Most of the knitting going on around here has been lace. First, there was Adamas, knit out of J.Knits Lace-a-licious on size 3 addis. I'd previously knit this design as one of the five shawls I knit for my sister's bridal party last fall. I love this yarn. At first I thought it was exceedingly thin (and for me to say that about a lace yarn is saying something), but I take it back. It's just lovely, and because it's alpaca, it's nice and warm - tested against the cool breezes of Portland, OR, and the frigid air conditioning of that city's convention center. (Why do they always keep those places like an ice box?! I'll never understand. Climate crisis, people - it ain't just a liberal conspiracy. Rant over.)
Then I cast on for Fiddlesticks Knitting's Lily of the Valley Stole, with blueberry-colored Zephyr wool-silk. It's lovely, and, even more than Adamas, an intuitive, easily memorizable pattern. It's coming along swimmingly.
But then I heard about the Mystery Stole. I don't know how I never heard about the last two Mystery Stoles, but I'm not usually much of a joiner when it comes to these things. I've never even had a sock pal. As soon as I saw Ellen's half-finished Clue 1 last week, I knew I had to do MS3.
But what yarn to use? I had recently ripped out my Icarus shawl from last summer. A moment of silence, please. It is quite a tragic tale, not for the faint of heart. I went to wear it earlier this season, and this is what I found. Holes. That didn't look like a snag. No, they looked like something had taken a bite - or several - out of my shawl. First I found these holes, just above the feathery part of the pattern. After quickly giving over any hope of fixing this atrocity - too many broken stitches, in a particularly inconvenient location - I thought I'd just re-knit the last several inches, which, after all, are the fun part anyway.
But then I saw this. Can you see it? Another hole, this one near the very beginning. Also right on top of a yarn over/decrease combo. What is up with that?
By the way, lest you fear for the rest of my handknits, I have not found any further evidence of wool-eating creatures. A fluke? A moth that only eats grey merino? Could it have happened while I was wearing the shawl somewhere? I have no idea. I did microwave it for several minutes, just to be sure no critters stayed behind in my shawl.
And then I ripped.
And now back to MS3. (The saga is almost over, I promise.) I didn't really want to reuse this yarn so soon. Must leave it be for a while to get over the trauma. No, instead I made a few calls, and found out that the yarn store up the street (Knit Pickings in Plaistow, NH) had just ordered some Skacel Merino Lace. But they didn't have it yet. But a couple days later, when I ran an errand to the paint store in the same plaza with Knit Pickings, I thought I might as well pop in and fondle some yarn. And what did I find, but Vickie checking in the lace yarn that had just arrived. And they had black, which was what I really wanted to knit MS3 in anyway. So I had to take it home.
I'm using purple iridescent beads along with the black and it looks fabulous. I love the pattern so far. And I've never done any beaded knitting before, except when knitting with wire, so that's fun. Between waiting for Fridays when new "clues" come out and waiting for July 21, life is full of expectation. And a lot of lace.
I'm on a big cable kick lately. A couple weeks ago I started an Aran sweater for the husband, using some charcoal-colored wool that I bought at Rhinebeck. I can't remember the name... something like Chaco? Anyway, I'm designing this Aran myself... here is the main cable. I found this cable in Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting, and have been wanting to use it in a sweater for years.
Sorry for the crappy picture (click for bigger). I'll probably publish this pattern, so I'll be taking more photos later. The cable I used in this mitten is a little bit tricky - every 10 rows you have a maneuver that requires two cable needles (or at least one even if, like me, you usually cable without a cable needle). It's a fun little challenge.
