Lace knitting is like a regression. It essentially harnesses and brings under control the one thing you try to avoid as a new knitter – holes. Terrible when created accidentally, some crazy knitters make these holes on purpose, arranging them into intricate and beautiful patterns.

I have dipped my toe into the frothy pool of lace knitting before, but only a little. A simple feather and fan scarf is the most complex piece of lace I have attempted so far, but I have decided not to be afraid of any knitting techniques anymore.  What’s the worse that can happen?  I take my toes back out of the frothy lace pool and instead visit the frog pond.  So, armed with two absolutely gorgeous skeins of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, I had a look through some lace patterns and found a design which I liked the look of, Ailsa Daly’s Red Emperor scarf, freely available for download from her website ‘Knitabulous‘.

I have so far completed one of the edge panels of lace, and have enjoyed the knitting very much.  I haven’t found the knitting too taxing – I can still listen to an audiobook whilst I knit, I can even listen to my other half without waving my hand in his direction in the internationally recognised knitter’s gesture of ’shhh! I’m counting!’

Red Emperor lace stole - border lace design

Looking at the edge panels on the knitabulous site I realise how much comparative length is given to the stole by blocking.  The lace portion I have knitted so far is completely different in its dimensions to the finished stole as pictured, which I think is a slight shame as I like the almost 3D appearance of the cockleshell shaped motifs in the border and I now have vague concerns about having enough yarn to make an adequately long stole, but I have sworn not to get too upset if I end up with a short but beautiful rectangle.

Either way, whether this stole is due to become my favourite knitted object ever, or simply an exercise in learning another aspect of the knitting tradition, I am no longer scared of lace.  It’s just a series of yarn-overs and various decreases, reined in with a little bit of concentration.