hello all! it’s about time i did a little catching up.most of my creative time lately has been taken up with knitting the Mystery Stole 3. i have also been working on a new lino block print, though… so hopefully you’ll be seeing some proof prints from that before too long.
as for finished objects, first up, we have the set of Fuzzy Feet i made a while back intended for paul. these were my lesson in different brands felting rates! while i extended the measurements all directions to make sure they would fit paul, they came out too small for me! we saved them away and this last weekend they made the perfect birthday gift for Paul’s mom… and they fit perfectly. a replacement pair for paul (this time in grey and black) is still on the needles…
next up, we have a
lace bookmark made with the swatching sample of zephyr i ordered from Sarah’s Yarns when i was planning to use Zephyr for the MS3. i couldn’t get the Zephyr in time, so i found the Misti Alpaca locally and fell in love… but i did end up ordering a cone of Zephyr that i’ll have for future projects. i’m thinking these bookmarks make great little projects to use up extra lace weight. they don’t take much at all… and they would make great Christmas gifts for folks at church! again, the pattern didn’t come with a chart… so a made one up. i am definitely enjoying knitting from charts.
i also finished up the cowl for my step mother for Christmas… but no pictures yet
you’ll have to wait.ok, back to the MS3. i’m on row 283… and i have to make a decision on whether or not to lengthen by row 302. oh, this is a hard one!
i have not had time to sit down and post much. i finished both clue 2 and clue 3 of the Mystery Stole 3 on time each week… but just didn’t get them together into anything remotely resembling a coherent post. so, i here by present you with the Mystery Stole! click on over to Flickr to see the larger pics.the end of clue 3 was row 200. it is finished and blocked to that point. it measured 25 1/2 inches from the point at that stage… which is just 1/2 inch more than Melanie’s original stole measured…. which means i’m on target to have a 77 inch stole with out lengthening. i think i’m going to go ahead and add on the extra 11 inch repeat anyway. i’m tall, plus a little extra fluff…
there will be no clue released this coming Friday… we have 2 weeks to work on clue 4. but clue 4 is almost as much knitting (with the added repeat) as the entire previous 3 weeks…. maybe more, now i think about it. at the moment, i’m on row 211…. only over 100 to go… ok, off to knit!
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i have been spinning more and more often, now. i tend to always have some spinning in my carry along project bag, and it often seems to be the easiest thing to pull out. the more i spin, the more i want to spin!
not too long ago, i finished up some baby colors roving that was the May roving of the month club shipment. i’m really happy with how nicely it came out.
i have decided i’m going to use it to make a baby surprise jacket, as soon as i have room in the project queue, lol. the close ups look so greyed out and blah… the first pic really does a better job of showing off the color. this ended up about a light worsted/ heavy sport weight after being 3 plied.
next up, i’m moving on to the
June roving of the month shipment. after reading the article in Spin Off about the Fractal Stripe method of balancing the color changes and blending the over all color progression of plied yarns, i was very excited to try it. so i split the braid down the center into 2 halves. one half i’m spinning as is to make long color changes. the other half i split again into 7 finger widths for some short color changes. i did my samples and think i’m going to end up with a light fingering weight that i’m very happy with.
my Secret Pal 10 package arrived!! oh, i was so spoiled! there is just so much here to say thank you for… see!
a copy of the Shop on Blossom Street, which i have already started reading. some Chai, which i love but probably won’t be fast enough to drink, lol… it’s Paul’s favorite. wild cherry hard candies (that are already open, if you look close! hehe). a tape measure for my knitting bag (because those always disappear when you need them, right?)and more…see!
here’s a peek inside the beautiful box…
here’s a grouping of just the fiber goodies. neat plied yarns that mix textures. those are going to be fun to work with. some wonderfully soft alpaca… i’ve become obscenely in love with alpaca since working with it for the mystery stole. it’s so soft!!! and this is some wonderfully heathered eggplant and burgundy stuff that is simply gorgeous. some beautiful glass bead topped needles in size 4 (3mm) that are perfect for my current lace obsession.and last, but definitely NOT least, a gorgeous fiber bat to spin up. it’s really beautiful with blues/purples/green showing on the outside… and then a layer of peach/salmon hiding inside… and purple angelina fibers too for some sparkle! this stuff is so gorgeous i ran to their website to look at what else they had. they have a fiber club!! oh, next year, if i join a fiber club (which i probably will),
THIS is going to be it! if i could afford it, i’d sign up right now!
