Completed doilie

Many finished projects this week!
This time, it's the lacy doilie I started last week. (Strictly speaking this is a test piece before I start knitting a really big one, so maybe this doesn't *quite* count as finished?)

This is my attempt at the Flacon pattern from (the awesome) Yarn over, home of the great tagline "If you're looking to make holes in your knitting on purpose, you've come to the right place!".

I knit this with 4ply cotton on 2.75 dpns. I think in the end these needles are really too fine for lace knitting with this yarn, the fabric comes out a little too dense and doesn't quite suit the lacy effect. So my next plan is to do the same again with slightly larger needles. I should also say that I'm loving the cotton yarn, it makes a nice fabric and unpicks very very well. I suspect it would have been a bit of a nightmare trying to unpick mistakes in some of the complicated parts otherwise.

Also, the crocheted edging doesn't seem to have worked quite right, it tends to fold upwards rather than lying flat. The instructions on this were quite vague and took a bit of figuring out(thanks to the folks at City Knitty for sharing their experience on this!), so I'll have to see if I've just done something not quite right there.

Still, it was great fun to knit(a lot faster than I expected too), is a pretty little pattern and is ideal for holding cups of tea.
Hugh.

Doilies!

Ok, this one is a bit random. I came across these doilies last week, and pretty much fell in love with them- the patterns are so intricate and detailed, and from the looks of the pattern, they manage it without being *that* complicated. I've been wanting to give something delicate and lacey a try for a while, but haven't come across a good project to do it with until now.
I'm not sure what I'll do with it when it's done - they don't seem to be *for* anything at the best of times, and I'm very much not a doilie person. So I suspect this is another knitting adventure which family and friends will be bearing the brunt of.

So, I'm not sure what kind of thread to use, how fine it needs to be, or how delicate the tension is on lace knitting(especially since there's double pointed needles involved) and so on, so I'm starting off with a smaller one, and if all goes well I'll make a start on one of the really big ones(this is my current favourite, but that's changing quite a lot). Hopefully before then I'll have found a suitable target and will be able to choose appropriate colours and stuff.

But in the meantime, yes, lacey pink doilies. Let's not mention this next time people ask if knitting isn't a bit girly...
Hugh.