Wonderful Wollmeise

In the summer I was really lucky to take part in the Rowan Knitting Exchange. This is organised every year by some wonderful Rowan members. I don't know if you remember but I made Ishbel in Rowan Damask for a lovely canadian lady called Nance. In turn my parcel was from a lady in England called Marie France sent me the most wonderful pair of Malabrigo socks (really too nice to put on my cloven hooves)a very cute poncho which I have had a ton of compliments for and a skein of Wollmeise.
Now I seem to have a bit of a rep as a wool snob and I do have to admit I do like nice yarn but I have never been passionate about anyone supplier until now. The first thing that strikes you about the wollmeise yarn is the colour it has wonderful depth, there is variation of colour without it being glaringly obvious. The second thing is the smell, and let me tell you it is a smell to die for. Imagine a field of rose bushes just coming into bloom combined with a soft summer rain. That it is the smell of wollmeise. I have since found out she washes her yarn in perwol. So if you are in Germany, rush to the shop and buy some you won't be disappointed!
I was busy looking for the most perfect project for this wonderful,squidgy, yummy yarn, When my friend Monica bought me a copy of Aestlight. Perfect! A match made in heaven the most wonderful yarn in the whole universe coupled with a very attractive shawl that was interesting to knit and very easy and enjoyable to wear.

Ishbel

I once heard unblocked,knitted lace, described as looking like a bag of cat sick! I think this is a little unfair but, it is true to say the metamorphosis is similar to that of Caterpillar to beautiful butterfly.
The last week I have been knitting Ishbel a lovely straight forward pattern by Ysolda Teague. The first was in Collinette Jitterbug,
the second was from stash three balls of Rowan Damask.
It shows great versatility on the part of the pattern that it looks equally lovely in both yarns. The first is warm and cosy perfect to keep out winter chills
the second is crisp and summer. I was a little worried that the Damask may not hold its points but, it turns out the points are lovely and crisp whilst the shawl has a great drape.
Unfortunately neither are destined to be mine. Though I have two equally gorgeous yarns earmarked to make it in sometime in the not too distant future. Maybe I will get to keep one of them.

Hint four - ok I am totally lost on the clues!

There was mutterings by one lady that the result might be Elizabeth but, I can't really see how the stole would tie up into that so I shall just have to wait and see. It really is pretty - it just shows it doesn't need to be complicated to be very effective.
Half term went by in a bit of a blur. I was childminding over the holidays which made it very busy. The pumpkin carving was hilarious. If you can imagine 6 children all armed with a spoon. I have only just managed to rid the dining room of all the seeds that mysteriously flew into the air.




There was tonnes of pumpkin flesh so I christened the bag of maple sugar my cousin brought last year and made pumpkin pie. The rest ofpumpkin is in the freezer ready to make another which I will do as it was delicious.



The ghosts were fun to make - I got the idea from a friend and even the little ones could manage it. The ones in the picture are just the few that Oriana and Inigo made so quite popular.I think we will make angels at christmas.


And finally Inigo became a beaver. This is a big thing for him as it is the first activity he has done separately from Oriana. The second week he had to go and make friends with "strangers" which he found very stressful we forced him to carry on going and I think he is going to settle in well. She has been settled in Rainbows for a while but initially was dragged screaming there every week.

Hint one -Aristocracy

Well at least I think that is the answer to the first hint of The Secret of the Stole. It has been a very straight forward pattern so far, I am not sure if that is because the MS3 was like a baptism of fire in the chart reading department or because the Nautical knitter has kindly added a stitch count to each row where there are more than 10st before a change in pattern. A very good idea as you don't have to stop and count. I am putting my beads on with a crochet hook for the is one as well although it is a little fiddly I do think in the long run it is easier as again you don't have to stop and move beads along. If you are wondering why it isn't straight on the needle that is because of the cellotape holding the needle together from when Oriana stood on it. I did toy with the idea of sending off for another pair but with yet another postal strike underway, they may not arrive until the stole is finished.

The Duckling becomes a Swan.

Well I have caught up and passed the finish line. I finished knitting the MS3 monday night and up until the last stitch I really didn't like it. I had decided to do the wing as I wanted to follow the mystery to the end, also I knew if I had to knit the same again I would be shoving it in a drawer. I knew I had learnt alot. When I started it I could manage ten rows in a room by myself,in perfect silence. Then it got easy enough that I could do it in company. I had enjoyed the experience it is wonderful to check in with several thousand people every day and all be doing the same thing.
I have done lace patterns before but, I haven't done lace. So last night was my first blocking adventure it was a bit of a nightmare as I couldn't find my pins and I was blocking onto a towel. It still isn't perfect, I might have to get the iron out later. I have to say it was worth it because by the time the stole was stretched out flat on my floor I was in love. The pattern is unusual and probably not what I would have chosed but, it is so delicate I can't wait for an occasion to wear it.

