theraineysisters knitting and so much more

‘Those who walk among you’ are knitters who have discovered Herbert Niebling and are now obsessed!  Apparently there is an underground cult of sorts of Niebling Followers — who knew?  I would never have heard of Niebling myself except for the influence of fellow bloggers.  Soo left a nice little comment about my Hemlock Ring Throw so I innocently clicked on her blog, not knowing that it would change me forever.  I found this:

My jaw still hurts from hitting the table.  All I knew was that I had to make me one of these!  I am not much of a lace knitter but decided to not let that be a barrier! ;)  The most immediate barrier was finding the pattern.  Niebling died over 40 years ago.  This pattern, called Lyra, was only printed twice.  The most recent was in a 1986 Burda magazine, European issue.  Soo kindly provided many details and I found the magazine in an ebay auction that very day.  It had to be mine!  I paid way too much for it but it was worth every penny.  It arrived last Saturday.  It is written in Dutch, I bought it from a woman in Germany, and it included an English translation.  All the charts are done using Niebling’s unique charting style. 

I started my Lyra already.  I laid out my knitting supplies like an operating room: yarn (Fino Laceweight Alpaca with a Twist — check), needles (Size 2.5 mm — check), reading glasses (check), small crochet hook (check), valium (sorry — all out!), bead mat (check), lamp (check).  I used the Emily Ocker cast on and for the first several rows had the highest anxiety going!  I was so worried I would drop a stitch — then I did and actually fixed it :), so I am off and running. 

Here is my progress so far:

I am not far enough into it to be at the hard part but so far I have not had any trouble.  I have put many hours into it so far and it is still very TINY, though it already has over 300 sts!  Soo finished hers in two weeks.  That’s right: TWO WEEKS!  I will not even attempt to match her pace. 

Because I can’t work on Lyra in anything but the most optimal conditions, I also started this (Rowan’s Calmer “Loll”):

I am making mine in ivory (Rowan Calmer in “Drift”) and I have about 5-6 inches of the back done; all of the fringes complete — whew, are they ever slow!  I’ll post a picture later.  Why a summer sweater??  Who the heck knows!  It’s something to work on as my take along project.

PS in response to pjknits: I buy 99.9% of my yarn from my LYS’s — I find almost all the yarn I want locally.  If there is something I absolutely must have and it is not readily available (i.e., the Kauni yarn or the Swedish Bohus kits) then I shop on line.  I know a lot of people do not have access to the quality of yarn shops available in the Twin Cities.  We are tres lucky here!