Secret of the Stole iii

I lied. I did finish. Unblocked shot at 10 pm Saturday night:


pattern: Secret of the Stole iii
yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in discontinued colorway Moss, 2.5 skeins
needles: Knit Picks size 5 nickel-plated circs


Taking pics of a natural green stole outside is hard.


I wasn't very good at directing the monkeys on how to hold the stole either.


I forgot the digital camera & DH forgot the rest of the classic camera film, so no pics of the stole at the wedding. Not that I needed it 'til later in the evening. It was an afternoon outdoor wedding and the weather turned out beautifully for our friend.

Since I finished so early, I just used crochet thread and t-pins to block the stole. The welding rods I asked DH to get from work won't get here 'til tomorrow, so I should re-block the straight edges and the one curved side that didn't curve so well.

Okay, off to finish my Monkey2's second sock, work on my MS4, and start all that holiday gift knitting. I feel a hat attack coming on...

Almost there

Hint 8 of my SotS-iii:


Finished hint 8 on Tuesday. Only 58 more rows with 50 more beads for Hint 9 to go. I thought I could make it, but with an eye doctor appointment, wedding rehearsal (the monkeys are flower girls), and other chores, there's no way. I decided I'm not going to kill my knitting self to finish it by Sunday for our friend's wedding. But it's such a nice color that work well for the holidays or any other fall event, it'll definitely get used.


While I waited for Hint 9 during the week, I worked on Monkey2's Playtime socks from Woolgirl's Sanrio & Friends kit. The colorway from White Oaks Studio is just too darn cute!

Blog love

One of our beloved Sockateers, Cockeyed, nominated me for an award. How sweet!


Here are the rules for the award recipients:

1. Please put the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

There are so many that I really love too, but I decided to keep my list down to bloggers that I'm not constantly shilling (but I do love you all!) and that I'm not aware that have been awarded yet:

Kristy

Nell

Opal

Kris

Thank you all for your beautiful FO's and keeping me motivated to stick with our craft.

Progress report

The hat has been officially deemed "girly" when Monkey2 asked if this was her sissy's hat.


pattern: Nottingham hat
yarn: Knit Picks Swish superwash in Darkest Navy
needles: Knit Picks size 9 Harmony circs
pattern: size - child


The hat was a nice little break and got me motivated to finish my Hint 7 early. I finished Monday night, but haven't gotten around to blogging about it.


I also finished hint 3 of my Mystery Stole KAL 4, but it took the rest of the week. For some reason, this just slogs along, even without beads. But I do like it. (Pardon the non-dry-blocked shots, but I am being lazy. :p )


Thank you so much, Cockeyed, for nominating me for an award! I promise I'll get that post up soon.

Soccer Practice

When we saw these cool-looking funnel-type clouds caused by the trough passing through that day, all us soccer moms busted out our cell phones and digi cams and took pics. I was tempted to take a pic of the other soccer moms in mid-photo taking, but due to the time of day everyone would've came out as shadowed silhouettes.


And I'm so proud that I have my first knitting student that isn't my kid! I'm not sure I can call Squid's brother my own student since he already knew how to finger knit and his grandmother knits. But still, I was so excited when he started asking me about how I knit with needles when he would watch me knit at practice. I had brought my own needles (he said he already had yarn), but he had his mom (soccer coach) buy him a set of Addi circs and a how to book (which he didn't bring with him) at the lys.


I am torn however between letting those "added" (yo'd) stitches stay on his fledgling scarf or fix them for him. Next soccer practice, we'll be discussing that.

As a break from the stole knitting (I hit a mental wall this week with them), I had decided I would knit him a hat since our first attempt at starting him with a hat instead of a scarf was an abysmal failure. With no book at hand and no idea what yarn he was using (no ball band) 'cept it felt like an aran or light worsted yarn, I was winging the stitch count and everything.

However, Monkey1 has declared the pattern I chose as "too girly!" Who knew that a simple cable pattern would be deemed "too girly" by the elementary school set? So I may designate this hat as Squid's and make her brother a simple ribbed hat instead. The only problem is if Squid gets a hat, I wonder if I need to knit 9 more hats for the rest of team. (I'm not even going to consider the siblings, but thankfully most of them only have one.)


