Simple Lace Wrap

Are you a knitter?  I started knitting when I was in junior high school; I had to knit something for home economic class.  I borrowed some knitting needles from my mother and I knitted a pink scarf with checker box pattern.  In retrospect it was a pretty horrible attempt, nonetheless I was pretty proud of myself then for being able to knit something with a pattern.  I tried to pick up knitting a couple times in the coming years, but for some reasons I never went beyond scarf knitting.  And even so, I only knitted a handful of scarfs in 10 years which was not a particularly exciting achievement.

I started getting back to knitting four, five years ago when I visited Knot Just Yarn in Burlington, Washington. The store was not located in a major tourist point and I guess I must have done some research on yarn shops on the internet prior to my visit.  I cannot remember what prompted me to look up a yarn store, but I haven't stopped knitting ever since (well, minus the time for sleeping, working, cooking, and all that good stuff!).  I wanted to knit something that is not a scarf, but I didn't think I was ready to move beyond something rectangular quite just yet.  I asked the lovely sales lady in the shop to recommend an easy lace pattern to me, and she suggested the "Easy Lace Scarves and Wraps" by Bev Galeskas.  Since wool makes me itchy, the sales lady recommended the Pagewood Farm Yukon yarn which is a Merino, Bamboo and Nylon blend.  This was the first time I've done yarn shopping outside of your average arts and crafts chain store, and I was really shocked to see the price tag associated to the yarn. (Really it wasn't all that expensive; anything from a decent yarn store would looked expensive compare to the $6 / skein synthetic yarn you find in Walmart.)  Anyway, I am glad I purchased the yarn because this yarn transformed my knitting experience.  I came to the conclusion that I took a break from knitting because I did not enjoy the look and feel of items knitted with polyester yarn and other synthetic materials; knitting with good yarn is so much more satisfying! (This should be a discussion that I would continue in a separate entry because I could go for a long while!)

Anyway, getting back to my scarf...  As promised by the pattern, the lace pattern is very simple to knit.  You can make a scarf or a wrap using the same lace pattern, and there is an alternate lace pattern.  I have to admit that I struggled with the lacing pattern as well, but that has to do with the fact that I had not been knitting for a while at that time and I really could benefit from some warm-up exercises.  After I got into the groove, I could knit the wrap while watching TV!  Not only did I re-discover the joy of knitting, I also learned about the beautiful effect of "blocking."  The lace pattern looked so impressive that I couldn't believe I knitted the wrap!  (For those who know when I blocked my wrap, don't ask me to explain the delay.... It's a long and convoluted story! :p)

I "reconnected" with knitting fairly quickly because I discovered I could satisfy a lot of my desires at the same time: knit up beautiful garment that I could wear, watch a few TV shows while I'm knitting, do a photo shoot for the item to showcase it, and have a conversation topic with my friends on the items that I knitted up!  I look forward to share more of my knitting projects with you in the future.

For your information, detailed information on a lot of my knitting projects can be found on my Ravelry page. (www.raverly.com)  If you are a knitter but you are not familiar with Ravelry, you should check it out.  It is a free knitting and crocheting web site with lots of excellent information!  Please contact me for my Ravelry information if you would like to visit my Ravelry page.