Mystery solved

The mystery stole has been done for over a week, but with the arrival of Patty's mom, taking her to Tacoma, bringing her back from Tacoma, and getting to know Jake, there have been a lot of picture taking and not-too-much posting. Here is the last installment of this mystery.

Swan Lake
The theme of the stole was revealed after the fourth clue, since the stole was to be asymmetrical which Melanie knew would be embraced by some but not all. Here's an excerpt from her description of the pattern.

The stole begins with the traditional lace pattern “Wings of the Swan” that I used in Leda’s Dream. Only one repeat of the pattern is made before it is split in half and continues up the sides of the point and along the edges of the first two thirds of the stole as a border. The large decorative motif that many of you saw as faces, insects, dragons, and other creatures in is merely a decorative motif with swirls and curls to fill the space. The honeycomb pattern is another pattern used to fill the space and not necessarily symbolizing anything in particular. The following motif that has a floral appearance is the traditional Shetland lace design “Cat’s Paw.” This design is usually worked as a vertical insertion, but I used it as a scattered, all over design in this stole in reference to a particular dance in the Swan Lake ballet. Le Danse des Petits Cygnes or Dance of the Little Swans is one of the most famous parts of the ballet. When Siegfried meets Odette and her maidens, there are several dances by the swan maidens, but this one is done by four dancers, each holding to the next one, moving in unison doing the pas de chat step. Pas de Chat means literally step of the cat, so using the Cat’s Paw lace design seemed natural in this stole. The final third of the stole is a wing. It obviously fits as the swan part of the theme, but the single wing with the more formal first part of the stole also alludes.

Dressing Swan Lake


The point


The wing


The stole

Fractions

One half
The right half of the I do shrug is done. Thanks to Chrispy for pointing me to
Hooks and Needles so I could stay on track. On to the left half.







Five sixths
Melanie revealed the theme—Swan Lake. The next step was to knit a "wing." Though I couldn't picture it, I decided just to follow directions. After all, it was all about the mystery (and the lace, of course.)



I've finished the fifth clue (twice). In the first go, I wasn't consistent in knitting the YOs at the short-row, and it looked pretty bad. I was more careful to tug as I turned the short-row and am much happier with the result.

Working through the stash

Found it!!
Clue 4 from the Mystery Stole was completed (finally!) and I was on the hunt for yarn for another lace project when I came upon a very old UFO stole. As I pulled it out of the box, I spied a bag with three balls of circa-2004 Mikado Ribbon in Shell Mix. The Tivoli top could finally be completed, and it was.






Mystery Progress
I decided to shorten the Mystery Stole, which meant I didn't have to knit 82 pattern rows (or 164 total), so you'd think it would have gone by quickly. HA! For whatever reasons, a couple of rows kept giving me fits, so I ended up re-knitting at least 50 pattern rows (not in succession, but in total). Still the fourth clue, is completed and the Mystery Stole will remain a mystery for an extra week, while the avid Harry Potter fans (including Melanie) read the new book.


A new shrug
In June, Dianne said to bring knitting to the Dragon Boat races because there would be some waiting between heats, so I looked for an easy to remember pattern and chose Pam Allen's "Little Silk Shrug" from Lace Style. But I didn't make mine out of silk, but the Koigu yarn I picked up at Madrona Fiber Arts in January. It was knit at plays, coffee and anytime I was just waiting. I liked how it turned out, so I may even make another. After all I will need another take-along project.

Another week, another FO

Once again, another week has slipped by...

Calliope is done
I did say it was a quick knit but I must admit I was a little compulsive about finishing it. But the really cool thing is how well it fits. The smallest measurement on the pattern was going to be a little too big, so I knit the gauge a stitch smaller et voilà! it fits. The only other adjustment I made to the pattern was to knit smaller armbands than the pattern called for. And I even learned a new (to me) cast on method—Channel Island cast on, since it was the method the author specified.

I found two sites with different methods: Have a Yarn and Countrywool. I preferred the latter, which has you set up like you are doing a long tail cast on.

Clue three (plus) reknit
I was admiring my work on the Mystery Stole and noticed a mistake. There was a discussion on the MS3 yahoo list about living with mistakes and there are times when I will just leave it. This wasn't one of those times. Once I saw it, I decided it was too obvious, so I frogged about 75 rows and did it right. It wasn't too traumatic and it has been reknit. On to the fourth clue.