And I did manage to finish Monkey1's second fingerless glove. Now that I've learned how those fingers get knitted on (though it is pretty logical), I can modify whatever pair of free fingerless mitt pattern I decide to knit next.


I am back to my SotSiii knitting and I finished hint #6. I am setting myself up for a doozy of a wedding weekend though. The last hint (#9) comes out that Friday when we have to take the girls to rehearsal and I'll have to finish knitting and blocking it by Sunday noonish so we can get to the wedding on time.


It may all be moot though if my dress shopping adventures today are any indication. I didn't realize how difficult it would be for me to find a dress I like that:
1) isn't black (I am my mother's child on this wrt weddings),
2) is a shade of non-black that will go with the stole (or my back-up SotSii),
3) doesn't make me look like I'm part of the bridal party ,
4) or conversely, doesn't make me look like I just got off of work.

Then again, rule #4 may get thrown out the window since DH expressed the opinion that perhaps I should not buy a dress I will only wear one time, maybe 2...that is, assuming it'll be the right shade of green or a shade complimentary to either SotS's or my Shetland Triangle (but that pink's more of a "spring" pink and thus presents a challenge wrt to the seasonal colors in the stores now).

Who knew buying a dress to match/compliment a stole would be such a PITA? Granted, it's not on the level of buying a dress to match a pair of shoes, but still...

It's going to be all about the stoles...

'cause my Gumdrop socks are done. And just in time for the September Rockin' Sock Club shipment since our packages are suppose to mail out Tuesday domestically.


pattern: Gumdrops by JC Briar
yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Goody Goody
pattern size: medium
needle size: KP 2.25 mm circs 'cause I was going for a tighter gauge
no mods 'cept playing the gauge game

So all that I have on my needles now are Monkey1's second fingerless gloves, but that's for soccer practice, and my 2 stole KAL's.


I got hint #2 of my Mystery Stole 4 KAL completed yesterday. Looking forward to starting hint #3 'cause there I won't have to deal with beads for awhile on this stole 'til hint #5.


The stole I am aiming to finish on time however, is my Secret of the Stole iii. I finished hint #5 earlier this week, marking the halfway point of this KAL. We have a wedding to attend mid-October so this will be the stole I'll be using. The monkeys' flower girl dresses are primarily dusky pink and cream, but the embroidered flowers have rather sagey green leaves that I can match with my stole.

Now I just need to shop for my own dress for the wedding :P and the monkeys' dress shoes.

I'm actually enjoying this

As much as I groaned and whined when I read SotSiii would involve beads, I'm at the point that I'm actually enjoying knitting the pattern. I'm even managing to keep up somewhat as I finished hint 4 yesterday. But whether or not I'll finish hint 5 in time to actually enter one of the completion contests is another thing entirely.


And I just got some Saturday mail goodness before we headed off to soccer. So nice to actually catch the postal worker on his delivery. Otherwise I would've had to hightail it to our tiny post office on Monday before they closed and I am so not fond of their parking lot.


Two of my favorite colors! And deep dark purple is so very in this fall season. It seems appropriate that the first pattern is designed by Bockstark, who along with Elemm introduced me to Wollmeise on flickr.

In the land of beaded lace

I believe tapmouse already mentioned the word "insanity." Clearly I am. As is the first beaded row where we have to place a bead on every other stitch. That's ~58 beads on one row! Then we have to repeat it for the other half of this stole.


I'm glad I stuck to my Dream in Color stash yarn though. The Pansy Golightly isn't as variegated-looking with more stitches on the needles. And the irridescent purple beads I picked give a nice subtle shine which is perfect for me since I'm not much on the bling...unless it involves some wicked gorgeous eyeshadow.


And that lovely little 4.0 Friday night made me so nervous that I stayed up late enough to finish hint #3 of my SotSiii. On the plus side, it means that I can knit hint 4 at a nice leisurely pace and finish that by this upcoming Friday night.

