Emma and I had a little photo shoot this morning, out at Ladd Marsh. My yard is pitifully unphotogenic, so we went someplace a little prettier.

First, my symmetrical Mystery Stole, made by knitting Rows 1-287 twice, then grafting. I like it, and if I ever go anyplace elegant (Ooo, there's a wedding in my family this month..... somewhere to actually dress up!), I will wear it and feel beautiful.



Finished dimensions are 18.5" x 76", it weighs practically nothing, and is just lovely. I'm glad I opted not to do the wing part, though I may purchase the pattern and knit a double-winged symmetrical stole as well, because the wing is very pretty too. The pearly beads help it drape beautifully, in addition to their very subtle texture and shimmer against the wool and silk in the yarn.



Next up is the Chevron Shawl. I dyed this on Monday, and I think the color is a vast, vast improvement over the flat gray that the yarn was before.



I used 2 parts "Purple" and 1 part "Sapphire" Jacquard dyes, and it came out just right. The Purple is a warm red-purple, and the Sapphire is a clear cool blue, and together they made a plummy cool blue-purple.



Final dimensions on this are 40" from the center neck to the point and 76" across the top. I already have the original shawl from this pattern, in my own handspun, so despite the fact that it goes perfectly with this dress, I think I'll be listing this for sale in my shop. If I can let it go.



All photos courtesy of Emma, age nearly-4.

The MS3 knitting is finished. I grafted the center this morning, and my stole is ready to be washed and blocked.



I ended up just grafting the two halves together. I decided that I wanted the small center motifs to continue uninterrupted across the middle, and joining the halves with a perpendicularly-knit-on lace insertion would have disrupted that. The graft isn't totally invisible, because the pattern mirrors, but I like it. And it's symmetrical.

Tomorrow, we leave Friday Harbor. I can't believe it's September already- it seems like just yesterday we were in La Grande packing and cleaning and loading the car to come up here. And now we're headed back to Oregon. The car is packed (all but the fish and the cat), the little U-Haul trailer is stuffed with the remaining equipment and books from Shaun's lab, and we're departing on the 5:25am ferry tomorrow.

I'll be sad to leave Friday Harbor, but on the other hand, our dog will be very glad to see us, and my loom awaits!

You may have noticed that there has been a lack of posting about the Mystery Stole 3, lately. In fact, my stole came to a screeching halt after Clue 4, when the issue of symmetrical vs. non-symmetrical came into play. Turns out that the stole is highly non-symmetrical: the theme is "Swan Lake," and the second end of the stole is a "swan wing." There's a picture of the finished article here on Flickr. I really like the patterned end, and I really like the wing end, but I really don't like them together. To me, the transition between the two areas is just to abrupt, though it looks somewhat better when it's draped around a person.

So, what to do? I decided to make a symmetrical stole with just the patterned end, since I already had one done. On Saturday, I started knitting the second half of my stole. I knit Clue 1 on Saturday night, Clue 2 on Sunday night, and Clue 3 last night.



I figure Clue 4 will take two days since it's the long clue, and then a day to frog the first half back to the proper point and do the knitted-on central lace panel that will join the two halves together (or possibly just a graft; I'll have to make that decision when I get both halves done).



I may possibly have this finished before we leave Friday Harbor, ready to block when we get back to La Grande.

Finally, Clue 4 is done. Don't know why this one took me so long, I just didn't feel like knitting the past couple nights. Clue 4 was longish (135 rows) but not complicated, just the small flower (or whatever) motif and the border pattern.



Still liking it, though I must admit that I'm a little nervous about what's going to happen in the next clue. I think Melanie, the designer and fearless leader of the mystery-along, has said or at least hinted that the design is asymmetrical and a fairly significant pattern change happens with the next clue. But I like symmetry.

And there's also the matter of the mysterious lifeline she had us put in at a specific row, at what I think will be the midpoint of the shawl. I've never needed lifelines before, but she told us it was very important so I did it. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can see the tails of the lifeline sticking out the sides, and it is NOT at the end of Clue 4, it's back a ways. What's going to happen with that????!! A ruffle knit across the back of the stole? A collar-y thing that needs to be centered? Wings on both sides? A second layer that we graft to the end to make a loop or moebius?

I guess if worse comes to worst and I don't like the way the shawl looks, I can frog it back and knit the second end as a mirror of the first. That would be very pretty too, and I actually may knit a second one of these and do just that. For now, though, I'll keep on doing as I'm told.

