Right.

These things are pure unadulterated hell. A typical catastrophe was when I knit a stitch the wrong way, which caused a dropped stitch, which raveled before I could catch it, which was in a section of yarn overs that I couldn't seem to replicate - which meant an 8 round rip back. Ripping size 50 thread knit on 000 needles is as delicate and nearly as harrowing as microsurgery.

I used Addi needles, (they are the only 000's I could find in circulars) but started the doily on INOX 000's. The INOX points are sharper, and make knitting with fine cotton much easier, though somewhat more hazardously lethal.

More about the Niebling designs, which deserve to be described. For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Herbert Niebling was a German designer in the first half of the century who had an almost supernatural ability to design lace (it was said he could chart a complicated pattern without swatching). The designs are now reprinted by Burda in their lace issue (available through German Language Publications here - oddly, I could only find it in Spanish - but could easily translate the instructions and the charts are very clear.)

As I knit the design, its connection with natural forms is palpable. Straight lines almost imperceptibly begin to curve gracefully, the structure of the ground stitches is almost crystalline, perhaps more like plant cell walls. There is at once an organic fluidity supported by a mathematical rigor. I love getting under the skin of these designs, although I think it would take many more to understand the artistry behind the logic.

Lace can be almost labyrinthine in its difficulty, but I would suggest that any inquisitive knitter try the Niebling designs once. The investment in materials (the doilies take less than a spool of fine cotton) is minimal, though the time is proportionally high. They are also hell on stash reduction. It's not as if a single spool of size 50 cotton thread that takes many hours to knit does anything for the closet full of yarn waiting to be knit into something (ANYTHING! Maybe a closet cozy?) Burda has taken a few of the designs and made them in much thicker cotton to use as larger items such as tablecloths.