Scout summer camp & STASH ENHANCEMENT

Well, a trip to Boy Scout summer camp both hinders and helps knitting. Last weekend's 2 night/3 day extravaganza of living in the woods, using a latrine, and being surrounded by lots of barely-in-control teenage boys had its ups and downs. I was pretty excited to go with the troop to the archery and rifle ranges, where I got to try new things. Yep, I've never done either before, and, I'm very proud to say, I hit the targets almost all of the time!! But there was a lot of down time, as I sat in the site playing responsible adult while the boys came and went to their various Merit Badge activities.

The MS3 just wasn't the right project to take on that kind of adventure. Between the light colored fine yarn, the crucial, but easily lost, crochet hook, and the 100's of little beads, it just wasn't going to happen. The second half of clue 5 had to stay home and wait for me. But my socks came along, as did some size 8 perle cotton destined to be a swirl yarmulke. In the 3 days there, I managed to knit the entire leg portion of a sock, and make good progress on that yarmulke. I even incorporated one of the boy's idea to add a gold ring every 10 rows.


The rest of the week has just been BUSY. DS #2 has finished his summer activities, and just wanted me to DO things with him. So, we played games, I read him stories, we went out on "adventures" (which are also known to the world as errands and lunch with Daddy). I am just about done with the leg of the other sock, but I couldn't keep my eyes open last night. Maybe later. And clue 6 hasn't been touched, even though I've had it in my hands for more than a day.

I'm not sure what to make of the MS3. I have taken the plunge and will "wing" it, but I'm still unsure of that symmetry thing. And -- although this might be blasphemous -- its BORING to knit. Its gotten all repetitive with the feather design. Even the short rows don't save it. I'm sure I'll finish it and wear it, after all, there are only clues 6 and 7 left, but its sure has lost its glamour. I do think I'll make a shawl pin for it out of copper, similar to the one that someone is selling. I was ready to plunk down my money, but DH looked at it and said "You can make that..." I think I'll twist 2 finer threads of copper together, solder the end points with a ball of my stained glass silver solder to keep it smooth, and then use the silver dot as the swan's eye. I found some nice drawings by Audubon that I can use as a design basis (don't want to copy someone else's work). I'll also give it a light hammering on the anvil. Hopefully the copper will match the beads on the stole.


And finally, to cheer myself up, and because I won't be able to get there when the kids have to be at shul on Saturday morning's, DS #2 and I ran over to Paterson this morning, home of the Silk City Outlet. Great stash enhancement place! For not too much money, I got all this:

Well, the 4 cones on the lower right were actually free, but still, where else am I going to get 6 weeks of lace knitting enjoyment per project for less than $15 per cone? The 3 cones on the lower left are wool crepe, the blue & maroon still in wrappers are 5/2 cotton, the copper colored cone is some sort of rayon/viscose and I have no clue what the beige colored yarn in the middle is, but it has a gold thread overwrap and twinkles so pretty. I just couldn't walk away from it, although I did sort through the box to find the smallest cone -- and its still enough yardage to make at least 3 large shawls. And each of the other cones is enough for multiple projects too. Overall, its probably enough for a year or more, if I every truly use all of it.


DH is starting to feel overwhelmed in the house, so I'm toying with selling off some of the Silk City stuff that I've already used for a project. I know myself, I'll never use it again. Might as well send it to new homes. I've never done that before. I'll probably try over at Knitswap on Yahoo! first before I pay Ebay for the privilege of listing it. Keep an eye out.....

Clue 2 done!

The Mystery Stole is moving along very nicely. The clue this week was only 50 rows, they went pretty quickly. Finished it this evening (Sat.), and its now packed away waiting for next Friday.

Another photo, just so you can see the cute bag that came with the British Knitting magazine a few weeks ago.


I put the beads into a little acrylic box I found in my Grandmother's sewing box, it worked out very well. I could carry my beads around, they were secure, and it was relatively easy to stab one when I needed it. If this didn't work out, I would have gone to the drugstore and stood staring at the candy, trying to pick the one that came in the right sized tin. Believe me, the type of candy wouldn't have mattered at all.

The Rona shawl, all 1,152 sts of it, is now well on its way to being done. I'm about 2/3rds of the way around casting off the sts. As per the instructions, I'm using a crochet hook -- work 3 together, chain 7. (The instructions alternated ch 7's a few times, ch 5 twice, but it was all too complicated) It looks all ruffly, but when I block it, I'll get to pin out all those ch 7 spaces. Sounds like a lot of pins. Time will tell how it looks.


Its late - I'm going to go do a few more loops on the bindoff, then off to bed. Still no clue on my next project, but I'll have to decide soon. The MS3 just isn't enough this week, and I hate to be without a project.

Mystery Stole 3

The knitting has begun!!!!

The clue was released Friday morning, and I was there! Got it at 7:35 am, and started knitting immediately.

This is not a pattern you can work on at night. I keep finding myself dozing off with my knitting in my lap, and no idea what row I am on. But even with all the interruptions of life (why do the kids need to be fed?), I finished it this morning.


The edges look horrible, as you can see in the picture. They keep flipping under. I know that blocking will correct this and open the lace as well. But what really scares me is the size. It measures only 16" across in the picture, and the desired size is closer to 20". I kept looking at it and regretting the size 4 (3.5mm) Options needles I used, but the size 5 tips are in the Rona shawl, which is still at least 10 hours from being done.

So, what to do? Simple. Take off the needle tips, put on some end caps, and block the thing! So, here it it, its pinned at 20" wide, 10" deep, and I think it needs to be blocked out even larger to really get the lace to open up. I can live with that! Aren't the Knitpicks Options great?

I'm such a nerd - I had to block this out into a right triangle, instead of just pulling it. See how it follows the diagonal of the blocking lines? And I've also screwed up with the beads. Instead of putting them on the stitch and then knitting it, I knit the stitch first, then put on the bead. Its not a big deal, I'll do it correctly from now on. Its not like its all that visible anyway, certainly no one else would ever see it.

I am so glad this stole has all the beautiful scroll curlicues and the wonderful braiding up the side. I didn't get to participate in MS2, and I loved all those great patterns in it, so its just wonderful that this stole has the same fancy work!

I'm going to go back to working on the Rona now, maybe the Moc Croc socks also. I'm also going to try to organize a get-together for other MS3'ers in the area for this Friday, when the next clue is released.