I can knit laceweight now!
Hold the presses everyone! This is MAJOR news!
After an entire knitting career where I couldn't hold a strand of yarn much thinner than fingering weight, as of yesterday afternoon I can knit with laceweight yarn! The picture above is yet another Leila sample (I'm insane, I know!), this time knit with Malabrigo Laceweight on size 3 needles. This lace yarn is the ONLY laceweight yarn in my stash, bought solely because it was so gorgeous I couldn't NOT buy it. The color (it's 92 - Little Lovely) spoke to me and said "buy me just to look at me!" and I just couldn't resist. I even wound one ball, just to see how the colors would play together in the actual knitting, but then I stuck the yarn on a shelf and never intended to try to knit with it, ever.
Fast-forward to yesterday, when I was trying to edit the full-size version of the Leila pattern and I got stuck. After getting really annoyed with myself, I decided there was no way around knitting the full-size version again to double-check the pattern before sending it to the testers . . . but then I realized I had nothing in the stash that was the same gauge as the Fleece Artist Cashlana I had used other than the exact same color Cashlana. And there was no way I was knitting the exact same shawl with the exact same yarn and color! Even in the interest of an error-free pattern, that was too much for me. So I went digging for something else in the "thinner than fingering" category and found these two skeins of laceweight and thought I might as well try it.
After fumbling through the first few rows, I found that my hand wasn't really hurting, so I continued on. After about an hour, I still had no pain or cramping, so I thought maybe this was really for real. And then after finishing the first set of lace, I knew it was true!
I can knit with laceweight yarn now!
I am so excited, I cannot even tell you. Oh, the new stash enhancement potentials . . . they are calling me!
And Malabrigo laceweight? Even better than regular Malabrigo. Really.
