The Mystic Light swatch pattern was released today. It’s available in the yahoo group.
The swatch is more focused on techniques than on size, as I don’t believe that gauge is critical for a shawl. You will get a chance to practice your chart-reading, simple increases and decreases, cables, and provisional cast-on.
When the swatch is blocked, the ends can be grafted together, to create the Mystic Light Pulse Warmer. This way you can actually complete a small project while swatching for the shawl. Of course, if you’re like most knitters and have two wrists, you might want to make a second one…..
The KAL is still open for sign-ups, so if you would like to join us, please sign up here.
I visited the Quilter’s Pleasure Weekend in Cornwall, Ontario on the weekend. It was really nice to see all the amazing quilts. I also had a chance to visit Lorraine of Cottage Craft Angora. She had some really wonderful yarns on display and I walked away with a few skeins of the Buffalo Down yarn to play with. It’s an amazing deep chocolate brown, and softer than you can imagine.
Part 8 of the Spring Shawl Surprise has been knit, and I’ve started on part 9. Part 10 will be released tomorrow morning. I still have no idea what the theme might be, but I really like the various stitches used in the stole.
At this point, the shawl is about 2/3 complete. I should probably measure it…. but I know it’s close to 80 cm wide. The length keeps changing (obviously), so I’m not quite sure how long it is right now. My guess is that I will end up with extra yarn at the end. For the first 8 parts I have only used about 500 yds of angora (also from Cottage Craft Angora).
The Lizard Ridge Afghan is all finished now. It only took me a few minutes to finish the edging (not counting the actual trip to the yarn store and the 2 weeks of just waiting to pick the afghan up again). My son is quite pleased with his new blanket and has used it a lot already.
The Lady Godiva project is also coming along. I think I have unraveled it about 4 times, but I’m finally pleased with the design and all the stitches. Still no pictures to show – that will have to wait for a few more weeks.
The swatch for Mystic Light is finished and I am just putting the finishing touches on the instructions. It will be released in the Yahoo Group on Thursday.
I’ve been busy knitting, and just haven’t had a chance to pause and take pictures for a little while….. Oh well, at least there are a few things to write about.
The Spring Shawl Surprise is coming along. I’ve completed clue 7 and have started on clue 8. I didn’t bother to pin it out this time, but just took a picture of it flat on a table. It at least shows some of the pattern…
I have also started a new shawl design. The yarn is a lovely Lady Godiva (50% wool/50% silk) from Handmaiden. I can’t say too much about it just yet, but with these lovely colours I just had to incorporate the forest into the design.
The Mystic Light KAL is still growing at a rate of 100+ members a week. We’re up to 1,600+ members already. The swatch pattern will be released sometime next week. I’m not sure exactly when, but expect it later in the week.
Lots of people have selected their yarn and I’ve seen so many wonderful choices. And I’ve found so many new yarn brands I’ve never tried. Now I have to come up with a few more designs, just so that I can try out some of those amazing yarns……
This weekend I am going to Cornwall (Ontario) to the Quilters Pleasure Weekend. I have it on good authority that a wonderful yarn supplier will be there, and I can’t wait to check it out. I have also lined up some company to come with me, so I think it will be a blast.
I’m knitting away on the Spring Shawl Surprise, and have completed clue 5. It’s looking good, although I’m noticing the colour variation between the different skeins of yarn a little more than I had hoped (notice how it looks a little striped in the more recent knitting?). In any case, I’m continuing with clue 6 today.
I wonder if maybe it will be possible to dye the entire shawl when it’s completed to smooth out those stripes?
I am also just about done with the Lizard Ridge afghan. The four panels have been knit. They have been stitched together. And the edging has been crocheted. I haven’t blocked it yet, because…..
Well, do you see this lovely edging?
It turns out that you use a lot of yarn to go around the entire edge of the afghan. So much yarn, in fact, that my skein of Paton’s Classic Merino wasn’t quite enough. I ran out of yarn…
…with about 10 cm left to go.
Very irritating.
So I will have to go hunting for more yarn before I finish it. I had hoped to be able to go to a yarn store sometime today, but instead I’m at home with two sick children, so it will have to wait for another day.
