OUCH!!!!!!

No, I didn't poke myself with a DPN. Much, much, much worse.

I frogged my Mystery Stole.

153 rows completed, and I just wasn't happy with it. I'd made a few mistakes, and that defective yarn thing just made the whole stole look sloppy and ick. So I bit the bullet and with tears rolling, I frogged the entire thing. Cut off the first 100 yards or so of the triple ply, and already I'm back on the horse. (Man, I'm using a lot of aphorisms...)

I am so glad I did it.

The second attempt is coming out so much cleaner looking. I'm using size three needles instead of the fours I was using, and instead of the addi circ, I"m using some Crystal Palace bamboo straights. The points are much more suited to the lace weight yarn, and it's not sliding the way it did on the addi's. I'm thrilled. Ok, so it was two weeks worth of work; I'll be so much happier with the finished product.

For those who don't know, and probably don't care, I hate ripping out. Tinking back a row, well, maybe; but to actually RIP out rows where you have to go back and pick up the stitches again? YIKES! I'd rather start over. And with this project it really was best.

So now I"m excited about the MS3 again.

Oh, and I've kept up with the Tour de Fleece; I finished the tencel blend and I love it. I think I'm going to keep it as a single; it seems fairly well balanced and I don't want to mess up the colors. With only 2 oz, I don't know what to do with it though.

Now I'm trying to do a lovely chocolate brown alpaca in lace weight plied... we'll see!

Pics when able.

Fibery Stuff

I am in love with homemade socks. I have now made five pairs and have cast on for my sixth. They are fun to make, portable with large sections that don't require huge detailed attention, and so comfortable to wear. It's also very cool to have people exclaim "You MADE those?"

I've learned a lot in making those pairs, and continue to do so. I never knew there were so many ways of making heels and toes, or even of knitting types. DPN's, both one and two circular needle, toe up, toe down. It's amazing. I feel a need to design coming on, and perhaps after I finish the Simple Trekking Socks I will take a stab at it.

I've signed up for a few "---a-longs"; the Tour de Fleece, which is a commitment to spin every day the Tour de France runs. I'm participating in an exchange on the Sheep Thrills group where we spin the yarn to then knit (or crochet) a hat, due in September. Finally, I'm doing (and yes, actually doing! the MS3 knit along. MS3 means Mystery Stole #3. It's a lace stole being knitted sight unseen by thousands of people all over the world. We receive "clues" every Friday and try to knit them before the next clue is released. I started the MS2 last year and never got past the 8th row. Stop laughing! I had only just learned to knit, and it was a little over my head. This year I'm up to row 115, and it's going fairly well. I'll get a picture up soon. The only problem with it is that my yarn is faulty. STOP LAUGHING, I said! No, really it is! I'm using White Jaggerspun Zephyr, which is a lovely lace weight 50% wool, 50% silk. After knitting 110 rows, it suddenly went from a three ply to a two ply. Losing a third of it's bulk changes how the knitting looks, who knew? It seems like the rest of the one pound cone I purchased remains two ply, so I'm not quite sure what to do. If you think I'm frogging 110 rows of beaded lace, you're out of your mind! I'm hoping it won't be that noticeable. STOP LAUGHING!

Time for coffee, and maybe some picture taking, and then to tackle the 116th row...