When It Rains

When it rains, knitters would be happy to stay at home and knit.  Today is that kind of day --- dark, wet, and a perfect day to knit along with a cup of tea.  However, it is not the case for me.  I have been in denial of knitting because of this scarf.
 

The pattern is Aise by Espace Tricot. It is lace weight alpaca & silk and very airy.  It feels spectacular to touch.  It is going to have seven stockinet stitch panels with six lace connections.  I knit five panels, and I realized the stitch count was not right.  There should be horizontally 100 stitches, but mine has an odd number of stitches.  I noticed it late at night a couple of days ago.  I was very tired, and did not have any energy left to figure out if there is 99 stitches or 101 stitches.  Of course, I could not emotionally afford to rip it out because I had been working on it almost two months!

 

So, if I do not want to work on my knitting project, what would I do?  Luckily, I have a new obsession.  Tatting!  A friend of mine kindly took another friend of mine, my daughter and me to a tatting class last month.  I have knitted and crocheted quite some time by now, but never tatted.  We learnt needle tatting instead of shuttle tatting.  The needle is approximately five inches long and looks very intimidating.  It is one of those which I saw at a tatami mattress maker's shop when I was little.  I do not think I can bring it to the airplane. 

 

For me, tatting is a wildly interesting method to make garments.  There is core thread, and you keep wrapping it with working thread, and make rings and chains with occasional picots.  I am still leaning how to get simple medallions done correctly.  I think my work is getting a little better.



Here is a close-up.  How fun!