SOTSIII Hint 7

I've completed hint 7 and now there are only two more hints to go. I can smell the finish! But as to the theme, well, that's another matter. I still think it has something to do with snow???

I thought I would finish the second part of my No Sheep for You swap this weekend but by Sunday evening I decided that I didn't like the look of it. So I frogged the lot and started something else. This one seems to be working for me. Its knitting up quickly and I should have it completed by the end of the week.



I can't resist a mystery! So I'm knitting the Mystery Project # 1 (seven clues in seven days) over on Holiday Mystery Gifts. Here it is on day 2:



I still have no idea what I'm knitting.

Spring, I think

This weekend the weather suddenly turned warm and I thought spring had come. In fact it was so warm that I thought it might just even be summer and that we have skipped spring this year. The garden is showing very definite signs of spring in terms of the blooms.



But at the same time things are not looking too good. The garden is very dry and we have already had to start collecting water in the kitchen and bathroom and bucket it out to the garden. Our creek is very low and looks the way it usually does at the end of summer. Despite the long drawn out cold we have been experiencing this year, our rainfall has been very low. Spring rain has not amounted to much.

When I look up at the trees surrounding the house I can see how the canopy has thinned out. These messmates are showing their stress by all the leaves and branches they have been dropping.



I fear that these are indications that we are in for a tough summer.

SOTSIII Hint 6

I think we are now on the downward slope of this stole. I still puzzle about the theme and I'm none the wiser. Snowflakes, flowers, posies and insects drift through my mind. I love working on the stole with the sun on me. The beads glint and glisten as I move through the rows and bring me enormous pleasure.



I signed up for the Australian No Sheep for you swap on Ravelry. Since I found out who my secret pal is I've been agonizing over what to make for her. After changing my mind umpteen times I finally settled on a couple of items. Number one is done and only requires blocking.



And I've started on number two. So far so good. I want to do a third but I haven't yet finalised that decision.

Its also been some weeks since I knitted a pair of socks and I feel the need to cast on. But which pattern?

FO: Before and After

One of the magic things about knitting is the transformation that can take place when applying certain techniques such as felting and lace blocking. It never ceases to amaze me how lace is transformed once it is blocked.

Felting has the same amazing effect except that it doesn't always quite work out the way one planned it. I've had some spectacular disasters felting but I'm always happy to give it a go. And this week I had another bash at felting. I had some left over BWM Rustic 12 ply and used it to make another pair of felted clogs.

Here they are before going into the washing machine:



And here is the end result:



It sure pays to keep a close eye on the whole process. One of the clogs felted really quickly and in next to no time had shrunk to the size I wanted. But no such luck with the other clog which remained rather recalcitrant. It took several additional hot/cold dunkings before I managed to get it to shrink a bit more. But In the end I won!

SOTSIII Hint 5

Hint 5 is done and is becoming tricky to photograph in its entirety.



So I took a close-up of the hint. Now I have started seeing insects floating up the stole. Mayflies or perhaps even bees?



I've also finally finished my Poet's Pullover. I knitted this in BWM Alpaca in, I think, Sphere. Hard to know as a bought a pack of the yarn in their fabulous back room and it was unlabeled. I used 3.5 mm, 4 mm and 5 mm circular needles to knit the pullover.




I had to redo the sleeves because they ended up too wide. I think there were a couple of errors in the pattern but nothing serious. I'm pretty happy with the end result.

SOTSIII Hint 4

HInt 4 is done. Again an easy knit - lovely! The pattern is becoming quite solid and now it looks to me as if leaves or flowers are breaking away from the solid section and drifting down. I eagerly await the next hint to see where this pattern is taking us.

In the meantime I have completed the body of my Poet's Pullover. I've had to make a few modifications because my stitch count did not end up the same as the pattern. I also found the armholes a bit tight so I re-knitted the fronts and lengthened the armholes. I'll finish the collar tonight and should be able to start the sleeves tonight as well.

A friend was interested in knitting a pair of felted clogs. So I whipped one up one evening this week to show her the construction. Now I need another free evening to knit the second one. Its rather satisfying being able to complete a project quickly.

FO: Escalier

Yep my socks are done and I think they are gorgeous. In fact I'm wearing them at the moment and they are very comfortable. This is a great pattern thanks to T. I knitted this in Patonyle which is a lovely soft yarn and complements the pattern.

Having completed the socks I needed a new project to balance my lace projects. I hauled out some Bendigo Woollen Mills Alpaca out of my stash and went looking for a pattern. I really wanted to knit this. But after spending an entire evening knitting swatches to get gauge (and I really hate swatching) I had to concede defeat - it just wasn't going to happen for me. So the next morning I hopped onto Ravelry and went hunting and I found this. I got gauge! So I cast on and I'm off knitting endless rounds of 2x2 rib.

SOTSIII Hint 3

Hint 3 is done! A nice quick knit again. I've been speculating about the theme. On Sunday I went to a wonderful piano recital given by the very talented young John Chen. While his beautiful interpretation of Schubert washed over me my mind drifted to my stole (as it does!) and I started to think about flowing rivers and thought that's it! And the beads are the glints on the water as the river swirls and eddies around the rocks and boulders.



But then when I looked at someone's stole on Ravelry and then pinned out my own Hint 3 all I could see was a circle of flowers, possibly a garland?

So the guessing continues and I eagerly await the next hint.