Monthly Adventures June Swap

I realized that I never really discuss my Monthly Adventure swaps or share the goodies I have received. Swapping is so much fun: you meet some great people and get fun presents! So from now on, I will starting posting about my swaps.

My favorite group on Ravelry is Monthly Adventures. I know I have mentioned it before here on my blog. It started as a simple holiday swap last year (my first swap ever). It has evolved into a month swap with occasional small KAL/CALs. It's a great group, very chatty, fun, and supportive. I look forward to reading the posts every day from this group!

So for June, the swap involves lace. We are sending and receiving a pattern and yarn for a lace shawl or stole. We helped our partners out by listing some of our favorite patterns in Ravelry. It is fun to secretly 'spy' on your partner to discover fun gifts for them. This month my package came from the same person I sent a package to!

I am so excited. Above is my package from 'GreenAlgae'. She sent me a pattern I have been wanting to make for SOOOOO long: Hanami ! The Hanami stole was designed by Melanie of Pink Lemon Twist (the creator of Mystery Stole 3/Swan Lake which I knit last summer--see below).

I can't wait to cast on! But of course, I do need to wait, because I have 2 projects I absolutely must finish first (Zum dirndl and SKP sock 3, which I haven't even cast on yet...). My desire to start this pattern will be inspiration to finish the other two. Thank you GreenAlgae--I am off to knit!

A Mystery solved

So what is this? This is a picture of the wrong side of my MS3 stole before blocking (the wing section). I just thought it looked so neat I had to take a picture. It reminds me of the Japanese shibori knitting/felting. When I have some extra time, I really want to make a shibori scarf. For a short tutorial on shibori knitting, check out this link (click here).

But back to MS3. I have finished my stole (yeah!). I am really happy with the finished product. The yarn is light and warm and incredibly soft. These pictures do it no justice as you can’t see the beads or the shimmer of the yarn, but here you go:

The wing:

And the finished stole (click for larger image):

Details:
Pattern: Unofficially: MS3/Mystery Stole 3; Official name: ”Swan Lake” , available soon from Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn: Prism Lace Wool, color ‘Antique”
Needles: US4/3.5mm

What I learned from this project:

1. MS3 was my first knit-along. It was great to be part of such a large, friendly, international knitting group.

2. Working from a chart. I have worked from charts before, but never enjoyed it. I can honestly say that I now PREFER charts to written instruction! Early on in MS3, it all clicked and I couldn’t be happier.

3. Beads: The technique Melanie suggested for bead placement was great (adding the beads as you knit with a crochet hook). It wouldn’t be efficient for large amounts of beads, but was great for this project.

4. Wine and twine do not mix when knitting lace. Okay, I already knew this, but sometimes I forget…

Now that I have finished “Swan Lake”, I will be finishing up some other long time UFOs and then starting a couple of new sweaters. I love fall knitting and can’t wait to start some new things.

MS3 Clue 5

Last Friday, the theme was revealed! The stole is named "Swan Lake" (if you need a refresher on the story, click here). Even though it has nothing to do with bees as I had hoped, I am really excited. For Clue 5, Melanie has taken a totally new direction and has us making a wing using short rows. I am not sure how the finished stole will look (2 more clues to go), but I am trusting Melanie's designing genius and going for it. Here's my completed clue 5 (the best pics I can get without true blocking):

Catching up

It's been a busy week and weekend, but I managed to finish Harry Potter (almost twice) and Clue 4 for MS3. I did not block out the stole for this week's picture, but here's what we have so far:



I know it's not the best picture with the white background, but it does allow you to see the actual colorway of this yarn. I promise that with clue 5, I'll go back to dark backgrounds...

Anyway, I would love for this to be a theme about the bee goddess, with a bee on the one end, then honeycomb, then flowers, but I don't think so. It doesn't fit with the white or black yarn color suggestion. Something funky is going to happen with this week's clue. We were instructed to put a lifeline in on a right-side row about 50 rows below where this clue ended. Also, the pattern abruptly ended. So, we shall see. All will be revealed this Friday, and although I am happy to have a short break from MS3 after falling behind, I can't wait until Friday!

MS3 Clue 3

Another one down!

MS3 Clue 2...

is finally finished. My twined knitting class delayed me, not only because of the day away, but also because I'm having so much fun two-end knitting.

Here the end facing both directions: I see a face in the left picture and a bug in the right picture. What do you think?

I'm starting Clue 3 today (Wednesday) and hope to finish by Thursday night so I am on track for Clue 4 released on Friday. Of course I will be at a "Muggle Festival" Friday night, so no knitting then!

Time to get started

I have been procrastinating too long about starting my blog, but with MS3 starting up, now seems like a good time. What is MS3? Mystery Stole 3 by Melanie from Pink Lemon Twist. Wow, what fun! This is my first KAL and I can’t tell you how excited I am to be part of such a large, international knitting group. Sign up for MS3 closes on July 6, so if you enjoy lace knitting, sign up now!

I have finished Clue 1, pictured below. I am using Prism Yarn, Lace Wool, color “Antique”, #4US/3.5mm needles, and beads (Cream Ceylon). I have never done beaded knitting using a crochet hook, but I absolutely love it. The theme guesses have been great–I need to see a little more before I’ll take a stab at a guess.

It's not easy to take pictures of lace knitting in progress without blocking, but you get the general idea.