Niebling 085/14: Better Photo

This is a quickie, just to put up a better shot of the Niebling doily 085/14:


It looks much better against the flat black of the cushion :)

My First Niebling

This is my first attempt at one of Herbert Niebling's lace patterns. I wanted to try something small and portable to have something to work on while visiting my mother, and to get used to the charting system. This is pattern 085/14 on p.9 of Burda's Alles aus Garn: Kunststricken / Folge 1, published in 1980. I used 1.5mm steel DPNs and DMC's "Spécial Dentelles" #80 crochet cotton, and it took just under 1 5g ball. (I was terrified that I'd have to join a new ball on the crochet edging!)

I'd finished this doily a few weeks ago, but hadn't got round to blocking it. I washed and pinned it out this afternoon (yes it's pinned on my ironing board *grin*), and gave it a good spray with the starch. Sorry for the glare from the flash, but this is the best photo I could get. I'll take another when it's dry, on something dark like a table.


If you've never heard of Niebling, he was a German designer in the first half of the 20th century, who designed many lovely doilies, tablecloths, etc. Burda owns the copyright to his patterns, and you can usually find old issues of Anna Burda magazine on Ebay if you do a search for Niebling. The patterns are in German, but they're charted. A lot of his pieces have lovely floral motifs.

I really enjoyed this work. It was challenging but not impossible. The chart symbols are a little different from what I'm used to but they make sense, and I used Babelfish to translate the notes for starting and finishing the pattern. I'd really like to find the time to do a full-sized tablecloth for our dining room... so many projects! so little time!

Welcome; VK cabled gloves

Hello! Welcome to my blog :) This is a first for me, although I've been reading other blogs for some time. I've also been knitting for a number of years, and I've worked on a variety of projects although I always seem to come back to socks and lace for some reason :)



This is my next project, cabled gloves from Vogue Knitting's 25th anniversary issue (Fall 2007). I've made tons of socks, but never gloves before now. I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern: Knit One Crochet Too's Ambrosia (70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, 10% cashmere), in colour 510 (Pale Moss), dye lot 221. It sounded so yummy that I had to order it, and it really is delicious feeling. I did have trouble ordering it from the U.S.; the only place I found that carries it AND that has online ordering doesn't normally ship to Canada. The ladies at Woodland Woolworks were very helpful, though.

I'm also trying out new needles. I ordered a set of 14 sizes of DPNs from Bambooneedlegirl on Ebay, 6" long, sizes 0 through 13 (U.S. sizes, fortunately they also have the mm sizes printed on the needles). As usual, I need one size larger needles than what the pattern calls for, in this case U.S. 5 (3.75mm) and 6 (4mm).

I don't know if I'll be able to work on this project on the bus. It's small, but juggling a cable needle can be fiddly, and I dread the thought of dropping a needle on a crowded bus. I may have to start a pair of socks to have something to work on. Much depends on how busy the bus to the new job is... We shall see.