Success!

Turns out knitting lace when you're tired and frustrated and new to lace knitting is not the best idea. I tried again this afternoon with success. After consulting a few books (naturally), I discovered that I had been doing my YOs wrong--and subsequently knitting them wrong on the next row. So I fixed the technical problems and knitted happily away.

Then I indulged my inner sadist and blocked the bejeezus out of it. You really have to wonder about all those lace knitters when they block stuff. Behind that satisfied smile, the cogs are turning as the mild-mannered mother of five imagines the yarn screaming for mercy as she turns another notch on the rack in the stinking dark dungeon. She listens with an expert ear for the delicate strain in the fiber as it stretches beyond its limit, careful not to let it rip. In the distance, she hears the splooshing plunge of raw fleece dumped into the washbasin. The fleece gurgles, splutters and cries out in vain as the apprentice draws near, holding a can of tennis balls and a brand new rubber toilet plunger. She listens carefully for the hiss and pop; she can almost smell the intoxicating aromas of new tennis balls and Eucalan. Ah, but she must focus on her task at hand. The apprentice is ready to handle felting on her own...

*Ahem*

I'd go on, but I'd probably have to start charging money and putting up one of those "No knitters under-18" entry pages. Here are some closeups. This is knit using Lisa Souza's "Baby Alpaca Lace" in Mulberry and #2 straight metal needles.


Above: clear #6 glass beads with silver interiors surround a hematite bead. Hematite is Fe₂O₃, for the nerds in the audience. (For extra credit, tell me its crystal structure and give examples of other minerals with that same structure. {/teacher)

Below: The purple bead is a freshwater pearl. I bought a strand of them, but my crochet hook (#12) isn't small enough to go through the hole, so I'll either have to come up with a creative way of stringing it, or do without them: