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Who Can Resist the Nupps? |
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Written by Martha Marques
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Thursday, 10 December 2009 08:36 |
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This shawl that is currently being stretched on my blocking board in the studio is not my own design. I took it exactly as it was written from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. It is the Leaf and Nupp shawl knitted up in KnitPicks alpaca/silk lace blend in a Yuletide evergreen color that has been discontinued (but they have other beautiful colors). It is being stretched using lace wires which you can see in the photo below. These are a lifesaver and I should have gotten them long ago. It saves putting a pin in each and every point of the lace, and then moving them all a bit, and then moving half of them again, and then tweaking that last 10% and then maybe these 5 pins over here could go a little to the middle....oops too far....back again....but that threw off these over here, etc., etc., until only strong drink (it could be tea people) will soothe your nerves. |
| What is a Nupp???? Do you see those lovely little bumps in pretty sets of three? Those are Nupps (which means knob or button in Estonian according to Nancy Bush). I am fascinated by them and I'm currently ogling the big lace shawl on the cover of the book which is the Crown Prince Square Shawl. This is a big ambitious project that will require a real committment of brain power so I am currently just ogling but it has many, many nupps. |
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And here is a close up of leaves and nupps stretched out in all their glory.
Those who know me have heard me say that I keep two kinds of knitting going at all times. Oatmeal knitting which can be done while watching a movie and Thinking Woman's knitting which requires close attention, a quiet room and lots of thinking. This shawl was a bit of both. It required close attention, a quiet room and lots of thinking for the beginning 10 inches or so whilst I learned the pattern. After that I could do it while watching movies but I kept the book with me at all times for reassurance (which I usually don't do). Also, when Joe (my husband) came over during commercial breaks to get some attention I sometimes yelled out desperately "Lace! Lace! Lace!" to give myself a few seconds to get the knitting out of the way so affection could ensue without dropping stitches. Dropping stitches while making lace is a disaster.....although I have heard of these things called Life Lines. I'll have to look into that.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2010 14:34 |
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