Finished Lace

I finished the Rosebud Shawl. Here is a picture of the unblocked shawl (with a yard stick at the top):
And here is the picture of it blocking (once again there is a yard stick in the picture for reference):
Project details:
Pattern: Rosebud from Heirloom Knitting
Yarn: Merino Oro, color 011, about 134 g (1675 m)
Needles: KnitPicks Options, US 4/ 3.5 mm
Finished size: about 64" x 64"


Here is the current progress on Mystery Stole 3. I have finished clue 3. Next week I probably won't finish the clue by Sunday since we are going to get 135 rows! and I will be reading Harry Potter (provided I can find a copy, I didn't pre-order).

And the lace continues

Mystery Stole 3 continues. The group membership has grown to an astounding6732 people last I checked. I can't believe I was number 37 of that total. Here is what it looks like after the first 2 clues. I started clue 2 after dinner on Friday and finished Saturday mid-morning. The beads don't show up too well in the photos, but they are there.
When I am not working on MS3 I am trying to finish up Rosebud. I have done 3/4 of the edging and here is the current picture. That is a yard/meter stick in the top of the picture. This measurement is of the un-stretched shawl. I started the second ball of yarn just before starting the edging (each ball has 1250 meters/ 100g).
I am going to leave you with a picture of my fat cat pretending to be human in a rocking chair. This was just after she had her paw on the arm-rest.

I love lace knitting

The first clue for Mystery Stole 3 came out Friday morning. I was going to take the day off and stay home to knit and nap, but I had some work to do and ended up being there for 6 hours. After getting home I was able to get started and then finished up Saturday morning. Here is what clue 1 looks like. Other than MS3 I have been working away on the Rosebud shawl. I have gotten about half way done with the edging. I have worked more since this picture.

Has it been 2 weeks already?

In the last 2 weeks I have gone camping, finished a pair of socks, signed up for the Mystery Stole 3 by PinkLemon, worked on the Rosebud shawl and competed in an Irish dance competition.

First the camping: We went to Seneca Rocks West Virginia and set up the tent. One day we went on a coal fired train ride at Cass, WV. That was so much fun and I got tons of sock knitting done during the 4.5 hr trip. Lots of people asked me about the sock and how I did it since I was standing up most of the time knitting. Here are the socks I finished.
Pattern: basic toe up with 2 x2 rib for leg part
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM color P-116

Second the Mystery Stole 3: PinkLemon is hosting this KAL. There are already over 2500 people from all over signed up for this. The first clue comes out Friday. It is interesting this year as there are people who don't speak English in the group. I have been able to work on my German (I do have a degree in German, but haven't used it since college other than little chats with my sister). Incidentally I re-learned how to knit while visiting my sister when she spent the year in Freiburg. The booklet (Stricken Lernen leicht & schnell by Burda) I learned from is getting worn, but I still use it as my first reference. Here is my swatch for the stole. I used Zephyr in Mushroom and have 3 different choices for beads- clear (didn't show up), silver lined (most people who have seen this like these) and a dark grey rainbow (they really stand out).
Third Rosebud: I have started the knitted on edging and I am half done with one side (the picture was taken earlier in the weekend). I hope to get at least 1 side done before Friday and the mystery stole clue.
Last: The Irish dancing. It was the Cincinnati Feis. We came home with 14 dance medals/trophies. We didn't place below 2nd on any dance. Here we are with most of the awards and our "coach".

Another week gone by

This past week went by with little knitting. Kindergarten graduation went well, but a bit on the long-winded side. We got our Ruby costumes in ballet class and they were lovely. The actual recital on Saturday morning went well, but was a bit long. I have done some knitting on the Rosebud shawl, but didn't bother with a photo of a larger mass of pink. I have done 70 rows of the border and I am now on a race to finish the borders before the new knitting project starts.

Pink Lemon Twist is doing the Mystery Stole 3. I did the one last year and loved it, so as soon as I knew about this one I signed right up. This one has optional beads. I have never knit with beads, so I am definitely going to try. I will use the same color as last year since I bought a whole cone (1 pound) of the mushroom zephyr. Now which beads to use? I think I will order 2 different colors and then decide when they come in.

June already?

I did some spinning this past week. This is the last of the purple tencel that had to be spun. I just have to ply this and then send it to my sister.

Here is my current sock. I got one done and have started the toe on another. This is one of the Koigu sets from MS&W. It is lovely to knit with.
I have added more rows to the rosebud shawl, but you can't really tell there are 4 sides that have 178 stitches each.
This has been a busy weekend. I had my dance dress rehearsal (without costume, ours are not here yet) on saturday morning and then stopped by a yarn store on the way home. I got some of the Panda Wool and then some of the Tofutsies for more socks. After a brief nap we went on a brief bike ride to the elementary school to play on the playground. Then this morning we went on a shopping trip to check out some new bikes. We found some really nice ones at a new bike store and so had to come home and get the bike rack for the car before returning to the store to buy them. This was followed by another bike ride to the playground. It was much nicer than yesterday (I could shift gears and my bum didn't hurt as much). Then after an early dinner we went to the pool to try and teach my son to swim. He isn't learning very quickly. The only reason he went totally under water was because he slipped. Swim lessons start June 11.

