Are lace knitting instructions more of a challenge than you think?

Lately, my projects involve lace knitting instructions.

About a month ago, I started a what I thought would be a quick project.

It’s a small purse originally designed for a bride. I thought it would make an elegant formal bag, perhaps for a prom or another formal.

I glanced at the instructions, and the degree of difficulty according to the publisher. I thought it would be within my skill.

Well, yes it is. I did learn a few things about knitting lace I want to share, though.

Knitting Tip #1: The “finishing” may take longer than the main section.

In this case, the main part of the pattern went quickly. The edging, though that was difficult challenging.

You see, the knitting graph supplied didn’t quite explain the pattern.  After knitting and frogging the same section twice, I decided to see if I could find the same — or a similar — pattern in another source.

And there it was: in the first book I searched. Not only a similar knitters graph, but also written instructions for the knitting. Yippee!

Knitting Tip #2: If you’re new to knitting lace from a graph, look for a pattern that has both the graph and written instructions.

The main part of the purse alternates a row of lace with a row of knitting in the round. So every other row is all knit stitches. It’s nice to have a “break” in concentrating on the lace pattern.

The edging, though, had knitting and purling in all rows. Plus, the knitting switched from circular knitting in the main section to knitting back and forth on two needles in the edging. To keep straight which row was right and which wrong side, I made notes on the graph.

Knitting Tip #3: If you own the pattern, it’s okay to make your own notes on it to clarify the instructions.

And there’s nothing like frogging to make one appreciate lace lifelines!

You can see the white crochet cotton thread running through the stitches on the needle. I like to take a large eye needle and thread it with the crochet cotton, then thread it through the live stitches on the needle. This works best if you’re using circular needles: the thinner cord part of the circulars usually leaves more room for the needle and thread.

Knitter’s Tip #4: Use lace lifelines, and use them often.

Here’s a video link for lace lifeline knitting instructions (scroll down to Fixing Mistakes to find the video “Using a lifeline.”)

I have more tips, which I’ll share in a later post.

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