#needleworkmonday: The Dreaded Lace!
Hey fellow needleworkers!
I'm excited to dive back into #needleworkmonday, especially since I've missed posting for the last two. But I've been following all your beautiful posts and loving them, good work community!
I've been thinking lately of taking up a second career as a Motivational Knitting Speaker. You know: do the tour circuit, amp people up about the the higher powers of knitting, rake in the big bucks. Ok so not really, but you don't know how many times I've been knitting on a plane, train, or boat (yes, boat!) and someone's leaned over to admire my knitting and, sighing, tells me that they want to learn to knit someday. And my answer is invariably, "You can! It's SO much easier than you think!" I know it look intimidating to the novice, but I promise you it's not.
To really drive that point home, in this post I want to take on the topic that can send shudders up one's spine: The Dreaded Lace Knit. When I first began knitting I was impatient to learn it all. As soon as I'd knit my first garter-stitch craft I took on cabling. Not long after that I decided to try my hand at lace.
And let me repeat myself: You can do it! Lace knitting is so much easier than you think! Alright, so it's not as easy as knit-knit-knit-knit ad infinitum. But the stitches themselves really aren't complicated. The tricky part is paying close attention to where you are in the pattern. If you can pay attention, you can knit lace.
Lace is basically the regular incorporation of holes into a knitting pattern to create webbing. And the secret behind the hole is the Yarn Over, the easiest thing you will ever do in knitting. Literally. You loop the working yarn over the needle you are knitting onto from front to back, and carry on knitting the next stitch. Here's a visual:
Told you it was simple. The trick is, each yarn over makes a new stitch. That means that you have to eliminate one stitch per yarn over to keep your pattern regular. There are several ways to eliminate stitches: knit 2 together, passing a slipped stitch over, slip-slip-knit, and probably several others that I still haven't come across. And they're all almost as simple as the yarn over. A quick YouTube search will comes up with hundreds of videos for each of these stitches (thought I'm willing to bet that even the noob can figure out what "knit 2 together" means.)
Ok, are you ready for my gem of wisdom when it comes to knitting lace? Here it is: Don't lose your place! Do whatever you need to do to keep track of where you are, because lace patterns are all about regularity. You start getting those yarn overs out of place because your knitting shifted over a stitch from where it should be, and all of a sudden beautiful lace turns into a big mess of random holes. When I first started knitting lace I came across the best advice I've ever gotten, which was to use stitch markers as though your life depends on it.
A typical lace pattern might look like: K2, [yo, sl1, k2, psso2] repeat pattern between brackets to last two stitches, K2. Which is plain English basically means you make a border of 2 knit stitches to each side, and between work the lace pattern over and over until you hit the other border. Use a stitch marker between each of the pattern repeats so that you don't lose your place! It's sooooo much easier to come to the end of one section of lace pattern and say "that's weird, why am I at the end one stitch early?" than to come to the end of an entire row and say "Where the h*ll did I go wrong?!" And if there's one thing about knitting lace that's truly a pain in the neck, it's undoing lace. So save yourself the trouble, and put those stitch markers in at the beginning!
Second most important tip: write down where you are in the pattern every time you put your knitting down! I've skipped this so many times out of laziness, thinking I'd pick it up again in a few minutes or that of course I'd remember where I left off, and have spent so much time trying to decipher my knitting to figure out what row I'm supposed to start on when I finally pick it up again 5 days later. Believe me, just write it down.
I hope this has inspired you all to pick up your needles and start knitting! Whether it's lace or not, it's so much easier than you think!
Thank you for your good tips! I really struggle with lace patterns, but I would love to make them. When I knit the yarn over in the next round, no hole builds up or one hole is bigger than the other. So, the whole knitting piece is not straight. Maybe I pull too much. I tried not to pull in any way, but then the holes are irregular, as I said before.
P.S. Just followed you and looked through your blog. I love all the knitting tutorials you've got there! I'm sure I'll be referencing them in the future :)
Great, thank you! I will post in the near future again. I just have to finish my new apartment. I like the needleworkmonday and have so many things I can post :) I follow you, too!
Hi @creative-life! Are you knitting a yarn over in the row immediately following a yarn over row? All lace patterns I've seen alternate the patternwork with a row of either purl or knit stitch. So it's row 1: lace, row 2 purl, row 3: lace, row 4: purl, etc.
