Lace Lace Lace

The Icarus Shawl has been defeated. Well, it's off the needles at least, now I just have to block it. I did not run out of yarn!

Once past the first chart, I flew through this puppy.
Upon completion of bind-off, I immediately cast-on for Hanami:
I'm knitting up Hanami with Lacey Lamb Extrafine lambswool in a Seafoam colorway. This yarn is amazing - it is buttery soft to the touch and has quite a bit of elasticity. It's already proving a joy to work with, and I think the stitch definition is wonderful. I'm using US 3s. The Hanami pattern is originally a basket weave pattern on one end and a cherry blossom motif on the other - the pattern also includes directions for knitting only one or the other. I plan on knitting only the Cherry Blossoms part. The pattern calls for a provisional cast-on and knit one end, then pick up and do the other. I am an impatient, not-into-that-fidgety knitter, and after looking over the Cherry Blossom portion of the pattern - no more than a series of yos, k2togs, and ssks - I figured I'd take a stab at knitting the pattern upside-down. Well, knitting it right side up, but reading the charts upside-down. You know.

This is (so far) a fast fast fast knit. I'm sure my love of this yarn is making it easier. I'm hoping (trying, striving, aiming) to have this done in a quick enough manner that it will not interfere with the Most Knit-A-Long of all Knit-A-Longs that will be the Wing O' The Moth with Max.

I love lace knitting - I like the challenge of it; it keeps me interested. The start of a lace pattern is intriguing, to see how the stitches are going to come together and fall into place. When you can read your knitting and see where things went wrong, see what has to happen next - it's pretty awesome. And, of course, the blocking. Which, in and of itself is pretty boring and annoying, but when you take out hose pins and wires...........Yowzah!

In spinning news, there is no news. I haven't been spinning much this week, but I am itching to get back to it. I (unnecessarily) picked up a bit more roving - I'm looking forward to some time to just sit down and plow through a bunch of what I have, really spend some time getting to know what I am doing, getting a better understanding of the fibers and the machine. While I am happy with the results that I am getting, I really want to know more about why why why the fibers behave in this way or that, and the role of the wheel, and the tension regulation, and and and......I want to own this skill, really embrace it, and completely and fully understand it. I know that's a lot to ask. I'm willing to give it a shot though. And everyone that I know who knits will gain the rewards of my journey through random bundles of randomly handspun randomness.