I know that I'm really, really far behind on this blog and pictures.

I finished a baby set for Fran & Steph's new daughter, as well as I finished blocking my Swan Lake (Mystery Stole #3). And we went to Greece -- where I took over 1,000 pictures. I need to pick just a few of those to post as well.

Mystery Stole keeps creeping along in Clue 6.

I only did 2 rows last night. I think I'm up to 170 active stitches, with about 12 unworked stitches left from Clue 4. I'm much slower per row that I'd have thought. I could do about 2 rows of 99 stitches in 15-20 minutes before. Now it seems to take me 1-2 hours (with distractions) to do 2-3 rows.

And it's been repetitious throughout all of Clues 5 and 6 -- so while it's looking nice, it's been pretty boring. It's hard to stay motivated.

But I only have something like 24 more rows to do. If I do 2 rows a night -- more ore less -- I'll be done in less than 2 weeks.

Starting last clue of Mystery Stole 3 - and Barbara has a job!

Last night I finished all but the last wrong-side row of Clue 6. I didn't work on it over the weekend because Steve and I took a long weekend up to Lake Tahoe, and I don't chance this project in the car nor in less than ideal lighting-and-setup conditions. I hope I'll post a few pictures later of the trip -- although I forgot my good digital camera. All we had was the cheapie emergency digital camera in Steve's car -- for example, to take a picture of a fender-bender if that were to happen.

My eyes felt sunburned all day, despite wearing sunglasses and a visor all weekend. So I didn't even feel like starting knitting until now. Maybe I'll get a few rows done before turning in to bed.

The best thing that happened yesterday, however, was that Barbara was offered a one-year contract to teach a first grade class in the Union school district in San Jose at Lietz School. Here's a map.

Whew! That was a close one. She rushed over after her part-time hotel job in Santa Cruz to sign the contract and pick up paperwork. The district had new-teacher orientation today and tomorrow, and starts with an in-service day on Thursday. Classes start next Tuesday. She's been assigned a room in a modular (lots of the schools have these, because school districts sold off property during a drop in enrollments in the 70s/80s, and had to expand on existing properties this way when enrollments zoomed again). The room has desks, chairs and textbooks. Barbara was stressing out today about what to do to get the room ready -- hopefully, some of the other teachers and staff will help her get set up!

She needs to give notice at the hotel, although she feels obligated to work for them on weekends through September, since she had told them that's what she would do when she got the job in June. But she's not teaching in Santa Cruz -- and as a first-time teacher, I think she's going to need her weekends. But since she lost out on some income earlier, and is motivated to pay off her student loan from grad school -- maybe she has an extra agenda she's not sharing. I just hope she'll handle the workload with grace. I hope they'll tell her she doesn't need to work every weekend through September when she gives notice.

Mystery Stole 3 - Clue 6 progress report

Each row gets slower and slower as stitches get added. I managed to get 18 rows done this weekend, meaning I have 118 rows of the "wing" done. The last row had 121 "active" stitches, and about 37 stitches left unworked from Clue 4.

I seem to be getting additionally slower on each row due to my row markers. I separate each 10 stitches to assist in counting and debugging problems, and move them on the purl row if needed, which is most rows. This and the previous clue use "repeat" blocks of 20 stitches to repeat 4 times rather than charting the whole row. There are actually two repeats of the pattern in each charted "repeat" -- so each row is very symmetrical as you work it, except for the ends.

And I seem to make one or two mistakes on every row, so as I'm doing the purl row, I'm able to detect the problems and correct them. It's usually a missed or dropped yarn-over, which is easy to fix -- I just have to be sure I'm counting out the pattern in reverse as I work. It's getting boring.

Mystery Stole 3 - Clue 5 done

Here's what the stole looks like in its entirety, just smoothed out, not blocked. The tails of where I added the second skein are still loose on the upper right, and I have 2 lifelines at the end of Clue 4 -- as well as a few lifelines in Clue 5, the wing. I've put a yardstick beside the stole on the left to give a sense of dimension.

It'll be bigger once I block it, but it's not going to reach the 6-ft-plus length of last year's stole, unless a future clue somehow makes it longer, which I doubt.

Here's a slightly more close-up picture of the end of Clue 4 and all of Clue 5. Remember that you can click a picture to see if in a larger size.

This is the wing as of Clue 5. It will be bigger and lacier once I block it. I finished it last night, and have marked up Clue 6 -- and am getting ready to start!

Mystery Stole 3 - Clue 6 came out today -- but I'm still piddling along on Clue 5. I did 10 more rows last night, so I've done 87 of the 100. Each row gets longer -- but maybe I'll have a better block of time tonight and actually get Clue 5 done tonight. If not, then tomorrow.

