Stress through the back loop...
Generally speaking, knitting through the back loop and I don’t get along. Knit two together through the back loop, and we get along even less. Add a one-ply yarn like this Jilly, and the relationship strains to genuine crankiness. I love the color, but getting my needle through the two back loop strands without splitting some of the yarn over and over on such a long row—well, you can imagine how that sets my teeth on edge.
I love the effect, but I have to say, latticework = lottawork. A knitting friend tried to loan me a set of what she hoped were sharper needles (I’m currently working with KnitPicks Harmonies, which I normally love) in the hopes that will help ease the task, but they turned out to be no sharper than the KnitPicks. I'm grateful that she tried to help, but I’m not sure there is any help to be had.
The only other solution I could fathom was plunking down the serious cash required to order a Signature Stiletto point circ—which, I admit, is rather tempting at the moment. I own three pairs of Signature single point needles, and I think of them like fine jewelry—expensive but totally worth it. If I ever bought more, I’m sure I’d pay the extra fee to have mine monogrammed.
Back to the project at hand. I’m still wrestling with the lax directions this “recipe” provides. I simply don’t trust my instincts in things like this. I know it will nearly double in size once blocked, but I’m having trouble visualizing what that will look like and, hence, where to stop.
I’m a tall woman, so “wingspan” has always been my rule-of-thumb for shawls. Do I stop at half-wingspan? How can you really tell that while it’s still on needles? It’s not like I can just slide the thing onto a six foot circular—wait, I’ve got connectors and a lot of KnitPicks cables…maybe I can). After all this stitching, the “do what feels right and it will work out” tactic is making me nervous. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Speaking of waiting and seeing—I’ve got a novel with lots of knitting in it coming out next week. Stay tuned for details in the next post!
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