Amy Singer saved my knitting!

(And oh, how I wish I had that on a badge). I was lucky enough to attend a lace-knitting class run by Amy on Saturday at Loop, Islington, and what a (n early) Christmas present it was! I had a blast, and finally feel like I can actually read knitting charts. As a sinister knitter, they've always foxed me, but it clicked on Saturday- partly through Amy's use of the Japanese code system for her lace charts, partly through just working with her. The main thing is to remember which direction you're knitting along the row, and read the chart that way.

I'm already on my fourth lace repeat of the Tuscany shawl (which is gorgeous, and in the Blackberry Handmaiden SeaSilk, even MORE glorious) and nearly to the fifth! Pictures will be forthcoming soon.

Also Amy totally saved my knitting by showing me the clever crochet-hook technique for picking up a dropped stitch. Again, once she showed me, I got it.

The best thing, though, was that when she found out I knit backwards (I do the work that most knitters do with the right hand with my left, so my work works the other way across the needles), she wasn't weirded out, and didn't tell me I was doing it wrong (which is sometimes how I feel), she was excited and wanted to see how I did it!

Amy, if you're reading this, a huge geeky thankyou for a great afternoon.

I've now joined the Stashalong...

So some progress posts will go here.