Last Sunday I took an online class through Virtual Vogue Knitting Live on knitting Serbian Lace. Andre de Castro was the teacher, and since I had taken another class with him a while ago, I thought it should be interesting.
And it was! The lace patterns he featured in the class are not ones commonly in use in Serbia now. He found an old knitting book in a used book shop and got help from a Serbian-fluent friend to translate. From what he told us, it was one of those older style books with no photos and no charts – just written out instructions. He didn’t even know what the lace would look like once it was knitted up, so it has been a real adventure for him.
This was his first time teaching the class and the patterns were translated and knitted up pretty recently, so he made a few corrections while the class was going on. But VKL sent out the updated class handout, so I’ve got all the corrections. It was neat being there at the introduction of a new class. So here are my samples:
So I’m not going to lie – these patterns were a challenge for me. I had to have two or three tries for a few of them. But I got them done! One thing I learned in this class is that if I’m going to seriously take up lace knitting, I definitely need some much pointier needles. But I muddled through, and they turned out pretty well!
Quite A Yarn 
These are BEAUTIFUL!!!
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Thank you!!
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That’s intricate work. My mom did tatting and her work looked sort of like this but tighter. She also crocheted and that looks similar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen knitted lace.
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Tatting really is intricate! My grandmother did it as well. A lot of lace is crocheted, and I think that’s really what crochet does best. There is a fair amount of knitted lace too. I don’t do a lot of it myself, but it’s out there 🙂
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They are beautiful, especially the top right one ! Have you any idea what they were typically used in ? ( shawls, garments, home deco.. ? )
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Thanks! Yes. Andre mentioned that they were normally used for embellishing garments, though some would have been used to embellish household items like pillowcases.
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Very pretty! And you’re right: lace needles are a must. Everyone has their favorites, I’ve found, but for me it’a all about the ChiaoGoo lace needles.
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Thanks! A lot of people like the ChiaGoos – what is your favorite thing about them? I’ve never tried them.
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I like the feel of them. Also, the cable is nice and what I want out of a circular needle’s cable: flexible without being mushy, if that makes sense. I like the cable to hold enough of a shape while I’m working with it without being stiff. The lace tip is also good; there are other lace tips I like as well (one of the Addi models comes to mind, but I forget which one) but it’s really just the whole combination that keeps me going back.
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Good to know! Thanks for the info 🙂
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I enjoyed the Estonian lace knitting class I took at Stitches ages ago. I love the look, but man, it is a bit fiddly. How fun the class must have been!
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It really was! Very interesting 🙂
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Wow looks challenging and congrats on taking it on!
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Thank you! It was a really interesting class. The teacher is talking about putting a book out eventually. I hope he does 🙂
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They’re all so pretty. Are you going to make something using the technique?
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