Have you been eyeing the Lovely in Lace Wrap knitting pattern, but you're scared that the lace might be too complicated?
Coming across a new knitting technique can feel intimidating, scary, and just plain impossible. But I promise it isn't impossible. I promise you can learn the new techniques, but I also want to acknowledge that there's no sense forcing a new technique when you don't have the mindset to learn... because then it's ten times harder!
In this post I am going to break down what the lace sections in the Lovely in Lace Wrap actually entail. Chances are you already know how to do some of the techniques. And if you don't, I'll help you decide if they're techniques you're ready to learn or not.
The Lovely in Lace Wrap includes three lace motifs: feather and fan, fern lace, and herringbone lace. Feather and fan is by far the most used stitch motif used in the pattern, because it is used between each fern lace and herringbone lace section. So, 1/2 of the pattern is feather and fan, 1/4 is herringbone lace, and 1/4 is fern lace. If you're feeling intimidated by the lace at all, those facts should make you feel more confident about the knit already, because 3 of every 4 rows (or 75%) of the feather and fan sections is just knitting or purling (a.k.a. there's more "rest rows" than there are "concentration rows!"). The other two sections (fern lace and herringbone lace) are purling every other row (or 50%).
This photo shows feather and fan on the sides of the photo and herringbone lace in the center. I don't know about you, but I always like repeats. They seem to make the knit more fun and engaging, making the time fly while I knit. If you're like me, you're glad to hear that the whole Lovely in Lace Wrap pattern is just a whole lot of repeats! The feather and fan & fern lace sections are created using a 4-row repeat. These four rows are then repeated multiple times for the feather and fan section; and of course these sections are then repeated multiple times throughout the pattern. The herringbone lace is technically a 12-row repeat, but in reality it is 2 rows that are repeated for six rows and then another 2 rows that are repeated for six rows ~ so there's only four rows of instructions (and 2 of those are just purling the wrong side!).
This photo primarily shows the feather and fan stitch. Some fern lace is visible at the bottom of the photo. Now, for specific stitch techniques used in the pattern. Of course, there's a cast on (I recommend a long-tail cast on, because it's my personal favorite, but as long as your cast on isn't too tight, you can use whatever you prefer) and a bind off (I like this elastic bind off, but again, as long as it isn't too tight, you can use whatever you prefer), knits, and purls. Then there's the increases and decreases. (Yes, if you've ever used an increase or decrease before, you're likely already familiar with at least one of these!) The feather and fan & herringbone lace sections use K2tog, YO, and SSK stitches (and knits and purls). The fern lace sections use K2tog, YO, and SKP stitches (and knits and purls).
"Alright, so now what?" If you're feeling intimidated by the idea of knitting lace and any of those techniques (K2tog, YO, SSK, and SKP) I've listed above are new to you, I recommend you click the link to watch the tutorial for that technique. Then gauge how you feel about the new technique(s). Maybe you want to pick up the needles with some yarn and practice the technique to see if it feels doable for you right now. If you're watching the tutorial thinking, "Oh ya, I can do that! It's just another way of working knit stitches!" then you've got this ~ I think you will be totally fine working the Lovely in Lace Wrap. If it feels too overwhelming right now, that is 100% ok ~ you can always take a look at the stitches again later when you're feeling ready to learn. If you're in love with the pattern and know you want to knit it *sometime* in the future, you can still purchase the pattern with the discount code, and/or add it to your queue and favorites on Ravelry.