Some of the KAL (Knit-A-Long) folk must have the day off -- if you want to see what the "wing" looks like after Clue 6 -- here's someone else's picture:
http://upload2.postimage.org/209486/photo_hosting.html

Mystery Stole 3 -- Swan Lake -- in the "Wing"

Clue 5 also has two charts. The 50 rows of Chart G went pretty fast, since it starts by working just a few stitches of the left-hand part of Clue 4. You add two stitches every 2 Right-Side rows, and decrease one of the leftover-stitches from Clue 4 every Wrong-Side row.

Here's progress after three evenings, more or less pinned out to see the curving "wing" halfway into Chart H, with 77 rows completed after Clue 4. There are still 58 stitches fom Clue 4 unworked, and all bunched up on the needle -- and 80 stitches on the "working" part of the needle for Clue 5. Melanie has us doing a different combo stitch where three stitches become one that is supposed to produce a better "line" -- and is, I think, supposed to be the spines on the feathers of the wing.

I think it's a little funny how the "Wings of the Swan" lace pattern which was on the outside edges of Clues 1 through 4 just suddenly end, but maybe there will be something in Clue 6 or Clue 7 which makes it make sense. That lace pattern was supposedly also used in MS1 "Leda's Dream", which I haven't made yet.

The floral-looking design in the main body (which was easier to see in the previous posts' pictures) is the traditional Shetland lace design "Cat's Paw". Melanie explained that in Swan Lake, one of the dances done by 4 "swan maidens" is the "Pas de Chat" step, which means "step of the cat", so she thought it made sense to include that in this pattern.

Mystery Stole - Clue 4 (both charts E & F) done as of late Sunday night. 335 Rows completed as of that point!

I didn't block it, just smoothed it out on the floor. It was funny, right before the infamous Row 287, where we had to put the lifeline (which was for frogging back, if you didn't want an asymmetrical stole) -- that's where it was obvious that I finally needed to start the new skein of yarn. (It's better on lace knitting to have your yarn change at an edge).

I did start Clue 5 on Monday night. Row numbering started over -- it started with very short rows. The first Right-Side (RS) row worked over just a few of the leftmost stitches. You do extra yarn-overs, so you're always increasing a couple of stitches -- and on the Wrong-Side (WS) rows, you end by purling the last stitch with one of the hold-over stitches from Clue 4. Each RS row is 2 stitches wider than the previous RS row, if you don't count the hold-over stitches that aren't "active" for now.

I've done 59 rows of Clue 5 so far. I have "worked off" less than half of the 99 stitches that were on the stole before, and have well over 60 stitches in the currently-active row. The net effect is that the stole is poufing into an arc around where Clue 4 ended. I meant to take a picture -- maybe I'll get it when I finish tonight.

Mystery Stole 3 -- Clue 5 came out today, and the theme is "Swan Lake". Swan Lake on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake

If you made the stole white, it represents the "good" woman-parttime-swan-whos-under-evil-spell Odette. If you made the stole black, it represents the imposter-woman-who-prevents-the-prince-from-breaking-the-spell Odile. If you switch colors so it's both black and white -- you've got both Odette and Odile.

And the stole is asymmetrical -- here's a schematic of what it will look like when finished. Although the Designer says that if you're not willing to proceed, you can frog back to row 287 in Clue 4 -- then remake Clues 1 through row 287 of 4 a second time, and join them with the Kitchener Stitch to make yourself a symmetrical stole.

This isn't the first asymmetrical stole that Melanie's designed. See her Hanami Stole: http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/2007/02/hanami.html (You can click her picture to see a closeup.)

When I had previously seen that pattern, I thought it was pretty enough, but I didn't think I wanted to pay $6 for it. I'd have wanted a symmetrical pattern.

But since I'm already at Row 304 or Row 306 of Clue 4 (only 31/29 more rows in the clue), I don't think I want to frog back to Row 287, nor have to join two separate pieces together to make a symmetrical stole. I think I'm going to follow through and complete the stole as planned.

Mystery Stole 3 -- half of Clue 4 done.

Clue 1, which started with the point (2 stitches) had 2 charts (A & B) for a total of 100 rows.

Clue 2 (Chart C) had 50 rows. Clue 3 (Chart D) had 50 rows.

Clue 4 has two charts (E & F) -- the first is 70 rows (to row 270) the second is 65 rows (to row 335, an unusual odd-side end). I've now completed Chart E -- and only have 4 more nights to do Chart F if I don't want to be" behind", like I usually am. This is spread across two cushions of our sofa -- the dip between cushions creates the "line" that seems to be in the middle. (Remember, you can click the picture to get it full-sized.)

