Saturday night's for quiet time on the couch and a hint of black lace....

That's because I've only knitted about 11 rows of it so far. I'll take a photo later.

Today, I went to iKnit London and finalised some plans for upcoming classes. I'd asked them to set aside an addi lace needle for me for the dragon shawl, but then I got to thinking that maybe I should make a small project using lace yarn that would warm my hands up for this huge, summer-killing shawl I'm about to embark on, so I picked out a lace collar from Victorian Lace Today in the shop and picked up some find black cashmere and another pair of addi lace needles.

We had a bunch of errands to run on the way home, but the moment we got here, I started casting on this project. It's more complicated than I thought it would be in terms of shaping and construction, but I know I will wear a lace collar, on tons of things, whereas I'm pretty sure I wouldn't wear some of the easier lace scarves and the fagoting scarf that's the beginner project in the book just doesn't apeal to me at all.

Well, for those of you who haven't used addi lace needles and are trying to knit lace, go forth at once and get some of these needles. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I have no problem knitting lace and following charts on yarns fingering (sock) weight and up, but laceweight wool drives me up the wall. No more. These pointier needles mean I knit lace wool nearly as fast as I knit regular yarns.

Sometimes, all you need are the right tools. :-)

Harper+Lace=Abort/Retry/Fail?

So I got a good ways into the hareball fichu from Victorian Lace Today. I'd finished the interior neck edge and the first lace panel. But the second panel just killed me, nothing seemed to be coming out right, and when I finally broke the cashmere wool trying to knit four stitches together, I ripped it out and started again-- with the blue laceweight merino I'd bought last year in the US. I tell myself I'll be able to see the stitches better if I'm not knitting black, and I probably will-- but it would have looked awfully good in black.

Here are some photos of someone else's finished version of this project, just so you know what I'm making. It's a lace collar that can be tied around an existing blouse collar to give it a bit of, well, lace. :) I have a couple of white summer shirts I'm looking forward to wearing it with, so here's hoping I actually can make it work.

Am I an idiot for attempting a project like this when I don't really have all that much lace experience? Well, it's how I learn to do everything, isn't it? I pick something too complicated and butt my head against it until I succeed. Still, I admit that even though I'm an awfully good knitter most of the time, lace just lays me low.

Tentative Schedule of classes at iKnit London over the next month or so.

26 April:

11:00am -- Beginning Knitting. Always wanted to learn? In about four hours, we'll cover casting on, knitting, purling, and casting off. And we'll talk about first projects. I'll even stick around to help you choose materials for your project.

4:30pm -- Hermetic Secrets of the Norwegian Purl Stitch. Learn how to make a purl stitch that doesn't require you to move the yarn to the front of your work. Seriously! We'll figure it out in about 90 minutes.

8 May:

6:30pm (I think!) Different Knitting. Are you an English knitter? Continental? Combination? Would you like to know how to knit differently? Faster? We'll cover various styles of knitting, figure out when one is better than another, and learn how to combine styles to our best advantage

That's all we've got slated so far; we agreed to come back together sometime in April and make a plan for some more beginning classes, depeding on how well the April one sells. Because summer is coming, the store owners are unsure about scheduling, as knitting often drops in popularity in the summer.

( Information about possible future classes, and classes that probably will not happen below the cut tag. )

Can you think of any other classes I could offer that would thrill you? Even if you don't live in or near London, I could use suggestions! This will need to be a real income supplement very soon, as my job goes back to part time in May.