Marianne Kinzel’s Lace Primula Doily Becomes A Shawl
Marianne Kinzel’s First Book of Modern Lace Knitting was the last book that I bought at The Point last March before it went out of business. The book is a great resource of lace patterns with BOTH instructions and charts. It has an introduction to lace knitting including doilies which shows step by step photographs of how to start and read the patterns.
I’ve been looking (read drooling) at Marianne Kinzel’s lace doily patterns for almost a year debating which one to make into a shawl. Now that I’ve finished the Mommes Lysedug, I am going to make the Primula Lace Coffee Cloth as a shawl. DailyFibreKnit’s wedding shawl helped push me to the decision. The Primula design is very open and lacy.
In part, I want to test out the Sheep Shop Wensleydale 4 ply Longwoolthat I bought from Flying Fibers at the May 2009 MDSW. I have four skeins of 186 yards each in a deep charcoal grey. Since grey is a big color this spring, it will make a wonderful accessory.
The Wensleydale yarn has a wonderful sheen although to my sensitive skin it feels a bit scratchy. Therefore, I want to knit with this wool with its wonderful sheen before this year’s MDSW to see whether I want to buy more at MDSW. This English yarn from Yorkshire doesn’t give any indication of needle size. For Americans, 4 ply translates to fingering weight which is similar to a thin sock yarn. Since I want to make a shawl, I’m using size 8 needles.
Marianne Kinzel’s Primula Doily has 90 rows which a few knitters on Ravelry have extended. Looking at the chart it will be a challenge to do so but I am willing to test my charting abilities if I have extra yarn to knit. It starts with eight repeats and increases to sixteen repeats as the lace grows. An eight repeat lace pattern is good for three needles since you divide the patterns into 3-3-2 across the needles making it easy to tell which is the third needle.
Happy knitting,
Knitted Yarns Editor-in-Chief