Clue 4 Complete

I have 60% of the shawl done ---



--- and a quick calculation tells me I have approximately 38.5% of my yarn left.



Normally when I'm afraid I'll run out of yarn I knit quickly and non-stop in hopes that I'll finish the project before I run out of yarn. I know, it makes no sense, but I'm not the only knitter that admits to this. Unfortunately the clues for the Mystery Stole 3 are being doled out piecemeal, one week at a time. I have no choice but to stop and wait for the next set of directions which won't be out until August 3rd.

On a good note, I can probably spin more if I have to. It's from commercially made top from Aurelia and the colourway is still available. On the other hand, I'd rather not as it comes in rather large bags and buying another will double my cost to make this stole.



Monica was admiring my blocking wires earlier, so I thought I'd mention them here. Not wanting to send away for expensive blocking wires I took the advice of a knitter on a Yahoo-groups forum I belonged to and bought myself a handful of 3/16" x 36" tig welding rods. You just need to check the ends and use sandpaper or a grinder to smooth out anything that might snag. Blocking wires work really well for blocking items with straight edges or even for blocking shawls that have pointed edging (in that case you run the wire through each point). It reduces the number of pins you need and makes for perfectly straight lines.

My thoughtful husband made the holder for me out of PVC pipe and threaded end caps. He even painted them for me so that the ugly black lettering is no longer visible.

The other innovation visible here is the "blocking board" made of interlocking foam play mats. I have a case of 4 and would like another set so that I can block my largest shawls, but set up in a straight line these will work fine for blocking the finished stole.

Me and 6,444 Others

On Yarn Harlot's blog the question was asked, "Signups close Friday at midnight. How are you going to feel when everyone is having fun without you?".

That was it, the one thing that could push me over the edge. The thought that others might be having fun without me! I jumped on the bandwagon (me and 6,444 others --- so far). If you run really fast you might be able to catch it, the knit-a-long is accepting new registrants until midnight. Hurry! I'll put out my hand to give you a boost when I see you scrambling to get on board.

I've a ways to go before I catch up completely myself. There are two charts in "clue 1" and I've got the first of them finished.



But the first week has passed and many are on to "clue #2" now.

I'm knitting mine out of the "Black Rainbow" 2ply laceweight handspun. Remember? The stuff I said I wanted to make a triangular shawl out of?

Plyed and Busted

I don't think I've ever had one of these large, Majacraft bobbins so full! I plyed and plyed and in the end I got nearly 250g of 2 ply laceweight (22 WPI) on there. I'd love to tell you how many yards that made but ----



--- when I had counted off well over 300 wraps (on a 2 yard niddy noddy) the piece of junk broke under the strain. I knew it was cracked, and I've ordered a new one, but I was hoping the loosely jointed, weak, poorly designed, piece of good for nuthin' kindling would hold together long enough to finish this job. As it was I had to yelp for help before hundreds of yards of handspun became hopelessly tangled.



I quickly finished winding the skein while my husband held it on his outstretched arms. *whew*



It's had it's bath and is hanging (perfectly balanced, *woo hoo*!) to dry. Hopefully I'll be able to borrow a yardage counter to get an accurate length before choosing a shawl design.