Two off, two on

Two off..

Mystery Stole 3 is done and blocked! The last few rows were very hard work (indeed I had to go and lie down in a darkened room at one point) but it's worth it. The Fiddlesticks silk/wool blocks out like a charm and dries very quickly, I will definitely be playing with this stuff again.



I used thick, strong Guterman thread drawn taut in place of blocking wires to keep my straight edges straight and my pointy bits pointy and my lovely bright coloured headed pins to make sure there were no nasty surprises when I got into bed later on that day!

The stole is still a little on the short side (I knit the truncated version) and I do have some yarn left over. After a little break I'm going to knit a rectangular insert in the cat's paw pattern (from Clue 4) using a provisional cast-on. If the yarn stretches to at least one full repeat then I will put in two lifelines separated by one row at the end of Clue 4, unravel that row and put the stitches on needles and then finally graft everything back together. There's a bit more grafting involved than if I opened up the stole first and knit on from the resulting live stitches but this way I can see if there's enough yarn remaining to make it worthwhile first.

I've toyed with the idea of doing something similar with the Breeze socks which were also completed over the weekend. However, due to the way the pattern has worked I couldn't do anything other than knit more rounds of 1x1 rib (and where's the fun in that?). It's a shame because I've got quite a bit of the yarn left but at least I'll know for next time.



two on..

This is my gauge swatch for the Wensleydale Longwool sweater. Knit up on 3mm needles it creates a very light, drapy fabric. Washing and blocking has evened out the stitches (which were a little on the wonky side) beautifully.



I've finally cast on the Anna socks from Rowan 40. These should whip up (despite being knee length) as they're knit on 3.25mm needles from very squishy yarn.



The pattern is very easy to memorise, especially as every other round is a plain knit round. The gauge looks pretty good at the moment, I'm going to knit about 4 or 5 inches and then have a try on to judge whether or not I need to go down a needle size for the ankle and foot.

A big thank you...

...to "the Ninja Knitter" from whom I received my Sockapalooza parcel last week. I've finally got the camera and computer both working at the same time and can show you some pictures of the lovely things she sent me.

Opening the parcel was very exciting, inside the grey mail pouch was first purple, then pink tissue paper, then something very shiny...



My sewing friends were very jealous when they realised that my pal obviously has a machine with an overlocker.

The bag is gorgeous - I'm not quite sure what it will get used for yet. Maybe it can hold some of the special stash (the stuff that's way too posh to mingle with the random oddments and half balls that fill up every spare nook in my stash box).

Inside the bag I found a pair of Hedera socks knit from Natural Dye Studio yarn in a greeny/grey colourway plus the rest of the skein and two lovely dangly beaded stitch markers (these are the first fancy stitch markers I've owned so it's quite thrilling).



The socks are lovely and warm and fit a treat - they're going to be worth their weight in cashmere if this winter if anything like as wet and cold as the summer has been I can tell you!

Big thanks also to Christine (my Sockapalooza sendee) who said such lovely things on her blog about my socks. I couldn't believe all the nice comments too! For those as have asked, here are the instructions for the turn-down cuff with the hidden ribbing*.

Cast on 70 stitches as directed in the pattern here.

Note: if you want to do the beaded cast on, thread 35 beads onto your yarn before you get started. Slip one bead up the yarn until it rests against the starting slip knot. Then, using the lace cast on (scroll down the page for Eunny's description of this) cast on the other 69 stitches moving a bead up the yarn to the needle every other stitch.** Don't worry if the beads don't stay exactly where you want them. Once you're well into the pattern you can go back and tweak them around.

Proceed with the pattern as written until you have completed the first repeat

Next two rounds: knit all stitches.

Next round: purl all stitches.

Next two rounds: knit all stitches (70 stitches).

Next round: turn work (you are knitting back the way you came), slip 1 stitch purlwise, P1, {K2, P2, K1, K2tog, P2, K2, P1, P2tog} 5 times. Your last P2tog should purl together the last stitch and the first stitch (which you slipped) of the round (60 stitches).

Knit 19 rounds (or until ribbing is just shorter than the lace when folded at the turning row).

Knit rest of sock as per pattern but over 60 stitches, rather than 70. The heel should be knit over 29 stitches and the instep over 31 stitches.

I jotted these directions down from the top of my head so if you do notice any glaring errors please please let me know via the comments. Also please note that if your feet are larger than a UK size 6 (in breadth at least) you will probably have to go up a needle size or two, or knit the pattern over more stitches (e.g. 80 for the cuff and 70 for the sock).

* This is how I knit it for the Kew socks and for Christine's measurements (she has dainty feet!), however, this is pretty easy to adapt to most patterns.

** Brenda Dayne describes it all much better here.

Mystery Stole update

Eek, this is turning into a monster post. I had plenty of time for knitting on the Mystery Stole over the weekend as I'd pretty much knit everything else I'd taken (Knitted Walking Stick Cosy and dishcloths) by Saturday evening. I'm now on the current clue and am well into knitting the "wing" which involves a lot of short rows.



