Remember this from my last post?
I won’t name the pattern, since it’s a lovely design, and well-written. It just didn’t work, either with this yarn, or with my brain. The pattern is relatively complicated, with a stitch key that’s almost a full page. The rabid squirrels that live in my brain weren’t in the mood for complex.
The yarn is from Fly Designs. It’s her Angel Wings lace yarn, a 50/50 merino silk blend, 1260 yards/113 grams. The yarn has a subtle texture, and the dye style gives it a slight tonal nature. The yarn and lace were fighting with each other.
So I ripped it out, started a second pattern, which I’ve made before, and love. A big section of that pattern was plain stockinette, and after a few inches, I was ready to stab my eyes out with my knitting needles.
I want simple, but not THAT simple. I chose yet another pattern. After a couple of starts to get the right needle size, here we are.
Like Goldilocks, this one is just right. The learning point is that sometimes it’s not the pattern OR the yarn, it’s how they work together. This pattern is Edwina, by Dee O’Keefe. Another advantage is that the shawl I just finished is also her pattern, so getting things started was easy.
I will say that this yarn holds up remarkably well to repeated knitting and ripping, which is a good thing.
To paraphrase something I saw on Instagram – I hate when trial and error includes error. But it’s always worth restarting and changing till you get the mix right!
That’s lovely! I look forward to seeing it grow.