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Before I really get going here, I need to mention something important: I'm real sorry I have lost my camera cord, as there are tons of pictures I want to share with you all regarding The Knitting that has already been completed. Until I find the cord (or borrow my mom's since she has the same camera), too bad for you.
Okay, moving on from that very important update. Last night while running a load of laundry (!) I cooked up two excellent ideas. One, I solved the problem of what emblem I should place in the upper center of my newest Top Secret Knitting Project (details to follow after the thing has been gifted). And two, for Boxing Day my darling Mammacita bestowed on me a couple skeins of sexy hot pink mohair. While she intended it (quite perfectly) for the Mrs. Beeton's I've been talking about making, I think I might use it for something entirely different.
Here is the thing. My bedroom? Is very blah. My bedding is all white. The walls are white. The curtains covering the closet are white. The icky rental-apartment shades are off-white. The lampshades on my bedside lamps are white (with a tiny pale pink trim). The only bit of color comes from the INCREDIBLY AWESOME quilt my mother made for me which hangs on the wall. While it is colorful and busy, it isn't enough to balance out all that white. At the same time, it is busy enough that adding any other pattern is too much. What to add? How to do it in a colorful, but complimentary way? Well, how about some lacy, let-the-light-in-but-block-the-view, hot pink, mohair curtains? I don't see why not!
I haven't done much lace knitting, so I am asking for some input. I want the lace to have LOTS of holes. Should I do this with pretty large needles, or should I stick to the yarn recommendation of US size 6-8? I do not want the fabric to be at all dense--I'm thinking light and airy. If I ever need to totally block the view, I can pull the ugly blinds behind the lace. Obviously I will be consulting Barbara Walker for a pattern (I spotted a couple I liked last night, especially paired with one of those beautiful edges). If anyone has taken on a similar project, what words of wisdom do you have to share? I am talking mohair here, so I hope to not have to repeatedly rip it out and lose the halo!
(Can you tell I am also fishing to find out if anyone outside my immediate circle reads this here weblog? Hee.)
As you know, I've made some lace mohair scarves, and I used a size 6 needle for them. I feel that they came out pretty lacey and holey. Obviously, it depends on the lace pattern and how you want it to look (knitting a swatch always is a good test), but I wouldn't go too big on the needles because you still want to have a good structure to the pattern and be able to see what that structure is - - using too big of needles might just make it really holey and lose the awesome laceyness. I mean, if you're going to bother with a lace pattern, you want to be able to SEE the lace pattern, otherwise just do a garter-drop-stitch combo on huge needles and you'll get your holes.
