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!

Mystery Stole 2 "Scheherazade" -- and Barbara's Gallstone

It's been quite a while since I posted. I finally finished my Mystery Stole "Scheherazade" in late October or so -- but I had purchased blocking wires -- and then had ordered special U-shaped blocking pins from KnitPicks, and was waiting for them to arrive.

They finally arrived -- and one weekend, I had a killer headached that knocked me out of commission -- the next I was busy for other reasons. So, I finally blocked the Scherazade Stole on Sunday. I think it's dry, but I've left it blocked just to be sure. Maybe I'll take it out tomorrow and photgraph it.


The sad news is that Barbara had another of what I guess is called a bilious attack around 5am on Wednesday -- and was vomiting hard, with blood in it. When she called me for advice, I told her to go to her Santa Cruz Medical Foundation urgent care. They took lots of ultrasounds and diagnosed a large gallstone in her gallbladder -- and needs surgery since she was in great pain. They gave her a shot of painkiller because she couldn't keep the first pain pills down. Then they gave her a prescription for Vicodin. Barbara's had problems for about 5 years -- and had been misdiagnosed as having gastric reflux. Her gallstone is huge -- 2.3 cm -- about 1 inch in diameter.

She saw the surgeon yesterday (Thursday), and they scheduled the surgery for next Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. He also prescribed stronger pain meds. I'm taking Wednesday off from work to drive up to Santa Cruz, and will take her to the surgery center. We hope she's in the 90% who can just have outpatient laparascopic surgery -- but they don't know until they start.

So the Thanksgiving holiday and her 22nd birthday the following Saturday are kind of on hold. I'm going to just buy a turkey breast -- in case we can come back to San Mateo after her surgery -- and we'll just have a small feast on Thursday. If I end up having to stay in Santa Cruz with her (or if she has the big surgery and is in the hospital for 4 days) -- then Steve can put the turkey breast into the freezer for some other time.

So -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her, and keeping her in my prayers (whether she likes that or not!).

Barbara's teacher training -- I have a couple of corrections to make. I talked to her about it, just to be sure I get it right.

Last year in her senior year, Barbara took an Education 180 class, where she needed 30 hours of "observation" in the Fall quarter. Barbara became a kindergarten aide for 3-4 hours about twice a week, and actually got about 45 hours that quarter. She was supposed to learn about classroom management.

Then, on a strictly volunteer basis since she enjoyed the teacher so much, she continued to be an aide once a week for the next two quarters. There was an "art specialist" in the classroom only the last 6 months of the year, and Barbara really enjoyed being there for that. She's always enjoyed arts and crafts.

Now that she's working on her Masters in Education and California Teaching Credential, she truly is doing Student Teaching (I wasn't sure). And she actually got to stay two weeks in the kindergarten class to start. She was sad yesterday because she has an eye infection, and the only squeeze-in appointment at her doctor's office was at 9:00 this morning, so she'd have to miss part of her last day there.

So, she mostly observes and assists, and will probably present a lesson here and there. At the end of the year, she'll have two weeks where she "solo's" -- that is, runs and teaches the classroom on her own, with the master teacher observing.

I remember having a Dominican novice history teacher who was a student teacher in Sister Imelda's class in my senior year. I remember when she solo'ed. It made it really clear what a wonderful master teacher Sister Imelda was -- and I was so glad to get her back at the front of the classroom!

Barbara's started in-classroom training on Monday. She's assigned to work in two different schools with two different grades -- with 4th graders this semester (so she's with the older kids in elementary ed) -- and with kindergartners starting in January (which is the age she thinks she wants to teach after graduation).

However, since kindergartners will be very different in January than on their arrival into the classroom for the first time, they made an exception to her schedule, and had her report to the kindergarten teacher for the first week this week. Barbara had been an aide last year with a teacher in a Santa Cruz kindergarten classroom. (I think that's what it was. I think it was associated with some class she was taking, perhaps a prepartory education class. Ooh, I'm sorry that I'm so fuzzy on the details!) When Barbar had trouble finding her "new" teacher -- the "old" teacher escorted her to the room.... and gave lots of praise about her, and how lucky the other teacher was to have her.

Steve later told me that Barbara told him that Barbara was introduced to everyone as "Miss Craig". I wonder why Barbara didn't mention that to me. It must have made her feel really grown up. I remember when on my first job in Boston, and folks would refer to me as "Mrs. Craig", it felt oh-so-different!

They said that she needed to learn about "forming communities" both in the kindergarten and in the 4th-grade classroom, so she can't stay in the kindergarten too long. I don't think Sister Annene (sp?) formed "communities" when I started in first grade, nor in any other grade I attended!

So, Barbara's doing practical training for 1 week in nearby Santa Cruz kindergarten. Then she does practical training for the rest of the semester in a farther-out Santa Cruz 4th grade. Then she returns to the same nearby Santa Cruz kindergarten in January. She was just gushing over how cute the kindergartners were. She said that by comparison, the first graders seemed so old.

Maybe she's right about herself. I hope she'll make a great kindergarten teacher! She certainly seems to have passion for working with the little ones!

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.