. I think Jenny's right, too. Garter is prettier, more interesting when you are not studying it up close.

[Deborah]

Now I feel *really* stupid. I listened to the podcast again - I must have spaced out during the Deeleebo explanation. Sorry!

I also wanted to mention that the Clementine Shawlette is an interesting lace project. It's done in DK weight and it's not huge, so it doesn't take forever (although I did make mine 5" longer). It ties in the front, eliminating the "fiddle" factor for the most part.I also think the shape is more modern than traditional designs. The only thing I would change if I knit it again would be to do a provisional cast on (it's knit from the center back) then pick up those stitches and knit the second half from there instead of knitting two separate halves. I don't mind kitchener stitch, but I just didn't like the look of the graft line.

[aija]

Damnit. You know last week when you mentioned "we call them pirates" (i keep typing that as, "we might be pirates") I had to knit it... now I want to knit a shetland triangle!!

Argh.

[Knittin' Diva]

I'm thrilled to hear you both talking about lace. I've recently ventured into lace, and have to say, I just LOVE IT!! I love the book Victorian Lace today, and I've marked several patterns "to do". You must check out the blog Pink Lemon Twist, if you haven't already. She does phenomenal lace!!!! Wonderfully talented!

Where is the Stash & Burn button??? I love you guys, and want to add your link to my blog.

Toodles....Happy Burning!

[alison]

I can wholeheartedly recommend the Woodland Shawl (from Nikol Lohr's free pattern) -- it's super-easy to memorize and it uses sock yarn. And Jenny, it's just leaf after leaf!

[Jessimuhka]

I've been told that garter lace is good for pictorial lace, because garter stitch is more square. I knit the Creatures of the Reef shawl, which is garter, last spring. There's a tag for it on the right side of my blog, it turned out really cute. I'm a big fan of lace, currently working on the Tina Shawl also from Fiddlesticks Knitting.

[Leslie]

another fun episode... one great lace project that uses heavier-weight yarn is the backyard leaves scarf from scarf style. (you can see it on my ravelry projects -- LGordon555.) i don't do a lot of lace but when i do, i absolutely use lifelines!!! i don't have the confidence to knit lace without them. regarding shawls, i love them and think they're beautiful but i cannot imagine wearing one -- they seem too fussy (hard to keep on, not warm enough, etc.). i wish someone would convince me otherwise because maybe i'd attempt one of the beautiful shawl patterns out there...

[Deb]

Thanks for another great episode, Jenny & Nicole! Coincidentally, I just finished "Branching Out" from knitty, my first official lace project knit with laceweight yarn (although doubled). It is blocking now and I do have to agree with those who say that lace is addictive, also, there is that feeling of magic you get when an item that was a little lump blocks into an intricately patterned garment.

[Jasmin]

A few things:

I like how garter backgrounds on lace look- BUT - it makes the lace much harder to read while you're knitting. I'm knitting an incredibly simple stole for a friend, but for the life of me, I can only vaguely see where the stitches should fall.

As far as lace with bigger yarns, I prefer the more "delicate" looking stuff, but "Wrapped in Comfort" uses real-sized yarns and larger needles, and the stuff in the book is just lovely.

As far as shapes for lace shawls are concerned, I have a circular and a square shawl, and the lace is lost when you fold the shawl over to wear it. I find stoles to be a little more chic than triangles, but that's only in my brain.

Lace is horribly addictive. I did four lace shawls over the summer, and I'm plowing through a few more. I think lace may be the new socks.

[Stacey]

I'm almost done with my first lace project. It's the Kiri shawl, a fern leaf motif pattern by Polly at alltangledup.com. It's a triangle and yes, it was weird that the starting point was at the middle of the neck, not at the point of the triangle. But I got over that right away and it's been a good knit since then.

[Kate]

So Nicole was saying that she didn't think her mom was a "shawl" person and I kept saying to the iPod *Knit the Wisp! Knit the Wisp* You can knit it lickey-split (I did one in a night!) and your mom can wear it as a shawl, scarf, or wrap! Easy Peasy!

[Sally Villarreal]

I've been trying to decide what to knit my grandmother for Christmas. I think she'd love a lace shawl, but I don't have time for a full size one. I'm starting to think I should save it for later, so I can do something truly beautiful for her. Are there any good "shawlette" patterns out there? (Is that even a word?) I think a riangle shawl would suit her best.

Also, I didn't finish my sock wars sock before I was killed and had to send it out. I'm going to add it to the sockburning contest. Let me know if I need to take it down.

[Margaret]

There was a Mason Dixon Post where Kay asked for suggestions for modern rectangular shawls. Oh, the comments! I believe she settled on Hanami, too.

[CAT]

Nice to hear that you guys are seeing the light through the holes! Check out my latest episode for some tips on reading lace charts.