Birch was my first lace project and I really enjoyed making it. I used bamboo needles and think you'd probably have an easier time on wood or bamboo. As you go on you'll get a better idea about the stitch pattern and be able to see what you're doing. Also, mistakes don't show very badly. I know there are a couple in mine, but I really have to work to find them now that it's all finished and blocked out. It's looking good so far!

I never knit KSH, I only crocheted it. But generally with lace, I prefer wooden needles because they are not as slippery.

I found that I like knitting lace on aluminum needles. The points tend to be sharper making it easier to k2tog and ssk and all that good stuff. The points on Addis and most wooden needles are too blunt for me and it seriously slows me down when I'm trying to deal with any lace. But that's probably just me, tho. I'm sure that most people, understandably, will tell you to go with wood or bamboo. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Either way, I can already tell that your Birch is going to be GORGEOUS. What a great color. Can't wait to see more progress.

I tend to prefer bamboo needles for lace, just to slow things down. However, I don't own that many bamboo needles, because for everything else I knit, I use Addis... I think the best needles are the Bryspon plastic ones: they have super pointy tips and the plastic grips the stitches.
I love KSH because I feel like I'm knitting with air!

Uh Oh, I just bought some KSH to start a shawl...hmmm...I am planning on using my Denise Interchangeables. This project will be for Harlot's Olympics so I hope it will not be slow going!

Oh gosh yes!! Wood or bamboo. Give that super slippery stuff a little something to stick to. It will help you out a lot. Stick with it -- you will love your finished Birch. I use mine almost every day in my old, drafty house.

I would do wood or bamboo also. The tips on my addis just didn't do the trick. And for my k2tbls, I inserted my right needle through the front loops, but from behind and then slid the right needle over the left needle (with the stitches still on both needles) and TA DA! I was TBL for both stitches and just wrapped the yarn and completed the stitch. (I hope that made sense to you). But Birch, once you get the first 3 or 4 pattern repeats done, it will start fly by! I ended up finishing mine in less that two weeks. It will be beautiful and it's definitely worth the work =)

i wouldn't do bamboo or wood needles. to me it seems like it would drag too much. when i was making kiri i switched to bryspun needles and it took about 5 stitches before i was utterly in love with them. the tapered point makes the lacework in KSH easy, fun even! whereas my denises had me cursing and were driving me crazy! that's my humble recommendation. good luck!

confession- while i still love me some bryspun, i CAN'T STAND KIDSILK! while i own several balls, and have started at least 3 different projects, i always get frustrated and quit. BUT come to think of it - i've always used addis. hm. keep us updated.

birch is looking beautiful! don't worry, you'll soon get hang of the pattern and it will be smooth sailing from there. and the end result will be incredible!

I like Addi Naturas the best for KSH. I recently did a project in alapca laceweight on bryspuns and while they weren't bad, Naturas are still my preference. I will say though that I *love* the bryspun cable. It has a great feel to it and won't ever get kinked.

kid silk bitch, once blocked, is gorgeous. I would say it gives great face. The silk keeps the mohair from being itchy and the drape and lightness are just magical.
as for working with it, zen. be one with the yarn. use bryspuns or addi naturas. stay away from addi turbos or clover bamboos, I hate them both when paired with ksb.
it's looking great so far, keep plugging away at it (less stitches, just think less stitches!)

I have no great advice for your Rowan Kidsilk Haze queries, but I do know that if you can finish those gorgeous Norwegian stockings, you can do anything. I have a feeling that blocking will be your magic bullet. Look at Cynthia's pretty shawl! If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is.

Keep at it and keep taking pictures! You're already making me want to creep down to my local yarnery and stock up on some of that spiderwebby Rowan!

well, birch was my first lace project, and it was so full of mistakes that i am now embarassed by the pics on flickr But!!!! it still looked great! Hitbyabus sent me the long bryspuns and it saved my mind. And once i got past the huge width i then went down to 10 inch bryspuns. I am a huge fan of the kidsilk because it is the first mohair i 've ever worked with that did not send little wiffies around my nose. Most mohair spun with nylon, microfibers ect..send me into nose spasms. I learnt more doing the birch than any project ever!!Knitting patterns make more sense to me now. It will be beautiful!!!

Hang in there for sure! I have no advice to give on the matter. Just wanted to say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the colour you chose for it and that it looks great so far.

Can't wait to see more ;0)

I've made 2 Birches and used addi naturas for both. The bamboo tames the KSH slipperiness and has sharp enough points for the "fancy" decreases.
Your Birch will be stunning, it's actually an easy, intuitive pattern once you get into it.