I’m back to knitting the Spring Shawl Surprise again. I have more yarn on its way from Lorraine at Cottage Craft Angora, so I will indeed have enough to complete the shawl. Good thing too. It would have been terrible to rip it out, since it looks so nice and feels so soft. The fourth clue has been completed and I’ve started the fifth one.
To get enough yarn for this stole has been a tale and a half. I had one skein that I got from my SP11. Then I decided I needed more and tracked some down at the Purple Purl in Toronto. They kindly shipped me what they had, but it wasn’t enough for the entire stole. I then contacted Cottage Craft Angora directly and asked them for more. I sent a sample of the yarn I had to see if they could match it. I was lucky enough that they could match it, and I can’t wait to receive the package with the rest of my yarn. This stole is going to be absolutely wonderful.
I’m also making a lot of progress on the Lizard Ridge Afghan. Actually, I finished all the knitting. I now have to stitch all the panels together (I only have half a panel left to attach) and then it’s time for the crochet-edging. I’m hoping to finish this project soon. I’ve been putting it off for far too long.
I completed the Starsky last week, but I only got around to taking a picture today. I really like it, and given the chilly weather we have here in January, it’s nice to have a really warm cardigan.
I think the Starsky will also be quite nice as a spring/fall jacket It’s certainly warm enough. The bulky wool/alpaca blend of the yarn is very nice.
I used Cadena from KnitPicks, and 4.5 mm circular needles (4.0 mm dpns for the belt). I had to go down a lot in needle size to meet gauge
Project started: 17 December, 2007
Project completed: 23 January, 2008
It was a fun knit. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the cables moved both on the right- and wrong-side rows. I wish the sleeves had had cable-work as well.
The final measurements for Mystic Light are:
height: 97 cm (38″)
width: 206 cm (81″)
I would also like to share how much yarn I had left at the end. Out of the 650 m of yarn I started with, I was left with 5 m at the end.
I would therefore caution anyone knitting this to not go slightly under the yarn requirements, in the hopes that I was exaggerating.
Well, the membership for the Mystic Light KAL just reached 1,000. Thank you all! I hope you’ll enjoy the shawl. Of course, we still have a little while until we (well, *you*) start knitting. But there are so many other projects underway that I’m sure you’ll find something to keep you busy while you wait.
I’m knitting the Spring Shawl Surprise, and I rather enjoy it. I finished clue 3 last night, and am now working on clue 4. I really like that it has patterning on both the right- and wrong-side rows. Gives me something to do on the ws-rows.
I am using the most wonderful, luxurious yarn from Cottage Craft Angora. Emily, my SP11 sent me a skein as part of the last package and I really love it. Now the trick is to locate enough yarn to finish the shawl, but so far I’ve been fairly successful in getting more. Not quite enough yet, but soon, I think.
In any case, this yarn is amazingly soft and knits up really well.
I’m also just about done with the Starsky cardigan. I have a little bit left on the belt, and then the belt hoops. But it’s all been assembled and tried on, and if only the belt could be done I can start wearing it. And since it’s rather cold outside (-15C right now), I think it will be great to have another thick, warm cardigan. Just what I need, this time of year.
Announcing the Mystic Light Mystery Shawl knitalong!
This triangular shawl draws its inspiration from light in its many forms.
From a clear, starlit night to the dancing flames of a warming fire.
Silvery moonlight and golden flames.
My shawl is knit on 4.5 mm needles, using 230 g of Merino 2/6 yarn from Fleece Artist. 100% merino wool yarn from Nova Scotia (325 m per 115 g). The shawl uses approx. 650 m of yarn. As always, yarn substitutions are encouraged.
SIGN UP FOR KAL
The pattern will be made available for a knitalong, starting March 26.
It will be distributed to the members in five consecutive pieces, once a week on Wednesdays.
The last part of the pattern will be released on April 23, at which point it will be made available for sale.
There is a separate yahoo group for the KAL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mysticlightKAL/
Please head over there and sign up!
An alle Deutschsprachigen: Keine Sorge, auch bei diesem gemeinsamen Stricken wird es wieder eine deutsche Übersetzung geben.
Svensk-språkig hjälp finns förstås som vanligt också.
Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you all have a wonderful 2008.
