Thursday 31 May 2007

37

I'm up to row 37 on my shawl--#3 from the Elegance Knits book (Let's Knit #11).

I neglected to say in my last post, that I'm making this in Jaggerspun Zephyr (50/50 merino/silk) in the "Curry" colorway--a very nice, light, golden brown, caramel kind of color.

I'm doing fine reading the chart--it's really not any different than any other triangular lace shawl I've made--but I keep losing my place. The pattern repeat is so long. I haven't even counted the number of stitches, but you can see my stitch markers--one to mark the center, and then one each to mark the beginning and end of the repeat on either side . . .

So, I just pulled out an almost-dead highlighter and ran a line of color across every third row of my chart, so there's something for my eye to "catch" as I look back and forth. I expect that will help, as will greater familiarity with the lace pattern as I go along. In the meantime, I think this looks lovely (except for the one, glaring error that I, at least, see, but I'm choosing to pretend isn't there).

--Deb in NJ
www.chappysmom.com

4 comments:

Laritza said...

Here is what I do: I make a copy of the pattern. Put it into a clear plastic sleeve. Use blue painters paint as I move from row to row. Painters tape is available at any hardware store, it is blue making it easy to SEE, it does not stick as steady as regular masking tape and a roll will last forever. Every once in a while I will change the tape and keep going. Magnets slide and the highlighter is fine but you can still loose your place.

Silvia said...

Deb, it's lovely!
I got my book yesterday - gorgeous design.
You will get used with the pattern soon and it will eventually go easier.
It's easy to correct the mistake at blocking stage - just force the stitches a bit with a few extra pins, so don't worry about it :).

--Deb said...

Well, the error is a YO that shouldn't be there, but . . . not going to worry about it!

Painter's tape is a good idea. Usually, I just end up using post-its for basically the same thing. The highlighter works well, though. It's easy enough to think, "The row above the highlighted one," . . . it's the horizontal guide across the page that matters. It's a looooong chart--I blew it up to be able to read it in the first place, and now it's almost two full 8.5x11 sheets across.

Long. Did I say that the chart was LONG? (grin)

Anonymous said...

I have found the best "tool" for marking charts so you keep your place! It's this great colored highlighter tape that is sold at
http://www.knitfoundry.com/prod_highlightertape.html It is removable, so you can reuse it several times and it won't mar your pattern. It comes in a lot of colors too. No affiliation, just a happy camper. Christy