There was of course, one step before I started gauging. The bride-to-be and ex of the Knitter’s Studio, Mindi, came over with about 20 books of lace patterns. One by one these books were paged through, post-it noted, and dumped unceremoniously to the ground. After which Mindi went home and decided on the patterns for the shawl I was going to knit, as well as a skirt for herself.
That’s when I came into the picture, having volunteered some months ago to undertake the project. We wanted to do several guages, so that we could decide what needle size based on the look of the lace. Mindi had already started her skirt with 2s, but we had both agreed that we wanted the shawl to be looser and lacier, so I went ahead and guaged on 3s, 4s and 5s.
As you can see, I got wildly different results from each needle. The 3s (on the left) were the most substantial, but were of course also the smallest. Not only would they take the longest to knit, but I felt (and Mindi agreed) that it wasn’t lacy enough. The resulting shawl would be a little too weighty. On the other hand the 5s (on the right), were a little bit too far in the opposite direction.
The 4s (in the center) seemed to be the perfect compromise. The resulting shawl will be loose and lacy, but not too much so.
Keep an eye out for some progress pictures here on the blog.
If you’re interested in starting your own lace project you may want to check out Folk Shawls or Knitted Lace of Estonia.
