Scheherazade Stole -- 7.5 Twelfths Done.

I'm about 1/2-way through the 2nd iteration of Clue 2 -- so about 7 1/2 out of 12 pattern sections done. There's no two ways about it -- I must have knit the center row (which is what I picked up when I removed the provisional cast-on) too tightly -- or due to my efforts at re-picking the row up in the right pattern. I can perceive a line there. Oh, well. I don't have to worry about working in something to not make it perfect.

Click on the photo to see a larger version. I included a yardstick for scale comparison (Dave had mentioned that the earlier picture needed some scale reference.)

Barbara came home this weekend (to help celebrate Steve's birthday) -- and I was able to show it to her in daylight. She was not enthusiastic. So it's going to be a present from me to me!

Mystery Shawl -- Side 2.

I'm definately making slower progress -- I've only done 34 rows of the first Clue. I guess I just don't have the drive that I had before, and I need to do some other things. When I'm into Clue 2 (maybe in about 20 more rows), I'll take another picture.

An update -- No real progress on the shawl.

I picked up the stitches and undid the provisional cast-on on Thursday, and I thought I picked up the right stitches. Maybe I did, but as I worked the first row of the opposite side, I know that I dropped at least one stitch and then had trouble picking it up. As I reached that last third of that row, I realized that the pattern wasn't lining up right. I undid the first row, and had trouble tinking here and there, and then the pick-up row was totally wrong.

So, I fussed and fumed and tried to get the row right, as per what the stitches should have been for that row per the chart. I had trouble in a couple of places picking up a stitch where the other direction must have knitted two together. The tension didn't feel right on the yarn in a couple of these places, and I figure I have to slip the stitches onto another needle, and make sure that every stitch is picked up properly and loose enough.

So I got bogged down, and didn't feel like doing that all weekend long. So I made no more progress.

Tonight is the third in a monthly "Craft Night" at my church -- so I'm going to bring it along and see if I can't fix that row and start knitting again tonight.

My Mystery Stole/Shawl is half done. My only fear is that I might have knitted looser in the second half of this -- and I sure hope that it won't affect the final blocked stole. The edging in particular seems to be looser than the rest of the piece. I'll have to hope that a thorough wetting and proper blocking will make all well.


The official name is "Scheherazade". Here's the information from the pattern's author (Melanie):

"Scheherazade was the name of the Queen who was the storyteller of 1001 Arabian Nights. The Sultan was in the habit of killing his brides after their wedding night and marrying again the next day. When he married Scheherazade, he'd already killed 3000 women. She kept herself alive by telling part of a story, then finishing the story the next night, when she would begin another story. After 1001 nights (and 3 sons) he realized he had fallen in love with her. Aladdin and Ali Baba are two of the more popular characters from her most well known tales.

I chose the name because I felt that Scheherazade was an interesting character. She was brave enough to volunteer to marry the Sultan in the first place, but had the presence of mind to tell a story well enough to capture his imagination, thereby keeping herself alive in the process. Not many of us could spin a tale that could intrigue and captivate the way hers did, knowing that failure would result in our execution. A woman of both great creativity and a very strong backbone, Scheherazade is herself a very interesting character.

In designing the stole, I borrowed traditional motifs from Arabian ornament - several of you have commented on similarities to Oriental carpets. The swirling lines, branching and curling, represent the storyteller, following the thread of a story as it grows and develops. Other motifs... represent the love that grows between Scheherazade and the Sultan.

For more information about Scheherazade, see the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade "

Mystery Shawl - Clue #6

Well, I finished the first 33 regular rows of the clue. You then had to cast on 24 more stitches, and she recommended doing knitted-cast-on, so I had to look that up. I am now into the edging. It's sort of like you're knitting at a 90 degree angle from the rest of the work, and marry up the even rows with the new work by knitting two together on the wrong-side rows.

You repeat it 7 times -- it'll form 7 "points". Most odd rows (pattern rows) you're either progressively increasing, or progressively decreasing, near the left-hand side. (The original knitting marries into the right side). The first iteration was slow until I neared the end of the pattern. Before going to bed, I was able to complete just a little more than half of a second iteration of the pattern.

Five-and-a-half iterations to go, and I'll be done side one. Then I have to pray that I don't have trouble picking up the stitches from the provisional cast on -- and that I pick them up on the correct side of the work!

Mystery Shawl - Final Clue (#6)

Well, I've downloaded Clue 6, the final clue for my shawl -- and I can actually start using it tonight! I finished Clue 5 (first iteration) last night. Maybe sometime next week, I'll be able to pick up the stitches in the middle, undo the provisional cast on, and re-do all of the clues for the other half of the stole.

I think I'll wait to post another picture until I'm on the second half. Clue 6 has only 33 (rather than 50) final regular rows, and doesn't end with a wrong-side (even) row. Then you go on and do an edging -- and she recommends sitting in a quiet place to do this. I guess that means I'll have to leave the house, go off somewhere else -- because as soon as I need to do something quietly, one of the guys will surely come to me and talk with a booming voice and make me jump and drop stitches!


