Blood Sweat and Tears for Birch Catkins

I finished my first #100 thread 0000/000 needle project. The knitting wasn't that difficult once I got into it. The trick? Don't switch back and forth between projects. My fingers got used to the thin thread pretty quickly, and it's not like cobweb yarn, that snaps when you look at it. This stuff is pretty tough stuff. But ultra thin thread with similar needles work your hands pretty hard.



So, the trials and tribulations of the Birch doily:

Snippet I:

I had set down the project right after I had first switched over from dpns to circs, and my lovely two year old darling little A (aka Creature), came running over saying 'momma, momma, yarn...' while pointing at her legs. Well, there was nothing there, so I shrugged and she sang me a song.

Anyway, I go back to pick up the knitting, and it's not there. I looked around and found it on the floor with the thread in a jumble. Aha. She had been playing w/ my knitting and the thread got tangled around her legs. (Yes, she had dragged it almost into another room).

Anywhoo. the point to this story? Severalfold.

One. I would switch over to circs as soon as possible. Had I left my 0000 metal dpns on there, the blog entry would be vastly different, and shorter.

Two. Listen to your child, really listen. They're not talking silliness. I promise to be a better mom and listen.

Three. That Cordonnet thread is amazing. That stuff is tough. I'm impressed.

Snippet II:

This form of charting greatly annoys me. Mostly because they use the same symbol for k2tog as Burda does for k2 into 1. That is a pain. And this pattern isn't bundled so you have to read all the way across the chart. Priscilla graciously recharted the pattern and it was awesome. But since the official start date wasn't until this weekend -- it being the 'summer' kal and all, I forged ahead. Anyway, I found a couple of errors/ommissions and since everyone isn't as far ahead as myself, well...anyway, there's a couple of move markers that aren't documented and there's a head scratcher (for me) that I had to knit by pure blind faith -- and given the chart errors, I still did that. There's a bit that might look wonky, but oh well.


Snippet III:

Oh my goodness was it hot this weekend. Whew. It was so hot we all hung out in our basement (it's a high basement Vickie) and I knitted on this doily while the kids played. The only thing is I have got to go find my little string holder because my ball of thread kept rolling around. Good thing it's thread, I'm sure it's going to get a tad less dingy when I actually wash it before blocking.


Snippet IV:

Total rookie manuver (or how I had to rewash and soak the doily). I pinned out the doily with the initial 16 pins, then was going through and pinning the other loops when I realized that mine's not circular. So, made a makeshift compass and drew some circles, then was pinning again. After half of it is done, I'm realizing that the doily is drying out --it's been warm here. I can get it done. Hurry Hurry. Sure.

Well, I went and poked myself w/ a straight pin, but still, plodded ahead. Yep, got a drop of blood on the edge. Shoot. Off came all the pins and back in cold water it goes. (See that little discoloration? yep, blood).


I've invested in the stainless steel pins, but sometimes, they bend. And I'm finding that I don't have that many left. I started pinning them 2 together to save pins -- man, I'm lazy. Note to self: go check out th pins that Lacis carries.

edited to add:


Snippet V :

As I was posting this doily to my projects page on Ravelry, I noticed that others listed the pattern as personal, and not Herbert Niebling...I did what a good volunteer editor does, I added the pattern and posted a quick message to the board asking folks to link to this pattern instead of 'personal'.

Well, I get back from picking up the kids only to find much badness. I am no longer a member of the Yahoo group. The group got Ravelry-ized, and I think my putting up this doily was the last straw. It is very sad. They have the right to decide who's in and who's out. I did really appreciate all the information and the lovely folks on that board and how helpful everyone was. I do wish everyone there the best.

In the following picture, in the middle, you see that wonky arch, yep that one, right in the middle. Yes. That's row 91.






Started: June 10, 2008
Finished: June 23, 2008
thread: Cordonnet #100 in white
needles: 0000 dpns, 000 32" circs
modifications: I added 2 extra rows to the edging. Oh, I changed how the doily started too. Using #100 thread, I thought it was too much of a PITA to do the 1->5->10 in 7 rounds.
It blocked out at 23 inches in diameter.

Lyra Sister finished

I thought I'd do a semi-quickie Niebling. Funny, it only ends up being 30ish rows less than Lyra. But this turned out much smaller than I thought (at 65cm squared). I've really admired it since I saw it a while ago, mostly because I like squares a bit more than circles.

