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Now well, this is as much for my benefit as others because Lace patterns can be hella confusing.

So, there is this which is a set of trouble shooting guides. Which is for the basics of knitting. Gotta have those first. For Lace knitting this site could be a lot better.

So if you want to start trying to knit lace I can try to help you. I just finished my first lace scarf. So I think that I am quite smug about it. I know I have made mistakes in it, but it does not matter much in the long run for me. (Besides I am not going to go back 20 rows to fix something I see I've messed up on.) So it IS okay to mess up on your first lace project.

I would suggest until you are utterly awesome and confident about this to use just normal yarn, perhaps just get the thinner yarn. You do NOT NEED TO GET LACE WEIGHT YARN. I need to stress this, you CAN just use bigger needles. For the super bulky things it will tell you to use the bigger needles of course. So for just the yarn that you by at walmart, that normal yarn use around standard size 5.0 in needles and above for it. depending on how big you want your knitting to be.
Once you are used to knitting lace go find some lace weight yarn and start in on a project. I'm trying to knit something for my friend now, since I got my own.

Also at the end of the knitting you will need to 'block' it in order for it to look like the pictures. Blocking is easy and you can do it without using a special board. Get a piece of wood/plywood/drywall/anything really about twice as large as your project. Place your piece into some water and soak it in there, it does not need to be dripping wet. If it is get a towel and use it to absorb some of the water. Place pins/nails at every outside stitch of your piece stretching it to the edges or at about 1/4-1/2 times bigger then it is now.
Leave it to dry and once it does you should have your finished piece. You can get a blocking board or use blocking wires. (Whatever those are right?) or you could be the one to put a ton of nails into your shed and hang your piece outside and get funny looks by your neighbors!

There are charts and there are patterns. With charts you are gonna want to have something to keep you on the right part. Using a metal clipboard (or something similar) you can use magnets. Or you can use a normal clipboard, clamps, and a ruler. With just normal patterns use pencils to mark the row you are on, or if you have clear covers for them use dry erase markers. ((Or get your printed patterns laminated and do that.))
I'll try to find more lace patterns that are good, and maybe make up my own.


A good idea for the Windermere pattern is to decrease the 'knit 12' rows to a smaller number to make the scarf thinner, or perhaps use a small lace pattern or another type of pattern. Just to mix it up. Just remember to keep a few stitches between the wndermere lace pattern. ((Enough to take a stitch from if you screw up like me. XP))

Happy Knitting!

No problem!

I was trying to make a scarf, you know the windermere one, but using normal yarn kinda made it into a shawl. So when I block it the thing is gonna be huge.

Also, life lines in lace knitting will save a TON of time if you make a mistake. Lifeline how-to can be found there.

Here's a good how to for grafting: stockinette grafting. That's the one I use whenever I have to graft something, at least if it's stockinette.

Nah, just a good guesser. wink