Icarus has one more chart to go, though I’m a little stuck.
Icarus is a really great knit, but that thing has happened again where I’m really, really emotionally done with a project before it’s technically done. You know the feeling? It’s a lull, and not an unexpected one, but it does mean that the rows are a little bit of a slog at this point, what with there being no love between us. The great thing about knitting lace is that the love comes trotting right back the second that you block it. I’m psyched. Totally.
The only thing is…
Does this look right to you? I’ve been over it a hundred times, looked at the chart, looked at the pattern, looked at the photo and the three things just don’t match. I think I’ve made a mistake, or maybe not, but for the life of me no matter how many times I look at the chart I can’t see any other way for this to come out. I know that there is no error in the chart (what with a) Miriam being a genius and b) hundreds of knitters before me pinning this sucker down.) so if there is a mistake, it’s mine alone.
Miriam? If you’re lurking around out there…what do you think? I’d rip it back and have a do over, but I honestly can’t think of anything I’d do differently, so ripping back seems like a bit of a waste. Plus,
I like what I’m getting, even if it isn’t what the pattern intended for me to get, and I think it’s ok to embrace serendipity in your knitting once in a while, and all may become clear in the fullness of time, or when I block it. What say you all? Right or wrong? Stay or go? Rip or carry on?
I’m going to go and contemplate all of this as I dribble coffee down the front of me, since in a triumph of good adult sense over instinct, I went to the dentist this morning and began the process of getting the 25 year old mercury out of my head. (I know, I know. The jury is out on this one.) Since I seem to have some sort of PTSD about my mouth (likely emotional fallout from having had a whole whack of teeth pulled and orthodontics in the 80’s, which, if you had teeth pulled and orthodontics in the 80’s you will completely understand) I am very pleased with myself for only feeling faint once, only calling my very nice dentist a few bad names (and only in my head) and booking an appointment for next week to do it again. Very grown up.
don’t rip it, it looks lovely.
Your lace looks wonderful and has inspired me to get a copy of the Adamas pattern and yarn which I ordered this very morning. Love your blog.
Hmmm.. you’re reminding me I have to go back to HH which was put aside after surgery.
Icarus looks good to me. But consider who is saying this.
i think it lokos absolutely lovely and you should just go with it. of course, you probably shouldn’t listen to me since i’m really very hypnotized by the colors of the yarn and thinking “pattern? oh, yuh, the pattern’s lovely…sure…mm-hmm…is it fall yet?” those colors make me think of fall, when there is no such thing as a heat index.
Don’t know if its right, and I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned it looks great.
Thanks for making me crave lace even more. I’m off to pet lace yarn and dream over Miriam’s patterns.
I think I see what you mean by your lace not looking straight but I think it might be due to the fact that the colour is really different on each side of the center line. It probably gives you the impression that one side is heavier and less delicate. I’d say continue on!
I love how it looks, especially the color. Don’t rip.
What do you think looks wrong? Unless youa re obessing over something tiny, it looks like the other I see here:
http://icarusalong.blogspot.com/
Leave Icarus as is (no, wait, I mean finish it but don’t rip it).
Visit the Sheep (http://sheepishannie.blogspot.com) if you need to feel better about your dentist. No one is as mean as the Sheep’s dentist.
Ugh! Teeth pulled and orthodontics in the 80’s. That brought back terrible memories. I shuddered in your honor! I think Icarus looks gorgeous, but then again I didn’t check anyone else’s to see if it matches theirs. I say keep on keepin on, it looks beautiful!!
It was great meeting you in Ann Arbor. (I’m the keeper of the petition, yet to be introduced to SO).
It’s absolutely lovely as it is don’t rip! I can’t say if there’s anything wrong with it or not as my icarus has been on an extended time out for months now. (I noticed when I was ready to start the fun part that I’d somehow jogged over two of the yo columns by one stitch – oh, about 36 rows back DOH!)
I’m a big believer in the “if it looks ok, and no one else will notice that there’s a mistake do it again and call it a design element” school of knitting – but that… well it’s just wrong in a very wrong kind of a way.
You are a very brave woman to go back to that dentist! I need to go and have been putting it off entirely because I have this little problem – I don’t like Pain!
I’m still having nightmares about my 80s dental work. Congrats on handling it like an adult. I think I’d have insisted on a lollipop on the way out.
I think I agree with Laurence; IF there is any error, I don’t see it. I think those dark diagonal lines on the right side of the center seam being different from lines on the left (both different in direction on the diagonal, plus at a different level in the shawl than the other side), make it look as if there’s an error when there isn’t. I wouldn’t rip out; it so beautiful in its current state, and unless someone is standing very close in order to catch an error (and if they are that close, they should have something else on their minds instead of an error) they won’t notice it. You are such an artist and an inspiration, if I could do as well as you, I’d pop anyone suggesting there was a mistake in this.
I say leave Icarus as it is. Don’t know if it is “right”, but I think it looks incredible.
Serendipity is wonderful. Leave it as it is.
I think it is the optical illusion of the color in the yarn.
Looks right to me because you get two rows of feathers in the final chart.
Got my braces off the day before my senior picture in 1974 and that was after wearing them Twice…! been there, done that.
Whatever it is, it looks nice.
I had the teeth-pulling and orthodontia in the 80s, and all I have to say is THANK GOODNESS. I would be one chinless, bucktoothed mama if I hadn’t. My blog would be entitled, “Bucky Knits”.
