Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Mystery Stole 3 - Clue 2

I finished clue 2 a few days ago but just got around to taking pictures this morning, as I was downloading the next clue.  So here's clue 2 in all it's lacey glory.  My favorite thing about the pattern so far???  The lovely, intertwined edge, just beautiful!

I'm not using lifelines on it, nor any fancy ways to keep track of where I am.  I have used lifelines in past shawls, but haven't found it necessary on this stole.  (Now watch, I just went and jinxed myself and now I'm going to mess up majorly!)

For Melanie's stoles I actually don't look down at my knitting much.  I knit directly off the chart without looking down.  To do this, I break up the chart into two pieces, I knit the first half, move the magnet, check where I'm at and then knit the second half.  It really helps to check your progress halfway through and this pattern is filled with a lot of great ways to check where you should be.  All those large columns of YO's?  If your yo's aren't lining up where they should be, you know you're off track immediately.  It takes practice but will result in less time tinking once you can read your knitting. 

Anyhow, so if you're out of the loop, I did purchase my trip to Europe, 6 countries in 14 days and I am so excited!  The tour itself is 10 days, but I'm going two days early and staying two days late and flying in and out of london to see a bit more.  I leave in two weeks and really need to get packed!

We're trying to plan up a knit bloggers meetup in frankfurt/germany which I am also really excited about.  Wanna meetup??? =)

Since we have a lot of traveling/tour time I have already picked out my two projects to bring with me in my new project pouch.  One is the plain vanilla socks in yummy Colinette Jitterbug with my addi lace turbos (Tiennie gave me the idea that the new addi lace would be perfect for socks.)  Darn her, she's such an enabler! =) (OH! And she's having a really cool contest with amazing prizes, go check it out and enter!)

The other is the knitting notions lace/sockweight yarn, 3 skeins which will become Ene's scarf which I think will be lovely in that yarn.  Mystery Stole will be put on hold while I'm gone since I'm leaving my laptop behind, but luckily there is a two week break for the harry potter book so I really won't miss much.  When I come back I should be able to catch up easily.

If you have any trip ideas of what I should see and where to go, let me know! =)

Mystery Stole - Clue 1

I'm behind in email and laundry right now but I had to put it all on hold to finish clue 1 of the Mystery Stole 3 late last night.

You may be thinking that the yarn looks a lot different than my first swatch?  I consulted with Kathleen and we both agreed that each of our respective yarns were too fine - we'd end up with a fancy scarf rather than a stole at that rate!  So I managed to track down a cone of zephyr in steel and we split it up.

I don't know why, but I've always had an urge to order/knit from a cone of zephyr, kinda weird huh?  Something about knitting off of a cone makes me a very happy knitter! =)

The zephyr is knitting up nicely on US 4 needles, knitpicks.  Clue two came out today, and sign ups close at midnight so if you're on the fence about joining us, better get moving! =)

 

Swatch - Mystery Stole

I swatched last night for the Mystery Stole in the  Lane Borgosesia yarn.  I started with a 3.25mm but it was too big so I went down to a 3mm.  What do you think???  Opinions welcome please, I can't tell if it's too large and I need to go down another .25mm or I should leave it as is.  I've been eyeing other parts of my stash I do have enough lacey lamb in a deep burgundy if push comes to shove and I don't like the grey.

I've been having good maildays this week so far, I received an amazing present from Sasha since I won her blogiversary contest (pics to follow shortly.)  I also just got some fiber from Sqoosh.  Isn't that color pretty?  I love it.

I joined a few new to me fiber clubs recently now that I am addicted to my wheel.  The spunky fiber club for this month just arrived but I don't want to spoil it for you so I put it after the fold...clicky at your own risk!

Knitting a mystery - Number 3

Remember last year when I knit Mystery Stole 2, aka Scheherazade?  This year Melanie has done it again, signups are going on now.  Better hurry, the group closes shortly after the first clue.  As this is a mystery we don't know what we're knitting so she recommends colors for us, this year there were two- either white or black.  Well white is just too stark for me and black is too hard to see so I went inbetween with a nice dark grey.

Angelika was asking me what yarn I was using.  I decided to use something a little different than the ubiquitous zephyr and ordered Lane Borgosesia from the Loopy Ewe in the color charcoal.  1460 yds of laceweight for only 14 dollars?  Sold!

I will be using beads, I just haven't found the right ones yet.  I'll spend some time looking this weekend for those and an extra-small crochet hook and post pics when I make a decision.

If you're interested in just being a spectator pull up a chair, I plan on posting pics of my progress on each clue like I did last time.  It's almost as good as knitting it yourself right??? =)

In other news I spun up my first official 4 ounces of merino and plied it.  Woohoo!

This is Sea Nymph from Gypsy Knits

I started a February Baby Sweater, and love love love the bright green color.  It's so springy!

I also found a new hairdresser and got my haircut yesterday, I figured I would post a pic for Chris since she just showed her cute new 'do.  I'm so relieved, everytime I move I get so nervous going to a new place but I'm super happy with the cut and color, *phew!*

Have a great weekend, I know I will!  I'll be knee deep in boxes unpacking and supervising my new fence they're putting up! =)