I have discovered the joy of making lace. I made a lace shawl for a friend for Christmas. I have made and am making lace scarves for friends for the just-passed reunion (one down, two to go!). I LOVE making lace. Just love, love, love, love it.
But there's a fly in the ointment. You knew there had to be one, didn't you?
While I like making lace, I have a hard time manipulating needles that are smaller than size US 5. I am not sure if it's my big ham-hands or if I just lack the dexterity. Years ago (I say it was 15, but it's more like 20), when I was studying ASL, I was the best fingerspeller in the class. I practiced fingerspelling every day, sitting on the subway trains and fingerspelling every word that appeared on the advertisements. It got to the point where I was better at fingerspelling than the teacher, who was herself Deaf.
I'm out of practice these days with the fingerspelling, but I thought that I'd be able to handle small knitting needles. Not to put too fine a point on it, but FAT CHANCE!!! I've got some lace on the needles right now, it's a gorgeous pattern, the yarn is actually the stuff recommended by the pattern's author, the colour is sublime, and I know who is going to get it when it's done. If it gets done. Because I can't make my damn fingers do what I want them to do when I'm knitting with these tiny needles!
Hey! I know! I'm using a circular needle with a 36 inch cable. I'm really used to using straight needles if I'm making anything other than a hat. It's not my hands' fault! It's the needles' fault!
No comments:
Post a Comment