Lace

My list of finished knits includes a large proportion of lace.

Branching Out in Noro Cash Iroha
Mountain Stream in Madil Kid Seta
Cece in Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool
Spinner's Shawl in Corriedale - Romney from Oregon Trail Natural Fibers
Flower Basket Shawl in Handmaiden Sea Silk
Estonian Garden in Frog Tree Alpaca

Lace satisfies an itch, an itch to try new technique, new fiber, new color, new pattern. And once you've bound off, just block and you are done! No sleeves to seam, no zippers to sew in. Well, Cece is a sweater, but is very simply constructed.

It's no surprise then that I have two lace shawls on the needles. Both are designed by Melanie.

Leda's Dream is almost half finished. I am knitting this on US6 addi lace needles (would have used 7's if addi would only make them) combining one strand of Zephyr and one strand of Madil Kid Seta. I love it, especially the Swan's Wing lace pattern, which I believe is from Barbara Walker. The central all-over pattern is also easy to learn and looks good. I could see a lightweight afghan knit with just that pattern and a garter strip border. She designed this as a mystery stole, offering the pattern for free in serial form two summers ago. Now she sells the pattern for a very affordable 2 dollars.

I joined Melanie's second mystery stole last summer, but never started. Turned out that the design never called to me. But I couldn't resist joining again this year. Why, when I have so many ideas of what to knit, would I join a group to knit a stole where I would not know the final design til late in the game? I don't know. Figured it couldn't hurt --- I wasn't required to cast-on. Well, we got the first clue and I have cast on, using some hand-dyed Henry's Attic Carerra and addi lace US5s. We still don't know the final shape of the stole, but it won't be a triangle. After 100 rows, there are 99 stitches on the needles, and Melanie says that's as many as we get. So, is this going to be knit on the bias or will it have pointy ends? Time will tell. The outer pattern is a variation of the Swan's wing pattern from Leda's Dream. I love the way she made that work, especially in the corner.