Spinning and knitting

So I've not been too great on the blogging front of late, so I thought I'd through in a few recent photos to try and kick start myself. And failing a scintillating post, at least there are photos to look at!

I've been working away on my summer daze sock. I'm trying really hard to finish these so I can can continue work on the mystery stole. I've found that if I'm getting nowhere on a project I can knit an interim one and get my mojo back. The interim for the alpine lace was the shimmer shrug. The result? I got both finished!

Also, last Tuesday I had a quick spinning lesson at uni with Katy and for a short while, Mel. During this, I remembered how someone on the spindlers list had mentioned spinning on a stick, so I gave it a shot using the working needle for the above sock. I ended up with this:



And upon home I had to demonstrate for the boy and my mother, and I did this one:

It's very slow, but rather fun! Not a way I'd want to use to produce any usable amount of yarn though.

Also, the cat decided to take up residence on my table/desk:

Right on top of all my knitting things! Including my recent stash acquisitions and my knit picks binder. I'm not entirely sure if you can call that comfortable in any sense of the word!

Also, for those who already there or on the waiting list, I'm on ravelry! I'm really enjoying it and getting to understand what all the fuss is about. It's brilliant! For those who've never heard of it, ravelry is like myspace/facebook/multiply ect but designed for knitters and better. Much better! My username is Camee if you'd like to look me up

Friday, the day of knitting and yarn!

Well, tonight marks the second last clue for the mystery stole. And I'm still over a week behind. It's not much further along than the photo shows in the last post. It's hard to believe that it'll all be over soon. Till next year anyway.

My push to get the alpine lace done kind of gave me lace overload so I've been a bit slack. However, I still have been busy, though it doesn't really look like it. I've been going to uni and keeping up with my work, and even trying to get ahead. It's easier to keep up if you're a week in front!

I had been a bit antsy about the tofutsies club. Everyone else appeared to have their yarn but me! I was right too, an clerical gremlin upset the shop's address book so she accidentally sent my yarn to the wrong address. However, the yarn appeared on my doorstep this morning! Yay for fast postage!


I have to say, if I'd seen this yarn in the store, I'm not so sure I would have bought it, but I'm glad I've got it. I'm really enjoying knitting it up. See?


Well, not quite yet anyway. Turkish cast ons on dpns are not my friend, but they do indeed look good and are good practice. That's what I tell myself anyway!

To make today even better (any day that include the arrival of a ball of yarn is a good one) we were visited by our godmother. She also brought yarn!


That's 6oog of laceweight! It's going to the stash for the moment though. I'm trying to make myself finish something else before I start more.

I've also been knitting on the boy's sock. I'm on the last pattern repeat of the leg before I try and figure out what on earth I'm supposed to be doing for the heel. The pattern isn't the easiest to follow, but it'll be fun!

A week late, but it's an update!

Yeah, I've been slack. After I finished the alpine lace shawl I took a bit of a breather. I worked every now and then on various projects and started a new tatting project.

I very nearly started a new knitted lace project today too, as my triinu shawl pattern arrived! I'm very excited, but a tad daunted by the pattern, so I've delayed it till I've finished the mystery stole.

Speaking of which, clue five was released about 10 minutes ago, along with the theme. Every mystery stole has a theme, which is released about 6-7 weeks after the start. It turns out this one is themed Swan Lake, and now we knit a wing apparently. I'm a tad behind anyway, so I'll get a chance to see what the wing looks like before I knit it. Otherwise we have the choice to knit it symetrically. I have a feeling I'll be doing the wing though, I feel like doing something new! I did a quick steam block the stole before taking the photos, it's getting a tad long for me to be bothered pinning it out just for a photo.


I'm really impressed with how it opens out. It feels wonderful!

New, which brings me to the next segway, I'm expecting a new ball of tofutsies! The new balls have apparently been sent out. Mine has yet to arrive but I'm looking forward to it, I need another pair of socks.

I've done a bit more work on the boy's cablenet socks. I'm under instructions from the recipient to work on them only when I'm tired of the other projects on the needles.



The tatting project is the celtic bookmark. I'm enjoying it and learning a fair bit, such as how to hide the ends as you go.


Here's to a more productive week ahead!

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)

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!

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.

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!

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!