Life Lines

I have resisted life lines for some odd 60 years, not the ones on my face or those life lines in which palm readers are interested, but the ones you put in your knitting in case of a visit to the frog pond. Well, after my dog, Pepe Le Pew, managed to wrest the knitting needle from my knitting twice, I decided it was time to be a little less obstinate. The current scarf is knit with a cobweb yarn and while the pattern is very simple, the combination of the pattern, the cobweb yarn, the color of the yarn and my eyes, made it difficult if not almost impossible to pick up dropped stitches. So a life line was born. I am using the Knit Picks Option needles. The nice thing about these needles is that there is a little hole at the end of the needle where the needle is screwed into the cable. A #20 crochet cotton fits easily through that hole and the life line threads itself. This is easy enough to do every few rows--just in case Pepe wants to help with the knitting again.

Speaking of lace knitting needles: I was disappointed in the new Addi circular lace needles. Skacel only makes them in limited sizes and the longest cable available is only 47". So, I am asking myself why should I pay the extra money for the Addis? I haven't decided yet. If I knit some lace with an available size needle, I might just pick one up to try and evaluate the difference, but I am not hurrying to buy a set yet.

Now an update about the current shawl project: It's finished! 3/4 of the shawl is blocked. Now to find enough room to block the border. the size of the shawl will be about 70". In the meantime, here is a teaser picture.

"Knit on!"