The Shape of Things to Come

Not all lace edgings produce a straight beginning (cast on) edge and ending (bound off) edge. How do you know which category a lace edging falls into?

My own preferences in design aesthetics when choosing lace edgings for towels is to use an edging that produces a straight cast on edge and a straight bound off edge. This gives  visual consistency with the straight side edges of the towel when sewn. An example is this month’s project for the Spiraling Diamonds Lace-edged Towel.

Spiraling Diamonds Lace-edged Towel

The following is an example of a lace edging with a cast on edge that naturally flares with an obvious curve after several row repeats have been knitted.

Curved lace edging

Originally I had started this piece with the thought of using it for a fine linen guest towel (I was knitting with size 35/2 bleached linen on 2mm needles). But after seeing its tendency to curve, I ruled it out for that particular towel edging. It’s still a beautiful edging that I would consider attached to an item with a similar curvature, though. I love the “organic” fluid quality of it. It just is not what I would myself consider for attaching to a rectangular towel. What do you think?

If you are perusing a stitch pattern dictionary, it may or may not show the cast on and bound off edges. If it does, you are one step closer to knowing whether that pattern stitch meets your needs or not. If it does not, definitely work a sample before committing to a larger project.

Fortunately, for narrow lace edgings such as we are doing for Bits of Lace 2012, your sample can usually be the start of your project. Just be ready to change your plans if the resulting shape does not suit the vision you had.