Knitter's Insurance.....Or The Lifeline

I've reached the end of the first pattern repeat on the Swallowtail Shawl. Just as I was getting used to the budding lace design, I finished the mammoth amount of repeats and hopefully now have 195 stitches (fingers-crossed!)

The shawl has grown with each repeat and now almost fills my circular needle. My fear of the gossamer thin, lace weight yarn is beginning to recede too. After all that chunky yarn I've been knitting with over the past 6 months, trying to knit with such a thin thread has been something of a shock. I'm terrified I'm going to rip it (and I don't mean frog it, but literally RIP it!!) It's quite a testing experience.

I have knit with fine yarn before. I made this gorgeous Mist Lace Scarf back in May 2009 out of Knit Picks Palette, but this Shadow is even finer. As I approach the nupps though, I keep telling myself that I have to make the most of knitting lace while I can. Who knows, maybe all that 'handy' exercise will keep the arthritis issues that run in my family at bay a little longer than usual.

Anyway, yesterday there I was putting in a lifeline. After all that hard work there's no way I'm going to rip back to the beginning again if I can help it! As I was gathering my stuff together I thought I'd give you a little tutorial on just what's involved.

First off I found some dental floss. As we'd just all been for a check up last week, there was no lack of it in the house, it's just all 'minty' fresh. If possible go for something more flavourless, but as long as it's waxed you're ok. The idea is to use some smooth kind of thread so that your stitches slip easily along it. Crochet thread or silk button thread will do too.

Then thread it on to a fine needle and start running your floss through the stitches on your needle. I started this following a purl row as it was easier to see each individual stitch. It's a little trickier when you've got to capture lots of yarn overs.

The real key to putting in your lifeline, is to remember to sew under the stitch markers. If you don't, you'll end up struggling on the next row when you want to move them. Unless they are locking ones, you'll be stuck, so better off to just run your dental floss (or fine yarn) underneath the stitch markers in the first place.

By the way, make sure that you use a colour that you can actually see in your work. If you're working in cream or white then a darker fine yarn will do the trick.

Continue threading through each stitch until you have them all captured. 

Voila! You've now put in a lifeline.

You can use this technique whenever you want to. I use it after each new pattern repeat, but if you're feeling less confident, you can insert lifelines more frequently than that. It just means that if you make a mistake and have to rip back, you won't be tearing out quite so much work.

I've knitted on a few rows so that you can see the 'minty fresh' lifeline in all its glory.

I'm so proud!

Now I'm on to the nupps. The jury's out so far. They are 5-stitch nupps and I've heard rumours that the real killers are the 9-stitch ones......... I'm reserving judgement.

If you've got any tips or tricks when it comes to nupps, please let me know. I'm knitting this in between student half days, parent conferences, 19th birthday preparations and last minute tax filing.

I need all the help I can get!

For more tips on putting in lifelines, check out this post at JLYarnworks or go to Fleegle's Blog for more links.