Looks beautiful to me. Perhaps the patterning of the colors (which I love!) is throwing you off?
Leave it as it is. Even if there is something wrong, it is beautiful, and that’s what really matters. Perfect reallys isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
I think you should rip it back. I mean, I’d rather appeal to the challenged questioning side of you then the, Right-On/You-Go-Girl side. I mean, if it bugs you now, it’s really going to bug you when you cast off and start wearing it.
Then again, Haiku is a b*tch to rip back. Wow, I’m not being helpful at all am I?
It looks lovely, I would accept serendipity and see what it becomes.
As for the dentist, I still have not braved going back for a long time, and yes I think part of it is the tooth pulling and othadontics from the 80’s.
Dental work in the ’80’s? What about dental work in the ’60’s? I was a small child and we went to an ancient dentist who didn’t believe children needed novocaine. According to a dentist friend of mine, there was a theory that children don’t feel pain, although he says that it was an outdated theory even in the ’60’s. Accordingly, I LOVE my dentist now – he barely peeks between my teeth before numbing me up!
Oh – and Icarus is beautiful! Don’t frog!
I’ve done Icarus (well, I cheated and did it in fingering weight so I got to skip a repeat of the mind-numbing columns of eyelets) and your’s looks perfect! Or at least it looks like mine did at that point and I like mine. I’ve been a voyeur for a while but I just wanted to give back a tiny bit of reassurance for all the entertainment you’ve given me. Thanks.
No rip! It looks like falling leaves (and falling temperatures!) and cools my thoughts as I leave my air-conditioned office for the 100+ degree heat…
K, I think I may know what you are concerned about. If you think that the points look different, you are right. The first lace chart is truncated, while the second lace chart comes to more of a point. The lace from teh first set of feathers flows into the second set just as you think it’s coming to a point, and then the second set points. I did that so that it wouldn’t just look like the same thing knit another time. I wanted some kind of organic flow for the feathery bits.
Also, the points always look extra pointy until you continue to the next repeat, if that’s what’s concerning you.
And here is a REALLY detailed picture of the point.
E-mail me if that doesn’t seem to help.
I don’t see anything wrong in the first picture and in the second I think I see what’s bothering you and I think its the way the color is interacting with the stitches, to make them look different. The key thing you said though, is that you like how it looks. That’s what is important..if you don’t like it rippit, if you like it leave it. Now the important question for you, why the heck are you using a kids free day to go to the dentist? That needs some serious evaluation?!?!?!
I think it’s the different colours that make you think something is wrong. BUT I could be wrong too as I’ve never attempted lace soooooo. It looks lovely to me.
Oh… and I just started your snowdrop shawl last night. My first shawl, and first attempt at lace. While I am wishing for needles less slippery than aluminum but more pointy than bamboo, it’s coming along nicely. I haven’t had to rip…. yet! 😉
This may not be what you want to hear, but I think the lace pattern and the yarn are having a bit of a fist fight–and neither one is winning. I can’t tell which thing to pay attention to–the color stripes or the lace design. I almost get a headache because it’s hard to focus on either one. Just my humble opinion, but I think maybe this yarn is better suited to another project. I think the knitter who commented that if you are unhappy with it now, you will still be unhappy when wearing it is right!
I had teeth pulled and orthodontia in the ’80s. I applaud your nerve to have any but the most mandatory dental work done. (I am two years late for a cleaning job, myself.) Bravo. You are a grownup today.
As for the shawl, I know this is obvious, but it is possible it’s the color variegation making the lace look wonky? ‘Cause I can sort of ‘see’ the wonkiness but I don’t see an error, either.
Just a thought.
Good job on the dentist.
the picture is here http://www.mimknits.com/images/icaruspoint.jpg
Wait wait wait!!! I think I see what’s going on. The first feathery bits are supposed to round out from the solid blocks made from the yo columns.
You’ve got them shifted over a bit… did you follow the instructions about which row to end with for the upper portion? If you’re following the feathery charts correctly (which it sounds like you are) you may have just done too many rows from the upper portion… I’d need to see the blendy part between feathers and columns a bit clearer to really tell.
Carry on – I firmly believe in serendipity.
And yes, I absolutely understand the whole 80’s dentistry thing [shudder]. Oral surgery…orthodontics….been there, done that.
Just had to say that the yarn is just beautiful! I don’t care what the pattern looks like- everyone is going to be stunned by the colors and how much it looks like the sun. Just right for a shawl named Icarus. 🙂 Besides- if a project is perfect, there’s no character in it. This makes it uniquely yours.
I think it looks lovely, but I haven’t yet knit it, so I can’t speak to its accuracy.
But that Mim…she’s so good, isn’t she?
The lace looks fine! I don’t even see what you’re fussing about…
I’m a tad older than you, so I had my teeth yanked in the 70s. Now I have a son with crooked teeth and I’m trying not to say, “but if we just pull this one and this one, then the new teeth will have room to come in…” I do try to put on a brave face at the dentist’s to be a good example, but really, I hate it.
Way to go on the grownup activity, funny how it actually makes you feel…..grown up…for a while.
Icarus looking beautiful, and it could be an optical ‘delusion’ created by the colours giving it a look/feel of error…it is just stunning, keep going, I vote do not rip out.
27 days.
Don’t rip!!! It looks absolutely beautiful. Let Icarus be what it wants to be.
