As I've mentioned before, my Amazing Lace project is a gift -- I can say now that it is a gift for my mom - a Mother's Day/Birthday (and possibly Anniversary, depending on how long it takes me to knit it) gift. I've been in a sort of quandry about how to deal with the Amazing Lace, but my inability to post about my project or my progress. My mom reads this blog pretty regularly, and I didn't want to tell her not to read it. But at the same time, I though of how great it would be to watch the surprise on my mom's face when she pulls a delciate lace scarf out of a box, and I knew I couldn't tell her. So this is my solution... Hopefully, she'll "follow the rules" and not read.

So... For the Amazing Lace, I'll be knitting Eunny's "Print O' the Wave" stole. I'm feeling a little ambitious. I've not knit much lace (just a pair of socks here and there, what work I've done on Orangina, and a complete failure of an attempt at a faroese shawl for my mom for Christmas). This particular lace seems complicated... and the yarn I'm using? I went off my rocker. I'm a novice lace knitter, using Sundara Silk. It's like not knowing how to drive and being behind the wheel of a Jaguar. The yarn is so beautiful and, coupled with the fact that my mom is very sensitive to wool, I knew I needed to get it. The sun hasn't been shining, so I don't have a picture that does it justice. But I bought one skein of Somewhat solid silk in Wine with Violet (here is what it looks like on the website):


And here it is last night, in all of its crunchy goodness, after I spent two (count them - TWO) hours winding it into a ball. Have I mentioned how much I need a ball-winder? I did try something new this time, that helped considerably. The kitties are in love with these little foam balls from the grocery store -- you can buy six for a dollar. I started winding the yarn around one of these balls, so that I didn't have to deal with the awkward not-yet-a-ball stage of winding yarn. It helped so much that I think I will buy a bunch of these just for yarn and use it for the rest of the lace weight yarn I've never used because I can't stand the thought of trying to start a ball with it. I just threw on Vertigo last night and wound until the movie was done. Anyway, here she is (with my freedom sock in the background):


(my friend Jonathan points out that that little ball is 10 football fields long. Hmmmm... gives you something to think about, huh?)

There are no words for how gorgeous this yarn is. It's my first time knitting with 100% silk, and I can't get over the decadence of it. It feels so sturdy, and yet so smooth, in my hands. I've never knit with anything like it and I'm completely in love. It's also the scariest knitting experience I've had to date. I know knitting lace is something of a faith-filled endeavor. Because you knit and knit and knit and it looks like crap and then you block it and miracles occur. But... I started a test swatch this morning (and learned the invisible cast on!) to see if I like size 4 needles. So far, it looks like this:


Hmmm. I know it's a crappy pictures (again, no light), but you get the idea. Doesn't look like much. I'm going to test one or two pattern repeats and see how I feel, but I'm thinking that size 3 needles will work better. I like the knit portions to denser... It will give the whole think a little bit more substance, which I think it needs, since it's being made with a substantive yarn. We'll see... I'm just such a lace novice, I'm desperately afraid of making a mistake. I'm trying to have confidence in my "teammate" and plug ahead. I'm so excited about this project...