Could that be what's going on? Or yeah, maybe it's just a yarn tension issue.
Yes, that is what I mean. Sorry, I am not an English native speaker. I mean 1st row yarn over, 2nd row knit. How do you get sure the holes have the same size? Do you pull the yarn or just continue?
It sounds like it may just be an issue with how you're holding your yarn and maintaining an even tension. I knit Continental style and holding the yarn that way keeps a relatively even tension and stitch size.
When I do a yarn over, I loop the yarn around the working needle, as shown in the photo above, and then just keep knitting like normal.
Here's a quick and rough video I just took of how I knit yarn overs because I think it's easier to show than describe:
Thank you sooo much! I also knit continental style as this is our style to knit in Germany! Maybe I just have to practise to find the proper tension. Thanks for the video. You explained very well.
I'm happy it helped! ☺
It would be interesting to see the back row. Maybe you can make a beginners video about lace knitting.
Ooh maybe I will make some to share here on Steemit!
Maybe it is also the yarn that I used, because I started with kid mohair yarn. I will practise with cotton yarn until I get used to the lace knitting.
Now that you mention it, the first lace project I did was a set of cotton washcloths. I usually knit with wool but maybe starting with cotton helped.
Great explanation of lace knitting. You can't get good at something you never try. :-) Like you, I dove head first. My second knit project was an enormous lace veil.
Haha I love that! You're even more ambitious than me!
Happy #NeedlworkMonday, @colleenthurber! Wow, this is a fantastic instructional post! I'm inspired and may have to consult with this post in order to give it a try. Great job!
Thanks @crystalize! Go for it!
Hello @colleenthurber. Thank you for very much for those tips.
I always enjoy learning lace stitches though I never get any further than 'cowls'... I tend to use post-its to mark down where I am :)
Thanks @cryptocariad for your feedback! Glad to hear there's another lace knitter in the group
@originalworks
Hey @colleenthurber!! It’s good to see you today! I say go for it!! You would be a great motivational speaker as you really already are...I can see that from this post. 😉 I have noticed too when I’m out in public crocheting people just watch, ask questions or mention they wish they knew how to do it. I have told a few people here on Steemit that I will be getting some beginner crochet videos together but I just haven’t had the time. So yes I say go for it if you’re feeling it.
I have to admit as I was reading this I thought to myself “I can barely regular knit and here she is making lace knit look so easy lol!!” I lost my place a few times on my first knitting attempt and had to start over...it was very frustrating. That’s the huge difference between knitting and crocheting. It’s easier to count stitches and see where you left off as well as going back and fixing a mistake with crocheting more so than knitting. So I really appreciate those tips on not losing your place by using a stitch marker and writing down where we are in the pattern every time we put the needles down. Thanks for this lovely post today!
I wanted to make videos, too, but I am afraid that my English is not good enough. I am too nervous.
Give it a try and see how it goes!!! Don’t knock down the idea before you chance it!!! 😉
Yes, you are right. I will try :)
Yay!! Great!! 🤗😉
It's true, give it a try! I never made a video about how to do anything in knitting until today, but it seemed like the best way to demonstrate the yarn over. You already have great how-to's, I bet your videos would be super helpful!
Thanks @crosheille! Man I really have to power up my vote so I can give more than my measly .01 when someone makes a great post; I really appreciate your thoughtful comment!
Thats why I upvote your comments. My some cents are not much, but maybe it helps. You put a lot of effort in this post and answering the questions.
Thanks @creative-life! I do my best . . . hope it helps!
It’s my pleasure! No worries about that, your vote will have more power in time. You putting all of this effort into your posts and responding to comments means a great deal all in itself. 😉
I like to crochet lace, too. I find it easier than knitting lace. But I will definately try it again. This post inspired me.
P.S. if you have any specific questions or troubke spots in knitting I'd be glad to offer any advice I can! Don't be shy ☺
Maybe you could make a lace knitting video on how to knit an easy beginner pattern. So, you can show and explain how it works. You have a nice voice and clear language. The little video was good!
Thanks @creative-life! I've been daydreaming about how to make knitting a larger part of my life. I'm intrigued by pattern design but still feel intimidated by it. It's encouraging to hear that you found the video helpful!