It looks lovely! I think that you should carry on. The color of your Icarus is beautiful really. One day I will reach your level of awesomness.
I’m not (YET!) a lace-knitter, but the only imperfection I see is that some of the holes appear larger on one side than the other. I think it will be perfect when you have blocked it.
Sue in Bethany OK
What is that yarn, it is stunning!! The lace is lovely too, and matched up I think you have a beautiful piece here. Don’t rip it!
Some of the holes on the right look a little bigger than the ones on the left…and are there fewer on the feather on the left closest to the center?
Seriously, I had to peer and peer at it to answer your question, but please…don’t rip it back.
It looks beautiful.
On the dentist – I had dental work in the 80’s and was very traumatized by it. When I had to have crowns done (because, you know, those amalgam fillings only were intended to last 8-10 years at most), I was terrified. Quite literally gibbering and didn’t sleep for days terrified.
Fortunately, I had a great dentist at the time who told me about sedation dentistry. It’s not the same as general anesthesia (or however you spell that) – you’re conscious and responsive the whole time, but it’s like you’re sleep walking (or sitting) and you don’t remember much (if anything) of what they do. It does sort of take you out for a full day, though – you’re conscious through the procedure so they can communicate with you, but once you get home, you crash for about 4-6 hours (long enough for the novocaine to completely wear off at least).
If you’re seriously traumatized by the dentist, I highly recommend looking into it. In the US, it’s not covered by most insurance plans and your dentist has to be specially certified to use it, but it’s not all that expensive and trust me it’s *very* worth it.
Yeah! I think it is lovely and if it is “a mistake” then I say you need to flow with the serendipity of your knitting and let the shawl be what it wants to be. Who are you to undermine the knitting muses and what they have planned for this project??? tee hee
Yeah! I think it is lovely and if it is “a mistake” then I say you need to flow with the serendipity of your knitting and let the shawl be what it wants to be. Who are you to undermine the knitting muses and what they have planned for this project??? tee hee
Don’t rip it – even if it’s not right it looks great. And the only one that will know it’s not right is you – DON’T TELL!!
Ze lace, it looks goooood. Don’t rip!
Ze teeth, the horror! I had all my (7 or 8) mercury fillings drilled out and replaced with composite all in one go a couple years back as the mercury was getting long in the tooth. (Sorry). It was more than a bit traumatic but completely worth it in the end. Be brave!
Carry on! I like it!
Very grown up about the dentist. I have to go to mine. I’m like um, a couple of years overdue. I’m assuming the teeth will just heal themselves.
Shut up. I’ll go.
And the lace? I can’t read charts so I’m impressed, dude.
Ummm….I don’t get it. I can’t see any mistakes. It’s like Where’s Waldo or Hidden Pictures except that I scrunch my eyes and look relaly close but I don’t find anything. What is it *supposed* to look like?
The yarn is beautiful. The knitting is beautiful. My vote is don’t rip!
first: my general philosophy is that i shouldn’t rip unless i know precisely what is wrong.
second: it looks beautiful. full speed ahead!
Hi Stephanie,
I’ve just had a history lesson, thanks to your blog. I went looking for ‘Gansey knit’ – to find out what was special about it -and came upon http://www.manorhouse.clara.net/knitwear/history.htm which has photos of older gansey sweaters and information about why they are knit as they are. I’d never really thought about how many details there are in the functionality of clothing, e.g. to make sure that sleeves are the exact length to the wearer’s arm and the cuffs are snug so they don’t catch. In future I’ll be looking at old photos with added perspective. Thanks very much. One of your correspondents concerning the lace pattern already said what occurred to me … that the variation in the colours of the wool itself may be responsible for an ‘illusion’ of something being off in the pattern. It is beautiful wool and I look forward to seeing a photo of you swathed in gold standing in an autumn forest. I also look forward to the cool of autumn! Very best regards, Maureen
It looks fine to me. The colors in the yarn may make it look awkward, but I look at this one at http://www.alltangledup.com/movabletype/archives/001085.html the lace pattern looks the same, minus the color. I think when you hace cast off and blocked it, it will be gorgeous!!
The lace looks fine, and the designer says so too – so why worry? I SO know what you are talking about with being emotionally done before being technically done – I feel that way right now with a strap and a half to go on the roundabout leaf tank. Which I know you were working on and haven’t mentioned since the Hank incident – any updates?
No, don’t rip it, Stephanie! It looks beautiful to me, too. I’ll be looking forward to seeing it blocked. BTW, I also wanted to tell you how much I’m enjoying book #3. So, when’s the next one coming?
XOXOXOXOX
Maria
I’m with those who say the lace looks funky because of the color variation in the yarn.
I have a mouth full of metal due to lazy dental care habits as a child. Like Janna, I had an ancient, no novocaine dentist in the 60’s when I was a tot- a real scream fest. Mom finally found a new dentist who used novocaine and you got pick out a small plastic toy from the wall of toys when you were done. I think I still have one of those little toys somewhere…
Even if the columns are off it might be ok once you block it. Then again, you are having dental work pulled out of you…I suspect you’ll go for ripping.
Rip it, hide it and wait for the love to come back.
Hmmm…I notice that at the bottom of the “Does this look right?” photo, the lace pattern (leaf) on the left of centre has fewer ‘holes’ (yarns over?) than the one on the right of centre. Did you miss something in the chart at that point?
Hope this helps,
Marg
Hmmm
I can’t see anything that hits me in the eye as wrong. The uneven colour and the fact that until you block YO’s holes can be uneven maybe the answer.
