I’ve finished Clue 4, side 1,which means I’m up-to-date with the clues, but on side 2, I’m only a little way into Clue 2. I’ve been slowed down by knitting a pair of socks for my mother’s birthday (she wanted short, plain, boring, so no pics) but I’m planning to spend all this week’s knitting time on the MS2. I’m hoping at least to finish Clue 3 before Clue 5 comes out next Friday.

I have both ends on a single circular needle, but I knitted one end off onto a spare one so I could pin the stole out for a progress photo. I used blocking wires down the sides this time. At the moment, it is 31″ by 14″ stretched fairly hard. From a quick calculation, [edited from this point after a hasty recalculation] if I block it about as hard as I stretched it today, it should end up about 14″ by 72″, which is close to what I hoped.

So, here is the photo of the stole so far …

I have the next clue finished now, though I’ve still only done 6 rows of the second side as I’ve been having to share my knitting time between this and my mother’s birthday present. I’m hoping to catch up more second half rows as I wait for each new clue to come out, and have clue 5 finished on both sides by the time clue 6 comes out.

Although the picture shows it on two circulars, that is just for the photograph. I’m actually knitting both ends on the same needle, which I haven’t found a problem so far. Pinned out dry, it is about 14″ x 12″. I’m deliberately blocking it to be somewhat longer and narrower than it might naturally be as I want to keep as much of the original pattern length as possible even though I’m using finer yarn and smaller needles.

I finished the first side of the first clue last night, but I decided to leave picking up the stitches for the second side till this morning. Once I’d picked up the stitches from the provisional cast on, I took the opportunity to get a photo. As before, it looks a lot lacier in real life, and of course it will be lacier still once it is wet-blocked.

 

I’m really enjoying this project. I rarely knit this sort of lace with a design ‘drawn’ with eyelets on a stockinette ground, so it makes a change. I am now knitting with both ends of the stole on a single 32″ circular needle. After 4 rows of the second half, I’m not finding that as awkward as I thought I might. It would be a little easier with a longer needle, but this one has a more flexible cable than any of my longer ones, so I still prefer to use it.

I don’t think I’ll get the second side of clue 1 finished before the next clue is released tomorrow as i have to concentrate on getting another slipper knitted in time to let my mother try it on tomorrow. I’m using Patons Diploma Gold this time. I used it for her socks and it seems to be wearing better than the Sirdar Country Style which I used for the previous pairs of slippers. Although they are both classed as DK yarns. the Diploma seems much thicker and firmer, so I’m having to adjust the pattern again, hence the need for fittings. I want to get at least one pair done by her birthday in 2 weeks.

I did a lot of swatching for this KAL, including Zephyr, but I decided in the end that I don’t want a stole, so I’m going to knit it as a scarf. I was given some Skacel Merino Lace by an online friend and hadn’t found the right project for it. It is nearer cobweb than laceweight, so I swatched with 2.50 mm and 2.75 mm needles (US #1.5 and #2). I’m going to go with the 2.75 mm, which will give a scarf about 12.4″ by 58″. That seems a good size for a cobweb scarf to me.

So here are the swatches. They are lacier in real life than they look here.

I scored 4 free Blue Faced Leicester fleeces last month, and I finally got around to washing one. Then I felt a need to dye some of it, so …