Knitting Lace Tips

Knitting lace is one of those things that beginning knitters ooh and aaah at, something that seems so out of reach. At least I felt that way before I knit my first lace pattern. There are so many new symbols and techniques to learn with lace that it seems too much at one time. My first lace project was Convertible, started in Oregon during vacation last summer with Matsuri yarn from Noro. It was such a fun knit and gave me such confidence that I splurged on a locally spun wool and silk blend to make Sweet Alyssum. That pattern was more challenging and I had to restart a couple of times and relied on lifelines to keep from having to frog back a million times. But the end result was worth it. I had something really beautiful that I made with my own two hands, something that I previously thought was impossible for me to do.


It was then that my love affair with lace started. More often than not, I found myself looking for lace patterns to incorporate into the sweaters and blankets and hats that I knitted for people. I looked for every knitting lace book I could find and even purchased an out of print book that cost as much as a week's worth of groceries. I bought a play mat set from Home Depot to block my lace projects, T-pins from Walmart, scoured the internet for inexpensive tips to block my lace, studied patterns to figure out why a ssk was better than a k2tog to use in some patterns. Obsessed, that what I was.


This month, I am hosting our knitting group's first Lace KAL and I thought that I would write some tips to help our first time lace knitters.


Lifelines are my first suggestion. I am using a very thin clear plastic jewelry cord as a lifeline for my Gail. I've used dental floss before and no matter how hard I try, I somehow knit into it, so when I try to pull it out, it gets stuck and ruins what I have done. The jewelry cord is nice and slick, so there is no chance of it being knit into. However, one word of caution with it is that because it is slick, you have to have enough of it to tie at the ends so it doesn't slip out while you are knitting.

There are 2 types of lifelines. The first is one that you insert after knitting a row. There are instructions on how to do this from Heartstrings Fiberarts here. You will need a tapestry needle and floss, the cord that I mentioned above, or whatever you want to hold your row. This lifeline is easiest on projects that have full rows of stockinette stitch.

The second type is the one that you attach to your needle and you pull through the row that you are knitting currently. This one you need to plan out; you should do it on a row that you know has the best chance of not having any mistakes (usually a WS purl row). I like to place the second type of lifeline before and after a difficult row. Also, the second type of lifeline is easiest with needles like the Knitpicks Harmony interchangeable circular needles because these needles are designed with a hole through which you can insert the cord; you don't have to tape it or anything like that.

My second suggestion is Stitchmarkers....lots and lots and lots of stitchmarkers. Okay...maybe you don't need that much. But I am using my Gail as the reference. This particular pattern has something like a 14 row repeat, so it is easy to forget how many YOs and SSKs and K2TOGs you are supposed to have on each row. Plus there are some rows where you have double YOs...yes, nightmarish if you are not fully focused on what the heck you are doing. Using stitchmarkers at every section of pattern is making the changes in the pattern doable.


My third suggestion is Counting every section. Now if your pattern only has one or two sections, then this may be necessary to do every few rows, just to make sure that you have the right amount of stitches. Although now that I think about it, you will probably know while knitting a row whether or not you have the correct amount of stitches...For Gail, I count every section. This has been indispensable, as I have noted, the many YOs are easy to drop and/or forget to do. Although counting this much may seem like a waste of time, imagine the time you will lose if you finish the row and realize on your next RS row that you have the wrong number of stitches. Tinking is a pain in lace; imagine tinking back and dropping a stitch. Do you really think you can find (or do you really want to??) the dropped stitch and figuring out where it goes in the pattern?? YOs are easy to fix...after you tink back the purl row...The thought makes me shudder. I would just rather start over and be an anal row counter.


My fourth suggestion and one that I force myself to follow is not knitting lace while you are half asleep and or with friends. Focus is the important thing in knitting lace. While I agree that it is very possible to knit the easier lace patterns distracted, do you really want to risk this? Especially considering that if you are using gorgeous fingering or lace yarn spun from merino wool, silk, or cashmere, like Handmaiden, or Malabrigo, or Wollmeise, or something just as delicate, these yarns are prone to fuzzing from constant frogging (ask me how I know). However, if you are starting a lace project with worsted weight, then you are smarter than me, because frogging worsted weight isn't half as bad...I love sweaters with lace, or vests, like Talia, which my friend Liz is knitting for her first lace project.


These are some tips that have helped me in lace knitting. I hope they offer some assistance and hope that lace is something that you can do too!