But it you are anything like me….a sometimes lace knitter what I would do is run a safety line through , pull off the needle and do a dry block. If I can’t notice anything I am unhappy with then I would keep knitting. There would be nothing worse than deciding to keep knitting and spotting it while blocking.
This way you could avoid a lot of work. [a]redoing it if you don’t need, or worse [b] redoing it once you had finished as on blocking you saw what was wrong!! [ or then throwing it in a corner in disgust!!]
OK , OK I know what I am suggesting is work, but ask yourself an honest question are you going to be really happy leaving it without checking?? Hmm but then you were always a bit of a risk taker. [ Look at the cherry tree incident!!]
Good luck whatever. Keep us posted. 🙂
>^..^<
Just had another look , bit hard to tell on the blog, would be easier in life, hmm there’s a thought want to pop over for me to have a look.. plenty of yarn over here too!!
On a serious note tho. In the middle at the bottom just to the left of the centre increase line there is a YO that looks a little bigger then the others. Is there more stitches to the right of the centre line there than on the left?!
To clarify: about 5 holes up on the centre line are there the same number of stitches both sides between the centre line and the first YO’s both sides?
Hmm wish I could “come over” to look. It is looking fab, makes me want to get out the lace weight. Anything than finish my latest project which I “just want off the needles” Oh well nearly finished.
It maybe the colour etc as mentioned above!!
>^..^<
I’m at the same spot with Icarus. I haven’t had any problems with the pattern, except for the one that I created myself by not trusting the pattern. I like the yarn you’re using.
I say pin it out, take lots of pictures, and send them over to The Fabulous Miriam, who seems to be standing ready to help. If it’s not as she intended, then you have a choice…you either misread the chart, or you interpreted the pattern in a highly individualized and artistic manner.
Meh, leave it! It looks good. I can’t tell if there’s a mistake in it or not. Heck, I made a mistake on my Icarus on like row 6. Pathetic. *lol*
And if there is a mistake in your shawl, you can just call it Icarus Part Deux and tell people you *meant* for it to be like that. You did it *on purpose* … see it’ll all work out. 🙂
Gawd. That yarn is so gorgeous.
I so know what you mean about being emotionally finished with something before being technically finished with it. I have a box of stuff like that.
It’s beautiful the way it is.
It’s totally right. Dont’ worry. I just finished mine (it took and hour and a half to bind off. I thought I might have a stroke)and the spine has the rounded edge of the ‘starter feathers’. Your’s is so neat with the veragation and all that jazz that even if there were a mistake (which there’s not, unless yo’re as impared as I am, which I seriously doubt), it’d just give it character 🙂 no worries and much love.
Megan
50s dentist — with fingers like kielbasas. I knew I adored Rabbitch for some reason. I’m subscribing to the theory that teeth heal.
Don’t rip it. It’s beautiful.
My personal triumph of late:
Have completed the first of 4 evening shawls, the rest to be done by September 3rd.
Wish me luck.
I think yours look right, it’s gorgeous!
The shawl looks lovely! I cannot really tell from the photo if there is something wrong to see.
As for orthodontics, been there, done that and have to do it all over again. Gack! Apparently, due to the first job in the late 70’s early 80’s being purely cosmetic, my jaw had been shoved back and the cartledge in the joint was worn out. I could have been a poster child/adult for TMJ. My current dentist is a sweety and is putting my teeth back where they should have been. Sigh. 40, zits and braces. At least I can get into the movies cheaper now!! Just have to flash the tinsle! (Ok, It helps that immaturity shows and I look way younger than I really am)
Do NOT rip!! Even if there is a mistake, which I seriously doubt, it is your INTERPRETATION of the pattern!
You’re right. It’s isn’t right. BUT you should finish it anyway (it’s a character building thing) and then give it away. You wouldn’t want it hanging around your house being a bad influence would you? So, out of the kindness of my heart you can mail it to me. Oh, be sure to block it first. Thanks. : – )
Don’t rip…the yarn obviously wanted to be this…the brave thing to do is to let it be what it wants to be!
I think the shawl looks lovely so I am with the “don’t rip it” people. I had orthodontics in the 80s, starting 1981, and without it I would still be able to bite the corner square off a block of chocolate and leave the other squares untouched… I think it was 1970s dentistry as practised in country Australia that really made me scared of dentists, so I fully sympathise… but my last ten year gap between visits to the dentist ended with a crown and root canal treatment (not mentioning the trips to the toilet to cry my eyes out while I was there the first time). So, like you I have decided that I need to be grown up about it AND I have discovered that dentistry has moved on a lot while I’ve been away! I hope you’re feeling the same way… Maz
It’s gorgeous. ‘Nuff said.
I wore braces all through high school and most of college, and got the last piece of them out the day before I got married. Close one, that.
My husband’s and his dad’s gold crowns kept falling out and being replaced, and his dad saved up the gold. He’d paid for it, after all. So, when DH and I got married at the time gold hit its all-time record high in 1980, and we were impoverished university students, DFIL finally got his chance to try it out. He melted down those 20k gold crowns, and tadaah! Wedding bands for the both of us! Creative–I loved it.
