Shelda's Adventures with Lace

Blocking #1

I blocked my doily, and it's gorgeous! Well, as gorgeous as it can be with one rather flat side ;)

I can see clearly from the picture what I was afraid of by looking at the actual doily. But I can also see what would fix it. I used Zonta wires to block the doily, threaded through the crocheted loops, and it was surprisingly easy to do. But I think I just threaded that one wire that looks so straight in the photo into too many loops and it flattened that side of the doily. The other side looks more balanced.

I think I'll try again!

A Fine Rumpled Mess

My doily is done! My doily is done! I was very focused and got a lot of knitting done, much of it while enjoying the beautiful rose garden at the Shelter Gardens here in Columbia, Missouri. What a wonderful, peaceful place to knit! I wish I'd had the digital camera, I could have treated you to photos of roses.

I was almost disappointed to finish the last knitted row, and not only because I knew I would then get to crochet the doily off the needles! Those last rows do get awfully long. Something about changing what you're doing every so often makes it easier for me to keep working on a project. But I've been thinking about knitting some large round doilies for the tables in my house, so there will be a lot of long rows in my future!

I was at my friend Jude's house for the crocheting off, which is perfect and appropriate since she's one of the most-accomplished crocheters I know. We have a long-standing (and perfectly amiable) "argument" about whether knitting or crochet makes the most beautiful lace. I think I nearly have her convinced that knitting is the best! When she watched me crochet once her only comment was, "you don't love that." And indeed I don't, although I'm reasonably capable with a crochet hook.

Binding off this doily (as so many others) involves joining groups of stitches together with a single crochet (in this pattern you join three stitches each time). This is "fastmaske" in Norwegian (abbreviation "fm"), and is translated in the books I've seen as "double crochet." But then there's a discrepancy between the UK English and US English "double crochet." What the UK calls a double crochet the US calls a single crochet. If you look closely at photographs of the doilies, it's clear that the "fastmaske" is a single crochet in US parlance.

To begin crocheting-off, I hold the knitting needle in my left hand and a crochet hook in my right. Slide the crochet hook through three stitches on the knitting needle and remove them from the left needle, pull the thread through, single crochet with the loop waiting on the hook, and then chain six (chain is "luftmaske" or lm). Repeat until you can't stand it anymore, take a break, and come back and do it some more *grin*. It seems to take me six times as long to do this crochet-off round as any of the knitting rounds, but perhaps that's just an illusion. And you want to be VERY careful not to drop a stitch during the process. Picking it up again is not a bit of fun (you can probably imagine how I know).

At any rate, my knitting on this doily is done, and I have only to block it out. Here's a photo of the crumpled mess pre-blocking.

Now for the blocking!

Of duks and løpers

I sent the url of my blog to Kari and Mona (the women who have been helping with Norwegian translations) and got some additional help with the title translations, and some clarity about s-pinner.

Kari wrote: løper means runner and duk means cloth or tablecloth, and doily is normally called a "brikke."

She also cleared up my confusion about s-pinner, writing, “S-pinner means sock needles, i.e. a set of 5 short, double-pointed needles. R-pinner could mean either straight needles, normally a set of 2 longer needles, or a rundpinne, i.e. a circular needle. It would depend on the context of the pattern. 2 straight needles aren't used much in Norwegian knitting, we prefer to use a circular for back and forth knitting as well as in the round.”

Mona's take on it was a little different. For her, Duk means doily, and løper is an oval or "a long square" (rectangular) doily.

It probably doesn't matter much what we call them, really, but I'm glad to have these clarifications.

Mona also cleared up a question I'd been having about some of the other oval doily patterns I had been wondering about. They appear to have a long horizontal join down the middle, and I assumed that you were somehow knitting on both sides of a provisional cast-on, but the directions that I had been able to understand were not clear on this point. They seemed to start with a large number of stitches cast on (the doily I think I may knit next starts with 64 stitches cast-on), and then the rounds are given to knit in all of these stitches. I just couldn't understand how this made that neat line down the middle of the doily. But Mona explained that you knit the doily, leaving the big hole in the middle, and then when it is finished, you fold in half and join the cast on row by seaming the edges together. Ah-hah!

I might try to figure out something with a provisional cast on to avoid that, as I hate sewing seams in knitting, but at least the mystery is solved! Thanks again, Mona and Kari!

