Seamesh Scarf and my thoughts on lace knitting

This project has been lurking around a long time. The yarn, Handmaiden Sea Silk, came home with me in August of 2006 with the intention of being Lace Wings by Alice Cooley. Unfortunately, after 2 months and 13cm I left the yarn to languish. I can't remember when I saw Michelle's two skein Seamesh Wrap (it had to have been at DK) but I decided that was what my Sea Silk needed to be. And she wanted to see what a one skein version of her wrap would look like. Clearly it was destiny. So in July I riiiiipped out Lace Wings and casted on for Seamesh Scarf.

SEAMESH SCARF
Started: July, 2006
Completed: February 11, 2008
Pattern: Seamesh Scarf
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk
Color: no colourway named but it's turquoise-y/blue
Skeins: 1
Needles: 3.75mm/US 5 Knitpicks Options
Notes: First completed lace project!

My love for the yarn returned! My hate for lace vanished!

This was a great first lace project... even though it took me forever to finish. There were times when it just flew off the needles and there were times when it was so full of mistakes that I had to keep rippingknittingrippingknittingripping ad infinitum but in the end it was so worth it.

Why did I like this as my first lace as opposed to Lace Wings or Orangina?

Lace Wings, first off, is a lovely finished item and more talented people than I should be knitting it right now. In my opinion, the pattern is written in such a way that a new lace knitter will break out in cold sweats. Okay, I broke out in cold sweats. It felt like you either needed to know what you're doing (which I didn't) or be okay with guesstimating (which I'm not). And then there is the increasing! Every time I increased I had this horrible thought that I was going to run out of yarn. Sometimes I would forget to increase.

The ripping! The agony! The defeat!

There was lots of ripping back. But the actual nail in the coffin for Lace Wings was the more I thought about it the more I KNEW my friend would not wear a triangular shawl. No matter how much love, blood, sweat and/or tears I put into it. And the more I thought about it, if it were for me I wouldn't wear a triangle either. That sealed the deal.

Since I've been writing this post I've been having thoughts of Orangina go through my mind. I know I started Orangina a lifetime ago but I had so many problems with it that it is in the UFO pile. Possibly for good. (I noticed in one of my old posts I said I would possibly have it done by January of 2008... that was in July of 2006. Harharhar.) But I also realize that I've done a lot of knitting between then and now. When I started Orangina I totally would have considered myself an absolute knitting newbie. The knowledge I have accumulated would make such a difference if I tackle Orangina now. First off, I would use kick-ass, awesome needles as opposed to the cheap bamboo ones that have a weird little bump between the needle and the cord requiring force to get your knitting from the cord to the needle. And I would use lifelines. Copious amount of lifelines. Because it's a 4 row repeat you tend to get comfortable (or cocky, depending) and you stop paying attention and then you have a big mess up that is hard to fix without ripping. Who knows, maybe I'll give it another try.