Lace Knitting for Beginners: Projects & More

Any knitter who has knit and purl down, as well as curious and open mind, will find lace knitting a fulfilling and captivating pursuit! As long as you're willing to learn a few new stitches and some helpful techniques, even the most fancy Faroese or sophisticated Shetland shawls are within your grasp. Lace knitting is composed of entirely increases and decreases, so many stitches used in lace knitting may be familiar to you already.

1) Get a helpful reference book. Even if you only know knit and purl, a handy reference book like Vogue Knitting Quick Reference will teach you all the stitches you need for lace knitting. (I don't recommend Stitch 'N Bitch for use as a reference - its yarnover instructions are misleading, although its patterns are delightful.)

2) Learn to read your knitting. Being able to identify knit, purl, increase, and decrease stitches whether they're on your needle or in your completed lace knitting is vital to making sure you're following the pattern correctly. Also, if you make a mistake, it's much easier to spot it if you know what you're looking for. Rather than ripping your knitting out, you can ladder a few stitches down, fix the offending stitch(es), and pick it (or them) back up with a crochet hook.

3) Use stitch markers and a row counter with your lace knitting. Unless you're doing something extremely simple, such as a scarf with two repeats of feather and fan lace, stitch markers are absolutely necessary. What's more, you can make adorable dangly ones yourself with beads and a little bit of wire! Stitch markers will soon become your new best friend.

4) Learn to read symbols for charted lace patterns. Charted lace patterns are simple to follow if and only if you know what the symbols on the chart mean! If you have any doubts, or are a forgetful soul like myself, carry around a quick reference index card stapled to your pattern.

5) Use circular needles for larger pieces. This may seem obvious, but bears repeating - for a wide lace knitting project like a shawl, cramming lots of yarn onto two not-so-long needles is a recipe for unpleasantry. A circular needle will take the strain off your wrists, cramping neither your shawl nor your style.

Now that you have the tools at hand, knit away! Pick up some yarn, some needles, and attack one of these free lace knitting patterns:

Beginner: Wendy Johnson's http://wendyknits.net/knit/feather.htm Feather and Fan Scarf
Feather and Fan is one of the simplest, yet prettiest, patterns in lace knitting - all you need to know are knit, purl, yarnover, and k2tog, yet these four stitches produce some gorgeous waves.

Advanced Beginner: Sivia Harding's Tendrils
Simple lace techniques and some beading produce this lovely and very hip wrap.

Intermediate: Emma Crew's Cobweb
This shawl is beautiful, airy, and a good pick for a knitter who's in the middle, as it were. The body pattern is simple; the edging is more advanced.

Advanced: Cookie A.'s Pomatomus
These socks are gorgeous to behold and fun to wear!

Truly Daring: Dee Smith's Rambling Leaves Shawl
This lace knitting pattern produces a gorgeous shawl without a repetitive pattern. Delightful!

Pick up some yarn and give one of these patterns a try, and you're sure to progress to the others - lace knitting isn't just fun, it's addictive!

For further lace projects, check out these books:
Sharon Miller's Heirloom Knitting: Pricey, but worth every penny. Beautiful, elaborate projects in the tradition of knitters of yore.

Meg Swansen's A Gathering of Lace: A wide range of gorgeous lace knitting projects for every skill level.

Myrna Stahman's Shawls and Scarves: Includes instructions for a variety of Faroese lace shawls and seaman's scarves, as well as a guide for designing your own. This is hard to find, but wonderfully written.