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I'm amazed that I'm still on the first skein. You can see what's left of the ball on the upper right. I have 3, and thought I'd use them all up on this stole -- but I think I'll have a lot left over.

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http://www.knitpicks.com/Alpaca+Cloud_YD5420108.html is my yarn -- at $4.29/50 gram hank = 440 yards -- you get a lot of knitting from a hank/ball!

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So -- I'll probably end up using $10-$12 worth of yarn. But the stole will still be priceless when completed. I figure that it takes on the average 15 minutes for me to do 2 rows. My time is worth a lot more than minimum wage. I probably have well over 34 hours in this section so far, since I frogged and started over. At even $10/hr, this much knitting would be worth $340 at cheapy rates!

Mystery Stole 3 -- through Clue 3

I've completed Clue 3 -- 200 rows. After blocking and measuring, it was about 26.5 inches long. Melanie's is 25" long at that point -- it's about 1/3 of the total length of the stole. So I'm glad, mine will be about the right length without having to change/repeat-in Clue 4 to add 11" or subtract 11".

The first picture is while the stole was being blocked. What looks like a big black splotch in the middle is the print on the blocking board showing through -- that helps you perceive how transparent the stole is.

(Do you know that you can click these pictures to see them in a bigger size?)

The second picture shows a close-up of the knitting that has some of the beads on it. I can tell that there's a glint on at least one of the beads -- but you might have trouble seeing it. (If you click the picture, though - you might be able to see a couple of the beads.) The way you add beads to the knitting is that, when you get to the stitch that needs a bead added, you use a size 13 (very very fine) steel crochet hook to slide a bead onto the stitch before knitting it. There's a tutorial here: http://fluffyknitterdeb.blogspot.com/2005/08/by-special-request-beading-made-easy.html

Then I unpinned it after blocking, and took a picture of the just-over-2-feet-long section (and almost 2-feet wide) on our off-white sofa, so that you can see the pattern without blocking-board-print interference.

Birthday Celebration with a Treat in the morning!

Steve treated us to a Segway (amazing personal transportation with gyroscopes) Tour of the San Francisco Waterfront as a birthday treat (Mark declined to come, Barbara enthusiastically joined). We took the 9am tour - and finished up about noon.

We started off with personal and group training, and a movie. We started up our Segways with a key that limits speed to 4.5 MPH.

Then we headed out in two groups of about 10 people each. We went up and down some hills in style. The tour guide talked to us over walkie-talkies that were strapped into the packs on the front of our units as we "rode", and stopped to talk to us in groups at certain stops.

When we got over the biggest hill, at Fort Mason, the guide let us zoom around the mostly empty parking lot. He usually gave such practice at a pier before the hill that leads to Fort Mason -- but it was closed. Then we shut down our Segways and restarted with a key that limits speed to 8 - 8.5 MPH. (There's third key that we didn't have -- that can let you start at the max of about 12 MPH.)

Before departing Fort Mason, we paused at an overlook to Alcatraz.
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We ended the first direction of our tour at the Marina Green. We then retraced our route, except that we went a little longer way back, going around Fisherman's Wharf. San Francisco doesn't allow Segways on sidewalks (we could use pedestrian/bike paths most of the way) -- so we were in the streets in the vicinity of Fisherman's Wharf. We made a cute little parade. We had a lovely day -- the fog was pretty much burned off except at the Golden Gate. We all had a great time.


We ended the day with dinner out at an Italian restaurant, and a raspberry-chocolate torte from Safeway.

Mystery Stole - Clue 2


Clue 2 consisted of 50 rows (ending at Row 150), worked on 99 stitches across.
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I didn't block this section -- I just spread it with my fingers. This picture doesn't really show you how loose the stockinette stitch is.

I'm going to lightly block after finishing Clue 3 -- because that will help me decide whether or not I need to lengthen the stole. Clue 3 will take me to about 1/3 of the total length. If I want to lengthen it, I repeat a section of Clue 4 rows which will add 11 inches to the stole.
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I actually wonder whether it will only add 1/2 of the 11 inches on this side -- and whether one then repeats on the opposite side, when one gets to it. I may have to do the addition.
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I think for Clue 3's picture, I'll take an entire-section shot followed by a closeup to show how very open my stockinette is. I stopped at Row 190 last night, which means I'm just 10 rows from finishing Clue 3 at Row 200, blocking, measuring, and then starting Clue 4 (which came out last Friday).
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Clue 3 has 2 sets of charts (like Clue 1 did). It goes to Row 335 -- not to Row 336. We usually end on a wrong-side even row. So there's a great mystery about why we're stopping at Row 335. .
Also, we are supposed to put a special lifeline in Row 287 (or if you lengthen it, in the second instance of 287). She suggests using a different color -- or somehow marking it, like tying lots of knots into the ends. This is also a mystery, because it's usually easier to put a lifeline in after an even-side perled row, rather than a lace-knit right-side row. There's a big discussion about why.
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I bet she's going to have us come back and pick up stitches for some sort of frill there.

