Thanks to all of you who have weighed in regarding my foray into lace. After reading through the IK articles on knitting lace, perusing all my back issues of IK and looking over the patterns I had downloaded, I’ve narrowed it down to Fir Cone or Icarus. Maybe. I don’t know!!! It’s a hard choice! I was leaning toward Icarus, when I read this last night. Crap, I thought. If the Harlot is having trouble…..
I haven’t seen a copy of the Flower Basket Shawl or the Leaf Lace Shawl spoken of in the comments (as luck would have it, I have IK Summer 2004 and Winter 2004, but not the issue containing Flower Basket). Kiri still intrigues me…….
A special shout to those of you who came out of hiding to comment; you know who you are! I’m still amazed that there are so many of you out there! Keep you suggestions coming!
Back to New Word Wednesday. Today, let’s explore a quintessential Black Sheep word: heterodox. This is an adjective that mean 1: unorthodox, unconventional 2: holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines. As with it’s antonym orthodox, it developed from the same Greek root word doxa which means opinion. Paired with heter-, it means “different” or “other” while the prefix orth- means “correct” or “straight.” William Warburton, and 18th century bishop was quoted as saying “Orthodoxy……is my doxy—-heterodoxy is another man’s doxy.” I think, that while Bishop Warburton may have had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, he was revealing his true thoughts—my opinions are right, correct and true. If you disagree, you are being heterodox. Much as we like to think we’re tolerant and open minded, don’t we fall into this same mindset, from time to time? How many of you have heard it said “well, there’s my way or the wrong way?” We once left a church and were told by our friends that they would no longer fellowship with us because, in effect, we were doing it wrong. I could go on and on with examples, I’m sure you could too. I think the lesson here (as if we need one), is that everybody thinks their doxa is orth, and just because someone else’s opinion may be heter doesn’t necessarily mean they are wrong. (In some circles even that thought is heterodoxy—yikes).
And now I’m off to do a little tidying up and get down to some spinning and/or knitting. Make it a great day!
Black Sheep 
That definition has been on my mind lately. I just didn’t know the word! Maybe I can now write a letter to the editor (instead of just in my head) and have it sound ‘smart’.
Lace isn’t hard. You just need to keep the faith and make sure everything lines up. Check the Fiber Trends site and to see the other patterns. They might be best as a beginning project. Oh and I know of a new pattern for beginners coming out next week.
I asked the lace expert Mim which of her shawls she’d suggest for a beginning lace knitter. Here’s what she said to me: I would recommend either Adamas, or Seraphim. Adamas
because the lace is very intuitive and it’s easy to
keep track of where you are, and Seraphim because you
have the whole upper portion to get used to the
construction method before you dive into the lace.
Hope that helps!
I am working on my third leaf lace shawl and I love the pattern. I don’t find it terrible hard and I get such different looks with different yarns and colors. I have used Handpaint WoolPak and now I’m using Cheryl Schaefer’s Anne. I can’t wait to see it blocked!
Mim is really helpful if you have questions about her patterns. The Harlot was just confusing herself. 🙂
I can’t figure out the evolutionary value of being orthodox. Less likely to try new poisonous foods? Less likely to bring those bad things back to the tribal unit, and therefore not kill them all off accidently?