Well, once again I was compelled to knit the entire MS3 clue (we're up to #3 now) on the first day, which leaves me hanging for an entire week before I get more of the chart.

Anyway, here's the rumply stole, completed through Clue 3, 200 rows.



I still like it, especially the border. I have no idea what the "theme" or story of the stole is, though.

Mystery Stole Clue 2 is finished. I didn't pin it out for the photo this time, so here it is all rumply:



There were only 50 rows this week, and it was a pretty fast knit- I did the whole clue in a movie and a half (all of Star Wars-A New Hope and half of The Empire Strikes Back). I really like the design so far, but it's a bit frustrating to have to wait another whole week to get the next part of the chart. Alas, I guess that's part and parcel of doing a mystery-along.

I had an interesting thought as I was knitting. Reading a chart is like reading a musical score. I played viola for several years in elementary/junior high, and always thought it was really neat the way my brain translated what my eyes saw on the page into finger movements, without me really even thinking about it.

Tonight, I felt that same thing happening while I knit. I could read a few stitches on the chart, my fingers started going, and while those stitches were being knit, I glanced up to see what the next few stitches were going to be. I can't quite knit lace without looking, though I can stockinette, but a glance at the chart every so often across the row was enough, and my fingers kept moving the whole time. I didn't have to think "ssk" or "k2tog" or "yo," I just saw the symbol and my fingers did it.

It was really cool.

In addition to whirlwind trips to Oregon, there has been a lot of fibery activity this week. First of all, I finished Clue 1 of the Mystery Stole. It's working up nicely so far. Adding the beads isn't nearly as fiddly as I feared it was going to be, and I think they'll add a lot to the finished stole. (Even though you can't see them in the picture.)



The Jaggerspun Zephyr merino/silk yarn is lovely to knit with, not splitty at all. I'm glad I went with the size 3 needles, though. I think when I give the finished stole a hard wet blocking, it will open up just the right amount. The stole pattern has more open space than the swatch pattern, so it opens up more. I'm happy with my choice.

I've also been continuing on the crochet scarf, and am nearly at the end of the ball of yarn. This has mostly been worked on during the day while babysitting (I've been watching two kids plus Emma for a week and a half), so it has been to the beach, the playground, the sandbox, and the library. Oh yes, it will definitely need to be washed before it is blocked. I try to be careful, but beach/sandbox dust gets everywhere. It's 40" so far, unblocked.



I have been spinning in the evening, while watching DVDs on the computer. After finishing the Sheep-to-Shawl warp yarn, I pulled out the delicious 8-oz bag of merino/silk (80/20) from my sister. I'm spinning this worsted, laceweight, and the singles are about 80-90 wpi.



This bobbin is about 2/3 of the first half of the fiber. I'm going to spin each 4-oz half on a separate bobbin, spinning all the singles first, then ply. I'd love to have just one giant skein of yarn, but I'm not sure my bobbins are big enough for that.

This fiber is beautiful stuff, and is basically spinning itself. Even though it's so fine, it seems like it's going really quickly. I'm loving the Super High Speed whorl that I got this weekend, too. I started the bobbin on the small side of the High Speed whorl (17:1), but switched to the Super High Speed this week. My High Speed whorl doesn't fit my flyer shaft tightly, and makes an annoying rattle at high speeds. The larger side of the Super High Speed whorl isn't that much different (18:1), and it fits tightly (doesn't rattle), so I'm a happy camper. Next time I do laceweight, I'll use the smaller side (21:1), and it'll go even faster. Fast is good when you're spinning lace.


High Speed on the left, Super High Speed on the right.

The first clue of the Mystery Stole was released today. I was awake at 5:30 for some reason (gah), and decided that since I couldn't sleep, I might as well get up. I checked the website, and lo and behold, the clue was there!

I haven't printed it yet, but I knit Chart A (half the first clue) directly from the computer screen, in about an hour and a half. I haven't started Chart B yet, since it crosses two pages and I want to print it and tape it together. Triangular points go so fast!



I ended up going with the US3 needles and the pearly beads. So far so good!

Yesterday I swatched for the mystery stole, since I have never knit anything with Jaggerspun Zephyr. I was pretty sure that I would end up using 3.5mm (US4) needles, but never having used the yarn, I wanted to see for myself.



