Two Years in the Making

I have finally finished the Mystery Stole 3 project. I started this in the summer of 2007, thanks to encouragement from my friends in Ottawa (c'mon, everybody's doing it!). I've been knitting on it intermittently even since. It's followed us through three different homes, and has kept me company through many, many Sunday morning Coronation Street marathons.

I finished the knitting last weekend, and blocked it a few days ago.



I'm very happy with the result. This project marks the first time I have attempted a "mystery" project, as well as the first time knitting with beads(They're small blue seed beads. They didn't show up well in the photos., but they really pop out in person). It is certainly not without mistakes - there are some glaring ones to my eye, but it seems that only I am able to find them.


I knit the symmetrical variation of this stole. The original involved a very asymmetrical shape with a bird's wing on one side - a stunning project, but this being my first major lace project, I wanted something a bit more traditional-looking.

I'm very happy with the result, and seriously delighted to get this long-term WIP out of my knitting basket, finally! Soon, I hope to have another even longer languishing project to show you. Quilting, this time.

Quick Show and Tell

Thanks for the kind words. Lassy is doing well, but we're appreciating him all the more now!

Just a quick post to show you my latest Swallowtail Shawl, knit last week. Here's the poor lump prior to blocking:


And here's the full spread blocking:

I even added a few clear blue seed beads to the outer rows, but they didn't really show up too well. If I did that again, I would use bigger beads.


The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss in Aegean. This was the first project knit with my new Knit Picks Options needles (I got the traditional nickle-plated ones. Lovely to knit with.).

I did this shawl as a quick project for one of my favourite annual events. The community band program in my hometown, has a fundraiser called "Sweet Music". It's a big dessert buffet combined with a concert and silent auction. Nick and I were both members of the band for many years growing up, and they even played at our wedding. We try to give something back every year, and we look forward to getting a chance to catch up with everyone (and fill up on cheesecake) at the auction each year. Hopefully they'll have a bidding war over the shawl!

After four times through, the Swallowtail is still a fun knit for me. Overall, it's gotten easier, but the nupps still make me swear a little bit from time to time!

And now I'm off to knit night. I finally got my act together and met some of the local Ravellers in St. John's. I just have to decide which project to take with me.

Lost and Found

This is a mouse I made for Lassy last weekend. The pattern, from Oddball Knitting, is extremely simple, and a little catnip in the stuffing goes a long way.


Lassy spent a great deal of the weekend torturing this new friend, attempting to tear it to shreds, rolling around in a sunbeam.


Check out those claws!


But later in the week, we had a bit of a nightmare on our hands. Lassy went out in the morning, as he usually does when the sun is shining, and went off to play with the other neighbourhood cats. Now our block has a lot of outdoor cats, and Lassy is well loved by the nieghbours. It's a fairly low-traffic area, and since he came to us as a stray, he really does like to spend some time outdoors wandering. Usually, if not before, he's on the doorstep waiting to get in when I get home from work (Nick is home during the day to let him in and out as he pleases).

On Tuesday, we were a bit distracted by a plumbing problem that my dad arrived to fix, but became concerned when Lassy stil hadn't come home by the time it got dark. This is a cat who doesn't like to go too long between meals!

To make the story shorter, he was still missing on Wednesday, and we started canvassing the neighbours, putting up posters at the corner store, and even got an announcement on the local radio station. By Thursday morning, after two nights missing, we were losing hope, assuming the worst.

But on Thursday afternoon he appeared out of nowhere. Absolutely starving, and meowing for food, but he was home! It's such a relief to have him back.

Our best guess is that maybe he got accidentally locked into a shed or garage in the neighbourhood for a couple of days. There's no other reason really that he would be out so long and come back so hungry. What was that about curiousity and cats?



Things are pretty much back to normal. The catnip mouse has gotten such a workout that it's completely felted now, and Lassy has been even more cuddly than usual.

In the stress of last week, I knit a Swallowtail Shawl (photos to come), and a few more mitred squares for a blanket.


I hope we never have to go through that again!