Quick, quick, sloooooow

Quick 1 - Monkey1's "fingerless" glove:


yarn: Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra handpainted from Stitches West 2008, I think. I have another pair of skeins that are a lighter version that I got the year before. But it may be vice versa.
pattern: from Ann Budd Knitting Book of Patterns - child large/woman's small glove
needle size: 2.75 mm KP dpns

The yarn is lovely to knit up. Not fond of all the ends I'll have to weave in, so I'll leave that chore to do while hanging out at Monkey1's soccer practice. Monkey1 has an inflated sense of my knitting speed 'cause when I showed her the first one, she said "Where's the other?" Nothing like having my own Task Manager.

Quick 2:


Love this Gumdrop sock. Love the pastel colorway. No mods whatsoever knitting the medium size on 2.25 mm circulars.


So so slooooow!


It took me all holiday weekend plus the extra day we took on Friday (Monkey2's pre-school was closed) to finish hint 2 of my SotSiii. Yeah, yeah, it would've been faster if I didn't knit the glove & sock, but they were more fun. Still, it doesn't bode well for my speed for the rest of the hints, especially since I can't work on this during soccer practice. Beads, laceweight yarn, folding chairs, and errant soccer balls are a recipe for disaster!

But I am consoling myself with how stinkin' cute this Wool Girl Sanrio and Friends sock club kit I got today!


The monkeys have dibs on the Hello Knitty stickers, but the rest are are all mine! Well, the non-Pochaco & Keroppi bits are negotiable. The yarn will definitely be knit up into socks for Monkey1. Then I'll have to see if I have enough left over to knit up something for Monkey2 or e-mail Wool Girl Jen if she has something similar or leftover.

PS. That particular sock club lottery with the 50/50 odds of getting in that happened a couple weeks ago? Yes, I'm in the 50%.

Oh, pickles!

No, not the color exactly. It's a Monkey2 saying that encompasses oopsies, darn it's, and doh's.


I was feeling content that hint #1 of my Secret of the Stole-iii (SotSiii) seemed to go at a decent pace despite the slowness of having to place the bead on with a teeny-teeny-tiny crochet hook. Then I glanced at my chart when I was about halfway done and saw that I somehow completely missed the very first bead placement. Since it was at least 20 rows later, I decided not to frog or tink down to the errant spot. After all, that pattern row only contains one bead placement only. Hopefully I'll find an online tutorial or hints to help me sew that bead in later without messing with the stitch pattern. If not, I'll have to remember not to do that single bead at the other end of the stole, assuming it'll be symmetrical.


I'll need to take a better pic of my Mystery Stole 4 (MS4) swatch later as I waited too long and the good light was gone. I'm not sure about using the Dream in Color Pansy Go Lightly as it looks more variegated than semi-solid. At least it looks better blocked than unblocked. It was a downright mess before. Besides, while my swatch width is a little wider, the length is quite short.

I do love the iridescent purple 6/0 round seed beads though. Got these at the same local bead shop I got the green 8/0 beads for SotSiii. Since I really love these beads, I'll either need to find a different lace pattern for the Dream in Color & beads or get another purple lace yarn to go with the beads for MS4.

Sweet Tart

In the oh-so-stinkin' cute category:


yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Hot Flash
pattern: Sweet Tart Anklets by Marilyn Kaleikilo (aka Hot Flash the Sockateer), one of the July sock club patterns
size: small + 4 extra stitches
needles: 2.25 mm dpns for inside picot cuff, 2.50 mm dpns for rest of socks


Swatching up for Secret of the Stole-iii
yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in discontinued colorway Moss
beads: 8/0 transparent green w/gold(?) lining from Glorious Beads - my delighful local bead store
size 5 Knit Picks metal circulars (still haven't gotten around to getting the Harmony wood set) to get close to Nautical Knitter's swatch size

I'm not fond of knitting with this yarn. I can feel the residual oil or something in the yarn, but the swatch does look better when I wet blocked it. It opened it up and the yarn didn't get super fuzzy which my initial concern with using this stash yarn.


