Gone to Camp and Home Again

Sorry for the long hiatus, but I did not post at all while I was at Camp 2.75. I intended to post a lot of photos, but in retrospect I think I'll just show you a few.

This is Meg, with Amy and Marilyn, during our party to celebrate the release of Meg's new Lace Knitting DVD. Of course I got one, since I am truly Addicted to Lace, and love to listen to Meg talk about knitting-- so Meg talking about lace is even better! She is utterly and amazingly humble about her knitting knowledge and skill, which is quite disarming.

I will post here an embarrassing photo of me with Meg-- I'm the one who looks star struck and like a deer in the high beams. Just in case you weren't sure.The last day was a contest, "The Devil Wears Zimmermann." My contribution was the Ribcooler.

For those unfamiliar-with-Elizabeth-Zimmermann (though if such is the case I really don't know what to say-- other than "go and read her books!!") this is a lacey play on the Ribwarmer she designed.

RIBCOOLER

Here is the back:And here is the front.

It was so much fun to make I may make another, though with different lace stitches. I think it looks best on a body, but I have not mastered self-photos yet so this hanger shot will have to do.

Quite a few people at Camp asked me for my pattern.

Well, it's not my pattern, it's Elizabeth Zimmermann's, all I did was add some lace.

If you have the Ribwarmer pattern, you can knit a Ribcooler, too, just like it-- or different, or way better, if you want! This was a wonderfully fun knit: so do give it a try. (And if you have never knit a Ribwarmer, or done short rows, or done any lace at all, you might want to try that first. Or not. :)

The front, bottom and top edging is Wave Lace Edging from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury, page 367. (Scroll down) I highly recommend charting it out. I added several selvedge stitches.

The armhole edging is a small 5 st edging from Barbara Abbey's Knitting Lace. (Sadly, I believe this great lace resource is out of print.) Barbara Abbey has an unusual way of describing the stitches, but once you try a few patterns, her shorthand becomes quite easy to use. The armholes are edged with the very first edging pattern in her book, on page 43. "Very Narrow Edging." Chart it out and you'll see it is very easy to knit.

Finally, the body is worked in Snowdrop Lace. This is nicely charted in Martha Waterman's Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls. If you have never knit lace, or a shawl, her book is a good introduction to the subject.

I did increase sts at the front, in order to generate a bit of a V-shaped neckline with fold-back lapels of the Wave Lace. The increase rate was roughly one stitch every 2 or 4 rows: enough to generate one more repeat of the Snowdrop Lace. I made the top collar wider than the back neck so as to neatly fold down and flare out at the back of the neck. (My attach rate may have been 3 to 1, believe it or not: three collar Ridges per top-of-back sts)

Yarn was Cherry Tree Hill's Possum Lace in the River Run colorway (I believe this is no longer available; I had to do some serious shenanigans to find a second skein when the first one ran out halfway up the back) Yarn used was probably 600 yards, possibly a bit more.

Oh- and the Ribwarmer is all in garter stitch, so even though two of the lace stitches I chose were stockinette based, I knit it totally in garter lace. And, since lace in garter stitch doesn't completely obey the ratio rule of rows per ridge that ordinary garter stitch does, fudging is necessary. On the part of the body where the rows are vertical and abandoned stitches are gradually reclaimed, I occasionally brought 2 sts back into play, rather than one.

I think that about covers it!