Well, OK, admittedly I'm (I think) the first knitter to fess up to being a member of Team Texas for the Knitting Olympics. We have to start somewhere...

I finally got my hands on a copy of Folk Shawls this weekend and spent several hours going back and forth through the patterns. It's a lovely book with 25 very well-written patterns, all of them shawls, many of them lace.

I'd originally planned to go for a triangle shawl, but I don't think I'm up to the challenge of any of the lace triangles I've seen so far; most of them involve borders or circular starts or any number of other techniques that I'm just not yet solid enough to attempt. This also contributed to my inability to work a pattern from one of the cultures most closely involving my ancestry.

So I decided on the Kimono Shawl, which the author says is inspired by the delicate heirloom shawls worn by Japanese women with formal kimono to tea ceremonies. Challenge 1: tiny yarn and needles. Challenge 2 (shaping and bordering) will just have to wait.

My biggest problem now is finding a lace-weight yarn that wasn't once hair or fur. Silks seem easy to find...but while I'm not poor, I'm also not inclined to spend $120 on yarn for my first-ever lace project. All suggestions are welcome.

The Harlot reports that there are now more Olympic Knitters than Olympians. Quite frankly, this rocks my world...and a lot of other folks', apparently. I continue to seek out appropriate userpics and to consider making some myself, especially since it seems Team Texas (I know you're out there) is focusing on preparation rather than buttons.

I'm also considering starting Team BUSTie. Any takers?