Review: Lace Knitting for Beginners

For some reason, lace reminds me of spring. I guess because when it starts to get warm outside you can start thinking about wearing projects with eyelets again.

Whatever the reason, I have lace on the brain right now as we in America eagerly await spring, so I thought it was time to share a great little booklet full of lace projects for those new to lace knitting.

Lace Knitting for Beginners, compiled by Amy Palmer, is a little booklet with 11 projects for new lace knitters. It opens with a primer on reading lace charts, including what all those symbols mean and why sometimes the chart means nothing (in the case of a “no stitch” box).

Five of the patterns are for scarves. The others include a towel, tote bag, headband, book sleeve, poncho, shawl and hat. Most of the projects use charts but for the most part they aren’t very complex.

Some of my favorites include Molly’s Headband by Pam Allen, a rectangular headband with a lace panel running down the center and I-cord ties for an east fit; the simple Rain on the Prairie scarf, pictured on the cover and designed by Maureen Hefti; and the fun Peace Street Hat by Grace Akhrem, which uses a lace panel as the brim, from which stitches are picked up to knit the body of the hat in Stockinette. Accent buttons add a bit of whimsy.

There’s also a pattern by Ann Budd called A Scarf of Your Very Own, which shows several basic variations and includes information on how to design your own lace scarf, which is good information for the basics of designing just about any garment.

A glossary and techniques section round out the booklet, which is a great quick start guide for lace knitting. If you’re new to the genre and don’t want to be overwhelmed by a book full of complex projects, you should check this one out.

[Photo via Interweave/F+W.]

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

Have you read?