Moving Right Along

I'm progressing pretty quickly with Magnhild's Løper. Last night I finished the second "pointer," picked up the stitches around the two pointers and the stitches I had on hold, joined it all together, and knit the first 13 rounds of the full oval. Here's a progress photo:

My doily is finally an oval, and I'm feeling quite thrilled with how it's all working out. The pattern is well-written and everything flows together nicely. I did some "fiddling" with symmetrical decreases, and will write about that in a separate entry (it's a pet peeve of mine; anal knitters unite!) But that's a fairly minor quibble.

Here are the details of what happens after you finish the second "pointer." This requires a bit of thought. I recommend reading through all of it before you start knitting.

Strikk eller ta opp 26m på hver side av spissen.
(Knit or pick up 26 stitches on each side of the "pointer.")

Luckily this is very easy to do. Since there were 52 rounds in each pointer, there is a handy little chain up the side of each pointer that was very easy to pick up, and it has exactly 26 loops! I love details like this!

1. omg: Først en spiss, så 1, g, 15r, g, I, r, I, g, 15r, g, I.
(Round 1: First one "pointer," then YO, K2tog, K 15, etc....)

Så tar du opp 26m på hver side av den andre spissen. Så I, g, 15r, g, I, r, I, g, 15r, g, I.
(Then pick up 26 stitches on each side of the other pointer, then YO, K2tog, K 15, etc....)

Okay, following this? I took a new longer circular needle (24"), joined in another thread (there are getting to be a lot of loose ends in this doily!), picked up 52 stitches from the first pointer (ignore the very point - I was concerned about that, but it worked just fine). After you complete the pointer pick-up, you follow the YO, K2tog, K15... instructions across the 39 stitches that you have on hold (mine were on a double point needle), then pick up 52 stitches from the other pointer, and work the 39 stitches off the original circular needle. This is much easier to do than to write about, and makes sense when you're doing it. I put markers at the "ends" of the pointer stitch sections, and an identifiably different marker at the beginning of the round. You now have all your stitches on one circular needle, and your round starts at the base of the first pointer. Knit round 2 plain.

3. omg: (I, r, 52 ganger), 1, g, 15r, g, I, r, I, g, 15r, g, i alt 2 ganger.
(Round 3: (YO, K1 52 times), YO, K2tog, K15, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, K2tog, K15, K2tog, two times altogether.)

The (YO, K1 52 times) takes care of the pointer stitches, and then you work the same 39 stitches as before in the central sections. You will be at the base of the second pointer when the finish the instruction the first time. Repeat the entire instruction again. (Notice that there is no balancing YO at the end of the 39 stitch section this time. You couldn't really put one there, since you start the pointer with a YO, but I mention it because I kept looking for that stitch since I had made it so many times before in the pattern at the end of the leaf motif.)

From round 3 to round 9 in this 40-round section, each round given is half of the doily, so is repeated 2 times. (i alt 2 ganger!)

On round 5 the distinction between the pointer sections and the side sections disappears as you work a K2tog with the last stitch of the pointer and the first stitch of the side. I took all the markers off but the first one while knitting this round. By then I could tell pretty clearly where I was.

Round 7 makes all the leaf forms the same width by strategic decreases, and on round 9 you are suddenly doing more or less the same thing over and over around the points, but the side stitches are still a little different (round repeats two times.)

On round 11, the repeat becomes the same all the way around the doily, and the instructions for the round are for only one repeat, worked over and over until the end of the stitches. This round ends with "omg ut," meaning "repeat until the end of the round."

I just finished round 13, things look like mostly smooth sailing until round 27, when you move the marker 8 stitches forward (but hey, we've done that before!), and then proceed straight along to round 40. I'll report back on my progress soon! I'm finding this knitting quite addictive. I can hardly wait to see what happens next!

Finding the Ervik books

I realized after another trip to Pinnsvin Design to see if there are any new lace books that it is somewhat difficult to find the Ragnhild Falch Ervik books from the English pages. If you scroll to the bottom of the "books" frame, you get a link to the Norwegian books, but that link opens into a small frame. Try here instead: http://www.pinnsvindesign.no/Strikking.htm. You'll need to go back to the main English language page for ordering details (unless you can read Norwegian, of course!)