I’m knitting away on my Starsky Cardigan. The front and back pieces have been completed and are blocking. Both sleeves are a little more than half done (I’m knitting both at the same time). As soon as the body is dry, I will stitch them together and knit the collar. That’s my chance to try it on as well, just to make sure I picked the right size.
I have also discovered something really nifty. Thanks to Ravelry, I found a link to Crafting Jen on how to make a Tinkertoy Swift. I immediately had to try my son’s Christmas present. And, lo and behold, it worked beautifully.
For detailed instructions, see the link above. You can of course adjust the size by using other TinkerToy pieces, to use with other size skeins.
Anyhow, this is great. I’ve managed to use it (or other incarnations of it) 6 times already in the past couple of days. Much better than my previous attempts to hold the skein on my own knees. The only trouble with this is of course that curious children love to spin it around and play with it while I’m winding my yarn, but since I’m only borrowing the toy, I suppose that’s fair.
I’ve also cast on the Spring Shawl Surprise. Signups close tomorrow, but as of right now, there’s still a chance to join. I’m using Misti Alpaca laceweight in natural colour, and 3.75 mm needles.
This year I decided to gift some handknit items. It’s been fun, and luckily for me, some of these items were knit earlier in the year, to avoid the crazy Christmas rush I’ve heard of…..
For my mother-in-law, I knit a scarf and a hat, using Debbie Bliss Soho yarn in pink and purple. I found a pattern for the scarf, called My So-Called Scarf that had a really neat stitch-pattern. It worked fabulously with the yarn, since the yarn was a variegated thickness yarn. Basically you knit the right-side rows with K1, *sl 1, K1, psso but before dropping the slipped stitch from the left needle, knit into the back of it* repeat until there is one stitch left, K1. The wrong-side rows are *P2tog, do not slip stitches off the needle, purl the first stitch again, slip both stitches off needle*. Repeating these rows gives a very unusual look to the knitting. It’s almost as if you don’t think it’s knit at all, but some other craft. Anyhow, I really liked it. 
So I decided to design a hat to go with it. The problem is of course that I like to knit hats in the round, but the stitch-pattern was back and forth. So after knitting a k1p1 ribbed brim on the hat, I knit one row (round) with the right-side row above, and then wrapped a stitch, slipped one and turned knit back using the wrong-side row until I reached the wrapped stitch. I knit that, wrapped, turned, and went back on a right-side row. Sounds convoluted, but it worked.
My mother was given the Faux Russian Stole that I had originally planned to give her for her birthday. I really like how this stole was constructed, with no outside cast-on/cast-off stitches. I also really love this yarn – Apple Laine from Russel in the Arizona colourway.
The Sumac Leaf Shawl was designed for my grandmother-in-law, who was delighted to receive it.
Aside from these handknit gifts, I also gave away a Moebius scarf to an engineer-friend, and the blue Snowy Triangle scarf to a non-engineer. Really, I think it’s the technical folks who really appreciate the neatness of Moebius-strips.
I’ve also managed to spend a bit of time knitting over the holidays. The Lizard Ridge Afghan now has 3 out of 4 panels completed (I know the original pattern calls for squares, but I really don’t like stitching things together, so I changed it to panels instead), and I think I may actually finish that one in the not too distant future. It looks lovely. I have also acquired the yarn for the edging – I decided on a golden yellow colour. My son is eagerly eying the blanket already, as he knows it’s for him.
Finally, I’m also working on the Starsky cardigan. I’ve completed the back and am working on the front pieces in parallel. I’m making the cardigan a bit longer than the pattern specifies, as I’m fairly tall and I don’t want the small of my back to get cold. I was struggling with the needle-size in the beginning, but settled on 4.5 mm needles (instead of the 5.5 mm in the pattern).
Well, that’s some of the knitting excitement over the past few weeks. The Mystic Waters KAL has been completed. Many thanks to all who participated. Shawls are still being finished left and right, and I really enjoy seeing all the lovely pictures.
The Mystic Waters Shawl Pattern has inspired Brigitte to design lovely socks and wrist-warmers using many of the motifs from the shawl. That’s certainly been a wonderful surprise to all of us in the knitalong. Thanks for sharing!
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