The Lace and I

I am so loving lace at the moment!

I have been knitting away at Tangerine (seriously soliciting a better name).  This start-at-the-bottom-and-work up thing is brilliant!

The field pattern (shown below a bit washed out) is lovely, but I am a short attention span knitter (who likes small gauge knitting - mild case of self loathing???).  It is ideal to have the rows getting shorter and shorter.  I picked up almost 450 stitches off of the 9+ feet of garter lace edging (that better block flat dammit!) and now I have about 150 stitches.  Love, love, love that!

As part of my determination to not actually complete a project, I started a new lace shawl.

 

The folks at Lacis were looking for test knitters for an upcoming book.  They are reprinting Gestrickte Spitzendecken, an old German book full of doily patterns, most written by Herbert Neibling.  Large doilies can become gorgeous shawls and even blankets.  Reprinting this book is a huge undertaking as it is known for having many errors in the charts. 

What was I to do?  You know I had to volunteer to help!  Here is the original version in the book.  I am knitting a triangular version.  Imagine just two repeats of one square with the edging.

And, I am so glad I did.  I can't put this shawl down!  Seriously.  Less sleep is seeming like a fine idea. 

 

The yarn is a new lace weight yarn I am testing for Tactile.  It is 100% tussah silk in a lace weight.  Holy smokes!  I love the yarn too!  It has a little bit of texture, so it isn't crazy slippery like 100% cultivated silk.  And the luster!  These pictures don't do the color (darker and richer sage green) or the shine justice. 

* The title is a small homage to one of my favorite childhood movies The King and I.  I had a huge crush on Yul Brynner.  Weird for a preteen girl now that I look back.

Comments

[karrie]

Your lacework is beautiful.... Now about Yul Brynner... Have you ever seen Westworld? If not, you must.

[Anne]

A book of Niebling?? Sign me up! (Also for the yarn. Yum yum yum.

[Laine]

Oh, how PRETTY! I love them both. Envy you your lace abilities, M.

[Liz]

Wow, such beautiful lace! I can't wait for the new Neibling book!

[Lorajean]

Wow, beautiful squares! Let me know when the book's out!

[LaurieM]

Oh, just gorgeous!! I love the idea of a Neibling book. Smart on their part since there's a demand out there for it.

Nothing wrong with the name tangerine. How about Tangerine Tango?

[elizabeth]

Oooh, I don't know about that. Yul is the strong, silent type and that overrides his lack of hair, imo.

The shawl is seriously gorgeous. You're making me want to start something new!

[Julia]

Yul Rules !! Shall we dance?

I'm so glad you are into making the complicated lace thingies because now I can just enjoy yours and never, ever feel obligated to do it myself (not a big lace knitting fan, although I love the look).

How about Satsuma for the new name? And did I miss the Satsuma Mandarin season? Shouldn't they be here by now? Must be time for lunch.

[Shelda]

hello Maia I still check out your blog when you have the time to post it is still my fav.I LOVE the tangerine shawl and would like to know do you need a test knitter,I need one of these in my lfe .
lol Shelda

[fibergal]

Those green leaves are causing some serious swooooning here in NM. I can feel the lace taking over.

[madonnaearth]

How about Tangerine Dream Shawl or Dreamsicle Shawl? (I tried to think up something with V's in the name for the small details, but nothing sticks out at me that would do it justice.Peach Divine maybe?) I'm usually a little better at this. lol

I just love the way the Niebling shawl turned out. It is so gorgeous!