me and LACE *shakes fist* ..cry for help!

[feest]

ok i'm about to begin for the FOURTH time on a lace baby blankey : heres my problem i'll be knitting it all fine and dandy but then i'll end up dropping a stitch or two and it'll run and i'll have no idea how to put fix it with all the yo and increses and stuff i just can't seem to get it fixed. I've tried frogging all the way to the end of the runs but then i can get the stitches back on my needle in the right direction and i always end up losing my yo in the confusing mess. I'm becoming very frusterated by this i love knitting but i really do not wanna spend another week knitting things only frog them all.

any ideas/sugestions would be very helpful.

[beka1977]

Have you tried using lifelines?

Basically you knit a couple of rows, then, preferably on a knit only row and certainly on a row that you KNOW you have the right number of stitches you put in a lifeline. The lifeline is a separate piece of yarn, usually a different color, and maybe a different weight. You run it horizontally through all of the stitches - the easiest way is to thread it through a darning needle and run it right under the knitting needle with all the stitches on it.

Knit a couple more rows, put in another lifeline.

This way if you make a mistake you need to only rip to the lifeline. And the lifeline will hold all of the stitches on that row, so frogging is a piece of cake. You pull out to the lifeline then you put those stitches back on the knitting needles.

The lifelines can easily be taken out at the end, or when you don't need them anymore. They just pull right out.

HTH!

[flapjack]

Put it down. Go walk away from the project for a while. There will come a point in your knitting life where you have an epiphany and you go "oh, so THAT's what it looks like"
Or you could use lifelines, or do several swatches to figure it out. But it could just be that this isn't the time for lace in your life.

[fallriverfox]

s It usually takes me about 4 tries to get a lace pattern started. I like to use a LOT of stitch markers (like one for every pattern repeat) and then count after each row to make sure I haven't lost or gained a stitch. After a bit, when I'm a little more practiced with the pattern, I can ease up. Hope that helps

[Angi]

Life lines. Life lines are a must when working with lace.

[rootzdawta]

Originally Posted by Angi

Life lines. Life lines are a must when working with lace.

I wholeheartedly agree.

[OakdaleMama]

My solution is to start knitting a dishcloth.

[xanandali]

It took me trying about six different patterns until I actually found one that worked for me without getting lost 5 rows in. For me it wasn't an issue of lifelines, more an issue of just getting confused on where I was in the pattern.

I also found that I wasn't used to the thin yarn so using smaller needles helped, and generally guage doesn't matter for lace shawls anyway (which is what I was trying to do.) I also had to try four different yarns (including sock weight thinking that would make a difference) before I found one that worked. I also tried using bamboo, kp needles, denise needles, and straights and still couldn't do lace. Ended up just being the needle size that was the issue.

I found that Zen Yarn Garden's sea silk laceweight yarn was the one that worked best and it was the Kiri pattern I ended up going with. I recently found I can also use Dream In Color "Baby" lace yarn too without an issue, but cannot use anything with alpaca or mohair... perhaps for me its just a psychological thing though.

Doing the dishcloth is a good idea. It'll give you a break and instant gratification!

[Kayaking Mama]

Yup, lifelines and lots of stitch markers are the way to go...

[NullSet]

Another vote for lifelines. They are a must for me whenever I start a super complicated project. Frogging 5 rows is much better than having to frog the entire thing.

[feest]

oh thanks guys, i never thought about using lifelines (because i didn't know what they were)...also its nice to know I'm not the only one who had a hard time with lace. thank you all soooo much, you have no idea how happy this makes me i was so frustrated last time i frogged i almost cried.

thank you
thank you
THANK YOU!