Seasons of Lace

I know I just showed you clue five, but I wanted to get clue six finished to show you before the Summer of Lace ended. I usually divide the clues up by the number of days I have to work on it, so doing the entire clue in one day was a bit harsh. At any rate here is my final Secret of the Stole clue for Summer of Lace. I’ve used 792 yds of Knit Picks Gloss in Celery.

I haven’t gotten past clue one on Mystery Stole 4. I don’t think I will be working on it before tomorrow so my final total is 70 yds of Knit Picks Shadow in Juniper.

I finally finished my Bird’s Nest Stole from Folk Shawls. Even though it took quite a bit less yarn than the pattern called for, it still seemed to take forever to knit. It’s knit from Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Iris Heather. 2095 yds.  Size 21″ x 79″. Nice and big.

Here’s my last update post, with yardage, which obviously does not really matter as far as the competition goes, but I’m feeling pretty happy with how much I’ve accomplished. I am homeschooling the older two of my four young children and working on top of that, so the idea that any knitting at all got done is a great source of pleasure, and that I finished two gifts and a project for myself is really terrific. Here’s what I did:

Goddess Knits Anniversary Shawl, 1410 yards

Coveted Lace Skirt, my design: 900 yards

Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl #9  1050 yards

Bad Cat Designs Summer Sampler Study: 1400 yards

and a pathetic photo of four works in progress that have about 500 yards in them:

Storyteller Socks, Veil of Isis, Anniversary Shawl, and Mystery Stole 4:

So, I count 5,260 yards total.

I want to thank everyone for sharing their projects. I have gotten so many great ideas from so many of you. I have about a hundred pages to finish working on tonight, but I’m hoping to get a chance tomorrow to review more projects so as to nominate my favorites for special prizes–there are so many great projects! Hope to see you all again in the winter!

And thanks so much to the moderators and sponsors for making this happen!

Logging in another 800yds after completing Atlantis.

I finished the Summer Sampler Study from Bad Cat Designs yesterday, and it’s blocking today. I’ll get a photo of it draped on someone or something later for my final summary blog, but here are closer photos of the twelve patterns and the edging. This was a lot of fun to knit. I used this project as an opportunity to learn a few new techniques and to experiment with my tension. I am ending the summer very happy with my work and with all that I have learned.

The yarn is DMC “Baroque” mercerized crochet cotton #10, the needles are size 1 straights. I have to weigh this one to determine exact yardage, since I used two full and several partial skeins, but it’s at least 1200 yards. I’m glad it’s done, so I can go on to other things without the weight of an almost finished object

I’ll be turning the third corner on my sampler stole tonight–only 65 repeats and two corners to go, and the repeats are actually going faster than I expected. I’m looking forward to having it done before the 2nd clue comes out for the MS4. I’m also looking forward to making progress on Isis. We’ll see.

I finally finished my scarf for the Red Scarf Project. I used three skeins of Knit Picks’ Andean Silk in Barn Red. 288 yds.

I didn’t quite get this finished for the Ravelympics deadline, and it took me even longer to block it, but my stole, inspired by the sheen of the yarn and the ideas of water and the sea, is finally finished.

Pattern: My own, composed of motifs from the Barbara Walker stich dictionaries
Yarn: Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl (merino/tencel) - very nice to work with and lovely sheen.
Needle: 3.5 mm/ U.S. 4
New techniques: Russian join, sewn bind off
Yards knit: 815
More pictures are at my blog and on Ravelry .

I couldn’t resist this one, though I did try. Here is the Mystery Stole 4, from Pink Lemon Twist. I’m working on the second part now, and hope to be done both in time for clue 2. The yarn is Malabrigo laceweight in Sunset, which I absolutely adore. In fact, as I’m knitting I keep thinking of calling the yarn store and asking them to order a bag for me. I have a design in mind, and I know I couldn’t get tired of this color. I am halfway through the edging of the BadCatDesigns sampler, so when that’s done I’ll be able to get on with my other projects, but really, this is so much fun, it has to take precedence!

Here is my beginning of Mystery Stole 4. This is another heavily beaded stole, so fun all around. I’m using Knit Picks’ Shadow in Juniper. You can’t see it yet, but there are lots of tiny, beautiful green beads on there also.