Not much progress here. My knitting (and blogging) time is severely curtailed by work obligations. I have moved a bit further into the pattern. It's slow going. In addition to not having lots of time to sit down and make an systematic investigation - the pattern itself continues to present challenges.

I'm still struggling with the $ notation. Sometimes it means k1tbl, sometimes it means k2tbl. At this point I'm using the chart as a point of base information on my quest to make the finished knitting look somewhat like the book's engraved illustration. Each row is an exercise in winging it, with occasional rip-backs after a repeat or two if they don't quite work out.

As you can see - I'm close. Right now I've just finished the row where the triple peacock tail like elements are topped off with a double decreases, bringing their three lobes to sharp points. After that I've got a couple of rounds of a ground type pattern with vertical stripe like lace bars, then I launch into the supplemental graph for the zillion petal border repeat.

It's hard to say exactly how large this piece is right now, all scrunched together in typical snood-type style on my circs and unblocked, but I estimate that I'm at about 24 inches across. Based on a crude assessment of proportions, I'd say that by the time I'm done with the petal section, I'll be at 36-40 inches across. Still too small for my intended table, but I'll worry about that when I get there. Maybe I'll add another simple ground element, and then a judiciously chosen edging knitted around the circumference as opposed to center-out.

I take it from the astounding silence on recent projects that I'm pretty much the only person in the blogosphere (or at least the tiny minority of the knitworld that visits here) who is working from the Duchrow books. This is a pity, because in spite of the difficulties I'm having now, they are a marvelous source of inspiration. Don't be daunted by the antique notation, the fact that they're written in another language, and that on occasion a bit of creative insight has to be applied to make things work out well. This last bit hasn't been common. I've worked up about a dozen items from various Duchrow charts and this is the first one that's been a struggle. This stuff is Xtreme Knitting at its purest. If you like lace and like a challenge, consider this set.

Rats. I just noticed that I knocked two repeats off the end of the needle getting the radius measurement. Perfection in my work as in everything else, is asymptotic.

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I imposed upon a German speaking co-worker today, asking if he could help me with a line or two of the Duchrow annotation. Although fluent in his native language, he didn't speak knitting, but between the two of us we pieced together a bit more detail.

It turns out that the instructions on this one have a special note that II is in fact to be interpreted as one YO, not two. But again - about half the time in order to make the required stitch count on the next patterned row the intervening plain knit row needs to place two stitches into that YO. There is no alternate direction on when to k2 into a YO and when not to do so; nor is there direction on when $ means k1tbl, and when it means k2tbl. So even though I now have the relevant bit of annotation translated, I am no more enlightened than I was yesterday.

To answer some privately posted questions

• The yarn I'm using was a gift. I'm afraid it has no brand name, and I'm unfamiliar with its original provenance.
• I'm knitting directly off the cone. I haven't bothered to rewind a smaller quantity.
• I don't have a good feel for how big my final piece will be, and that doesn't bother me one bit. The directions say that the finished cloth is around 60cm (a little over 23.6 inches), but I think my piece will be larger. Probably on the order of 30-33 inches across if I work it as given. I'd like to go significantly larger - possibly 56 inches across. I may add a course or two of other repeats. We'll see when I get there. There's a ton of yarn, so the only limits are my own perseverance and willingness to tinker.

Now I have questions of my own.

• Is there anyone else out there working from the Duchrow series?
• If not those books - has anyone knit from the K. Ichida "Knitted Lace Designs of the Modern Mode" series - the Japanese language Modern Lace series reissuing classic European patterns?

Progress? Not really. I'm entering another chaos period at work, and had to rip back tonight. I managed to drop some stitches when I did yesterday's photo. I wasn't able to rework them, so I had to go back four rounds. Three steps forward, one step back.

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