Mystery Stole 3 through Clue 1

OK. I had to do some catch-up on pictures before I could let myself post the Mystery Stole progress. I'm actually working Clue 3 now -- but only one clue per posting until I catch up!

Clue 1 consisted of 100 rows -- to make the starting triangle. Row 1 had 2 stitches, the last few rows had 99.


1.) Here's what the beads look like close to the yarn. I did not end up using the Original Balene circular size 5's. I changed and started the test swatch with an Original Balene circular size 4's. I didn't like using the circulars. Especially with lace, I like being able to prop long single-needles to one side of my hip or the other when doing something tricky. So I finished the test swatch with straight Original Balene size 4's.



2.) Here's a somewhat blurry closeup of the beads -- I was trying to show the iridescence and color highlights.











3.) Here's the test swatch after blocking. Even though the stockinette section was very airy, I thought it would be OK. When I got to working on the real thing, and after looking at Cathy's pictures, I decided to frog and start over on size 3's. I didn't have Original Balene size 3's -- but I did have Balene II size 3's -- which are working well for me. The yarn isn't too slippery on the Balene II plastic.


4.) I wasn't liking the way Clue 1 was turning out even on the size 3's. I was pinning it out to take a picture to send to Carol at Row 90 -- and saw an error at Row 82 (I think). I must have accidentally dropped a stitch and picked up a different stitch somewhere, causing a cascading error. I decided it didn't look too, too bad when pinned out, so I tinked back to Row 83 or 82 (I forget) because I couldn't figure out how to fix it and all subsequent rows. I worked a little past Clue 1, then pinned this to my ironing board and spritzed it, so I could see what it would look like lightly-blocked. I decided to stick with it, even though it's still somewhat airy, because size 2's would be way too small.

Mystery Stole 3 Knit-A-Long!

The Mystery Stole 3 Knit-A-Long by Melanie http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/ was closed to new subscribers in early July. She's going to be featured in a USA Today article because almost 7,000 folks around the world have joined in. The first year's membership (the one I missed), there were about 760 members. Last year, I think there less than 2,000.

I had a couple of bumps along the way. I did my test swatch on size 4 needles, and near the end of Clue 1 decided the real thing was too loose. I frogged-it and started over on size 3's. I'll post some pictures of progress later. But this post has the yarn. Recommended colors were black or white. The stole also incorporates beads. For a while, I thought I might completely start over with different yarn -- but when I rough-blocked Clue 1, I decided it was going to be OK. This baby alpaca yarn is finer than the laceweight yarn I used last year. I do like its texture. It is soft -- and even if the finished shawl turns out small-ish, it will be nice to wear when you don't want something too, too warm. I think it will feel like wearing a (nice, not nasty) spider web. It is extremely light.


1.) The Alpaca Cloud "Midnight" baby alpaca knitweight yarn that I got from KnitPicks is black with dark blue / dark green highlights. I'm using hexagonal seed beads that are iridescent black.
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2.) I used my ball-winder to take the old-fashioned skeins and make pull-out skeins. I was afraid that, with the yarn so thin, I might break it. But I didn't. These skeins are coming apart on the outside a little too easily as I work with them -- but the pull-out skein is still easier to wind and use than a hand-rolled ball.

Catch-Up Time Part 2

3.) So, the missing baby afghan probably really belongs here. Too bad Betsey and Rich didn't send me a picture of it with the baby -- I could have a really nice posting then!

4.) After finishing that, I began a shell-in-the-round pattern crocheted afghan for Mark. It was one of his graduation presents, and he can take it off to college in the fall to keep warm, and to have a little bit of Mom/home with him.

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5.) I had made a scarf from two skeins of black eyelash yarn. It left a nubby texture that reminded me of the way Russian hats look. I thought maybe it was a kind of fur -- bear fur? -- but someone tells me that it's a particular kind of wool. At any rate, I bought two more skeins and was hoping to find a good hat pattern.

