Lace and I, we've had a troubled relationship. You see, I knit to de-stress, and nothing raises my blood pressure than having to pay painstaking attention to every stitch. And charts?
Sure, I knit an Ishbel here and an Ishbel there and some February Baby Sweaters, but you'd never mistake me for a hardcore, dare I say, dyed-in-the-wool, lace knitter. (The hardcore lace knitters probably had to stifle a laugh and think, "That's nice, dear," at the fact that I even consider the EZ sweater to include lace. To me, feather-and-fan is totally lace.)
Then my best friend got engaged, and I decided to make her something special for her wedding. We picked out a ridiculously scrumptious yarn, and I set about finding a pattern.
Most people would agree that the Orchid Thief isn't a terribly difficult lace pattern, but it challenged me just fine, thank you very much. Be sure to check out the errata if you want to embark on this project. (Which I know should go without saying but I sure didn't before I started.)
Even after 10 years as a knitter, I still am sometimes surprised when projects actually turn out the way they are supposed to. But I'm very pleased with the result.
Pardon the crappy camera phone photo. My usual camera is not being itself lately.
Will this lead to a brave new world that has such lace and shawls in it? Who knows. I did once say that I'd never knit a sock, and we all know how that turned out.