This is 418/23 from the Burda Lace Special. It's apparently also known as Hannelore (don't ask me why, I don't know...never saw this name to this pattern except on Ravelry). It was a little knit in that it took me a little over a week, but it wasn't as fun as I was hoping b'cause of the the ground stitches. Ends up this is the same background as Dragone and crossed stitches to boot(which I will show you later once I've got it blocked). So, while instead knitting the edging of Dragone, I knit this up.

Specs:

Started May 15 2008
Completed May 24 2008

thread used: Cebelia #20 in white (1.4 balls)

needle size: USo (2mm) dpn and circs

Modifications: none. Oh, wait, I'm fibbing. I did sort of have to mess with the final bind off a little. I'm not sure if I actually changed the grouping of the loops or not, but the way I did it worked out. (I did a 4-3-5-3-4, unless there was a leaf coming up, then it was 4-3-5-3-3 grouping. And at the corner, I did the 4-3-5-3-4--4 at the corner). heck, if you are knitting this ditty and are confused, email me and I'll draw it out.

I love how the flower is crossed stitches. So very Niebling.

Binding Anemone

I finishished my cut down version of Anemone and I have a huge issue. It is binding. I've read about Niebling patterns binding, and smug me, I'm saying "I'm such a loose knitter that binding won't be a problem". Well, it's binding. I guess I could try to block it differently, but that was the only way to get the leaves in the center to lay down flat. Oh, well.

If anyone has suggestions as to how to alleviate binding, please let me know. I did read about going up a size in needles, but It's one section and I'm thinking going up to US1 with #30 thread probably isn't the best.

Any ideas? I'll go post on Nieblinglace group too. Maybe they've got some insights.





Specs:
thread: Cebelia #30 in ecru : 80 grams (that would be 1 3/5 balls)
needle: KP Harmony dpns and Inox circs in US0
started: 1-10-08
end: 1-30-08
mods: omitted the outer section and edging. Added a couple of extra hex mesh rows and used a k2-yo-k2 edging. The next row was k, the subsequent pattern rows (3) were k,k2tog,yo,k2. Finished off with a k row and crochet bind off using 10 sc w/ 5 stitches.



Other than the binding, I didn't have any problems with the pattern at all. It's pretty, but guess what it reminds me of...yep, filigree. here's a picture of filigree:


Is there a pattern I can do that won't remind me of another?

Lotus Flower

I've finished Lotus Flower. Yes. Another Neibling. I probably should have been making my Christmas ornaments for a swap I joined, or Christmas presents, but instead, worked on this.

Stats:
yarn: Royale crochet thread #20-less than 3 balls in white
needles: 0 dpn and 0 circs (2mm)
start: November 1, 2007
finish: November 17, 2007

Observations:
As Nieblings go, this was pretty easy. I really like the way it turned out. Pinning it out was a pain. I really need to get this more exact. The size? there's a copy of Goodnight Moon next to the top picture.

For blocking, I had to 'borrow' my children's foam letter floor mat. Okay, borrow forever. I originally purchased it 4 years ago for my my son, but he and the cat decided they like to chew on the foamy material. The cat loved it to chew on and to scratch. He (that would be the human boy, not the cat boy) took off an inch chunk before we realized it. So, we packed it up and didn't even think about taking it out for A when she was starting to walk (we bought it so Z would have a cushion if he fell).

This works very well. And yes, I could have gone to Article Pract (or any other LYS) and purchased their $48 blocking mat, but hey, I had this and it works wonderfully. Now I can finally block out Frosted Fern.

Here's another shot of Lotus.


Oh, I think I'm going to rip Campanile. What?! Well, I was looking at the pattern, and it looks very similar to Lotus Flower. I think I'll use the cashmere/silk for something else.

What next? I started knitting for the ornament swap and I'm knitting my xmas presents (finally). As for Nieblings, I think I'm going to do Filigree or Lyra next.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Here are two of the awesome pumpkins z&a's dad carved. Cool.



Anyway, I managed to finish this doily tonight after the kids went to bed.



Specs:
Pattern: Burda (unknown for now) #32
yarn: lilac linen laceweight
needles: US2 Crystal Palace circs and dpns
time started: October 27, 2007
time finished: October 31, 2007

Modifications: I feared (correctly) that I would run out of the linen yarn. So I opted to modify the pattern substantially so that 14 rows were deleted. I played with the pattern and cannot replicate it again. During crochet cast-off, I had to rip it several times because it was looking too tight. I chained 10, bundled 5 st for leaves, and 3 or 3-5-3 stitches for the spots between leaves. Turned out nicely, I think.



Here's a closeup the the modification and the pattern. There's only three leaves. The original pattern had an additional layer of leaves.













Now, I've just got to block out Frosted Fern completely...