I took advantage of the glorious sunshine that accompanied our frigid temperatures this weekend to take photos of a couple of lacy projects against our upstairs window. First, a swatch for a top-down version of my Vahtralehed pattern, in Beaverslide 2-ply Sport/Sock weight:
I’m hoping to work up a wee baby cardigan with a single maple leaf running down the back, and perhaps a lace-version of those little maple-seed “helicopters” around the yoke, and then size it up to M’s size before writing it as a kids’ pattern. So far, turning the maple leaf upside-down (relative to how it was knit in the original Vahtralehed sweater) is working out fine, though (as in Vahtralehed) I do have a slight problem with the gauge expanding quite a bit from the yarn-overs, and I’m definitely open to advice on that front – are there good strategies out there for keeping the YOs small when they’re paired with directional decreases?
The second project is a new one for me – an Imogen Cowl in BFMA BFL Fingering (in the old 500yd, non-superwash put-up), in “Icy Wintergreen Awesomesauce”, which is pretty much the best color name ever. It’s going to be beautiful, I think!
The lace pattern is actually quite easy to memorize and read off the knitting, but it does require that I pay attention on every single row, so we’ll see how much progress I’m able to make on this. I’m loving my Sculling Cowl so much as a neck warming-and-adornment device that I’m really excited about the idea of another infinity-scarf style cowl!
whit::knits 
If the yarn overs are too big, you can try just not working them between the decreases, and then on the following row picking up the horizontal strand where the yarn over would have been located and knitting or purling into it (like an m1 increase without twisting it closed) — this way you end up with an eyelet in the correct row, but it’ll be smaller because the yarn for it will be pulled over from the stitches flanking it. Of course you will still have to swatch a bit to see how the tension is affected, but it will tighten up substantially.
I say work the YO’s but then work them tbl on the following row. You still get a hole but the strand above is twisted so it’s smaller. I did this on certain rows of my Baltic Sea Stole.