under the same moon: Merino Lace

Like so many knitters out there, I sometimes have a tough time with laceweight yarns. Not with loving them -I seem to buy them all the time- but with knitting them up into useful things. I don't have a lot of use for lightweight jumpers, I live in Canada! In fact, this past winter was my first Canadian winter in a couple of years and I can tell you there were times that I thought I was not going to make it so summer...that I would surely become an ice cube before I could knit enough layers to stay warm. Lace yarn was not at all interesting to me over the winter, I saw it as a rather reckless and dangerous indulgence in my fight for survival!

Now that summer is officially here, and I've lightened up about the extremity of winter (only slightly) I have let another impulse take over - my need to knit up stash yarn! Another overwhelming aspect of my new (old) life in Canada is the yarn stash that I've been reunited with. I know many of you can relate to this one, it's huge, it's out of control! And so, I am working away at my stash, including that once pesky section of lace weight yarns. Turns out, There's quite a lot of stuff I want to knit with all that lace (phew!)

My recent inventory has exposed my love of Viola Merino Lace yarn. Suppose I should have known about that already...There's something very special in the combination of a very fine singles merino yarn. It grabs dye super-fast creating beautiful splotches which remain delicate and subtle because of how thin the yarn is. I've thought about this quite a lot recently.

Anyhow, as you may well imagine, I've been plotting many projects in the lovely Merino Lace...

You may have already seen the Light Grey Structure that I recently finished. I love this thing! Knit with Viola Merino Lace and Fyberspates Neff lace held double, I reckon that this jumper is going to be warm enough for winter layering. Huzzah! The pattern was brilliantly written and lots of fun to knit. It was my first go at contiguous sleeves and I'd say I'm a convert! I am most certainly dreaming up more double stranded lace jumpers!

I have also made a rather feeble start on the Halligarth Shawl that I was on about a while ago. I'm using Merino Lace for this again. The colourway is called 'Dusk' and I'm pretty crazy about it - so much so that the yarn is in focus instead of my knitting!

And I am so excited to be sharing this beautiful shawl! Knit in Viola Merino Lace from many moons ago by the lovely UniqueUylond on Ravelry. The Pattern is Photosynthesis, and I'm pretty sure it was Uylond's beautiful shawl that inspired my Halligarth journey. Thanks Uylond!!