Of all the crafts I have dabbled in or continually practice, knitting is a constant. Even sitting here at my desk, I can easily reach five different projects that are in various stages of completion. One of the fascinating things about the craft is the variety of structures, and every knitter I’ve ever met has one toward which they gravitate. For me, it happens to be lace. Here are three tips for knitting lace that I share with my local knitting students.
Tip #1: Sharp, Stabby, and Pointy
Tools for any occupation or hobby need to fit the purpose and make the task easier. Can you imagine trying to stream a movie with a slow internet connection? It makes following the plot line very difficult.
The same could be said for not having good knitting needles. For lace and its variety of odd stitches, ranging from k2tog to make 3 into 7, needles with sharp points will be your best friend.
Needles from my collection, all with pointy tips! Photo by Katrina King
Tip #2: Size Doesn’t Matter
One of the biggest misconceptions about lace is that the yarn and needles must be tiny for a project to be considered lace. Not so. The idea behind lace is using negative space to your advantage—in other words, putting holes in the correct spaces. Many times, when I am figuring out a complicated pattern from a swatch book, I work it with yarn and needles much larger than what I intend for the final project. This helps me understand how the stitches interact with each other without breaking out the magnifying glass!
Swatches worked with fingering-weight yarn. Photo by Katrina King
Tip #3: Read Your Knitting
Charts for lace are one of the greatest inventions out there. They share a ton of information in a very small amount of space and look exactly how your knitting should. When you are following a chart, use a sticky note to mark your place, but don’t place it under the line you are working from, but rather over the top edge of it. You need to see where you have already been to understand where you are going. Marking your place this way allows you to understand how the stitches interact with each other. Seeing that a yarnover on the previous row becomes a k1 on the following row rather than part of a ssk will help keep you on track.
See how the knitting matches the chart? Photo by Katrina King
Whether you have tried lace before and thrown your project across the room in frustration or are simply game to give it a whirl, I hope these tips help you create something beautiful!
Katrina King is the editorial assistant for Long Thread Media, an avid crafter, and continuing student of life.