Lace Everywhere

I've been knitting on this bit of lace for several years now. This was my first...no, second foray into the charming land of lace knitting. It's round and began in the middle with a few little stitches and grew ever larger as I knit on and on. It has grown to 576 stitches around, grouped into 24 sections of 24 stitches for the eyelet diamond pattern and is only about half finished. It is a labor of love and I continue on with it here and there because I'm at the point that even though it isn't nearly as fun as it used to be, I can't abandon it completely...no matter how much I want to rip it apart and start something else with the yarn. And believe me, there are many other shawl projects I'd like to make and the yarn could be very easily reclaimed for one of those patterns. However, I choose to continue on (and on and on) making my way through two rounds in just about an hour when I knit on it. I work on it when I've gotten tired of other things I've been working on, which is another reason it's taken me nearly six years to get this far.

This is a bit of lace I started knitting yesterday. It's soft and blue and heavenly to knit in the simplest of lace patterns, Fishnet Lace. I must say, the picture is lying to you a bit, as the color is much prettier, like a pale sky blue with a bit of shimmer. I'm almost done with the third panel of the lace pattern. Unlike its round counterpart above, this soft little thing has only 46 stitches, and I expect it to take far less time to complete.When it's finished, it will be a lovely, light scarf that looks fragile but will be surprisingly warm.

I didn't really need to start a new project yesterday. I need to be finishing some projects, such as the round shawl or the socks I'm making for the Relay for Life (however in my defense, they're not needed until May). I'm experiencing a bit of boredom with my current projects and feel the urge to start new ones and they all consist of gorgeous lace. I find myself looking at more lace shawls, thinking, "Oh, I have the perfect yarn for that," or "That's what I can use that cone of sportweight for!" Apparently, I'm tucking the knowledge of how time-consuming lace knitting can be into a far corner of my brain because I've noticed a tendency to think I can just whip up a lace poncho or Faroese shawl in no time. Some knitters can knit lace rather quickly. I am not one of those knitters. I ENVY those knitters. I can knit socks in a short amount of time and even made a sweater in the span of two weeks, but lace slows me way down. I wish I could make lace as fast as I make socks. Heck, I'd be happy if it took me twice or even four times as long to make lace as it does to make socks. I guess, as with all things, I just need to keep doing it and practice, practice, practice. But I still wish for fastness.