Because the Alpaca Cloud was the only solid colored lace yarn in my stash, I am at a conundrum with what to use for the Mystery Stole 4 KAL. As much as I love this Rare Gem Laci that I bought at sock camp, I think the lighter bits would make the yarn too variegated. In any case, I would go with the darker green beads (my pick) for a more subdued look rather than the brighter but pretty blue (Monkey1's pick) for whatever beaded stole or shawl I would end up doing.


I am leaning towards the Dream in Color Baby in Pansy Go Lightly since Dream in Color's yarns tend to knit up as semi-solid rather than variegated. I had one skein in my stash from Woolgirl, but unfortunately at the time, Woolgirl was out of this particular colorway. I did find a second skein that closely matched the color fo the first at Purlescence, so I will probably swatch this yarn & corresponding beads first.

Shetland Triangle

Knitting & weaving in ends complete 10 am-ish PST. Tried to finish the bind off last night, but after Michael Phelps 1/100 sec win in the 100m fly, I just couldn't. Not to mention it was way past my West Coast delayed broadcast bedtime.


Uh, I need another set of the kiddie foamie blocks:


details:
Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A Clark
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk in Mochaberry
size 9 KP circs
2 extra repeats of the body chart
17 g leftover


Off to knit my SotS-iii swatch, but first I'll probably cast on for some Sweet Tart socks for Monkey1 to transition from a worsted weight yarn project to the laceweight one.

Can you hear it?

It's the sound of frogs and tinks in this corner of the Ravelympics village.


It seems I am so beside myself as I can't even take a decent picture. But I can sorta see that the last yards of my yarn aren't even registering on the scale. Apparently, I have no idea how to use the nifty shawl progress calculator (see the sidebar) 'cause I am out of yarn on row 13 out of 14 for the border pattern.

Off to rip the 12 rows of my border and the last extra repeat.

Arrrrrghhhhhhhh!

Cleopatra's Stockings

The pharoah is demanding but is worth her weight in rockin' socks!


pattern: Cleopatra's Stocking by Yarnissima
yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight Incredibly Shrinking Violet - 1 sk + a yard or 2 of the emergency keychain skein
size: large for stitch count, medium in foot length
needle sizes: 2.50 mm circs for the majority of the socks, 2.75 mm circs for the 1" twisted rib cuff

modification:
Per Yarnissima's original design, knit the leg charts 'til leg measured no more than ~3 in. This meant I ran short by just a little bit! I was on the last row of the twisted rib cuff and had to use my emergency keychain skein that comes with our sock club kit to finish the last row & do the bind off. I had bought another skein just in case, but decided I wouldn't wind it up for just that little bit of length.

These socks were well worth the challenge of a certain twisted stitch I wasn't fond of and the focus that was the transition from leg to cuff. I continue to love Yarnissima's designs. I just need to knit the rest that I have in my stash.


And I did cast on for my Shetland Triangle yesterday for Ravelympics 2008 bright and early in the morning. I worked on both the shawl and the rest of the second sock during the delayed West Coast broadcast of the opening ceremony. Say what you will about the role of politics in the Olympics and all, but under the direction of Zhang Yimou, the opening ceremony was utterly spectacular.

Monkey see, Monkey do

Pretending to studiously read.

Really pretending to studiously read.

Deets in previous post.

The "would you rather" game

"Would I rather do endless applied i-cord?"


Or "Would I rather seam a fingering weight sweater?"


The applied i-cord won out & the Tulip was finished first on Sunday.

