Heading Down the Forest Path

One of the first (if not THE first) lace pattern to catch my eye last year was the Forest Path Stole. In fact, I'd say it was the start of my lace obsession. I came across the pattern on someone's blog (no idea who it was) and immediately decided to make it. I tracked the pattern down at http://www.sandrasingh.com/ and ordered a copy (the pattern is also now available in Best of Interweave Knits). While waiting for it to arrive I cast on the Sarcelle Stole, and then Hanami, and then.... well, you get the picture.

So here it is 9 months later and I have FINALLY cast on for the Forest Path Stole. I'm using Cinnabar Zephyr WoolSilkand 3.25mm needles.

The needles were my first mistake. Addi Lace needles don't come in 3.25mm (well, at least not anywhere I could find) so I started the stole on regular Addi's. Bad move. The circulars were 30 inches and the cord was crazy coiled. It drove me insane. Obviously the cord could be straightened, but the bigger problem was that the tips were dull. Dull. DULL. Rubbish for lace. And double rubbish for NUPPS. And the pattern has lots of nupps.

Cue much swearing.

A frantic search through the knitting needle bag and I found some 3.25 dpns - KnitPicks metal and KnitPicks harmony. Although the metal needles are lovely and pointy, I find them heavy and was worried they'd be tooooooo slippery. So the harmony needles were called into action.

They are perfect. They are grippy enough that I can leave them as stitch holders on sections I'm not working and pointy enough for nupps. Hurrah.

The pattern itself is clear and well written. The border is seed stitch and each of the panels is one of 3 lace patterns. They are all pretty straightforward and only the nupps are likely to cause much difficulty. Not that nupps are difficult - just that they take some getting used to. My tip is to knit the set up stiches for the nupps crazy loose. That and a pointy needle make the purl 5 together much easier.

I'm just starting the 4th tier of panels. I'm enjoying the knitting but I don't think this will be completed quickly. The entrelac design gives the knitting a sort of stop-start feeling as you move between panels. I never seem to build up much momentum and so I'm easily distracted from it.

In other knitting news I've decided I need to attack my sock stash over the next few months as I've got a silly amount of sock yarn. Happily, my mom asked for some socks today! Being my mom she thinks my socks are tooooooo nice to wear, but she wants some to show off with. How cute is she?