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Showing posts with the label Herbert Niebling Lyra

That's no shawl . . .

it's a tablecloth! Earlier in the year, I returned to working regularly on Lyra. I was doing either two or four rounds a day, and enjoying just puttering along at a consistent pace. But then I decided that maybe I should check the boards on Ravelry to see if there were any errata or other bits of advice. Many, many people had stories and pictures about knitting Lyra and having trouble with a certain section not blocking flat. So . . . I sat down and checked the math. Lyra is knit from the center out. And the math in the first few rows is roughly as expected, about 8 stitches every-other round through about round 42. But then the increases slow down. Part of this may be because hexagonal mesh lace is introduced at that point, and hex-mesh seems to stretch generously. But from round 69-86 the increases just stop. And then round 87 has 16 decreases! Inconceivable! And this is all the more perplexing because Herr Niebling was clearly a master lace knitter. How could his mat...

Beginning Lyra

During the summer, I decided to take Elizabeth Zimmermann's advice about travel knitting. She suggested a nice shawl, as it is light, easy to transport, and gives hours upon hours of knitting pleasure. For our trip out west, Lyra seemed like the perfect choice. I had purchased the yarn and pattern from the Yarn Place during a moment of unexplained weakness on the last day of STITCHES South 2010. Now one of the things I really need to learn -- and by learn I mean totally take to heart -- is the idea that you ought to cast on such projects before you leave home. I've made this mistake the last two years in a row for Dragon*Con as well, spending four days of sitting and listening sans knitting. (I believe one year I got my Dragon*Con project cast on too early. I liked it too much and finished the whole thing in a week.) Because the trip west involved flying, I was greatly limited in what I could pack. Part of why I'll schlep the day and a half drive to Pennsylvania t...