Mystery Stole 3 Knit Along

Thanks to a kind enabler on Arachne, I heard about Mystery Stole 3. Having wanted to learn lace knitting from a chart, this seemed like a golden opportunity! So of course I signed up. Next I had to go stash diving to find my yarn. The recommended colors were black or white. First I found a cone of black mystery yarn, it didn't have a great feel, but I tried it anyways. Not a good choice. Looked pretty ugly, and melted like plastic in a flame. Put that one away. Next try was some purple Knit Picks lace yarn, but that seemed as heavy as the fingering I use for socks. The winner turned out to be some Forsell lace yarn from England, the label says superwash (right, I'm going to put this in the washing machine) and it has 2470 yards for the 25o gm cone. Knit on size 4 Crystal Palace bamboo needles, it looks pretty good. I first tried a metal circular needle, but it kept springing out of the yarn.

TaDa! Finished clue 1 at 11 am. This is a wonderful pattern, and the charts are amazingly easy to follow. I am really happy to learn how to knit from charts, as there a lots of patterns written that way. Now I want to knit lots of lace!

Sumac

It's been quite a while since I've posted. May was the last time my life had any normalcy. *sigh*

Onward now. I've been knitting and feltimg some bags. Earlier I showed my first B4 bag, I just finished my second one. This time it's for me!

I don't remember what the yarn is, and I can't find the info at this time. It's a pretty, soft variegated wool, a single with a light twist. I forgot that I wasn't felting Cascade 220, and ran the washer a long time. It made a really solid bag. It's 10.5 inches wide and 6 inches tall. The buttons are from a Delactable Mountain, a local fabric store that specializes in silks and other exotic fabrics.

I also made another Scallops and Beads bag from Knit One, Felt Too. The purple wool I got from eBay, the green and Magenta is Cascade 220. This bag has a 4 stitch I-cord, I felt that the 3 stitch I-cord on my bag was too thin. I like this much better.

During the winter, I joined the SixSockKnitalong, a yahoo group. It's been fun to knit a pair of socks along with all the other members of the group. The patterns are very nice, they are a great way to learn new techniques. My first sock with the group was shadow knitting a heart on the cuff. Sadly, the second sock has not been knit yet.

The second *pair* is called Glad Ragg. They were knit in Wildefoote yarn with Delica beads on the cuff. I really like them, it was lots of fun to knit the beads in.

To avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome, I am now knitting my socks two at a time on 2 circulars.





Sock in progress is the Sixth Sense Sock. For this sock, I'm using Confetti superwash in color 39109. I had the opportunity to meet the Yarn Harlot when she was on her book tour visiting WEBS in Northampton MA. She was kind enough to let me take her picture holding my socks. Who else would be so understanding! I'm not sure that I will finish this pair before the month is over, but I will keep working on them.

It's raining today. That's OK, as I have lots of indoor projects to work on. During the winter, I got back to knitting, which I hadn't done for a number of years. New to me is the joy of knitting items to be felted, or more properly, fulled, in the washing machine. I knit this for myself, but a co-worker made me an offer I just couldn't refuse.

This is the B4 bag designed by Trish Bloom

My version has an extra bead section and two vintage abalone buckles to make it a B5 bag. I love the way it came out, and will have to knit another one for myself.

Spring has finally come to my yard here in southern Vermont. I am really enjoying the first flowers in the gardens! Most of the magnolias are in bloom, there are 2 left to open. There are lots of daffodils and the earliest primroses.

There are already tiny tadpoles in the frog garden.