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My colleague then bought some Bernat eyelash yarn, and a hat pattern was printed inside her label, but was made for single-pointed needles -- and you then sewed the hat up.

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I figured out the changes to work it in-the-round, and knit it on 16" circular needles up until the last couple of rows (then I had to switch to double-pointed needles. That way, when I was finished knitting, it was done! Kathy then modeled the finished products for me, even though she didn't want to. She took my picture, too -- but she looks better in it than I do!

Catch-up Time.

OK, I'm missing a picture, but I'd made a crocheted baby afghan for Rich and Betsey. Darn! How could I send it off without having taken a picture?!?! I don't know what I was thinking.


So, here are the other items I've made in the interim.


1.) Fingerless crocheted gloves, because the modular we work in has so little insulation, and we had a severe cold spell... (I also made a hat with the leftover yarn, which was a tad too small, so I didn't take a picture...).

These gloves aren't quite as warm as knitted ones. I may use some leftover laceweight yarn to make knitted ones from a pattern I've recently found. But that won't be for a while.




2.) My first socks. I used KnitPicks self-striping sock yarn.

This first picture shows what they look like looking towards the inside toe. I knit on 4 needles, and needed a fifth. Working on 4 makes it much easier to follow the instructions, since there's a top and a bottom when you work the toe and the heel -- so the stitches are evenly divided.




-- a picture taken at the same time as above, showing progress from the outside. These were toe-up socks.











And the two pictures below show the finished socks!

I haven't been very good about posting, but I've been taking pictures of projects as I finish them. I hope I'll upload the pictures soon, because I'm going to be starting another Mystery Stole Knit-Along!

Carol's Milestone Birthday present.

I used the same yarn as for my Scherezade Mystery Stole to make my sister Carol a "Branching Out" shawl for a milestone birthday which was earlier this week. To my surprise, she received it just two days after I sent it -- thank you USPS!

I was a little afraid the color wouldn't be right with her "Winter" color scheme, but she says it will go well with her "charcoal" coat. Phew!

Here are the pics:























And spread out on our orange rocker:

Mystery Stole 2 - "Scheherazade" - finally posting pictures! [I wish I had participated in Mystery Stole 1 "Leda's Dream" -- but I bought the pattern for $2 PayPal - and will eventually make it.]

Here's the before-blocking version:






















Here's the After-blocking version. I used it when Steve and I went to see "Carmen" at the S.F. Opera, and it still wanted to curl some. So afterwards, I pressed it with the iron, and it seems to be staying flatter. We'll see if it stays flat after wearing it again though. Maybe I'll just need to re-press it a little after each wearing?

















Continuation of Barbara's health:
I never did come back to the blog after Barbara's surgery. Surgery was a success, but she needed to stay in the hospital overnight because she wasn't coping with pain well. Among the pain meds they gave her during and after surgery was Toredol, an intravenous NSAID, like a strong version of Motrin or Aleve. Most people don't have problems handling it, unless they're very aged. We drove back to San Mateo mid-day on Thanksgiving, and I cooked the turkey breast and a simple meal, all things considered.

Unfortunately for us, on the Sunday after surgery, on Barbara's 22nd birthday in fact, she went back into our local hospital with pain, nausea and vomiting that had worsened since the previous day. It turned out when push came to shove that her kidneys were shutting down. The most likely candidate subsequently determined for why was the Toredol. What was bad was -- the emergency room doctor gave her more Toredol while they were trying to decide what to do.

So, I'd taken Barbara to the emergency room on Sunday, she got admitted about midnight. They kept her on intravenous anti-nausea and pain meds for several days, and finally weaned her off to pills, hoping she could go home. Her BUN (a urine indicator) and Creatinine (a breakdown product of protein) readings were abnormal, with Creatinine in particular being a problem. She should have had a 0.8 reading -- hers rose over 4 days to 5.7 -- if it had gone up to 10, they'd have had to do temporary dialysis. When it peaked/plateaued and dropped to 5.2 on Friday, they discharged her. She had to stay in our area until she visited the kidney specialist again. Her Creatinine was down to 1.5, which is still not normal. She'll need to see him again in early February to see if it comes down to 0.8 -- or whether she has permanent kidney damage.

She had to take incompletes in most of her fall quarter graduate school classes. The main teacher who supervises her work coordinated with her other teachers, and she has until March to complete incomplete assignments.

Then when she was feeling well enough to go back to work and called her bosses at the Ramada, it turns out that they sold the motel the previous week (without ever mentioning it to her), and the new owners didn't want hired help. So she lost her job, too!

So, she's now trying to get Unemployment insurance until she can find another job that works with her student teaching and classes. Wish her luck!