Two Socks and a Stole

I finished Mom's birthday socks, but I haven't had a chance to gift them on her yet. I'm only posting a picture because she's already seen one of them.

And since I've got those done, I've been working on the Lacy Stole from the Lion Brand Pattern Library. Instead of doing it in cotton, I decided to try Sundara Yarn Aran Silky Merino. The colorway is Basil over Buttercup and it is simply the most gorgeous yarn I've ever knit with. I love the rich colors and the way it just glows. Besides, after listening to everyone rave and rave about her yarn, I had to try it for myself. I think I might be hooked.

Since I have never been all that capable at lace knitting, you might be wondering why I would tackle a project like this. Well, I have to go to a conference at the end of July with lots and lots of formal events and I wanted something to throw over my shoulders that would be different and elegant. So I took a deep breath and decided to try lace. This pattern looked relatively simple and then I read a great suggestion by someone on Ravelry about knitting lace repeats: mark each repeat with stitch markers.



Well, duh! Why hadn't I thought of that before? Sometimes the most obvious solution just flies over my head. So these markers are making this very simple to knit. I haven't memorized the pattern repeats yet, but I feel pretty comfortable with them and have had only one missing stitch--which was easily fixed. The reward of getting out of one's comfort zone I suppose.

What have you tried lately that was out of your comfort zone?