Clue three

Anyone who knows me well, will tell you I am not a morning person. The hours between midnight and 7 am are not my friends. If like, when the twins were babies I had to get up I did it with my eyes shut and kept it like that until I could go back to bed. But a funny thing has happened - I have woken up at 5am fours days this week (without benefit of yelling baby or alarm clock)and jumped out of bed in order to get a few more rows done on my Stole. I finished clue 3 at 6.30 this morning and am feeling quite chuffed with my newfound morning personality. The cats too are happy with this arrangement as it means they get breakfast early. The feline in the picture is my nineteen year old baby Tigger, he was purring wildly whilst I took the photo and is now sat on my shoulders purring even louder whilst I type.

Clue two

There are have been lots of rumours circulating about what this stole might look like at the end. Some good, some bad and upsetting. The idea of swans appeals to me I hadn't seen it before I took this photo but I really can see little birds flying in formation and I am sure there is a Irish folk lore about swans. I guess I won't know for sure until the end. One thing I do know though, is that I have always done my yarn overs the wrong way. Much of my knitting abilities are self taught and this has never been a problem in the past but, then again I have never done anything lacey that was trying to create a picture rather than a pattern before. I was really struggling at the begining of clue two as the eyelet kept moving to the wrong side of the pattern. Anyway thanks to the internet I looked it up and resolved the problem.


The other quick project saffron looks like this. Unfortunately the damask that I bought online is not a good colour with the handknit cotton so I am going to have to try and choose another colour I am tempted to go for the cream coloured one just for ease. What I wouldn't give for a decent wool shop in the area. The lava colour damask that I bought is going to be turned into a peony also from rowan 41 for the mother in law ( good aren't I). I am hoping I might get the wool to make me one for my birthday.

whooo hooo clue 1 is done!

Ok it has to be said everyone else starts clue 4 tomorrow but I knew that it would take me quite a while. Not to mention the complete do over at row 58 it had been going really well Ihad the right number of stitches and every thing but for some reason my yarn overs kept disapearing on the edge of the border. I though I would just pull back a few rows and that would be that but I ended up in a real tangle so the only thing to do was snap a chunk off and start again at row 1. This may be because I have threaded all of my beads even though we were told not to. It isn't really because I am a rebel just that I couldnt find my tiny crochet hook and I figured by the time I found it I would be in such a bad mood that knitting anything thing as delicate as this would be a complete no no!
I am still a little unsure about the colour it really isn't very exciting however it does look quite good against the carpet so may be it will grow on me.
I just finished the first clue today I would have complete yesterday but the door bell went at row 87 and that was so exciting, I couldn't do anymore.

Yippee the postman came!

Well thursday morning arrived and so did my lovely yarn, JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool Silk in Pewter. It feels lovely, I was a little unsure of the colour when it arrived it really is very subtle but, I have decided it is the colour of cobwebs so just the colour for a spider! Although it arrived on Thursday I couldn't start until the following day as I had to finish this.


It is filled with lavender so smells fantastic. A birthday pressie for a friend. Happy Birthday J.
The MS3 is now under way I am at row 37, it is slow progress but it seems as soon as there is even a hint of a lace chart being looked at and everyone wants to talk to you. On friday evening I got it out and Husband wanted to show me stuff in the paper, kids wanted to tell me stories from school. So I put it away and started knitting some more of Saffron, I sat in silence for the rest of the evening typical!!

Bad,Bad,Wicked,Wicked!

I am supposed to be being good. But Yesterday when I was wandering around blogland I stubbled onto the Yarn Harlots blog and she had just written about Mystery Stole three and how she had been bamboozled into joining. I thought well it can't possibly harm to have a look. Anyway the upshot is I joined, bought more yarn from woolly workshop( I will show you this when it arrives) and bamboozled someone else into joining with me. It wouldn't be so bad but the Kal I started last August the butterfly is still at the frill stage. I also bought a shawl to make when I went to Harrogate in the autumn and I haven't even wound that into balls, so the chances of me blazing ahead with this and not starting other stuff is probably not great.It is in the form of 7 clues the second of which comes out today. If you want to join in this is the last day to sign up I hate working charts but clue one looks fairly straight forward so hopefully I will be good and get on with it.