Oooooh! The serendipity! By all means, don’t rip it out. It’s beautiful. If you’re nervous about it, think of it as a nod toward Debbie New and other fabulouys serendipidous knitters. :O)
I’ve had teeth pulled and orthodontics in the 80’s – twice! In fact, they’re always surprised at my new and very nice dentist’s office when they find something or another number five missing. I have to go for a “deep cleaning” on Thursday. 🙁
Anyhow, just keep trucking with the Icarus. It looks beautiful and so long as you like what you’re getting, it doesn’t matter. Just be careful how high you fly 😉
A part of me wants to call it Daedalus, since he’s the one who flew at a sensible altitude, unlike his son. I wonder if he shouted, “Didn’t I tell you that would happen?” as Icarus fell.
lace still scares me, so i have to say this looks like a pretty tremendous accomplishment to me, pattern or no. but what really stands out is that this is the most awesome color patterning ever. i can’t wait to see it blocked and finished!
I’ve compared photos, and stared into my monitor until I feel like my eyes are going to dry out and fall out of my head. I can’t see if there is any problem, but then again I have a hard enough time seeing issues in person.
The only thing I can say for certain is that I think it looks beautiful. I love the pattern and the color.
I SO know about the teeth pulling and orthodontics in the 80s!!! I tried to explain it to my ortho-free husband, why I don’t want to spend much time in the dentist chair anymore, even though I need to (also did the filling replacements, though not all). I feel like I had my share of dentist chair time, don’t want to be a hog!
Press On! Icarus looks great! Not that I have mastered lace knitting at all – have I mentioned you are my lace knitting idol? – but it looks wonderful to my completely untrained, yet envious, eye.
Knit on. Nothing wrong that I can see.
Ask your dentist about valium. Mine won’t let me near his office without it.
I’m trying to convice him to give surgery a shot and get it all over with at once.
I vote for keep with it– it looks pretty good from here. I don’t see any mistakes. Then again, I don’t see much of anything, because after two hours of wrestling with t pins, wires, and wet, ultrafine wool, icarus is FINALLY drying comfortably on the floor.
The dog has been banished to the bedroom.
And I have learned that I do NOT like blocking with wires.
The shawl is lovely. Let it be. Just remember what I always said to my daughter when she reached the age to be concerned about minor wardrobe issues, “If they’re close enough to notice that, slap them, they’re being much too familiar!”
I vote leave it – it is looking lovely.
Good job making a new appointment with the dentist – it usually takes me a few months to get over an appointment and decide to go again.
Just sing to your shawl, “if loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.”
See this link for further lyrics: http://www.houseoflyrics.com/lyrics/barbara_mandrell/if_loving_you_is_wrong.html
Error? What error?
That yarn makes me think of a fall sunset, with smoke hanging in the air and leaves crunching under my feet.
and i am virtually holding your hand with the dentist. i am right there with the dentist trauma and 80s orthodonture nightmares. (anyone else have a LARS?). however, you’re a thousand times more brave than i; I had to search out someone who specialised in sedation dentistry before my teeth were looked at.
Hey Steph,
I had all my mercury fillings (12 I think) out about 5 yrs. ago & replaced with the white (porceline). I felt a whole lot better afterwards. Perhaps it wasn’t anything, but I was always getting this nasty metal taste in my mouth that got me worried (also had orthodontics in the 80’s).
PS-I can eat now, but still no feeling in jaw; sigh. Anyway, did ya get my email about the knitted purse? Great talking to ya in Aurora!
Ok, as a “famous” author once wrote when contemplating a rip back, “repeat after me, I altered the pattern to better reflect my own personal style”. sound familiar? it should. and of course no you shouldn’t rip it back, it’s beautiful, delicate, everything lace should be.
Stephanie, your Icarus is beautiful. Don’t you dare rip it back, just go ahead and get it over with, you know you want to. I am hoping to begin knitting that pattern very soon.
I read your blog daily and I find it so inspiring in a world with (seemingly) few knitters (at least in my area) to find people who embrace the hobby as much as I do.
Keep up the good work,
Allie
That’s gorgeous. I need to fondle that. In private, preferably. I may be in love.
Don’t change a thing.
My sixteen year old son is out at the movies with friends and calls me to tell me he lost a filling so guess we’ll be at the dentist tomorrow
Love the shawl don’t change a thing
God Bless and Love! I am a child of the dental torture, money making mongrels, chronic steel post root canal mouthed 80’s too! It a club of paranoid dental phobics that until only last year, i conquered as well. After much valium, percocet, gas and novicane, i have fixed the damage and only $10,000 later, I am pretty much done. sad thing is they are all side and back teeth and the same old ugly crappy ones remain in front for all to see.
I think it looks right. I just finished my Icarus last week and I can’t see anything glaringly wrong with yours. Here’s mine:
http://www.knittingnotionsonline.com/Icarus%20shawl%20in%20tree.jpg
and here’s a closeup of the bottom
http://www.knittingnotionsonline.com/Icarus%20shawl%20cu.jpg
Sorry for the c&p
I can’t see a thing wrong! If there is something, adopt it as the “error to show that we are imperfect in the eyes of God” that the carpet makers of the Islamic world commit. (Betcha I could find theirs quicker!)
Anesthetists choose dentists by quality….of drugs! And the ability to deaden the entire half of the face that they are working on! (Not to mention the liberal use of nitrous oxide!) Wheee!
It’s your own fault for flying at too high an altitude with a shawl called Icarus, fercryinoutloud. How could it not mess up somewhere? Doomed from the start, I say!
That sure is pretty, hamartia and all.
