Photoless Post of No Real Progress

There hasn't been much time for knitting this week -- work has been incredibly busy, and has spilled over substantially into my free time. Nevertheless, I have managed to work in a little knitting failure.

Remember this? It's Helen's Lace from Lorna's Laces in Blackberry, special ordered from my LYS for the Fountain Pen Shawl (that's a Ravelry link, because I'm lazy). After knitting about 10 rows with the recommended size 6 needles, I knew my gauge was too loose, so I ripped out and started again on size 5s.

Finding the best size 5s took a little work. My KnitPicks are in use and my favorite, pointiest size 5s, from Jenkins Woodworking, that I used for my sister's Honeybee stole, have developed a rough place at the join on one side, making moving the stitches over the join pretty annoying. Plus, they are made of a dark wood, which is problematic with dark yarn. I found a pair of bamboo circs in my stash, and although the cord was sort, they seemed almost pointy enough.

I finished the 20 "Lace Beginning" rows, and got 10 rows into the first repeat of the body. By then, I had done two nupps and discovered that the bamboo needles weren't quite pointy enough for the p5tog (two of the five are yarn-overs, making those stitches really tight). However, a size 1 dpn was very handy in getting the nupp done, and really not too fiddly.

However, I still wasn't crazy about the fabric I was producing, and wondered if I should go down to size 4s. I had pretty much decided that was a crazy idea when I dropped a stitch that went down through a decrease. After pouting and whining to the cats about how hard it would be to fix, I ripped everything out.

Now, off to find size 4 circs....