Web-Letter, Issue 24 – Knitting Lace Triangles I’m late getting on the lace bandwagon. But on it, I am. It’s not that I haven’t knit lace before. I have. I’ve swatched dozens of stitch patterns in an effort to understand lace’s underpinnings—how yarnovers and decreases can be combined to create the varied intricacies of knitted lace. But a project in thin-as-thread lace weight yarn? This was something new for me. Instead of curling up on the couch with needles and yarn, I sat at my dining room table with a small lamp angled to light my needles. I worked an hour most evenings for several weeks. It didn’t take long to get into the flow of the knitting. Once I had the pattern and rhythm of the shaping down, I quite enjoyed myself. This Little Leaf Shawl is the first of several I plan to knit from a wonderful little book by Evelyn Clark called, appropriately, Knitting Lace Triangles.
The Story: Knitting Lace Triangles isn’t a collection of individual shawl patterns. Instead, the book provides a template for knitting a lace triangle that incorporates one or more, of four different lace patterns: Flower, Leaf, Medallion, and Ripple. Each pattern is a 10-stitch repeat; they can be used solo—I worked my shawl from start to finish in the Leaf pattern—or combined in different ways. For the final few rows, Evelyn provides directions for a scalloped edging. The basic pattern begins on a few stitches at the center of the long edge. From there, the lace pattern is worked between sets of yarn-over increases to the triangle’s final point. For the last few rounds, you work the edging. You can make your shawl as big or as little as you like, depending on your patience or the number of balls of yarn you have. My shawl required slightly more than one ball of CEY’s Silky Alpaca Lace. In addition to the template instructions, Evelyn explains how to read lace charts, count rows in lace patterns, correct mistakes, join yarns, and block a shawl. Especially helpful to me was the section about casting on the starting tab and the instructions for a stretchy bind off. The beauty of this little book lies in the simplicity of its approach. You could make any number of shawls by plugging in Evelyn’s different stitch patterns or, once you’ve mastered the structure, you could, theoretically, venture out and try other lace patterns. That's something I plan to do soon. I’ll let you know how successful I am. The Yarn: Silky Alpaca Lace — 70% alpaca, 30% silk Silky Alpaca Lace is a blend of 70% alpaca and 30% silk. As you might expect, the alpaca component lends a soft halo to the yarn and provides warmth; light and airy as my shawl is, it keeps my shoulders warm. The silk provides a subtle sheen to the knitting—dressing up the stitches. The yarn is a firmly twisted two-ply, the better to see the intricacies of lace stitches. This yarn goes a long way. By eliminating a few rows, I could have worked the entire shawl from one ball. Silky Alpaca Lace comes in 9 colors: A light, early-spring green, sky blue, strong purple, garnet red, orange, pale heathery gray, chocolate-y brown, rich vanilla white, and black. We’ll be adding colors next year—let me know your preferences. Where to buy Silky Alpaca Lace. The Stitches: Evelyn Clark gives instructions for two kinds of blocking—wet blocking and steaming. Although I rarely take the time to wet block my projects, I love the results when I do. I knew that the shawl would dry quickly because the yarn is so fine, so I took the plunge (sorry for the pun). Learn how to wet-block.	more photos The Pattern: Where can I buy Evelyn's book?
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