Been there, hit that dentist. I had the same thing…teeth pulled, orthodontics o’ the eighties, and the fucker didn’t pull the teeth evenly (one more on one side than on the other, which makes for a very uneven smile and a very painful bite). So I had braces again when I was pregnant with my little girl. Yeah. THAT orthodontist was a saint, doing an orthodontic re-do on a pregnant woman without opening a vein…his or mine…. We are still quite fond of each other. He had to pull metal plating off the back of my teeth, too, because that was the dentist’s fix to the bad first orthodontia job. A “Maryland Splint.”
If that’s what dentists are like in Maryland, I’m not goin’.
::grabs the yarn for Icarus and runs off to a corner to pet it fondly and wonder about how such beautiful color combos were put on this earth::
Bookbookbookboook: Cast Off! Congratulations! (as Amazon asks if I want to pre-order.)
What beautiful yarn! And love the shawl. I hope what you’re saying about the love returning once it’s blocked is correct. I finished the Pacific NW shawl in March and have yet to block it. So it hangs on the back of a rocker, just looking blue . . . sometime soon hope to block and post the update.
With all the variegations in the yarn, who could tell whether or not there is a mistake in your rendition of the design? It looks gorgeous. I wish my lace knitting mistakes looked just like that. As for the dentist, I admire your restraint in not kicking him in the groin. And going back again next week. You are a grown-up.
Mistake? There’s possibly a mistake? Who can see past the lovely colors? And this from a person who doesn’t wear yellow/orange/golds, mind you.
Heartfelt sympathies re dental work. Try orthodontia and teeth-pulling in the *60’s* (braces from 4th-8th grade). And now? With ‘soft’ teeth, plus no dental work for nearly 20 years – Medicare doesn’t cover it – most of my teeth have broken or abcessed. So at 51, it’s denture time. When I even think about that I start a major panic attack. And ’cause of my heart and living alone, they can’t do the anesthesia bit; just novocaine. Wanna trade? (I’ll be the one in line at Powell’s with the backwoods, gap-toothed smile, LOL. It’ll take me past Sept. to gather my courage!)
Mmm… braces. And camping with cheap metal silverware and cheap metal plates. It would set off electric currents in my mouth, and my parents would laugh. (They had redeeming qualities, I think.) And a dental hygenist who believed that digging the wings on the full-sized xray things was the only way to go. And a dentist who filled every depression in my mouth so I wouldn’t get cavities. I can’t believe anyone goes to the dentist after that sort of treatment.
Nope, you’re right on with the pattern. Stop second guessing.
My dental PTSD score? 7 years of braces, after 4 teeth pulled. Never had a cavity, but had a crazy dentist drill and fill 16 “flaws” in my teeth. The capper? One psycho that did a root canal on me that involved removing nerve that was still alive and gave me no freezing or anaesthetic. I was 12. The same joker also didn’t use a lead shield on us when taking Xrays. Do I get a prize?
I had fillings in the ’70s and then major dental work due to a car wreck in the mid ’80s, so my sympathy is endless. I am now grateful for my current dentist who loads me up with nitrous oxide to the point where I think I’m at Woodstock. His name is Dr. Rome. Make an appointment today. I’ll drive.
Your Icarus is beautiful.
Your Icarus is also variegated, which plays tricks on the eye, especially in the unblocked state.
I have not yet knit Icarus but I have great faith in the lace-blocking process. I have yet to knit any lace, even stuff I designed in my very own head, which looked anything remotely like it was supposed to look prior to being blocked.
Have faith in the Knitting Goddess. Knit on, and block. Then you’ll be chasing the mail carrier down the street to admire it.
Your lace looks great! I haven’t really seen much of the Icarus shawl or paid much attention because lace and I aren’t on speaking terms right now. That Pi Shawl can rot in a closet for all I care, and I hope it reads this comment about it, too.
I have no idea if your results are anything like the pattern, but the result is lovely… please don’t rip it!
If it is different, you can always do another one the “right” way, but if this one is “wrong”, you may never get this result again, and that would be so sad, because it’s perfect as is.
I have some lace shawls in my drawer upstairs because of you. I went and found some beautiful Ortenberg and gave them as gifts. But now I am afraid to use mine. I am too in awe of all that artistry to risk damaging it!! I wouldn’t know how to fix it and drown in guilt!!
I think I had Janna’s Dentist from the late 60’s. I am currently up at 2am because of my crown work today. I’m sure I wouldn’t be so sore except that every muscle I had was totally locked up while that poor guy drilled.
Keep it. I messed up the MDK After Dark lace pattern on the bottom and when I was about to frog the second time, I realized that it didn’t look bad when I stretched it out to block. See what comes of blocking before you frog.
No, no ripping. It’s wonderful as it is.
And I feel your pain. I had the braces in the 80’s and the teeth ripped out. Apparently I had too many to fit my small mouth. I have avoided dentists since. I think having gone something like 30 times I don’t have to go again for a while.
I see what you mean, that the YO’s are a little uneven. This happens, but it’s probably fine. Just like Leah said, see how it looks after you block, that usually makes all the difference in lace.
Don’t rip. It’s nice to see someone who can manage that Norwegian Olympic effort do something off-chart and be able to live with it!
Plus, yes, I had all that dental work in the 80s (and on the UK NHS no less) so I know what you mean. My US dentist has been very polite about it, but I got my first silver filling taken out recently and replaced with a shiny white one. Oooo (and ow).
