..but I’ve already declared it Summer: my summer of madness lace (and sanity socks).
I thank everyone for their feedback on my quandry. After work on Friday, I did some swatching with the Habu Silk. I can’t say as I really enjoyed it. It was slippery (go figure) and because of the dark color, I couldn’t use my US0 Harmony Needles. I couldn’t see the stitches! I had to use something different, not even sure at the moment what they were but they weren’t as pointy as the Harmony. So I had slick yarn and not so pointy needles. A deadly combination in lace knitting. Anyway, halfway through the swatch, I lost a stitch and boy did it run! That was the third strike. I didn’t even finish the swatch. I pulled it out and rewound the yarn onto the cone. I hope MY will take it back.
At the same time I posted my quandry here, I also posed a similar question on the Yahoo Group for Sharon Miller lace knitters. I listed the three patterns in contention, Unst, Princess and WRS, and asked for their sage advice. The darkhorse winner of the lace contest is: Unst!
I got busy swatching quickly. I kind of cheated and did two sized needles all on one swatch. Didn’t want to cast on and bind off twice. Lazy am I. Size US0 on top, US1 on the bottom. Mom and I both liked the 1’s better and I’ve gone with em.
The yarn, if you can call this threadlike stuff that, is the J&S 1-Ply Cobweb. It is sturdier than it appears and also a tad crunchy. Gotta love shetland. It does soften a bit with soaking and blocking.
While the kids played, I cast on for the center of the shawl. Before dinner, I’d made it through the first repeat. The center square had 10 diamonds across and 19 high. I’m done with one 
The purple at the bottom is some laceweight silk that I used for waste yarn. Yeah, I know. It is leftover from Icarus. I couldn’t think what else to use it for. Makes excellent waste as it doesn’t have fuzz to catch the wool. Expensive waste though
I kind of freaked out a muggle on the train this morning while I was working on it. I saw her out of the corner of my eye staring at me, eyes open wide. So much for my train project monogamy, though I did work on Clapotis on the ferry. I think both projects will be heading south this weekend!
Thanks to the encouragement of a few fiber friends, I signed up Friday for WOOL. Can I hear a WOOT! The ‘rents agreed to watch the monkeys and let me go for the weekend. I can’t wait (well I can as it will mean the end of my favorite season) for a weekend of fiber and friends. Should be a blast!
Craft on!
