Demystifying Lace, Class 3: Gauge, Casting on, and the ‘Holey’ stitch

Hello again! In this installment of Demystifying Lace, I’ll tell you why
getting gauge isn’t really all that important, basics of casting on for
different types of lace, and give a quick primer on the holeyest of
stitches, the yarn over!

Click ‘Read More…” to see the answers to some questions I got in last week’s class comments.

And now, on to this week’s lengthy lessons, all four of them! Even though these
videos are pretty long, I feel like I really only skimmed over the
techniques – so if you have questions, ask away. 🙂
On gauge
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Discovering Lace Yarns

So a confession – I’ve never used lace yarn in my 9 years of knitting. I bought one skein a couple of years ago, but never used it – it just sits prettily on my shelf. I guess I’m scared it too thin for me & I’ll break it immediately – even though I will happily knit socks in light fingering weight yarn on size 0 needles!
But I finally broke down & bought some because I am determine to overcome my fear of it. Plus I’m in love with Barb Wire and feel I must have it for my next sweater project! (interview with the designer tomorrow!)
So I bought some pretty Gloss Lace in the new Peapod color

Since our Gloss line is my favorite yarn, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start there.
Then I love Alison’s Citron so much that I needed to do that too …

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Interview with Grace Mcewen


Ever since we put Grace‘s first IDP pattern up in December, she has been one of our most popular designers. All three of her patterns have sold strongly – including her new Victorian Rose, which only went up 2 weeks ago! And it’s not hard to see why – she has such a distinct & lovely style to her designs. Anyone who reads my twitter feed (or my blog here) knows I’m obsessed with making Barb Wire as my first project in lace weight yarn. So I was delighted to get a quick interview with her!
 

(Grace’s “unwilling” models – her children)
 

How long have you been knitting?
I have been knitting since I was about 10 – so off and on about 30 years
What motivated you to learn to knit?
My Mother knit all the time. I remember …

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What a night!

That’s about all I can say about our Spring Yarn Party!
 
I mean, check out this crowd!

 
I’m so excited this turned out so well – we haven’t had many events & this was the first one to celebrate our new yarn lines, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Since I was coordinating it, I was so worried that no one would show up 🙂 Silly me!
 
As promised we took lots of pictures!
 
The before shot with our designers panel, Kelley, Sarah, & Alison:

Our yarn bon-bons of the Stroll Tonals:

 
Our fantastic designer panel with Kelley, our in house designers Kerin & Nina and IDP designers Rodger & David:

 
Lucky winner in our raffle – we gave out over 20 prizes!
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Sock yarn – not just for socks anymore

Well, i really couldn’t wait for silly hubbster to make up his mind
about the trout yarn. So I got him some Hawaiian shirts on sale and cast
on something for myself! So there!

I was thinking socks at first, but with summer on its way I wanted
something I could get a little more use out of. Since summer clothes are
generally pretty light, but the AC in this building is, well,
temperamental, I decided I’d make a shrug instead!

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Xena’s new blankie

How do our furry friends always claim our projects?

I laid out my first crochet throw to check my progress. Went into the kitchen to make an espresso shot. Walked back into the family room and there was Xena! Sound asleep on her new blanket!

I suspect that she thinks it is perfect as is! I want to finish the outer ring and then there will be enough throw for me and Xena. That’s assuming that she will choose to share it with me.

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