Yarn magazine issue 41: All laced up

Issue 41 of Yarn magazine came out this month, featuring my article on designing your own lace with a companion project, the leaf and caterpillar scarf (it’s the orange scarf on the cover).  I used the project as the design example in the article.  The scarf was returned to me last week, just in time for autumn.

To my surprise, I quite enjoy knitting lace.  The scarf is about the fifth lace project I’ve designed, but I’m by no means even close to mastering lace.  I came across some mind-blowingly complex lace patterns while I was researching the article, and also some that were so clever and beautiful that I longed to have been the person who designed it.

I wonder whether lace designers know what they want to achieve from the start?  Do they already have The Vision?  Or is the design built as they go along?

For me, I have vague ideas that solidify as I do swatches, however, I find it hard to predict exactly how things will turn out (unlike sewing, when I am pretty certain).

Probably the day was too hot to model it. Behind the smile I’m sweating profusely and trying not to breath the mothballs from my coat.

That’s better!