Tuesday 24 July 2007

Finished Object!

I now have another finished object! I have completed the Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today.

It measures 19" by 62" and was blocked on the spare bed in front of a heater. It's winter, and I wanted it done as soon as possible!



I'm going to miss this stole though. I mean, I still have it, but it has been my constant companion for months. I'd memorised the pattern so I could pull it out, work on it and shove it back in as required. It's suffered the most appalling abuse knitted lace has ever been subjected to: it's lived loose in my handbag and uni bag, been squashed by wallets, phones and laptops, gotten keys and ipods tangled in it, had tea spilt on it, nearly been dropped in the bath (don't ask...)



It has done something else though. I really enjoyed knitting it. While I haven't cast on anything new as yet, I am really looking forward to my next lace project after the mystery stole. I need to cast off one more project before I'm happy with casting on another.

I did order the triinu shawl pattern however, so that's next on the list. If you want to see a photo of that one, let me know. It's a rather expensive pattern, but it's beautiful and it's a challenge!

As for the other challenge, the mystery stole, I finished clue 3 last night.


Let's see if I can catch up! Onwards to clue 4!

(edit: taking a short lace break currently)

Friday 20 July 2007

Radio Silence

Things have been rather quiet over here for the past week. There's been knitting on the mystery stole, and there's been knitting on other lace.

Remember this?


That's my Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today. I've been working on it for about 5 months.

Well, it now looks like this:
And of particular interest is this bit:

Yes, that would be the top border that's just been started. I have a bit of a problem, but soon discovered that while the pattern says 37 repeats, it does require an even number, so she either meant 37 repeats in addition to the repeat used to 'set the pattern' or the just meant 38 and put in 37.

I ended up with 36 repeats. I'm short, the loss of a couple of inches isn't an issue.


I'm working on this almost exclusively in order to get it finished, blocked and ready to wear by next Friday. I'm being taken out to the theatre on that night, so for the first time I'm going someplace in which this stole would be perfectly appropriate.

I plan on wearing it to uni and such, but it'd be nice to have it ready for Friday.

As for the mystery stole... It can wait till after I've pinned this out!

Thursday 12 July 2007

Clue 2

And I've caught up! I have finished clue 2 just in time for tomorrow. And a good thing too, it means I can spend tomorrow apologising to the magenta lace for neglecting it. I have a couple of other projects I want to start, but I have to get something off the needles first!



Not the best photo, you can't see the beads. I might do a detail shot after I finish the next clue.

Sunday 8 July 2007

Mystery stole catch up

I have caught up! I hope, anyway. This is the completed first clue, the clue for the week I was away without internet access or beads.



I finished about 1:30 this morning, but now I can relax and take this weeks clue at a nice steady pace.

Typically, I had problems putting my lifeline in this morning, ripped it out and decided I'd be fine without it, I'd made it this far without a mistake, right?

Wrong, first error in the first row of the new chart. Turned out to be nothing more sinister than a missed yarn over that was easily fixed. Bring on the lifelines!

Friday 6 July 2007

The Week in Review

Well, we have returned from my sojourn in Kandos and I had a lovely time. We spent an awful lot of time just doing as we pleased, watching dvds, walking around, visiting the surrounding country towns and so on. We also took a fair few photos of the green. It's not been that green out in the central west for almost a decade, so photos were taken just in case the drought continued, and so:

I knitted, I watched Sean knit: (yes, he knitted that himself)


I started learning to walk on stilts!


Speaking of knitting, I finished the tofutsies!

I'm very pleased about it really, it means I wont still be working on them when the next ball arrives. It also frees me up for some of the other projects I really should finish, such as the magenta lace.

I have also joined the mystery stole knit-a-long. Basically, a wonderful woman known as Melanie writes a pattern for a lace stole, lace that's not worked in repeats or such like much other lace. She then releases the pattern in parts every Friday. You need a bit of faith as you have no idea how it'll turn out when you start, but going by her previous works, I'm thinking it'll be just gorgeous. I swatched for this while I was away, and managed to find internet access in Mudgee so I could obtain the first clue. However, while I had the yarn and needles with me, I couldn't start it. I had to wait till I got home to get the beads, which didn't show up till Thursday anyway.

I'm working with undyed laceweight merino from live2knit.com and gold-lined clear seed beads.
Last night I finished Chart A and I'm now working on the second half of Clue 1, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up by the end of the week. Here's a shot of where I left it last night:

The magenta silk still look similar to the last photo I put up, just a bit longer. If I wasn't working on anything else, it'd be finished next week, but hey. All in good time!