New things

I think I said I've been trying not to augment either fabric or yarn stash for the past couple of months. I have been fairly successful (a complete moratorium would be completely out of character, I think) if the recent Visa bill is any indication. Still, when in a yarn store, it's hard to resist the pretty colors and soft fibers. Such was the case when the PDX Knit Bloggers met at Knit Purl last Sunday. I love Sea Silk and red and the Sangria colorway was just too much to resist. I think it was Tammy who was working intently on the Mystery Stole in Habu Bamboo and Terissa had a ball of it with her. It was so soft and shiny, I had to take home some for my very own. One of the great services that Knit Purl offers (and they always offer) is winding yarn from hanks to center pull balls.


At the same time I have been trying to work through stashes. As I was searching my patterns for something to make with the new yarns, I came across the Calliope Sleeveless Shell I'd ordered from Knit Picks last year, along with the red Shine Sport. It's no longer available from Knit Picks, but I did find reference to it on JoLene Treace's (the author) site and she wants to revise it to make available, now that KP's one year license is up. It's been a pretty quick knit considering there are 131 sts on US size 3 (3.25mm) needles.


And here's Clue 3 done on the Mystery Stole

Finished Objects

Where did the week go? Has it really been over a week since I last posted? Well, at least I have some things to show for the absence.

Knitters and Bloggers
There is such a sense of community in Oregon that I have never felt in other places I've lived. It starts with the pride in the state that residents hold and extends to the desire to get together and share common interests. Combine that with the extraordinary knitting community and you have PDX Knit Bloggers, a group of knitters who met each other at Powell's when Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was in town and decided they needed to find other knit bloggers in the area. A Yahoo! group was started and on Sunday twenty-four knitters met at Knit-Purl to share stories, projects and, of course, knit. Kathy was among the first to blog about it. Monica became the official photographer having taken the most pictures, including me working on Sasha. Peggy and Mims from the Oregonian have described what everyone was working on.

Speaking of Sasha
The third time was a charm with this skirt. I bought the pattern last year in May. I started it, then frogged with almost all the underskirt done. I started it a second time but abandoned it for reasons I don't recall after just a couple of inches. A third start yielded he first section of the underskirt and, true to form, I got distracted with shinier, newer project. This past May, I thought it would be a good airplane project, but at the last minute decided it would be too cumbersome for travel. But now it is done. Yay!

Mystery Stole Clue 2
I finally figured out what I need to do to keep on track or rather, on chart. It's rather simple really—draw a dark line every 5 rows (forehead slap!). I've never been good about using row counters, or actually marking my place. That involves stopping and I'm just not that disciplined. At any rate, here's my progress on the shawl. BTW, at the PDX Knit Bloggers gathering, there were at least four others working on the stole (but only one who could concentrate and work on it at the meeting).


Convertible Wrap
Crocheting the hairpin lace panels on the loom went by swimmingly quickly. Crocheting up the loops—not-so-much. But it is done, the buttons on and April's birthday present is ready for mailing across the pond to Scotland. It will go with a picture from the stitchdiva site along with my pictures.
 





Ugly Pants
I finally got the ribbing onto the "muslin" pants. This will be the only public sighting of me in the pants. They will not leave the house unless they go out in a Goodwill bag.






Birthdays
We don't tend to celebrate birthdays exactly on the date with friends because there's always just too much going on. This year, we enjoyed John's birthday along with the nation's. Tom thought it would be a good idea for me to make another bottle poodle but he came up with the idea the third, so that was out. Instead, he did a little crafting of his own and the two liter bottle of single malt became a bottle bunny.

My gift from Dianne and John was interesting, pretty and tasty. Flowering Tea.

before

after

More Suggestions

One of the things I neglected to include in my list of things that no-doubt are a result of my "suggestability" is my long list of WIPs/UFOs. And still I add another thing to my WIP. I hesitated to mention this in my last post in the event that it was just a passing whim, but here it is.

Mystery Stole 3
One of the PDX Bloggers (PDX=Portland, for the out-of-towners) asked if anyone was going to join the Mystery Stole 3 Knitalong. I would have been fine if I'd ignored the post, but I had to check it out. I knew I shouldn't with a bazillion yards of fabric in the sewing room with patterns "assigned," the hairpin lace loom sitting in the family room along with the Sasha skirt, etc. But I did.

Yesterday morning after staring at the pattern I'd printed out, I picked up the Sporfarm alpaca yarn I'd found at the in March (because it was laceweight and already wound into a center pull ball) and started knitting. The good news is that it is done in steps as the clues are published, so I can just put it down and work on other projects.

Clue 1, Chart 1 done


Clue 1, Chart 2 done


I'm seeing a ram in the pattern...

Patriotic Dogs
Tom has a dog shirt for Valentine's day, several for Christmas, and a even one for Halloween. He (jokingly, I think) commented that he didn't have a Fourth of July shirt. Well he does now.