It's a Birch! It's a plane! It's... it's... oh wait, it really is a Birch!
Thank you so much to everyone who left comments with advice for working with Kidsilk Haze. I ordered some Bryspuns off eBay, but may in any case pick up a pair of Addi Naturas from Knit-A-Way (which carries them, I think) when I get an hour to breathe with all the clinic work I've been doing. In the meantime, I'm plugging away on my crappy Susan Bates SIlverados, and have made moderate progress. Birch can be viewed above being held in place by my Professional Responsibility textbook.
It's funny. Birch looks a lot better in pictures than it does in person. Sarah can back me up on this - the pattern is much more evident on screen. Wacky. Anyhoo, here's a closeup:
At this point (close your ears, Jolt) there is a mistake in literally (which I am using literally) ever right side row. Thankfully as many of you pointed out, Birch is a tres forgiving pattern, and I can only see a few if I hunt for them.
One concern, though: I used the wrong cast-on method. Yes, it's true. I used long-tail cast on, and I now see that "lace cast on" is called for in the pattern. You'd think after three years in law school I would have learned to read for detail, but noooo, the big-picture loving, word-skimming English major within still beats her breast triumphantly once in a while. The cast on edge is quite inelastic. What is "lace cast on"? Is it some magical, elastic cast-on edge? What are the consequences of using long-tail cast-on in lace knitting? Do I need to frog? (FYI I have time to frog, built into knitting time for an occasion just like this one, if necessary. I'm not above it. Go on, break it to me...).
Posted by jess at January 25, 2006 8:03 PMSee how much that edge stretches and compare it to how spread out the leaves are. If they're barely spread and still look like a blob of stitches, you may have to start over. But if not.. there's no reason to. I'd hate to have you cast on all 299. You just don't want to finish it and then block it realizing that the rest of the shawl is expanding and opening up and your cast on edge is not.
OH, and becareful with the bryspuns. I started mine out on bryspuns and the cord broke MID-ROW and I lost a few stitches.. be very careful.
Posted by: Angela at January 25, 2006 9:34 PMIn a lace cast on you start with a slip knot on the left needle and then knit a stitch into it, transferring the new loop onto the left needle to make the second cast on stitch. Then you just continue this step, knitting into the first stitch on the left needle each time, and pulling the new loop up onto the left needle. It is similar to the cable cast on, but in that technique you are pulling the new loops from between the first and second stitches on the needle.
Your long tail cast on may be stretchy enough, check what angela said. (notice Im not saying to start over)
Yes, try stretching it out with your hands, stretching both the body and the edge of it. If you can stretch it as far as it will be blocked, and there is no binding along the edge, you're fine. If the cast-on won't stretch enough now, I doubt it ever will. That's a bit of heart-wrenching frogging to think about. Good luck.
Posted by: aimee at January 25, 2006 10:39 PMIt's lovely. I don't know anything about knitting lace - I just hope the cast on is stretchy enough!
Posted by: Chris at January 25, 2006 11:18 PMI didn't use a lace cast on for mind (actually I didn't even know it called for that until you pointed it out...whoops). Anyways, i did use a long tail cast on and it blocked out just fine. It looks great so far!
Posted by: Jill at January 25, 2006 11:35 PMQuick question; are you using the purl version or the knit version of the pattern for rows 2,4,and 6? It really is lovely I am tempted to knit it after seeing how lovely yours is turning out.
Posted by: Kitty Kitty at January 26, 2006 1:09 AMths cast on for lace and birch can be found here
http://tricofolk.info/technique.php?page=mont_dent
it's in french but you can see the picture or translate the page!
this cast on is more elastic than the one that you used
Posted by: Circé at January 26, 2006 2:28 AMi'm with the others: give it a good stretch and see how it looks. the lace cast-on is a knitted cast-on - there is an explanation somewhere in that rowan mag, actually; i think there's an article on casting on.
Posted by: kris at January 26, 2006 7:54 AMOh, oh....definitely stretch it out to see. Lace, especially skinny yarn knit at a big gauge, stretches out more than you'd expect when blocking to open up the pattern. Angela's advice is spot-on...
Posted by: eunny Jang at January 26, 2006 10:21 AMThank you for giving Stephen Gillers the worldwide web recognition he so richly deserves! You can always scrap the shawl, but the 7th edition of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers is forever...
Posted by: rfn at January 27, 2006 11:22 PMI know you posted this a while ago, but wanted to say THANK YOU for explaining the lace cast-on and mentioning that you like it better. I've now ripped out my Birch and restarted her.
Posted by: Jennie at August 9, 2006 2:51 PM