Balmoral Thistle Dinner Cloth

This cloth was completed in spring of 2002. The pattern is Balmoral Thistle from Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting, and it was made from #30 DMC thread. I wrote down how many balls of thread I used and lost it, sorry. I have seen examples on the web of the smaller, "tea cloth" version of the pattern, but this is the only example I've seen of the full dinner cloth version. It's my largest project to date, taking three months to complete. I had to start it twice, because after my first week of work, I actually left it on the subway in Brooklyn (doh!), so I had to start over. If I remember correctly, the final rows had nearly 2,000 stitches, and the blocked diameter is about 60". On a 48" round table, the outer border of the pattern falls precisely on the edge of the table. I think this must have been a deliberate choice by Kinzel, and it's very impressive.

If you are reading this and you are a lace knitter, you can see that I had a yarn over issue on one side of the solid shapes. I noticed that Michael Kaprelian, an expert knitter, had the same issue with his version of Balmoral Thistle. However, I don't see the same effect in the photos in Kinzel's book. If anyone has comments or suggestions to improve, I appreciate your input. I knit continental, if that makes any difference.

Click on the photos to see the full size image.