Icarus must be some kind of knitting gauntlet unintentionally thrown down by all those knitters in the blogashphere who have successfully knit it. It looks wicked intricate and difficult. Of course, spoken by a person who only once tried to knit lace and had to rip it back more times than I care to admit before finally throwing in the towel. Yours looks wonderful, and I don’t think you need to rip. I imagine the oohs and ahhs will be bountiful:)
leave it. it’s really pretty. wow, and here I am being a wuss about a simple blood test.
The shawl looks beautiful, is this a Christmas present in the making? Having just ripped out a beautiful, beautiful (did I say beautiful) back of a sweater that was so intricate it took me a month to do, I say leave your glorious knitting alone! I also say that when knitting the back of a sweater that is so intricate it is best not to go on an intense diet just so there might be a possibility of the gauge working in your favor. Sigh…
as tim says in Project Runway> Carry On.
Gosh, that color is lovely! I don’t know if the lace is correct or not, but it looks fantastic so I say keep knitting~
Now I need to go dig out that skein of fino and let it temp me to go cast this shawl on too…
Beautiful . . . leave it. The colors are reminiscent of a tree in the fall. It’s a Stephanie shawl.
About Icarus- look again, it may not be you, it may be the yarn. I think that what you may see as a mistake is actually the way the yarn “varigates.” I know this isn’t a word, but if you look closely and follow the patterning carefully, it’s the way the dark lays …”stripes”… on the right side vs. the lighter color on the left.
As for the dentist, mine has to give me xanax for a filling. I didn’t take it the last time because I was trying to finish Jack Sparrow’s favorite socks (posted on Katydid knits’ blog). I got them done and took my son to see the “pirates of the Carribbean” movie after the dentist. I did get a free glass of wine, though. The theater has restaurant service during the movie, and they were filming a TV segment about this concept, and the manager offered the wine after they finished filming. They were going to dump it if we didn’t want it. I’m not one to pass up free booze, and besides I had just had my tooth filled- without Xanax!!!
I think the color people are right. It looks a bit uneven because the colors aren’t patterning the same way. And that Haiku can’t be a fun thing to rip back.
My sister actually scared someone out of the dentists office. She was 4 and in the other room getting her tooth pulled and it took 3 dental assistants and 15 minutes of my sister screaming at the top of her lungs to get it out. People in the waiting room were turning green.
Rip or carry on? Are you kidding?! Carry on, for Pete’s sake. It’s completely lovely and will look gorgeous on you.
You’re obsessing me thinks … yours doesn’t look any different than the ones on http://icarusalong.blogspot.com/
Can I be a pain and ask (hoping you haven’t mentioned it already) how many skeins of the Alchemy you bought for the shawl? Or how many you think its going to take. I foolishly bought just one skein, incidentally of the same color. But I can ….. um…. buy more.
I think it’s the variegated yarn that is making your eyes see things (errors) that are not really there.
Wait! The girls are out of the house, you and Joe are alone at last after how long? And you scheduled the dentist!?! Cancel any more til the girls return so you can moan piteously from the chesterfield and they can provide chocolate and coffee while doing all the day-to-day chores.
Shawl looks lovely as is.
Call me contrarian, but I would rip. I’ve been in Penelope mode (weave (or knit), unravel, repeat) for a while and totally remade a Giotto tank top that didn’t suit me the first time. I agree with all the comments about the overall loveliness of the yarn and pattern, though, and no one would know about any (hypothetical)mistakes when it is all done.
1) Yup, you’ve got a mistake in there. Sorry, girl. 2) It looks great anyway, and if you like it then godssakes, leave it and wear proudly. Never in a million years would I rip that many rows (each row takes an HOUR!) but I don’t know how you feel about such things. Will you still love it tomorrow?
Well, I guess you are going to rip back, as Miriam found an inconsistency. Maybe that will straighten out the varigation pattern too. I think to the glancing eye, the lace will look beautiful but you are the one wearing it.
Thursday – Sunday is all knitting: I am planning to find suitable hanks of lace weight tomorrow night at the early visit to the Stitches Midwest market. Then I hope to get my feet sufficiently wet at classes by Galina Khlemeva and Maureen Mason-Jamieson. Maybe if I start my first lace project (the shawl in the Autumn Interweave Knits) at the convention, I can get some free tips. Oh, and I plan to stalk Beth Brown-Reinsel whose class I took last year at the Michigan Fiber Fest. I need to get her insight on twined knitting, which I’m not giving up. I just think it should only be done in the round. I finally got a picture of your signing at My Sisters Knits on my blog: http://katzundyarnerbits.blogspot.com. You had very kind things to say about Chicago!
Lovely shawl in beautiful colors. Can’t wait to see it finished and blocked.
I’ve had a wonderful dentist for over 25 years, after a not so good one as I was growing up. I have a very sensitive mouth. This one I warned, if he hurt me, I’d rip the arm off his chair and hit him with it. He numbs well and then does the novacain. I just had a crown put on where he did a root canal over 20 years ago. His biggest fault is that when he and his hygenist have all their tools in my mouth he says things to make me laugh! Now, that is a crazy dentist.
Honestly, whether or not it’s coming out as the pattern was written, it looks beautiful, and you seem to like it – so as long as it’s shawl shaped, who cares if it looks like the picture! I think you should keep going because I am excited to see how it looks once you block it.
