Lace is So NOT My Bitch*

You can't really tell, but when it's stretched out, what Chester is wearing looks like this: Wing O' Moth shawl. Kind of. Pretty much. If you squint.

After knitting a few things with Colinette Parisienne in stocking stitch, I really thought I was ready for the big leagues: Knitting Lace.

You get into knitting with big yarn and big needles. If you are not OCD or actually have a life, you probably stay there, or maybe size down a little. To sane projects, like socks. For the rest of us, we matriculate to knitting lace. If you are contemplating knitting lace, this is a favorite tutorial on it... Majoring in Lace by Eunny Jang, who apparently is now with Interweave (but I'm happy her postings are still available).

My words of advice, fair knitters in the first blush of enchantment over needles and yarn: enter the Chamber of Lace with a small project. You could be like me (training for your first marathon, having never even run a 3k) and go for the big mo-fu project as your first one. Not advisable. Although I HATE HATE HATE swatch knitting - you should at least do a couple repeats of the pattern stitch for one full set of rows.

Things I have found out by NOT knitting lace swatches:
1) this really expensive yarn doesn't look good in this pattern (especially with yarns with color shading or multiple colors)
2) one can spend precious hours of knitting time on rows 1-3, find a mistake in row 1, and risk having a foul aura for the rest of the day
3) this pattern bores the crap outta me and my chances of finishing this project are minimal to slight to none
4) frogging lace yarn, especially when it has kid mohair or other fuzzy fibers, can be its own visit to a Very Dark Place

If you heed not my words of warning, be prepared to (it's a list day, can you tell?):
1) learn how far you can actually throw a whole project
2) be tempted to go Letterman and really, really throw it out the window
3) sigh, and cry, and almost die, and consequently require massive infusions of Really Good Chocolate

I should have a picture of this project all spread out, but I don't. The yarn I used was Colinette (shocker) Parisienne in Moss colorway. Green with flecks of rust and pink. Sounds a bit odd, but is actually a pretty cool colorway, as it goes nicely with pale pinks (the red stuff kinda turns dark rose) or more orangey stuff (where the red stuff kinda turns coral).

Chami calls this my spiderweb. As in when I wear it she says, "you are wearing your spiderweb today." Gentle reader, and fellow knitters, we have been tempted to go Letterman on Chami and throw her out the window, but thus far have exercised restraint. (and are quietly plotting our revenge....)

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*Apologies to Ravelry group "Lace Is My Bitch" (where we cheer each other on through the dark disasters and glorious triumphs of knitting crazy intricate patterns with itty-bitty needles and itty-bitty yarn) for co-opting the headline for this post.