Sunday 12 October 2008

Day 12 - A Long, Lacy Summer

A while back I mentioned I was going to spend summer focusing on lace, mainly because, like socks, I think it's light enough to be easily managed during those long, hot days and nights.

Enough people said they would like to do the same and suddenly, Summer of Lace was born. What could be nicer than planning ahead for beautiful projects, maybe those ones you've had on your wish list for a while, maybe some projects you've got sitting around, needing to be finished. 

Like this one, for example. The pi shawl I'm rushing to get finished both for a wedding and so that I can start other fun projects.

I've tossed around ideas for how to do this and have decided not to make it an official Knit Along, partly that's because there is already a Summer of Lace out there. So the name now will be A Long, Lacy Summer instead. That'll make sure no one gets confused.

So instead of an official Knit Along, I'm just going to keep it as something I'm doing for a bit of fun and hoping that other people will focus on lace too and post pictures on their blogs from time to time. But I'll try and be a little bit organised.

1. It will be very, very low key so that there's no pressure to compete, or complete vast quantities of lace. Just knit lace. No competition. Just knitting. Or crochet.

2. I won't have a special blog devoted to it. I'll just add names of people who want to participate in a special section on the sidebar. So leave a comment or email me at bellsknits at gmail dot com and let me know you're in. 

3. Just because it's summer here, doesn't mean those who are going through a northern winter can't play. Just let me know.

4. It doesn't matter whether you attempt something massively complex or just your first, basic lace scarf, or lace socks, or a cardigan or jumper that has a bit of lace in it, or a lace dishcloth. Whatever. It's entirely up to you. Really, this whole thing is just about giving ourselves a bit of time and brain space to celebrate the wonder that is lace knitting, or knitting lace. Apparently there's a difference between the two. I might explore that. 

5. If you sign up, I'll want to post links to your projects sometimes. I'll scout around and post write ups of how people are going. If you don't want me to, just let me know. Again, no pressure. 

And so it begins! There's no official start date. I more or less started with my Hemlock blanket. That's probably the last time this summer I'll do a heavy weight blanket. Not for me the soaring temperatures and 12 ply wool! But if you're up north, perhaps that'll be your thing.

One last thing, last summer I did Southern Summer of Socks with RoseRed. It's still running and I'm still doing that a bit, which is part of the reason for not turning this into a big, formal arrangement. RoseRed is doing a lot of the admin work for SSoS, which is also not quite the big, formal arrangement that ran last year. Everything this year is low key so don't be afraid to sign up. It's just for fun. 

Bells