On another note, Mark had his second official work shift on Wednesday -- followed by another last night (Thursday) because he's substituting for Jean, who also asked him to substitute for him for 6 hours on Saturday (10-4). So he's quite happy. Rather than 3 hours work this week, he'll have 12! He's counting the dollars already.

Mystery Shawl through Clue 4.

Since I'd last posted, I finished Clue 3 and Clue 4 as well. I actually started Clue 5 last night.

Here's a little picture of my shawl so far. I'd just completed row 203, and gone a half row on the "even" side, so that the knitting was spread evenly on both needles. I didn't semi-block it, I just tried to smooth it out on top of the family room sofa. The yarn is Patons “Lacette” 39% Nylon, 36% Acrylic and 25% Mohair -- the color is “Hint of Rose” (althought I prefer the French name underneath: “Soupçon de Rose"). There will be a total of 6 clues, and then I'll have to pick up the stitches where I began -- removing the the "Provisional Cast-On" in white yarn (which is on the left), and knit the other side just like the first. The earlier link I gave of someone else's knitting shows how much better it looks when the middle (both Clue 1's) are complete.

And, here is a little snippet of what the pattern looks like. I line-off every 5th stitch in red -- it helps me to count on the fly. I highlight each row that I finish, so that it's easy to see the next pattern row that I'm doing. The odd rows are the pattern rows -- the even rows are all k2, p95, k2. This is the start of Clue 5 -- so the row number start at 201.

I think that the counting-by-5 is easy for me because I use it in the picture logic puzzles that I love to do -- at least the version called "Paint by Numbers" in Games magazine, or called Pick-a-Pix on the Conceptis site (http://www.conceptistech.com).

Knitting the Mystery Shawl -- getting out of the hole.....

I knit 18 more rows last night. I've only got 10 more rows to go to get back to where I was on Sunday. So, with any luck, I'll get those 10 rows done tonight, and move close to finishing the first iteration of Clue 3.

I'd really like to start Clue 4 tomorrow, before Clue 5 comes out on Friday morning....

Mark's First Job.


Mark has been hoping for a year to get a job in our church's parish office like one of his friends. It's compatible with being a student, and not having to work many hours. The youth who work there work 3 hours in an evening, or all day Saturday. They act as receptionist at the door, answer the telephone, lock everything up at night, and I don't know what else. In quiet periods, they can do homework.

Well, an opening came in July, and he interviewed and was hired. He worked most of one Saturday in July as training. He worked his first real shift last night from 5pm - 8pm -- and received his first paycheck for that training day. ($38 after taxes. ) However, as low-man-on-the-totem-pole, he's only scheduled to work one evening each week so far. Maybe after they break him in, they'll give him an occasional Saturday.

Barbara started Grad School.

Since I didn't really post anything for a while, I should catch up on an item or two. One is that Barbara moved into her Grad School housing at UCSC on 7/1. Steve and I followed her in, and helped her move everything from her rented storage to her new apartment bedroom in just a couple of moves. We were more effiicient because everything was already packed up -- and we could load up both cars to the gills.

Barbara didn't start classes until 7/24. Even though she seemed a little discouraged with some of the assignments and teaching style to start, we hope she'll get settled in and happy before long.

If nothing else, it's about 12-13 months of intense work that she just needs to see through to get to her Master's in Education, and her California teaching credential. We're wishing the best for her!

Mystery Stole Knit-A-Long recovery from mistake....

I knit just about all last evening, and did another 20 rows. So, since I'd re-done 10 the night before, of the 58 rows I'd unraveled ("frogged", I've learned) -- I've redone 30 rows. 28 rows to go.

At least I'm back into Clue 3 of the Mystery Stole. Barely. If I knit a lot tonight and tomorrow, maybe I'll pass where I was before I discovered my mistake 3 nights ago. Maybe by the weekend I'll be on Clue 4. I have Clue 4 in hand, and will get Clue 5 on Friday.

Just so you can see where I'm going -- here's a link to a picture that someone else has made: http://knittygrittythoughts.typepad.com/ She's completed the first four clues -- twice, since you start from the middle and do 6 clues in each direction.

Of course, mine will look different, since it's a different yarn and a different color. ;-)

Backing out a Mistake on my Mystery Stole...

I've been working on Melanie's Mystery Stole Knit-a-Long http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/2006/06/mystery-stole-2006.html -- and had to "frog" (unravel) over a third of my progress last night , in order to undo a mistake. To me, it was a glaring mistake -- 9 stitches which had been knitted, rather than purled, on the wrong-side row. It left a ridge in the middle of one of the paisley/leaf sections that just marred it.

This stole is made up of 6 clues, 99 stitches wide, 50 rows per clue, which give you half of a shawl. Then you repeat the 6 clues from the middle (where you started) to create the second half. The error was 58 rows back. I was nearing the end of clue 3 -- and had to unravel more than one-clue's worth well back into clue 2.

As my sister Carol said, "I would have felt the same way ... oh, maybe I could put up with it; oh, no; it will disturb me later; I better undo it now; boo-hoo, boo-hoo, sob, sob, tears, tears, tears!"

When I get close to finishing the third clue again, I may try to post a picture.