Luckily I'm a short row heel specialist. I had a little mental groan when I realised that I would be knitting more or less the same pattern over three charts and two clues (where's the mystery in that, I ask you) especially as the lace repeat isn't the most challenging, but it turned out to be very good train knitting and hopefully good TV knitting as I'm just off to Ellen's for our weekly Heroes session.

Speaking of which, I'm not feeling too heroic myself at the moment*** after falling over during my run on Sunday. One moment I was jogging along congratulating myself on having such great running conditions (damp and cloudy with rain in the air, perfect), the next I was flat on the pavement, wondering what had happened (I tripped). I'm fine barring a few scrapes and bruises and what looks set to be a v. impressive scab on my knee, still I wish I had Claire's miraculous healing powers.

*** Actually I say that, but I did then pick myself up again and run 11.5 miles (despite being only half a mile from home. Can I have my cape now please?

What's green and stripy and very mysterious?

Two new FOs:

My first entry* for the Missability Knitted Walking Stick Cosy competition



I finished it off with a matching ruffle at the top and a sewn bind-off (I need to practice for my special cashmere project!).

You can see more knitted walking stick cosies at the flickr group for the competition.

Mason-Dixon dishcloth

Mum was admiring the blue dishcloth when she was round at mine the other week so I've knitted this one in green stripes (to match the curtains!). It's hers, so long as she doesn't say "it's too nice for washing dishes"!



These are both such quick knits and the walking stick cosy is great for using up leftover sock yarn. I've got another one planned using the leftover Fleece Artist sock yarn from my Vinnland socks, possibly with the stitch pattern from Hedera.

Meantime the Mystery Stole 3 progresses (or rather it will as soon as I stop typing and start knitting!). I have just a few rows to complete of the shortened Clue 4 before moving on to Clue 5 which involves creating a wing. I have no idea (and nor do any of my knitting buddies) as to precisely what a wing might be but I suppose that's the mystery. I'm just off to look at Clue 6 now to see if that makes things any clearer!

Harry Potter and the Mystery Stole

Good title for book 8, eh? OK, it's not as difficult as destroying a Horcrux but it's tricky lace (especially without magic). In fact I think it's the most difficult lace knitting I've attempted yet. It's a good thing it comes in instalments, if I'd been able to see the whole pattern at once I'm not sure I'd have dared to try it.

I didn't get much done on the mystery stole on Saturday - reading HP7 turned out to be quite emotionally draining (i.e. I cried like a baby) - but I knit quite a bit on Sunday whilst watching the thrilling climax to the Open golf with the result that I completed Clue 2 and am currently about two-thirds of the way through Clue 3 (yay!).

Here's the stole knitted up to the end of Clue 2:



a detail of the central pattern:



and the lace border:



So far it's looking pretty good - I made one mistake quite early on in Chart A which I only spotted when it was too late to fix it but at least it seems to be a symmetrical mistake!

The Yarn Harlot made me do it

"It" being signing up for MS3 (aka Mystery Stole 3) and I suspect I am not alone (in fact I know I'm not as it seems that sign-ups jumped from c. 4000 to c. 5000 after Stephanie's post about this KAL). However, I'm not blaming anyone, indeed what seemed like a somewhat insane idea (what with the looming Sockapalooza deadline and all) on Friday evening is looking rather more feasible now because...big drumroll...the first Sockapalooza sock is finished, right down to its little Kitchenered toe (I'm knitting top down for reasons that will be explained later).

How has this been achieved? Answer, I think I may have put in about 24 hours of knitting time this weekend. Here it is in pictures.

The yarn arrived on Friday morning and on Friday evening I dashed up to Katie's after work to wind it into a lovely fat cake of yarn.



I'd already decided that I would knit a variant on the Kew pattern from last autumn's Knitty. The colourway is Ocean Forest so it had to be something leafy (and possibly also a bit wavy) and the Kew pattern seemed just right. I wasn't overly keen on the top of the socks as pictured, they seemed a bit on the loose and ruffly side (I like the tops of my socks to be snug), however I did like the garter stitch wave on the edging. The solution, I knit the edging and one repeat of the Kew stitch pattern over 70 stitches as directed and created a fold-down cuff which hides 20 rows of 2x2 ribbing at the top of the sock.

worked up to the turning row at the top of the cuff..



pretty weird looking sock..



but turn down the cuff..



turn the heel..



work 2 repeats on the instep..



and voila, the finished article.



If you look careful;y at the edging in photos 1 and 3 you can just see the clear beads used in the beaded cast-on. Not to get too poetical or anything, but my sock pal has been bemoaning the Florida heat and I thought that rain-drops on leaves might be reminiscent of the somewhat damper British summer!