Lace Love

It's been over a year in the making, but it's finally done.

Pattern: Oriel Lace Blouse by Shirley Paden.
Interweave Knits Summer 2007

Yarn: Elann Lara in Antique Blue

Things I love:

• The process. Knitting lace is so fascinating that other knitting just seems ordinary now.
• The cotton yarn was much cheaper than the silk the pattern called for.
• I don't have to worry about it snagging on any little thing - in spite of the lacey knit, this is a sturdy garment.
• It's gorgeous!

Annoying stuff:

• The sleeves, armholes, and neckline needed major modifications to fit properly. MAJOR.
• The cotton doesn't stay blocked. To keep it's shape I'll have to block this every time I wear it. Even when I have it on, it loses length as the lower part contracts. You can see this in the above picture. The lace around my waist has a shorter, wider pattern while toward the top the pattern is longer and narrower.
  
• The size varies so much depending on how aggressively I block it that it was hard to predict how it would fit.
• The collar won't stand up.
• The style isn't particularly flattering on me.

Also, it's warmer than I expected. I thought an open-weave cotton knit would be quite cool but this is too warm for summer day-wear. This isn't a bad thing - just unexpected.

I loved knitting this and don't actually mind the negatives too much - Some of them I realized very early on and yet I kept knitting because I was having so much fun.

Hands down the most challenging and the most fun project I've knit to date. It took a year, but there were a few distractions. A peek at Ravelry tells me I started and finished 22 projects from the time I cast on Oriel to the time I finished it.

Now I'm almost sad that it's done.