I have also had very good luck ordering books from Martina at Bastel- Hobbykiste in Germany. I don't really understand how to navigate their site, but I just email Martina and ask my questions, and she is unfailingly helpful! They also stock the Estonian Lace book, Pitsilised Koekirjad, a stitch dictionary type book with lots of lovely patterns that I have not seen elsewhere. For some help with the symbols in that book, see my translation page.

I've been so grateful to find these books and have reasonably easy access to ordering them. Happy hunting!

“Magnhilds løper”

I was very drawn to “Magnhilds løper” in Kunststrikk med nye monstre, page 16. I want to make an oval doily for a friend, and this one seemed both elaborate and simple enough to make a good first project.

Hmmm... I suppose I better find out what “løper” and “duk” mean. They appear frequently in the titles of patterns in these books. I have been suspecting “duk” is “doily” but I'm not really sure. Maybe I better ask Mona and Kari!

In preparation for starting this cloth, I ordered a cone of 10/2 Pearl Tencel® from Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer at Heartstrings Fiber Arts. For those of you unfamiliar with Jackie, she's a wonderful source of information and encouragement. Her notes on knitting the “Hyrna Herborgar” Icelandic Shawl are most wonderful, and were a great inspiration for starting on this blog.

The cone of yarn came, I sat down and cast on 8 stitches on 2.5mm Crystal Palace double point needles, and then the slipping and sliding began! This yarn is advertised as being a bit thicker than size 20 crochet thread, but it seems finer to me, as well as much, much slicker! Now I don't usually have trouble starting a doily in the round, but this time I dropped needles, dropped stitches, and had a wild half hour or so! I did eventually get the doily started, and once I got a few rows done it became much easier.

The instructions are reasonably easy to follow, though I would say that some knowledge of doily construction is assumed. For instance, the initial instruction tells you to “Legg opp 8m på s-pinner nr. 2 1/2.” I understand this to translate, roughly, to “Cast on 8 stitches on a 2.5mm needle.” There is some confusion about the translation of “s-pinner” and “r-pinner” (mentioned elsewhere in the pattern). It isn't clear to me (and wasn't clear to Mona) if they are talking about two different physical needles (as in different needles for various parts of the doily), or different types of needles. If anyone can clear this up, I'd be most appreciative! Margaret Heathman's Knitting Languages defines “Strikkepinne” as simply a knitting needle or a straight knitting needle. “Rundpinne” is defined as a circular needle, so s-pinne and r-pinne may simply be abbreviations. This would make sense, if you assume that you need to cast on your initial stitches on a double point needle (which would be straight) to start the doily.

At any rate, you cast on 8 stitches and join (this step is also assumed). Then you knit the first and second rows, and the instructions for the third row read, “I,r.” Well, okay, but that consumes only one stitch. What now? If you take a look at the photograph of the cloth, or if you know something about how doily instructions are often presented, it becomes clear that you repeat this instruction 8 times, for the eight points of the central star motif. The instructions for the first 34 rows of the doily follow this convention, being repeated 8 times.

There are a number of other phrases in the pattern that aren't in the basic knitting translations. After receiving the translated phrases from Mona, I pondered how best to present this information without violating the author's copyright. I decided that I would simply provide the translated phrases, but not enough of the context to make much sense without purchasing the books. These translations are intended to serve as a guide for English-speaking knitters who have purchased a copy of the book. They aren't of much use on their own.

The list is as follows:

Row 21: “Str 6m fr, ...” (When you encounter an instruction like this, you are performing a manuever to shift the position of the marker.) In this case, you will knit six stitches, and then move your marker to that new position. The round will begin at the new marker position.

Row 34: “Ta 1 m tilbake, eller r.” = Slip one stitch backwards after knitting it (from the right needle back to the left needle). This is another instruction that involves moving the marker. On the next row it will be important to have this one stitch included in the next section. The “eller r” instruction literally translates to “or knit” but my inference is to do this special thing with the first stitch, “otherwise knit.” Round 34, as most even numbered rounds, would normally be a plain knit round (also not explicitely stated in the pattern, but assumed). There may be a general instruction to this effect in the introductory pages to the volume.