Left to right, that's US3, 4, and 5, after washing and blocking. The 5's are definitely out, since the fabric I got with those was too open and loosey-goosey. I'm still waffling between the 3's and 4's. I do like the way the 3 swatch looks, but am thinking the stockinette isn't quite open enough. I'll probably end up going with the 4's. Plus, I have an Addi Lace needle in US4. Have you tried those? Very nice, though way too expensive.

The other thing I'm waffling about is which beads to use. Emma and I went to the bead store when we were off island last week, and had way too much fun. Somehow, Emma has turned into a girly girl- she gravitated right to the sparkliest pink section of beads. Then again, she spent this morning in the sandbox building roads and lakes, and is completely grubby now, so I guess there's hope for her. She's figured out how to get the best of both worlds.

I picked out three colors of beads (8/0 seed beads) to try with the yarn:



Left to right, that's pearlized, white-lined clear, and silver-lined clear. I like them all pretty well, but the white-lined clear ones have definitely been eliminated for this project. They don't seem to show up much against the fabric. I can't decide between the silvery ones, which really sparkle, and the pearly ones, which are more refined but don't pop as much.



Right now the pearly ones are marginally ahead. I'm not a very flashy person, and considered doing the stole without beads at all, but I've never knit lace with beads before, and would like to try it out.

Little tubes of beads are like candy. So many options, so many choices, so delicious to the eye. In addition to the white beads for this stole,



I was also forced (forced, I tell you) to get a variety of choices in case I do a knitted/beaded project in a dark color, maybe black or dark purple...



Midnight blue metallic iris, black-lined clear, and hematite. Yum.

These are for knitting or crochet ONLY. I really AM NOT going to take up beading as another hobby.

So what am I going to be doing this summer? This:



I didn't bring a lot, but most of what I did bring is time consuming. Because that's how I get the biggest bang for my fiber buck, dontcha know. Clockwise from the top left, I have spinning, spinning, knitting, crochet, crochet, and crochet. The merino scarf you've seen before, and the ball of white thread next to it is for crocheting bookmarks like the one shown (to sell at the Fair), or possible a doily. The two balls of cotton yarn are for crocheting a potholder. (Which is already done, see below. This was not one of the time consuming projects.)

As for the rest, first there is 8 oz. of Louet 80/20 merino/silk in the colorway "Princess Blue," which is a gorgeous streaky blend of dark dark dark midnight blue wool and white silk:



(This picture makes the blue look brighter than it really is. In real life it's almost black.)

Next is 16 oz. of Ashland Bay colonial top, in the colorway "Northern Lights," which is one of their beautiful multicolored mixes. This one has black as the base color, with generous streaks of teal, royal blue, chestnut brown, emerald green, tan, gray, and just a bit of lavender.



(Again, this is brighter and more colorful in the picture than in real life.) My sister gave these two delightful bundles of fiber to me last Christmas, and it's high time I dove into them. I'm thinking laceweight 2-ply for the merino/silk, and sportweight 3-ply for the Ashland Bay. I haven't made Emma her yearly sweater yet.....

I also brought a cone of Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight and a range of needles for swatching. Somewhat to my surprise, I found myself joining the Mystery Stole 3 over at Pink Lemon Twist. I've never done an "along" before, and I'm not entirely sure what came over me. I'm not usually a lemming. But her other designs are pretty, and I figured this was a good summer project. Not having to tax my brain to design the pattern will be nice- I can just knit it. (Me and the other 1464 knitters who have signed up so far..... )

I haven't mentioned it before, but I'm teaching an "Introduction to Crochet" class this weekend, so I've been making samples and getting my handout together. Perhaps it would have been better to start this more than three weeks before the class, but what can I say- I'm a procrastinator. I'm nervous but not too worried. I haven't taught a class since grad school (12 years) but I can crochet in my sleep.

One of the samples I made last night is this potholder:



Front and back. It's Tunisian crochet (afghan stitch), very basic. Just chain 30 stitches, work even for 26 rows, make another the same, and attach them with single crochet around the outside. I used Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn and an H afghan hook. It took me about two hours total. These are great potholders. I have several at home that I use all the time (hence the need to make a new, unstained one for the class) and I've never gotten burned or even felt the heat of a pan. They are super thick and sturdy.

This is the first time I made one with variegated yarn, and I really like the way it turned out. Each side is a different colorway, and I especially like the way the blue/green/yellow side came out.



Because of the way the afghan stitch is worked, the colors are mixed more than in regular crochet, and it looks more shaded than color-blocky. A nice effect.