[Oh dear, make that "yesterday", as I didn't get this post finished before midnight.] 

My Secret Santa Sister’s present arrived, and I was persuaded to open it a little early – oh, they had to struggle as I resisted bravely.  [You do believe me, don't you?]

 First there was the big box …

… then inside it, there was a huge tote bag tied with pretty glittery ribbon ..

Inside that, there were  …

… two small gift bags, a knitting calendar (a pattern a day, I think), the two latest issues of Interweave Knits, a hardback notebook with an embroidered flower on the front (not as shiny as the flash makes it seem) and a bag of gorgeous wool roving.

In each gift bag, there was a Polish mug [my SS and my DH share a Polish background] with some Hershey Kisses in it topped by an angel ornament

But the best of all were …

… warm socks with cabled cuffs, matching fingerless mitts and an earflap style hat in Noro, which fits very well.

I tried to get a picture of the cable detail, but it still doesn’t show well.

Last but certainly not least, the tote bag itself, which is enormous, with 3 huge pockets on the front – very useful in a tote bag for crafters.

Didn’t Nancy … I mean Secret Santa … do well?  She really spoiled me!

Well, Sivia Harding has renamed her design Angel Pearls, but I prefer the original name, which is what it says on my copy as I have had it for quite a while, waiting for the right occasion.

 I found this yarn when a supplier came to a guild meeting, and I have friends, both online and locally, who love green, so …

 

 

Pattern: Angel Pearls – I did 2 extra repeats of the main pattern

Yarn: handpainted 2-ply merino/mohair from Touch Yarns

Needle:  3.75mm bamboo circular

Blocked size: 69″ by 7.5″

Relaxed size: 64″ by 7″

Well, I only got 11 of the little hats made myself, but with the ones I collected from guild members I was able to send off 34, and I know another member who couldn’t get hers to me in time has sent another 11 direct to Innocent.

I decided to try some long-repeat dyeing for socks for a friend, and here it is ….

Bright, isn’t it?   Not my colours but I hope she will like it.

In case someone is curious as to how I did it, I wound the yarn into a long skein on my warping board (5 yard path, so 10 yard repeat), then dip dyed it.  Here is a picture of it in the first colour bath …

So, how did the stripes work out?   Well, like this …

I have been remiss about blogging again. I haven’t had much time for fibre crafts this past month, and what time I have had has mostly been spent knitting plain dark navy anklets for my mother, which wouldn’t make for very interesting pictures.

I did start the Icarus shawl I’ve been longing to knit, but the begininning of it isn’t very photogenic either. For anyone who is curious, I am using dark teal 2/14 cashmere yarn from ColourmartUK. The Icarus is on hold for a while (sob) because as well as my mother’s anklets I have also started on holiday gifts.

However, I do have a picture of a knitting project … a rather silly little hat, 3″ tall including the bobble, 1.75″ without it. It’s a scan, not a photo, so the bobble is rather squashed.

A UK smoothie company has a charity project each winter. It is donating money for every bottle with a little hat on it which is sold in some supermarkets in the month leading up to Christmas, and it needs knitters to provide them. I mentioned it at my guild, so now some of us are knitting them when we have a few spare minutes. One member has even got her work colleagues making them in their lunch breaks. I’ve only made the one in the picture so far, but I’m aiming for at least a dozen. They are quick to make, and it’s such a great cause.

Many, many moons ago, a group of friends who met regularly on IRC decided to have a scarf/shawl exchange. Opal and I drew each other.  Opal decided to tackle the Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl from Waterman’s Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls, which was an ambitious project for her then.  She is a much more experienced lace knitter now, as you can see from the lovely shawls she has completed recently.  Anyway, back then it was a challenge for her, but it was going well until one of her cats decided to … um …  water it.  Although Opal washed the yarn and the work-so-far, it dampened her enthusiasm and the WIP became a UFO.

Time passed and she worked on it now and then, but eventually I thought she deserved to be rescued from it, so I offered to finish it.  Well, I was just as slow, as other projects with deadlines kept getting in the way.  I decided I needed an incentive, so I told myself I couldn’t start any other lace project till this one was finished.  I cheated by doing the Mystery Stole 2 because I wanted to do it as the clues came out, while it was still a mystery, but I wouldn’t let myself start the Icarus shawl till I finished the fan stitch one.  At last, it is done!!!   As usual, click for bigger versions …

Pattern:  Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl – Vandyke edging added
Source: Waterman’s Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls
Yarn:  a mystery, but it is similar to Jaggerspun Zephyr – 54g, or just under 2 ounces
Needle:  3mm
Blocked size:  44″ by 22″.  but I expect it to shrink a little when it relaxes.

It has turned out to be a shoulder shawl, just reaching my elbows and just below my waist at the back. My mother mentioned a couple of months ago that she would like a small shawl to use as a ‘bed jacket’, so this one wlll be going to live with her this weekend.  This is good timing as she is in pain from polymyalgia in her shoulders, and needs a little extra warmth around her shoulders without a lot of weight.

“What”, you may be asking, “is Scheherazade?” It is the official name of the Mystery Stole 2006, and a very appropriate one too.. I finished it on Friday, but I couldn’t block it till Saturday, and then this site was down, so I’m a little late blogging it. I’m very pleased with it. Although the close-up pics still make it look quite solid, it is actually fine and floaty and airy.

Scheherazade was designed by Melanie Gibbons. I knit mine in Skacel Merino Lace (6120 ypp), which I would call nearer cobweb than laceweight. It took 810 yds (60g, 2.12 oz) using 2.75mm (US #2) needles.

Melanie predicted that the finished size when knit in Zephyr laceweight on #3 needles would be about 20″ by 72″. I knew mine would be smaller, so I planned to block it as a scarf, keeping most of the length but letting it be narrower. Before blocking, it was only 13.5-14″ by 56-60″, but I blocked it to 14.5-15″ x 79″. After unpinning, it has shrunk back to 13″ by 71″, which I think is a good size for this type of scarf, and I doubt that it will shrink more now.

I’m including a shot of it before blocking, just because I’m always surprised by just how much difference blocking makes. The first two pictures give the most accurate colour on my monitor, though they are a little bluer than the real thing.

The last clue came out yesterday, and I’m hoping to be able to put up a picture of the first half in a couple of days. Meanwhile, there have been some doubts raised about knitting the edging straight onto the last pattern row, as given in the pattern. I decided to knit a swatch rather than risk needing to frog the edging on the actual stole:

Click on the picture above to get a close-up shot.

I only swatched the last few rows of a section of the body (bottom of picture) and a few stitches from the ‘inside’ part of the edging. The full edging is going to be beautiful! The swatch is dry-blocked.

The right half of the swatch is done as given in the pattern, the left half has two extra plain rows in the body before starting the edging. I prefer the pattern version. I do have some doubts about the start and end of the edging, though, which I will raise in the discussion group.

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.