Stitch 'n Pitch

Yes, I have my ticket for tonight at Roger's Center (used to be Skydome) for

the Stitch 'n Pitch event. I will be going there right after my workday.

Yes, I have my knitting with me. Actually I have three knitting choices, and a crochet

choice. I have never been quick to decide what I want to do. Perhaps that is why I have such a bad case of perpetual startitis.

In my younger days it was not so noticeable, because my yarn stash contained only

current work in process (WIP) project. However, my magazine collection had started

in those early days, by subscriptions to magazines that were available. All of them were

for knitting. My mom was the one who collected crochet booklets, and then eventually

gave them to me. I have kept the tradition in good shape.

For tonight I have two sock starts. One is Seaweed pattern by Wendy Johnson. I had started

it with another yarn (Clown, 1786), but realized that the yarn and the pattern had some issues in making a harmonious union. I frogged the sock starts just to the beginning of the lace pattern and decided that this yarn was meant to fly solo. No special patterns, just plain stockinette stitch. Good choice.

Second sock is with Patons Sock Stretch yarn, boy is it ever soft and stretchy, when touched, but not so soft when knitted. It has some cotton mixed in with wool, and that cotton might make it a little bit harder than plain wool would. Which is fine with me, I prefer the cool hint of the cotton that this yarn gives.

The pattern is Seaweed by Wendy Johnson, and although the yarn color isn't perfect, it will do much better than the other yarn.

My third project is a lace scarf for a friend, who has a birthday coming up soon, and I have only made about 15 cm. The yarn is Fiddlesticks laceweight, in Curry. It has Merino wool and silk, so it should be a nice scarf. The pattern is from the web, Pixie's Patterns "Fern Lace Scarf"

All these pictures were taken at my desk, and none of thse projects are blocked. The scarf start really isn't giving the real picture, but it will follow, as soon as it's done and properly handled.

Now, I do not want to take too much stuff with me, so I need to do some smart thinking about my take-along projects. Oh, I forgot the crocheting project. That would be freeform, no pattern, just thread and hook. The liiittttle problem would be the small hook and thin yarn. If I dropped the hook, I probably would not find it (it's size 10 steel hook) and thread is size something, between 10 and 20, I think. I am not sure if I want to fiddle with that stuff, I need a table and good light, and nobody bothering me, so that my mind can guide my hook to incredibly imaginative designs.

You guessed it, the plain stockinette stitch sock it will be, since there is no hope in hell that I would be able to follow a lace stitch pattern, either in that scarf or that sock; after all

I am going to a baseball game to watch Blue Jays, and some other team, duh, Oakland, I think.

Do you think I should check the names of the players, or do I just go to the event for fun?

I am sure I will have some pictures later on, since I have my minuscule camera with me.

Mystery Stole 3 First clue done

First clue, it's done. After the 71st row I had no problem at all, until I was working on the LAST row. I noticed that there was a dropped stitch. Now, I was not going to unravel 8 rows, no way.

With a crochet hook and lots of skill I was able to "fix" the problem, and if anyone sees it in the picture, then just ignore it, and look at the whole picture.

I am going to work on the summer top now. I am glad I finished the first clue.

Started MS3

I started the mystery stole last night. I've done 71 rows, with several froggings. As soon as I start watching what's happening on telly, I screw up. I've pinned the piece on a styrofoam piece that came from a picture frame packing. Well, it sort of worked.

This pattern is more complicated than I am used to knitting. But I like it, even though I tend to have trouble focusing on the chart. I have four different colors for the stitches and one color for the rows that I have finished. Yeah, I had to frog about four rows, and going back was fun, because I already had highlighted the done rows.

I've done sweaters, where the pattern repeats more or less withing 10 - 30 or so rows. That is much easier. There has not been any repeat on the stole, yet. I am using some yarn that I found in my stash. It's acrylic, and I'm using size 2.5 mm needles. The yarn is from France, and I must have bought it years ago, since I cannot find any info on it in the web. The name is "Chanteleine Perle".

Unfortunately I have to stop knitting and continue with the crochet summer top. I put the pieces on top of a fabric top, and looks like I need to crochet a lot more pieces.

Last Swatch for MS3

I promise not to make another swatch for the mystery program. My latest one is done with Italian Cashmere. I bought the yarn at Knit and Crochet show last summer. That was in Valley Forge, PA. I intended to use the yarn for a nice sweater, but have been busy doing other things, so the sweater must wait.

Here is the swatch, pinned on an ironing board. It's not evenly pinned, but at least I don't have to be perfect all the time.

And now it's time to finish my IC summer top. The Knit and Crochet show is around the corner.

You might remember, or not, there is renovation going on at my work. The space around the desks is full of boxes, binders, various items that are not in boxes. The brand new carpet needs cleaning already. Oh, why didn't they install the carpet last? One room is being enlarged, and the dust from the drywall and stuffing is everywhere. It's a mess everywhere. I hope most of the work is done by Tuesday.

The good thing about this renovation is that we have been able to leave early on Fridays, and tomorrow we will leave at noon and go back to work on Tuesday. Of course Monday would have been off due to Canada Day on the first of July, but now we get extra long weekend.

Another swatch

This is the one I made last night. I tried several yarns, and then had to prove to myself that I could knit with ultra thin yarn. My needle size could have been smaller, but I couldn't find the set (figures). The yarn is on a cone, the size is for one of those knitting machines that knit the thinnest yarn under the sky. The color on the cone looks peachy, but on the swatch it looks PINK. I cannot imagine continuing with this color. I have, somewhere, same weight yarn, and asked my hubby to find it today. The other yarn I have is very light grey. BTW, isn't photoshop marvellous? That swatch does not look pink, it looks peachy, doesn't it!

A girl must think of gifts already.

So, this morning, before I came to work, I was going to be late anyway, and had made the time up, but I was early from my lateness from work, so I decided to go to WallyMart to see if they had size 2 mm knitting needles. Yup, the short ones, to knit socks. Well, I am NOT going to knit socks, but going to test the lace knitting with the ultra thin yarn.

I suspect, though, that I will be crocheting tonight.

Mystery Stole

Now I've done it. I joined yet another group. This time it's a Mystery Stole group.

I made one swatch last night, and believe me, I am embarrassed to admit that I frogged it several times, row by row, to the beginning garter stitch part. I have no idea how could I have either one stitch too many or one not enough. How does that happen on lace knitting?

I spent at least 3 hours making that little 35 stitches and 32 rows piece. I cannot believe it.

Of course I had breaks, like coffee and some telly watching but basically I was just knitting and swearing.

Here is the piece. I am not too good at blocking, so try to imagine how pretty the piece is.

The color is faint yellow, it almost fainted when I decided to spray water on it. If I don't feel like crocheting tonight, I'll make another swatch; using row counters and stitch markers, and bigger needles and different yarn. If not, then I will just crochet.