Purlwise

Two-Sided Frost Flowers

The back was finished last week but since it's just a square  stockinette piece  I decided not to post a picture.

I've been quite busy over the past week with other matters (gabbing too much on KR) but finally found a bit of time during the past few days to  start on the front. The photo shows two repeats of the lace pattern, Two-Sided Frost Flowers.

Before I attempted to graph the lace pattern, I did a bit of research on the Frost Flowers stitch pattern to see if I could figure out if anyone else has done it.  I found several references to a Frost Flowers stitch, including one from  "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara G. Walker (shown on the cover of the paperback edition). I couldn't find any reference to this two-sided version so, Norah Gaughan (the designer of this sweater) probably adapted it from the original. I decided to forge ahead without trying to graph it since, unlike most lace patterns, each side of this one is worked in pattern.

The construction of this sweater is very unique. As the instructions note, "The front begins at the right center top of the hood, then is worked down the right side of the front to lower ribbed edge, is turned at hem and worked up the center top of hood on the opposite side of the front." So the part you see in the photo is the right side of the hood as it will appear on my head.

So far I've learned one nifty trick from this pattern. In order to give the exposed lace edge  a finished look, the first two stitches of the lace pattern are slipped. This means that the edge will not have to be finished by knitting in a band or adding a crochet edge.  I love patterns that have little details like this that help save time.

By the way, I forgot to mention the yarn I'm using -  it's Bomull by Marks and Kittens.  I call it the long lost identical twin of the Bergereine yarn that I used for Gilet Lace.

 

Paradise Lost

Progress on the Spin-Off sweater been halted for a couple of weeks while waiting on a order of  more merino/tencel top from Paradise Fibers.

While working on the body of the sweater I kept thinking about the merino/tencel yarn and wondering if it wasn't just a bit too thick compared to the pure merino  yarn I had spun.  Once I finished the torso,  I paused before continuing and quickly to knitted up a swatch. The swatch confirmed my suspicion. I should have never spun all the merino/tencel top without actually making a swatch to check whether the yarn would produce the correct gauge.  At that point there wasn't much to do but order more fiber.

So, after 1-1/2 weeks of waiting for my order I started wondering where it was. My previous orders had always been shipped out promptly and arrived quickly since Paradise Fibers is only about 380 miles away.

I sent an email on Tuesday but got no reply. I called several times today and finally got someone on the line early this evening. She said my order of needles had gone out last week! After telling her I didn't order needles, she mentioned that she did have my fiber order and that they didn't have it in stock. They would need to order it from Ashland Bay, which might take two months! I didn't bother to ask why they hadn't let me know about this and just asked have my order  canceled. All of this seemed quite odd so I asked the girl on the line if Kate Painter still owned the business. She said that the business had been sold last month.

I just placed an order for the top with Woodland Woolworks. Earlier this month I had an opportunity to stop by their shop and can confidently say that they can professionally handle the order.

While I wait for more  fiber,  I'm going to start a new project. Do you recognize it? It's #11 from the current summer issue of Vogue Knitting.