Hemlock Ring Adventure

First, I want to thank Beverly, fellow blogger you can find here, for coming to my rescue with my lost stitch in the Hilton Lace Pillowcase pattern. I was indeed dropping the first YO in row 2. I can’t tell you how many times I worked and reworked these 3 rows!

I got tired of trying to figure out what I had done in the Hilton Lace pattern and decided to take on the famed Hemlock Ring pattern. I knew that I wanted to be able to see my stitches well, since I am new to lace knitting, so I chose cotton yarn. Last summer, I purchased several HUGE skeins of Lily Sugar n Cream cotton yarn for $5! When I say HUGE, I mean HUGE…710 yards in one skein! I figured I wouldn’t miss any of the yarn, should I totally mess up knitting the Hemlock Ring. No sense in using my coveted yarn, I figure.

Son #3 wanted to hang out with some kids at the mall, so I plopped my HUGE skein of yarn into my knitting bag, 5 double pointed needles, stitch markers and the pattern and made myself comfy in the food court of the mall and got started.

All was going well. I got to the 14th round, and this is where the fun came in. Seriously, it was so much fun doing the work 9 sts into the next YO that I did not realize that the next k1 needed to ALSO be in that YO, and just skipped it. I found this out hours (okay the next day I figured it out) later, after ripping and shaking my head…how could I be short 8 stitches?!?!

I finally gave up and just went on knitting the pattern, since I did not bring any other knitting with me, and I knew that Son#3 would not get out of the movie for well over an hour. I knit right up to Round 29. Where I realized, those 8 stitches ARE going to make a difference. Soooooooo, I simply bound off the stitches, and was done with it. Now I have this cute little cloth.

Today comes along, and I am determined to get round 14 completed with exactly 88 stitches. So, first, I downloaded the notes from the Ready, Set, Knit podcast. They are brilliant! Every line that will have a new number of stitches is charted for you. Get the notes prior to starting if you are going to make this!

So, I start the pattern again. This time I realize that I need to do the last K1 stitch INTO the YO, PRIOR to the K2, drop 1 YO in the pattern. And wahlaaaaaaaaaaaa I have 88 stitches in row 14.

I might have just strutted around the house humming “We are the champions, my friend.”

more to come!