I’ve been so busy knitting lately that I haven’t had a chance to update the blog for much too long. There are a few WIPs and even completed items to share. First up is the Call of the Sirens stole. It’s my own design, knit out of one skein of Sappho from the Sanguine Gryphon. The colour is I cannot work the loom, and it’s knit on 4.5 mm needles.
The Call of the Sirens lace stole draws on the Greek myths about the Sirens. The Sirens’ calls could bewitch sailors to make them forget who they were and and where they were going. Often the Sirens caused them to forget to navigate their ships and the ships would be wrecked against the rocky shore.
The edging of the stole show the waves, followed by the rocky shoreline. The center portion of the stole represents the braided hair of the beautiful Sirens.
I have also started a cardigan in Ebenholz Wollmeise 100% superwash. I’ve gotten a bit further than the picture shows, but my needles were confiscated by an overzealous airport security guard in Geneva, so I have to get replacement needles before I can continue. Right now it’s a mess of live stitches, and of course all my stitchmarkers are loose in the project bag. Oh well, these things happen.
Aside from that I have the next Mystic KAL project on my needles, and about 80% completed. I don’t want to say too much about it, but the knitalong will happen sometime in September. The yarn is Sappho in Honey Nor Bee, from the Sanguine Gryphon – rich shades of burgundy. It looks lovely, but of course I have no pictures to share at this time.
And finally I’ve been working on another lace scarf/wrap in Rust coloured Tencel 5/2 from Yarntopia Treasures. It’s knit diagonally, which makes the drape different from the other lace project. It’s a fun knit, and should be finished reasonably soon.
So between the knitting and the Mystic Air KAL starting today, I’m certainly keeping busy. There are lots of new ideas for exciting projects for the summer and the fall, and I can’t wait to get started on those too. 
The swatch for the Mystic Air KAL has been posted to the group for the knitalong.
In addition to dyeing with the Sanguine Gryphon last weekend, we also visited the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival on Saturday, May 2.
Here are a few of us entering the fairgrounds – me, Laura and Linda. Nikki took the picture.
The weather was really so, so. It was overcast, and rained for part of the day, but for us northerners it was fairly warm.
I spent most of the day just walking around the festival looking at all the yarn and other knitting related items. But the most fun part was meeting so many people.
I wore my Mystic Roses shawl, which made me relatively easy to spot in a crowd. The shawl is really large, and the colour is such a vibrant red that it’s hard to miss.
Here are some of the people from the Wollmeise group on Ravelry. A few of the people I already knew from the Gryphon retreat, but there were a number of others whom I had only met online before, and it was really nice to meet you in person.
Mary Ann brought real NY bagels from New York city, and they were just as delicious as I remember.
I also met a number of people from the Mystic knitalongs, and that was really fun. It was nice to put some faces to the names and email addresses I’ve gotten to know over the years.
Finally, of course I did some shopping. The one thing I was really looking for was a jumbo ball-winder, to wind all my neverending skeins of lace. Winding 1,200 m of lace, or (even worse) 1,600 m by hand is just not fun. And while I had a knitpicks-winder, it just didn’t do the large laceskeins for me, so I thought it was a good investment. I ended up purchasing a Strauch jumbo ball-winder. It’s amazing. I’ve already tried it with a number of different yarns, and it works great.
I also bought some yarn – two different lace weights – but mainly I just looked at all the things and all the people. It was a lot of fun.
I spent the weekend at the Sanguine Gryphon retreat learning how to dye yarn, and teaching a class on lace design.
The retreat was at Gryphon’s amazing studio in Easton, MD.
The actual dyeing was mainly kettle dyeing done outside on these propane heaters. Gryphon got us started by heating up the water in which to dye the yarn.
Here is part of the group listening intently to Gryphon’s instructions and taking notes for future reference.
There were actually 16 of us there, but I don’t have a complete group picture. I’m hoping someone else will post one.
We started out by trying a few different dyeing techniques with small sample skeins of somewhat underspun Eidos. There is a teal one, a semisolid red, oil beetle, and then a skein dyed in a shallow pot with reds and oranges.
I actually also made a handpainted skein in crimson and gun metal, but somehow that disappeared and I never saw the final result.
My first independent experiment was with two skeins of Little traveler. I used crimson, scarlet and black, and I really think this turned out well. I can’t wait to use this yarn.
Then I dyed two skeins of Sappho along with Rena. We made them shades of fire red and some browns – which made them turn out this sort of dark antique rose.
And finally I dyed a skein of Eidos with Laura in shades of sapphire blue and emerald green.
And just because the yarn looked so beautiful, I thought I’d include a picture of all my yarn together. The sample skeins are the four on the top, and then it’s Eidos, 2xLittle Traveler, and 2xSappho.
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