Progress

Alhambra is the next project to finish, and the only one left over from 2008. I've completed 10 pattern repeats so far, and based on the yardage of the Eva, I should be able to do 20.



It's amazing the difference time makes. When I started this, I'd not really knit with any form of laceweight yarn before, and found it a little difficult to use. The project was soon put to one side, as I was increasingly busy at work and didn't have the patience or concentration to knit the lace pattern.

Recently I've been knitting with KSH, which is a much finer laceweight than the Eva. Having got to grips with that, and knitting away at more-or-less my normal speed with it, I switched back to Alhambra. The practice with the KSH has really paid off. Even the p2togtbl moves are flowing very easily. At one point I had really thought I couldn't cope with fine laceweight, so I'm counting it as a definite achievement.

Yesterday I received a nice surprise in the post. When I was knitting the latest Clapotis, I started off with Brittany 5mm straights. One evening I suddenly found the yarn catching on every stitch on one of the needle tips. Closer inspection revealed what looked like a small chip out of the wood, which we believe to be one of those natural "flaws" in the wood grain. It certainly wasn't anything that you could see beforehand, and probably just revealed itself after much use. I was reminded that Brittany operate a guarantee scheme and sent off an email explaining the problem, and asking for one replacement needle. Yesterday I received a whole new pair of 5mm straights from Artesano UK! I certainly didn't expect a complete pair and am most impressed with the customer service from Brittany/Artesano.