60% Complete

I have 60% of the shawl done ---



--- and a quick calculation tells me I have approximately 38.5% of my yarn left.



Normally when I'm afraid I'll run out of yarn I knit quickly and non-stop in hopes that I'll finish the project before I run out of yarn. I know, it makes no sense, but I'm not the only knitter that admits to this. Unfortunately the clues for the Mystery Stole 3 are being doled out piecemeal, one week at a time. I have no choice but to stop and wait for the next set of directions which won't be out until August 3rd.

On a good note, I can probably spin more if I have to. It's from commercially made top from Aurelia and the colourway is still available. On the other hand, I'd rather not as it comes in rather large bags and buying another will double my cost to make this stole.



Monica was admiring my blocking wires earlier, so I thought I'd mention them here. Not wanting to send away for expensive blocking wires I took the advice of a knitter on a Yahoo-groups forum I belonged to and bought myself a handful of 3/16" x 36" tig welding rods. You just need to check the ends and use sandpaper or a grinder to smooth out anything that might snag. Blocking wires work really well for blocking items with straight edges or even for blocking shawls that have pointed edging (in that case you run the wire through each point). It reduces the number of pins you need and makes for perfectly straight lines.

My thoughtful husband made the holder for me out of PVC pipe and threaded end caps. He even painted them for me so that the ugly black lettering is no longer visible.

The other innovation visible here is the "blocking board" made of interlocking foam play mats. I have a case of 4 and would like another set so that I can block my largest shawls, but set up in a straight line these will work fine for blocking the finished stole.

I may have got a late start on the MS3 knitalong, but I managed to catch up. Clue 2 is finished and now I have to wait until Friday for the next clue.



I don't normally block shawls while they are still in progress, but with the long wait until the next clue is released I thought I might as well see what I have so far.



This close-up photo shows the rainbow angelina in the handspun a little better than some of the previous ones. The beads are adding their extra sparkle too.

I've finally chosen a pattern, or rather, it has chosen me. You might recall that I was looking for a triangular shawl, with several more challenging patterns within it? I said that I didn't want to do a stole.

Well, seems I will be doing a stole after all. I've succumbed to the Mystery Stole 3 Knit-a-Long fever. I'll be doing it with my handspun black 2 ply laceweight, so it should fit with this knit-a-long as well.

Here's my beginning, "clue one" (the first 100 rows) complete.



I've tried to capture the sparkle of the rainbow angelina in the handspun and the glint of the "oil slick" beads, but both are not easily captured by a camera. In real life they are quite impressive.



www.wovenflame.blogspot.com

Plyed and Busted

I don't think I've ever had one of these large, Majacraft bobbins so full! I plyed and plyed and in the end I got nearly 250g of 2 ply laceweight (22 WPI) on there. I'd love to tell you how many yards that made but ----



--- when I had counted off well over 300 wraps (on a 2 yard niddy noddy) the piece of junk broke under the strain. I knew it was cracked, and I've ordered a new one, but I was hoping the loosely jointed, weak, poorly designed, piece of good for nuthin' kindling would hold together long enough to finish this job. As it was I had to yelp for help before hundreds of yards of handspun became hopelessly tangled.



I quickly finished winding the skein while my husband held it on his outstretched arms. *whew*



It's had it's bath and is hanging (perfectly balanced, *woo hoo*!) to dry. Hopefully I'll be able to borrow a yardage counter to get an accurate length before choosing a shawl design.

Black Rainbow

My supervisor, Shelby, posing with my "hardware", a Little Gem II.



And on the wheel ---



--- the beginnings of 250g of "Black Rainbow" a dyed, Halfbred wool blended with 10% rainbow glitter. I bought it from the Aurelia booth at Fibrefest International. I'm spinning it fine, to become a 2ply laceweight.

I hope to use the finished yarn for a beaded, evening type shawl to use in the holiday season. I still haven't picked a pattern though. Any suggestions? I'd like something reasonably complex --- not just one stitch pattern throughout, and I seem to lean toward triangular or faroese shawls though I would consider others.