Mysterious Lace

It's been some time since I've written on my blog. After the passing of my dearest Uncle Mario last month, I am knitting a wrap for my Aunt. I've decided to take the plunge and venture out into the knitting of mysterious lace. Granted, I have knitted lace patterns before, but with bigger yarn.

Now, I am working with Fiddlesticks Lace which is absolutely lovely when knitted up. A little tricky for me to get the right needles. It is somewhat of a sticky yarn. Believe it or not, after a dozen attempts to start, I finally dug out my old Susan Bates' aluminum straight needles. For the amount of stitches I am working on, these have proved to work the best for me. I had so much trouble with the circular needles both in bamboo and metal. The cable kept flopping around and my stitches looked very messy.

As I start each row, I say a prayer, as this is a prayer shawl, and completely loose myself in the meditative, and repetative nature of knitting lace. It is always a good thing when I end the row and all is well. I can see now how addictive knitting lace can become. It is quite challenging as far as working stitches, reading charts, or patterns, but this keeps you from getting bored, and for me, makes the time I'm knitting fly by. I look up at the clock and find that I've knitted for two hours. Unbelievable. I pray that I can continue to finish this very special shawl without too much trouble. I am very anxious to see it all blocked and ready to be mailed to my Aunt. I also pray that this shawl will bring peace, comfort and warmth to her during her time of grief. I miss my Uncle Mario very much. I can only imagine how my aunt and my cousin are dealing with the loss. He was such a huge presence, both in stature and heart. A rare human being, very much loved by all and will never be forgotten. RIP in Zio Mario.