Rethinking the Muness
A little over a year ago, I gave Sigunne a skein of yarn for her birthday with the promise I'd knit something pretty from it. The pattern that was free with buying the skein was the Muness pattern. It was supposedly easy, good for a first lace pattern.
Now that all impromptu knitting is done (for Booyah and various birthdays) I can see the end of 2016 looming in the distance, with knitting reviews, pictures and plans for next year. It feels like I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked to and there are several WIPs on the needles I'd really love to finish so I can start the new year with a clean slate. The Muness is a thorn in my eye and I'd really love to finish it. In fact, last night I sat myself down with a couple of episodes of my current series and worked four rows in the lace pattern.(Half an hour per row, give or take.)
The pattern itself isn't very hard, but I can't memorise it. Every row is different, and what is worse is that the 18 stitch repeat of each section doesn't necessarily fit exactly above the last 18 stitch repeat. After chart A I wanted to start on chart B, but was completely baffled that the "center stitch" of chart B wasn't above the "center stitch" of chart A. It took me a while before I realised that I had to move my stitch markers.
It's still not going fast and I make a lot of mistakes. I should count the stitches between markers after each row to see if I've forgotten any yarn-overs anywhere. And after chart B, I can look forward to charts C, D and E still to go.
Around eleven pm I found myself ogling other lace patterns (starting with BooKnits!), having searched for the lowest difficulty lace patterns on Ravelry. I was pining for a lace pattern that would just be a repeat of a small chart. You know, an eight-stitch repeat over the width of a row and a five row pattern, or something. After a few rows you can see where it's going, after a few repeats you know what to do, and best of all: it keeps repeating the same five rows so you don't have to think about it.
Perhaps lace is just not for me. I can see the attraction of having to pay attention to your work and creating the most intricate holes in your fabric, but I find it very tiresome at the moment.
Still, I'm very stubborn and since I promised Sigunne I'd knit a shawl for her, I will finish this (what else am I supposed to do with a silk lace-weight in a warm gold?) but I am considering frogging the Muness and casting on Morgenfryd. It looks like a simple enough pattern, it's very beautiful (and almost the same colour as my yarn). Looks to be a small chart that's repeated a lot, so that should be easy to memorise. The first chart rapport is 8 stitches by 4 rows. EzPz!
The yarn-weight isn't exactly the same as what I'm using and I have slightly less yarn to do this with, so my size will be off. But I know Sigunne would tell me to do whatever's best.
Let's get a-frogging!
Now that all impromptu knitting is done (for Booyah and various birthdays) I can see the end of 2016 looming in the distance, with knitting reviews, pictures and plans for next year. It feels like I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked to and there are several WIPs on the needles I'd really love to finish so I can start the new year with a clean slate. The Muness is a thorn in my eye and I'd really love to finish it. In fact, last night I sat myself down with a couple of episodes of my current series and worked four rows in the lace pattern.(Half an hour per row, give or take.)
The pattern itself isn't very hard, but I can't memorise it. Every row is different, and what is worse is that the 18 stitch repeat of each section doesn't necessarily fit exactly above the last 18 stitch repeat. After chart A I wanted to start on chart B, but was completely baffled that the "center stitch" of chart B wasn't above the "center stitch" of chart A. It took me a while before I realised that I had to move my stitch markers.
It's still not going fast and I make a lot of mistakes. I should count the stitches between markers after each row to see if I've forgotten any yarn-overs anywhere. And after chart B, I can look forward to charts C, D and E still to go.
Around eleven pm I found myself ogling other lace patterns (starting with BooKnits!), having searched for the lowest difficulty lace patterns on Ravelry. I was pining for a lace pattern that would just be a repeat of a small chart. You know, an eight-stitch repeat over the width of a row and a five row pattern, or something. After a few rows you can see where it's going, after a few repeats you know what to do, and best of all: it keeps repeating the same five rows so you don't have to think about it.
Perhaps lace is just not for me. I can see the attraction of having to pay attention to your work and creating the most intricate holes in your fabric, but I find it very tiresome at the moment.
Still, I'm very stubborn and since I promised Sigunne I'd knit a shawl for her, I will finish this (what else am I supposed to do with a silk lace-weight in a warm gold?) but I am considering frogging the Muness and casting on Morgenfryd. It looks like a simple enough pattern, it's very beautiful (and almost the same colour as my yarn). Looks to be a small chart that's repeated a lot, so that should be easy to memorise. The first chart rapport is 8 stitches by 4 rows. EzPz!
The yarn-weight isn't exactly the same as what I'm using and I have slightly less yarn to do this with, so my size will be off. But I know Sigunne would tell me to do whatever's best.
Let's get a-frogging!