all so yummy! my fingers are itching to get to it… why am i already committed to other projects right this minute?? why?? well, i can keep them in a bowl on the coffee table and keep petting them until i finish things up and have time…
and here’s a grouping of all the spa goodies… Jasmine is one of my favorite scents, and my my wonderful pal included both a candle and incense. the candle will be great for my nightly bath (with The Shop on Blossom street to read!) the incenses i’ll put into my yarn stash to help gently scent my yarns so they are a pleasure to work with… eventually i’ll burn them, but i love using them to add a subtle scent to clothes/yarn/paper/etc. first.
Thank You So Much!!
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
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after having so much fun knitting Marnie’s Scarf, i decided to take the plunge and join Mystery Stole 3! i even talked my SIL into doing it with me.
we ordered a cone of vanilla Zypher to split, but by that time it was sold out everywhere and still hasn’t arrived. so i found some black Misti Alpaca in a LYS i decided to use instead. i picked up a few bead choices (plus some more for future projects) from a local bead shop. i swatched with both #3 and #4s. i liked the fabric drape and laceyness of the #4 better.
even though they were MUCH more subtle (almost invisible at rest), i decided to go with the black rainbow hex beads. they will look really lovely when the stole moves and catches the light.
then, on friday, the first clue was released! and we were off! i decided to put in lifelines ever 10 rows… not so much out of fear, but more out of the nifty-ness of putting them in by stringing it through the knitpicks needles. but then i got to the blocking and realized that all those lifelines were wonderful for checking to make sure my blocking was straight!
and yes, i blocked this bit out. i wanted to be able to photograph it nicely(ish) and i wanted to be able to look at it well for clues to the theme. here’s the finished bit
and here is a closer look at the center portion flipped 180 degrees.
personally, the first things i saw was a Persian rug type design motif… but then, flipped, it looks like the roof of a pagoda to me. the border design had been guessed at as waves by a lot of folks, but i think it is just a simple braid design. i don’t know many asian love epics or myths… so i’m stuck on guesses. the only one i really know is blue willow… and that is (obviously) blue… not black or white themed.
and just a reminder, if you want to sign up, the group is closing membership on July 6th! so sign up quick before it’s gone!
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it’s been busy! busy! busy!
first off, we took our nephew up in his first small plane ride (turns out it was his daddy’s first small plane ride too!) with my father. that little guy is obsessed with planes right now and had such a blast!
we flew off from Concord and over to SF. out of the bay between the spans of the Golden Gate Bridge… and down the coast. in towards San Jose and up over land back to Concord. i’ve flown that tour route with my dad before… but it was still great fun and wonderful to get a chance to share it with the adults who like a little more than up and down in their plane trip.
after we were done, we were standing around talking and saying our good byes while the plane was being refueled… and the little one trotted off to the car. we thought he was letting folks know it was time to go… nope. he was trying to get his car seat back out of the car to go back into the plane!after the plane trip, we headed over to a LYS looking for some laceweight yarn. both my SIL and I are going to do the Mystery Stole 3 KAL. so, i ended up with some stash enhancement.
The Tofutsies is for socks for my SIL (maybe)…and the Candy is stash for emergency baby hat needs… unless i decide to combine it with my leftovers from other baby hats and make a Baby Surprise Jacket…
and then i had to order some appropriate needles for the lace… so i *needed* to get the order up to free shipping, right? only needed to get it up to $45 for knitpicks free shipping…. ok, so it was a $12 order to start, lol. all laceweight… (i’m a little obsessed…)
since this post is already really image heavy, i’ll go ahead and post the MS3 progress in another post…but then this weekend was Paul’s best friends (for over 25 years!) birthday party… it was a lovely day of good food and lots of games in the sun… in which paul was once again the kid magnet.