This week will just be busier with Kindergarten graduation overlapping my last ballet class before the recital and my husband going out of town for work (and that is just wednesday). Then this coming saturday is the dance recital (hopefully with costumes).

Memorial Day Weekend

Since my last post I have done some knitting, some spinning, some dancing, and went to my 10 year college reunion. I am still amazed that I have been out of college for 10 years now. Almost no one was at the reunion events I attended.

For knitting I have been working on my SIP and I am almost done with the first of the pair. I have also worked more on the Rosebud shawl. It takes about 1.5 hours to do 2 rows now. Here is the current picture (it looks like a larger mass of pink string)
I have also been working my Monet sweater as well. The color of this picture is better than last post's picture.
Here is the spinning I was working on as well. This is the wool/tencel blend for my sister.
Here is the result of my dancing this weekend. I got a 4th and three 1st place medals at the Cleveland 2007 Feis.So it has been a great week and weekend for all of my hobbies. Next weekend is the dress rehearsal for my Ballet class and we don't have our costumes yet. I have been assured that we will not be naked, but until I actually have the costume I am still a little doubtful.

5 days until MS&W

I have been working on the Rosebud shawl. I got the center done and picked up all the stitches around the edge. It looks like a pouch of dental floss, but I am progressing. I have done 14 rows out of about 92 for the borders. Then there is the edging that will probably take forever. I started the borders with 117 stitches per side!!!
I have also done some work on the current SIP. I had to get some work done on my car, so that provided me with about 1 hours of unterrupted knitting time for these. This pair is actually for me and not a gift.
I also got to do some spinning. Last weekend I got some more done on the Wool/Silk blend. After letting the singles rest about a week, I plied what I could and discovered that I did not have the same yardage of singles on the 2 bobbins, so I have to spin some more single then I can finish this and find out what yardage I have. I really want to spin some of the other wool I have already and I am planning on buying some more at Maryland Sheep and Wool. I only have 4 bobbins right now, but The Woolery is currently having a sale and bobbins are 15% off, so I just ordered 4 more. (This is the same store I bought the wheel from and I had great service on that order).
In non-knitting news, there are only 2 more practices before the first Irish dance competition of the year. I am a little worried, but keep reminding myself that this is just for the kicks and giggles, my life does not depend on me winning (just not getting hurt). There are also only 6 ballet classes before our recital.

An almost-FO

Here is a picture of the bathroom tile before we grouted:

Here is what the room will look like when we are done. All that is left is to buy and install a tub door.
Now for knitting content.
Here is where I am on the Rosebud shawl. I am almost done with the center section. I had all of yesterday to do what I wanted as my boys were on a backpacking adventure.

I have also been working on a pair of socks for me out of the Austermann step yarn and finished the first sock and cast-on for the second, but put off working on that this weekend in lieu of spinning more on the wool/silk blend and knitting the shawl. I have 2 weeks until the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival and I have to create a list of what I want to knit and the yarn requirements before going. I can't wait.

Valentine's Day Fun

The weather here is not very much fun. We got lots of snow yesterday and I could barely make it out of my driveway in my Subaru Outback this morning. My husband works in a different county that had a level 3 snow emergency (only emergency personal on the roads) and my son's school/daycare was closed, so they got to stay home a second day. The city does not plow our streets, so we got no mail delivery today either. I don't think the morning paper showed up either. I was on the roads at 5:30 this morning and they were not that bad once I was driving on streets that had been plowed.

In knitting news, I finished a pair of socks:
Pattern: Waffle Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks (top down with heel flap)
Yarn: Austermann Step color 06
Needles: Inox 5 dpn size 2.25 mm
Size: Women's 7 wide
These are a present for someone, so they will be given away soon.

Since I finished this pair of socks I started a new pair from the Red Cross Knit Kit. The yarn is an olive drab wool, but it feels like it has some cotton in it. I am also doing the top down construction again since I like how that fits better. (the camera battery needed to be recharged so no picture)

I also did some spinning the other night to add to this:
I started a scarf with my handspun and discovered it would be very short, so I have to spin some more. Unfortunately I am getting better at the spinning and the yarn might not be the same gauge as the first set.

I have also spent some time working on my Rosebud shawl, but it didn't photograph well. It looks like a wad of pink thread. I have 4 of the 11 repeats done on the middle section. It is much harder to knit with the thin yarn on biggish needles than the socks, so I work on this in the evenings.