Knitting Lace

This is all I have been doing. I have been trying to catch up and this Sunday, I started on Clue 4. I have made it through Chart E and now am waiting for Mrs. R to post the written instructions for Chart F. We have until next Friday until the next Clue is posted.

I am attaching a picture below. You can see that I still have my lifelines in just in case

I have finally gotten into the rhythm of knitting this stole without making too many mistakes. The lifelines and stitch markers are definately helping.

I did start on a sock at knitting class, but I am mostly knitting that in class since I don't want to knit on the stole there. I need quiet and concentration to knit this lace stole.

I Am Addicted

I am hooked on the Mystery Stole 3 KAL. I started last Monday and had a bad start. I must have frogged 6 times or more. It just wasn't flowing right. So, I tried again last Tuesday and I had success.....until I ran into problems later on. After so much frogging, I began to put in lifelines every 10 rows. That did help, but I still had problems. I had hoped to finish Clue 1 before the end of the week, but that was not going to happen. Finally this Sunday, I completed Clue 1 and was at the point where the stitches were not increasing anymore. I then added stitch markers after every 11 stitches and that made a big difference. I became brave enough to wait until I had 12 rows before adding a lifeline. I have been doing well, but if I made a mistake, I caught it before finishing out a row. I have 20 more rows on Clue 2 and will probably start Clue 3 on Wednesday (knock on wood). I would really like to be caught up by the end of the week so I have a lot of time to work on Clue 4. I am really happy with how it's turning out and I love, love, love the Zephyr yarn and the Knitpicks needles. Here is a picture showing the stitch markers and the lifelines (note: I am not removing any lifelines yet....just in case).

This has become so addicting though. I stop and take a break and I swear that the stole is calling me to keep working on it.

I am still working on my beach tote. I have been knitting on that when I am at knitting class. When I went to class on Friday, we were remarking on the softness of a sock that was in the classroom. It was an anklet sock. Well, the yarn was Cascade Fixation, which was on sale at Kraemers (of course I had to buy some). So, when I go to class this Friday, we are going to work on the sock as a group project, where all of us will knit a pair of socks (anklets). So, I am really looking forward to starting this project. That is another reason why I want to catch up on the Mystery Stole 3 pattern.

I did finish a dishcloth from my Monthly Dishcloth Group. It was a real quick project and I love the pattern.

Tomorrow, I go to the Eye Doctor to pick up my new glasses. I had this brainstorm to see if I could get magnifying lenses to use when I work on any fine knitting projects like the Mystery Stole 3 KAL. Let's see what they say and how much it will cost me.

Maggie May is doing well after her operation. The stitches are out and she healed really well. Tomorrow, she goes to get groomed. I will take a picture of her to post later.

07-07-07 what a great day it was!

I can't believe what a great day I had on Saturday! I have been working on the beach tote from Knitter's and finished up the front side on Friday. I was going to start on the back and decided to start it with a new skein of yarn. I go get the yarn and it's the wrong dye lot! I could not believe that I didn't check it before buying it. Kraemer's has the yarn on sale for $3.00 a skein and everyone has been buying it up to work on this tote bag. So, I figured I would try my luck and see if they had any red left. If not, I figured it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world since it was the other side and this would be my scrap beach bag if it looked too bad. So, Saturday I go to my knitting class and first thing I check is the Fantasy Naturalle yarn. One red skein is left and it's the right dye lot! Now what are the chances of that?

Then I get home and have an invite to Ravelry! I have been waiting for quite awhile to have access to the site. My online ID is KarinK. I have a lot of work to do to get organized on it, but it is a great site to keep track of your needles, books and projects (past, current, and future). The beauty of it is that my blog posts will link there too as well as my flickr account. Now I have to get to work. It's nice that everything can be in one place.

The last great thing that happened was that I joined the Mystery Stole 3 KAL about a half an hour before it was closed for sign ups. I thought that I had missed the date until I saw the Yarn Harlot's post and realized that I still had time to join. I have struggled with what yarn to use and finally decided on Zephyr in black. I have a cone of this and since the KAL has posted 2 weeks of knitting instructions or clues and I didn't want to have to wait any longer to start, I did the cast on today and will not be using beads. I'm a little nervous working with beads for now, but figure if all turns out well with this stole, I may do a second one with beads. I hope to get close to catching up by Friday when the next set of clues get posted.

I am doing the happy dance!

I also christened my new squirrel cage yarn swift and I love it! It is so easy to use and I love that my yarn winder sits on top of the swift. Everything is in one place and I don't have to drag the swift and yarn winder out to set it up to use it. I do want to get a cover to avoid getting it dusty. I see that Bed, Bath and Beyond sells body pillowcases and I think that this will do the trick!

I got my order from Lettuce Knit last week. Here are the Dream in Color baby sweater kits:

One is called Rocketry and the other is called Tulips.

And, here is the Handmaiden Sea Silk I got with the One Skein Shawl (Lacy Wings) pattern:

From Barnes and Noble, I got my order for the two new lace books: Lacy Little Knits and Wrapped in Comfort. Both are wonderful books with really nice patterns.

On the reading front, I have finished the following books: Manner of Death and Cold Case by Stephen White, Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins (I love her books) and Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovitch. I really like this series of books by Janet. I am currently reading Second Chance by Jane Green. I have read all of her books and really enjoyed them as well.