Lost in Lace

That title is for Norma, who's in the mood for puns this week (sorry, Norma, it was the best I could come up with). And this post is for Margene, who asks, "What are you loving today?"

Maybe I haven't been blogging much lately, but I have been knitting. It being auction time again, I've just finished my donation, and may even be able to take it over to the collection point this time around without interrupting anyone at breakfast.

This year I decided to give myself a break and knit a scarf instead of a shawl. After a fairly extended stash-diving-and-dithering session — don't want to use that, it's just enough for a shawl; can't use that, it might not be quite enough; no way am I using that, it's mine — I settled on some Cascade Indulgence that had been marinating for quite a while, trying to decide what it wanted to be.

I had completely forgotten how much I love this yarn. Being 70 percent superfine alpaca, 30 percent bunny crack, er, angora, it's unbelievably soft, with just a bit of halo. I wouldn't use it in a sweater, where high-friction areas would be pill city in 4.3 seconds, but it's heaven to knit with and perfect for a luxury scarf.

It's been a while since I've made any lace, and I chose one of my favorite lace stitches, little lace chain, as one of the three simple stitches I combined for the scarf pattern. Within a few rows I remembered how much I love it too. Apparently I am somewhat odd in this respect (I? odd? whodathunkit?), because it doesn't seem to get used in patterns and I've never seen it in any stitch dictionary except the first Walker treasury, but it delights me every time.


Yesterday on the way out of knitting group I got the lovely and patient Amy to model the nearly-finished product for me. Note the circular needle fashionably hanging from one end. Ruth pronounced the incomplete scarf "stunning." I love Ruth: I could be knitting an acrylic dishrag and she would admire it and find something nice to say about it. It's gotten so my ego rolls over on its back and starts writhing and purring shamelessly whenever it sees her coming. (Ruth has some very exciting news — stop by and visit her if you haven't lately.)


I finished the bind-off last night and admired the result for a few minutes before taking it upstairs to block it. I love taking the obligatory "before" picture.


And I love what blocking does to lace. I realize that this is somewhat like saying I love that the sun comes up every morning. Come to think of it, I do, but given my (lack of) knitting speed, I cherish the blocking metamorphosis for its rarity.

The pattern will be forthcoming.