Don’t you know–a mistake repeated consistently is a design feature. Whatever the mistake, it looks great. It is Stephanie’s take on the Icarus shawl. Why would you want your shawl to to be like everyone else’s????
Four years of braces in the late 70’s. My orthodontist was mean. As he was shoving the metal bands down into my gums, making them bleed, and a few tears involuntarily escaped my eyes, he hostilely sniped “That doesn’t hurt!” Hello, you’re making me bleed, you prick! Don’t tell me it doesn’t hurt! 11 teeth pulled, 4 years of braces, rubber bands, headgear, retainer…
Ok, I’m fine now, really. Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean…
The shawl is beautiful. Not sure what it’s supposed to look like, but it’s beautiful the way it is.
That lace looks like pure magic to me! I hope to make magic someday. When I boo-boo in lace it’s really obvious, but your lace problem is invisible to my eyes…
I had my mercury fillings strip-mined in the 80’s and my health improved drastically! I recently had a bad dentist use mercury in a filling (even though I’d had them note in my records that I wanted only non-metal fillings) and I began haveing really bad reactions again! My PCP informed me that amalgams (mercury fillings) are now illegal in Conneticut, and I should find a dentist who understands that mercury is a poison.
Stay with the srip mining! You will feel so much better when its done!
Love the shawl! I am glad most are in favor of “keep on keepin on” – including Miriam, who should know! I think it looks great in the “mildly variegated” yarn you chose and can’t wait for a picture of it being worn. I started a lace shawl in a wildly variegated yarn that just didn’t work, so I know whereof I speak (mine is going to get overdyed, I think).
As for “vintage” dental work, a lot of mine was in the “no Novocaine for kids” 60’s, but my dentist was one of my cousins (my father was from a big family) and was very patient and kind – hence I have survived with very little dentist phobia. Trying to convince my kids that they have it good these days is still a tough sell, however! – KVL
Maybe it’s the colours that confuse the eye a little, but it looks just right to me. I vote to keep on going. I’m tempted to get brave & try it, myself.
Thank you for asking for Miriam’s advice. I’ve been waiting for a yarn order to start this project. Your post had me a bit nervous. Her explanation makes perfect sense. My nerves have calmed down…I hope yours have as well.
Icarus is lookin’ good, just in time for September’s cool evenings. Keep going, and you’ll be gorgeous together.
Oh, my son recently had *4* extractions and got his braces on Monday. Ouch. He’s sad and hurting, and I’m having orthodontia flashbacks, trying to be a good mommy and support my son while imagining beating the crap out of my former ill-tempered, cold, schmuck dentist (late 60’s). These days, it’s all cheerful and respectful for kids, thank heavens. Extra hugs are in order.
I love it, it’s so pretty. You have inspired me to try lace. I bought some yarn and needles for a scarf.
Oh, is that my problem – my project(s) and I have fallen out of love with each other? Well, I’m working on ways to rekindle the flame. I was a Girl Scout after all, though building a teepee of twigs doesn’t seem to work in this case.
I agree with the conflicting color/stitch pattern arguments, though I also agree that you shouldn’t rip.
I rather like the Icarus. Mine is in…errr…limbo…as I bought addis to knit it on (the bamboo just wasn’t slick enough!), but have been using them to make squares for my handspun blanket (I’m a bad *bad* knitter…bad…but it’s so much fun!). So don’t rip, it’s gorgeous! And ripping always makes me have even more of a falling out with my projects. I’m thinking of a sweater in particular, where I ripped out the whole thing (except the sleeves and hip band) after having it completely finished (well, knitted). I still haven’t even washed the kinks out of the wool for a new try! Mind you, I did learn my lesson about following the designer’s instructions as far as waist-shaping on my curvaceous figure. Ahh well.
Being a grown-up sucks some times (I’ve been getting a load of dental work lately, so I *really* know what you mean), but at least we can knit lace instead of doing the dishes!
hmmm… serendipitous knitting… sounds like the title of your next book…and I’m a non-ripper from way back… sorry about the fillings, though darling…I just signed my kids on for enough orthodontia to make a horse look like a kitten so I’m feeling your pain…
It looks like there may be a mistake in there somewhere, but no one will notice unless they look very carefully and non-knitters won’t know what they’re looking at anyway. I think it’s really up to you…will it drive you crazy if you don’t fix it? Or can you let it go the way it is? I think it’s beautiful and I especially love the colors!
Hi Steph- I’m such a scardeycat knitter I stand in awe of lace knitters- looks beautiful to me. re: replacing old fillings. My sister had a bunch done and now finds she has very sensitive teeth in those replaced. Dentist told her after the fact that this often happens so you might want to ask your dentist about this. He told her they were working on a better mix for the white fillings and may have done so by now. Best to be informed though. Good luck on both!
Ouch – teeth… I love the lace and can’t see anything wrong with my unpractised eye.
my GOODNESS but thats GORGEOUS the colors… the work… WOW… someday i’ll be that good!
Orthodontia in the 80s–yikes. My big brother and I had orthodontia in the 80s, because the dentist recommended we get it over with early. We had very crooked teeth, and Mom worked very extra double hard to make the money to fix them, so she listened to the dentist. David bled for a week straight. I got to go to the nice, young ortho, who only wanted to file my teeth down. I am so glad I escaped with imperfect but whole teeth.
Orthodontia is a torture method. My husband wishes he had braces. I’m so glad he didn’t, because I would be forced to track the would-be butcher down and wring his neck.