Put the kidsilk yarn in the freezer for an hour before you knit. It will be much less rebellious!

Baylene's are also another great needle for lace knitting. These are very inexpensive plastic needles, but they have a wonderful pointy tip for picking up the fine lace yarn. I nearly drove myself crazy trying to do my first lacework project with the Alchemy Haiku yarn that I bought in a frenzy at Rhinebeck. The Baylene's saved my sanity! Just an FYI.

oops - I just realized the Baylene's mentioned above should be spelled Balene's.

I'm still River-ing along and have finally realised that the only way to be sure I haven't dropped stitches (or messed up due to KSH's special ability to make me mess up, love it as I do) is to stop every 4 rows and really look hard to make sure everything is ok. Unpicking up to 4 rows I can manage - anything else is too heartbreaking.

I haven't attempted Birch (frankly, as much as I've coveted a friend's Birch, it scares me), but i have worked with Kidsilk Haze,and i've had good luck using Aero circs. They're really pointy (unlike Addis).

good luck with it!

I like addi naturas for lace - the grip of bamboo and a decent point to the tip with the good addi join. I used bryspuns for my first lace shawl and the cord broke from the tip while I was knitting with no pressure on the join, I might add. It ended in a minor disaster, but the stitches were all saved. I think KSH just takes a while to get into the groove. The shawl is very pretty and will look fabulous when you finish.

i'm quite a KSH vet, and I wouldn't work on any other needles but wood or bamboo. everything else is much too slippery.

mistakes don't really matter too much, the yarn tends to get hairier when worn, so the pattern is a little less visible. even if it didn't get hairier, no one would probably see the mistake anyway.

blocking is the key when working in KSH and lace. It will look like complete crap until blocking is finished. In the end, this whole ordeal will make it so worth it and you'll be coming back for more!

Well, I've never worked with KSH but just wanted to say it looks great already, I am sure blocking will cure many ills. Let us know how you like the bryspuns - I am interested in them!

Good luck, and keep on truckin!

That's sucha great "Something Blue" color! At the LYS I work in, bamboo seems to be the choice for KSh and most mohairs. Not Slippery. That is.

This will be a useless comment, since I myself can't knit with KSH - I'm impressed that you're doing it at all. I find it extremely frustrating, for all the reasons you've mentioned. But Birch seems to be coming along nicely nonetheless.

Birch was my first lace project (I actually used the same colour you are!) and I knit it on addis and did find it a bit slippery. My only advice is to knit it at home until you get a couple pattern repeats done. I found that I made a lot of mistakes when I tried to knit it and talk but after I had about 4 pattern repeats done, I could knit it in my sleep. It will look great when you are done.

I felt the same way as you when I first used KSH, I swapped my addi turbos for some bamboos and found that I loved working with KSH. Keep with Birch, its a wonderful shawl. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

Lovely blog.
KSH: I love it. I use Addi Circs even tho the tips are rather blunt. I use my left hand to "manipulate" the stitches so I can see the opening stitches for k2tog and k3tog. Refrigerating does not help me. I look for the shiney thread instead of the fuzz to keep track of what I need to knit into. It also helps to practice by pulling down each stitch with my left fingers until I got used to the yarn. I found that knitting Branching out from knitty.com gave me lots of confidence knitting with KSH. Yummy yarn! :)
Happy Knitting! from Maine

I buy my Bryspun circs from Elann-they seems to have an assortment of sizes and lengths.

I use bamboo whenever i work with ksh. I'm not sure if refrigerating helps. Tried that, but it just doesn't seems to do anything for me. Hang it there, your birch is looking great.

Bamboo needles for sure. Nice and lightweight. You mention the 'k2togtbl' difficulties. I encountered them also, but with my 2nd Birch I knitted a bit more loosely. That helped.
What you also want, but I think you've got it, is the biggest possible colour contrast between the needle and the yarn.
Do some more repeats and you will see that you can even knit without the stich markers.
If you need to stop knitting, be sure to always stop at the same spot in the pattern, like after you have done k2tog. Then you'll always know where to begin again. I've made mistakes in not doing so and avoided many after adhering to it.
Did you consider transferring the written instructions into a chart? (I really can't figure out why Rowan did not do it. Sharon Miller must have been &^%^%#$#^%$ with that, since she herself only knits from a chart now) It's so much easier to read and you'll see at once how the pattern works.
And I agree with one of the other comments: if you can finish these Norwegian stockings, you're alright with the beautiful Birch. Yours will be beautiful, because you use the stichmarkers in the first couple of repeats. It is exactly the area where you'd make the mistakes. Smart.

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