I promise modelled shots in the daylight later. I just need to Mr Sun to wake up and for the Monkeys to be in a less recalcitrant mood as it's unusual for them to not want to ham it up for the digi cam. For now, the deets:

First up:
Tulip "Baby" Sweater
Dream in Color Classy - various gorgeous colors (Cool Fire, Giant Peach, Strange Harvest, Spring Trickle, Happy Forest, Blue Lagoon - also the trim color, Some Summer Sky, and Visual Purple)
pattern size 6
needle size - KnitPicks US 9 circs
mod: Sleeves are 1" shorter than pattern to fit Monkey2's current arm length
comments:
1) When the designer up-sized the pattern, she/they kept the proportionally "oversized" width. It doesn't seem too wide for Monkey2, but Monkey1 can conceivably wear it as a 3/4 sleeve bolero. Believe me, she's negotiating heavily on this idea.
2) I didn't need the emergency yardage Nathania kinding spotted me from the shop. I had gotten paranoid I wouldn't have enough after reading Ravelry comments of various knitters running out of the border color given in their kits, but I didn't have to worry after all.

And finally!
Lindy Hop from the Colinette Jitterbug book
Colinette Jitterbug in Alizarine (aka Safety Pink as it's known at Purlescence Yarns where I bought both patterns & yarns/kits)
3rd pattern size
approximately 3 1/2 skeins (the remaining half skein + 1 extra may be knee highs for Monkey2. Maybe.)
needle size - KnitPicks US3 circs
mods:
1) Short row, 3-needle shoulder bind off which meant that the collar was knit in the round as opposed to the pattern's direction to only seam one shoulder, knit the collar back & forth, then seam it with the other shoulder.
2) Monkey1 didn't want the funnel neck, so it's just a plain 1x1 rib crew neck. Actually she wanted a boat neck finish, but I refused to undo the 3-needle shoulder bind off and re-knit the top portion of the front & back, especially when I re-knit part of the back due to my inability to remember which decrease is right and which is left leaning.

So now that I'm done with all the sweaters I've had on my needles, I'm ready to cast on for my Mochaberry Luscious Single Silk (LSS) Shetland Triangle for Ravelympics on Friday. That's some seriously sized yarn cake my LSS wound into:


And as tapmouse noted, I've signed up for the Secret of the Stole iii KAL. Ironic as she got me to join Secret of the Stole ii KAL metaphorically kicking & screaming a good way through.

Due to a rather expensive idle control valve replacement project for the car, I am not buying new yarn for the KAL, but rather using stash yarn. I bought Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Moss when it went on clearance a few months ago. It's a bit dark to be considered pastel, but it's still muted. The BMFA Laci Rare Gems I got at Sock Camp are too dark for SotSiii, but should be fine for the Mystery Stole KAL 4. One's a Ravenish colorway and the other, while totally me, is quite the bright blue (uh, yeah, pics later). I have a skein of Dream in Color Baby in Pansy Go Lightly that would be better colorwise, but I've learned my lesson about starting a lace KAL with not enough of one dyelot to start with.


I probably won't cast on for SotSiii 'til after Ravelympics, but I will probably begin the swatch so I can check out some beads which I'm debating on adding in even though it's recommended for the pattern. Who knows when I'll cast on for MS4, but I'll really need beads for that one.

'Til Friday, I'll be working on my second Cleo, but there's absolutely no guarantee I'll be done by then.

Grace

Then Beauty?

pattern: Grace
size: 2 (38") - fits 38-40 bust
yarn: Fiddlesticks Zephyr DK in Marine - 8 balls & ~30 grams of the 9th (not including 2 swatches)
needles: Knitpicks size 5 & 6


Why no modelled shot? Because when a knitter ignores the narrow look of the sleeve pieces and fails to measure the width of her arm against the measurement shown in the pattern schematic, chances are the arms don't fit. A check on the few Grace sweaters on Ravelry revealed that the one other knitter that finished the sweater noted that the sleeves were a little tight and that in hindsight she should've knit the next size up for the sleeves.

I probably knew this in the back of my mind, but failed to pay attention to it or do the proper things one should do like re-measure myself and compare all the parameters, not just the body. While I was seaming this sweater, I kept thinking it would be better for my mom. And so now it will be.

But why not undo the seams and re-knit the sleeves, especially since I had a 10th ball virtually untouched? It is after all, a wonderfully charted pattern and thus very easy to knit. But by the time I tried it on, I had already woven in the innumerous ends and simply had no desire to start the sleeves over.

So gifting this to my mom is the change I'm affecting:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.