Instruction before the first new section, after Round 34 of the initial center motif:
“Her begynner du på spissene, som det er 2 av.” = Here begin the “pointers” of which there are two. At this point you begin working back and forth. Round 1 gives the full instructions for the pointer (no repeats), and ends “vrang tilbake.” which translates to purl back. Rows 5 and 7 of this section read “Som 3. omg.,” or As Row 3, meaning to repeat round 3. The pointer directions are pretty straightforward, ending with the instruction (on round 52): “Dra trådren gjennom.” This translates to “Pull the thread through.” Here is a photo of my doily at this point:

The “pointer” extends to the right, and the remaining stitches of the original eight-pointed star are resting on an Addi Turbo 2.5mm circular needle that I switched to about row 30 of the central motif.

With the next instruction, you shift things around and begin work on the second pointer. The instructions in Norwegian read “39m settes over på r-pinnen. Begynn den andre siden som den første.” The translation: “Put 39 sts on a needle. Start on the second side as the first.” Again there is a bit of confusion about the needle translation, but I don't think it much matters. I put my 39 stitches on a double point needle to hold them out of the way, which I think is the essential point of the instruction. Here is another photo of my doily with the second pointer underway (at the top of the photo). The DP needle with its holder is at the right.

After the two pointers are complete you pick up stitches around the edges of the pointers, joining them to the stitches on hold from the central motif, and knit another 40 rows on the larger oval. But that's a blog for another day .

Discovering Norwegian Lace

Back in April of 2001, I ordered two knitted lace books from a wonderful Norwegian source, Pinnsvin Design. These books are by Ragnhild Falch Ervik, and she has published five books on lace knitting. The first two volumes are available as a double book, Kunststrikk Dobbeltbok. The third volume is out of print, but slated to be re-published in a double volume with #4. #5 is entitled Kunststrikk med nye mønstre. There could easily be other volumes, but these are the ones I know about.

I found these books very intriguing, but all the knitting instructions are written out, not charted, and that initially felt like a huge hurdle to me. But when I knit “Not Just Plain Jane's” Renaissance Shawl (see my webpage), I realized that I really didn't mind knitting from written instructions. From that realization it wasn't a huge leap to see that I could as easily follow a line that read “11.omg: 8r, I, 3r, I” as “Round 11: K8, YO, K3, YO” (These are equivalent instructions in Norwegian and English).

The books provide basic translations: r = knit, I = yarn forward (or yarn over), g = K2tog, a = Sl 1, k1, psso (or SSK), and I think a person familiar with knitting doilies could knit most of the circular patterns with only minimal further translations.

But I wanted to knit some of the oval doilies, and those are a bit more complex. I posted to the Knitted-Lace list about this, and got a number of helpful suggestions, including offers from two Norwegian lace knitters to help with translations. I was thrilled, and many emails went skating back and forth to Mona in Norway and Kari in Australia. With their generous help I was able to put together an initial page on Norwegian Lace Translations.

Armed with these terms, my books, Margaret Heathman's excellent Knitting Languages, and plenty of note paper, I set out to figure out individual patterns. I had a good laugh at my work surface once I got going, so I include a photo:

.

I requested some additional translations for specific patterns from Mona, and decided that my first doily would be “Magnhilds løper” from the fifth volume from Ragnhild Falch Ervik. More on that in the next entry.

About my blog

I've decided to make a blog to talk about my lace knitting adventures. I've been knitting lace for many many years. In fact, my first knitted project was a lace scarf from one of those wonderful old 70s magazines, "American Home Crafts." I wish I still had that scarf, but it disappeared somewhere along the way.

I've long been fascinated with all the wonderful lace publications from Europe: Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Norwegian, for just a sampling of publications in my library. I keep buying these books and magazines, but for the most part, I've not actually knit much from them. And I want that to change!

I belong to the Knitted-Lace list, graciously provided by Helen Eisler, and I know there are many other knitters there and on other lists who are similarly intrigued with these patterns. I know that what often stops me from doing these projects are translation problems. Many of the patterns are in charted form, but even then there are instructions that carry you along in the chart. Sometimes these are small hurdles, sometimes greater ones.

When I started getting serious about knitting from some of these patterns, I thought it would be a good thing to share the things I was learning with others, with the hope that they could use this information to get started on their own lace adventures.

So with that in mind, I offer up my “Adventures with Lace” blog.