It’s been a busy week here at the shop, and even busier out of it. Last Tuesday Tabi and I were the Guest Speakers at the Kitchener Waterloo Knitters’ Guild. In keeping with their Lace theme for this year, we helped members decide “What to Knit with When and Why.” Tabi spoke about her amazing handspun lace yarns as well as the basic properties of different yarns, fibers and ply structure. I talked a little bit about unconventional lace, especially lace which involves using bulkier yarns.

I guess I’m just an impatient knitter, because I certainly found a ton of samples to take with me. I’d never really noticed consciously before, but I seem to knit heavy-weight lace quite often. First there was the Gull Lace Scarf, and then as I went deeper back through the cache of finished projects, I found tons of food for thought.

First is Jared Flood’s Hemlock Ring Blanket, slightly improved by a kitten, knit out of worsted weight Alpaca. This is a nice, quick simple knit that I a great time with, and which has gotten a ton of use since I finished it. As you can probably tell. I used it to demonstrate the draping and unique properties of alpaca yarns.

Yarn: Alpaca With A Twist Big Baby
Pattern: Jared Flood’s Hemlock Ring Blanket
Needles: 5mm

I also took this little linen top with me to showcase the properties of that fibre:

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank Top from an older issue of Interweave Knits.
Yarn: Rowan Linen Drape
Needles: 3.75mm
This was a knit that got picked up and put down, and then frogged and reknit a couple times, because it was knit way back when I was still pretty new to lace knitting and pattern stitches in general. The yarn was rather splitty as well, as linens often are, due to loose ply structure.

There were others, many, many others, including a few that I borrowed from Grace, one of the girls who comes to knit and chat on Thursday Nights. Overall I think the talk went pretty well, despite the fact that I’m usually a little nervous speaking in front of crowds that large, and despite the fact that some technical difficulties meant that my part of the presentation looked a little less polished than it should have, but such is life. Right now I’m working on finishing my sock homework so I can help Johanna B. as she teaches her “Toe-up socks on two circular needles” class next weekend!