FFFO

[firecat]

I have a Finally Fucking Finished Object (FFFO), a version of Branching Out by Susan Pierce Lawrence on the Knitty web site.

I've had it on the needles since August or so.

I wasn't actively knitting it that whole time, but I had a very difficult time with it and probably knit about twice as many pattern repeats as ended up in my finished scarf. If this is "easy lace" (as billed on Knitty) then I'm not cut out to be a lace knitter.

(I haven't given up on knitted lace yet though.)

It's made out of some mystery yarn on a cone that I got in a Newton's Yarn Country sale. The yarn is soft, light and fluffy. It's not very elastic (and therefore not the smartest yarn to use for a first lace project. Oh well). My swatch was completely unaffected by the washer and dryer so I don't think the scarf is going to be "blockable" per se.

There are still a lot of mistakes—but most of them are relatively invisible, even to me. The one that isn't invisible (but I'm too lazy to fix) is that the first 1/4 of the scarf is "inside out." I noticed quite a while later that I had switched the right side and wrong side rows. It's still probably not noticeable to anyone but another knitter.

Design decisions as a result of mistakes department:

I hopelessly fouled things up around 1/3 of the way into the scarf and "fixed" it by knitting some rows of garter stitch and starting over. So then I knit another chunk of garter stitch 2/3 of the way along.




branching-out_03-04-07
Originally uploaded by firecatstef.



branching-out-full
Originally uploaded by firecatstef.

Comments

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

I'm a Particular Sort of Geek....

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

I read "FFFO" and think "negative sixteen."

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

The thing I've found about lace is that unless one *really* screws things up right royally, the occasional mistake really isn't terribly visible unless one points them out. The "knitting a chunk of garter and starting over" solution to total screwup of the pattern is novel, but it works rather well!

FWIW, I tend to very rarely have total-pattern-screup events since I discovered the joys of stitch markers to indicate pattern repeats or segments. If the beginning and end of each pattern segment is clearly marked, then no matter how much one screws up one segment, it is easy to do the next segment exactly correct (rather than have the error run across the rest of that row). It really makes a huge difference in knitting lace. Do you use stitch markers?

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Very nice! It reminds me a little of some of the things my grandmother used to make. (She passed away relatively young when I wasn't that old myself, unfortunately, so I experienced her more through the work she left than through her actual presence, but she was an amazing talent.)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

It's *gorgeous*!

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I have a "disability" that prevents me from seeing 2D as 3D. It also impacts my ability to judge distances and to read knitting charts. (To extrapolate the FO from the chart.) I'm just missing a piece of visualization software in my brain.

I do lace knitting by swatching till I can make it through one repeat and remember it. Sometimes I have to write out the stitch pattern (even if it's provided, just to get it into my brain).

I like lace, however; I like how it looks and the "magic" of how it's created. But I also have to be careful not to attack something too complicated, because I'll just give up. So good for you for finishing!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

It looks great! Congratulations on finally fucking finishing.

[tedesson.livejournal.com]

It's marked "tangy" on knitty, which is their pretty darn hard rating.

I like the use of garterstitch. It looks deliberate, and changes it from something old fashioned into something modern.

I find I have to be in exactly the right environment and headspace to knit lace. I haven't been in that headspace for, gasp, 20 years. I once in a while miss it, and would like to get back into it, but I have no idea how to find my way back to it these days.

[snippy]

Wow, I think it looks great!

[jb98.livejournal.com]

I think it's gorgeous. Kudos!

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Nice!

[fimbrethil.livejournal.com]

Very pretty.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

gorgeous pattern and love the color, too.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Goodnesses!

[sev]

wow, gorgeous! And I love the garter stripes.

I've also heard people call Branching Out a good beginner's lace, and I think they're insane. I consider myself a lace knitter and that pattern intimidates me a bit. Sure, it's a big rectangle, and that makes it sort of conceptually easier than, say, a triangular or circular shawl...but I'd rather do any shape with a lace pattern that's predictable enough that I can eventually put away the chart.

That's what I so loved about Knitty's Ella pattern (in the triangular, not the v-shaped version) -- once I put stitch markers at the center of each repeat, the pattern made lots of sense and I could figure out the next row from the previous row. I guess in general that's why I like geometric lace instead of viny stuff.

I did my first lace project (also a scaref, but in the feather-and-fan lace pattern, which *is* an easy one) from a cone of mystery yarn.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Much as I dislike feather-and-fan, that's beginner's lace. But I'm glad you stuck it out as the finished result is lovely.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Excellent response to adverse events! I bet nobody would notice it if you didn't point it out.