Soaring to the Sun

I've had the lace bug since August, but haven't done anything about it. Until now. I blame Stephanie and Franklin for making it look so easy and beautiful and …achievable.

I was at the Purlescence Super Bowl sale, picking up roving to spin for Mom [pictures to come], and there was Icarus.

"Stephanie knitted that one," I thought. "It doesn't look too complex. The patterning is mostly at the edge. I can do this, I'm a smart person and a decent knitter."

For myself, I bought the pattern for Icarus, the Seraphim Shawl (a slightly more complex shawl by the same designer), and the new Vogue Knitting. No yarn, and my personal purchases came to under $20.

I came home, laid down to rest (which I desperately needed), and afterwards got up to find my needles and yarn. I have a huge stash.

[I know all knitters say that they have a huge stash, but seriously, mine is huge. I'm not going to disclose how big exactly, but it's not in some little hall closet. There is nothing little about this stash.]

A couple of years ago (okay, maybe it was closer to three years ago), I went to an estate sale with Constance and Mom, and this woman had a Stash. She had died of cancer and asked her friends (before, of course) to sell her things and donate the money. There were also five day-old kittens that I got to bottle feed.

At the estate sale, I got some mohair, some boucle, some silk & wool, and some Zephyr. $15 for a 1 lb. cone. I got all three cones. I filled the trunk of Andrew's car for about $160. A week later, I found Zephyr by the ball for $10/2 oz. I bought some, intending to double or triple the yarn and make a sweater out of it, in colors to match the estate sale colors.

Yesterday, I tore through my (home) office, in my neatly organized Space Bags looking for the Zephyr. Then I went into the garage, where I found the yarn in mere minutes. It doesn't hurt to know what you're looking for.

I pulled out my choices, and the gold color seemed appropriate for the myth that is the shawl's namesake.

(Picture courtesy of Fiddlesticks Knitting)

I cast it on. Ripped it out. Seven times, I think, before I could get my brain to figure out what I was supposed to be doing, conceptually. Despite how long I've been knitting, I had a bad lace experience in high school and never really had an interest in knitting lace until I started reading Stephanie's blog, and more recently, Franklin's blog.

My fingers had been itching to knit lace, and now I had the right project. I have been ADDICTED to Icarus. I can't carry it in my purse because the rows are getting too long for the brief waiting I do here and there. It has (currently) eclipsed spinning for my at-home project. It's incredibly intuitive and very rewarding. Pictures to come!