Pictureless

I meant to take a picture of Checking His List this morning, I really did.  It’s coming along nicely.  I’m way down at the bottom, stitching in the toys in Santa’s bag.

I am well aware that it’s less than 3 weeks ’til Christmas.  Maybe I should have bought that little pink Baby’s First Christmas stocking I saw at the grocery store.

I’ve been so wrapped up in cross-stitch these days, in fact, that I missed the deadline to download the final clue for Secret of the Stole, but DK emailed me a copy.

I have to say that the SotS knitalong was really excellent.  The pattern was lovely, the guessing game for the theme was fun (although, man, I was way off on those first few clues), and DK has been wonderful in offering advice and support through the Yahoo! group and commenting on individual members’ blogs.  I’m already signed up for SotS-II.

But, first, the stocking.

WiP Wednesday

I had Halloween off from work, so, while Little Miss napped, I finished clue #3 of Secret of the Stole.  I seem to be falling farther and farther behind.  And I’m okay with that.

 

Secret of the Stole Progress

I have no idea what the theme is.  For a while, I thought the large motifs might be flowers, and then someone said they looked like spiders, and that’s all I could see for a while.  And that little X at the top looks sort of like, well, one of those guys who waves in the airplanes at the gate.  I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Last week, something very bad happened to my lovely MacBook, and the widget that was counting down the days until Christmas Eve went with it.  (Since my iBook is still running Panther, there are no widgets on that one.)  But even without the clock, I know there’s not much time left, so all crafting efforts are currently focused on one thing:

 

10/25/07

 

That’s “Checking His List”, as of two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve finished the red portion of the coat and started on the trim. I might manage to finish this stocking yet.

FO Friday!

 

pinwheel

That’s the Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket, all done and washed and dried and laid out and sat upon by the cat and brushed off and taken away from the cat and laid out again.

I put a bit of a rush on it early in the week so I could take it to a meeting on Wednesday to show the folks who might want to purchase it at next month’s fundraiser.

Pattern: Genia Planck’s Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket, a KnitList pattern I found through Ravelry.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial and Williamsburg, a bit less than one skein of each.
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size US10.5, with a cord that just kept getting longer
Modifications: None
New Technique(s): I used the Lighter Circular Beginning (scroll down) to cast on.

Since I was pushing to finish the baby blanket, I thought I was going to fall way behind on Secret of the Stole, but I finished Clue 2 this morning while Little Miss was napping.

 

Secret of the Stole, Part II

The picture quality isn’t very good. The sun was a little too bright for the light yarn on the white blanket. I’ll get a better one after I finish clue #3, which I’ve just printed out.

Clue #1, Done

Bright and early on Friday, I downloaded the first clue for Secret of the Stole. I like a pattern that begins by advising, “DO NOT PANIC.” Always a good sign. I did not panic, and I was glad to see that my inability to wind my hank of laceweight into a single ball actually turned out to be a good thing.

Over the weekend, this:

 

Materials

turned into this:

 

Clue 1

I had a little issue with the beads.  I didn’t bother to look up the technique for attaching them, and I was several beaded rows in before I learned that, no, you’re not supposed to knit the stitch first.  I’ve decided to go with it.

I think next week’s clue will go a little more slowly, since I’m working Friday and Saturday, and knitting lace is definitely not an appropriate activity for the Reference desk.

I Am Such A Joiner

Spending all of my free time on Ravelry wasn’t enough, clearly, even with the 20 groups within the site I’ve joined. One of those groups is the one for Secret of the Stole, a mystery lace project. What can I say? All of those MS3 posts got to me.  And I did just buy that Lisa Souza Lace.  Tomorrow I go in search of beads, having discovered that my five packets of Mill Hill seed beads are size 11, which is too small.

It’s not even like I needed a new project. I’ve already reached QBLE – Queue Beyond Life Expectancy – and I keep adding more.  And, yes, several of those projects could have used that yarn.

And LM’s stocking is ticking along. I took a few days of rest and cast on some Debbie Bliss Merino DK for Branching Out from Knitty, but I’m back to it. The background trees are done, along with a large chunk of the scroll, Santa’s face and beard, and most of his hat. I’m fascinated by the way cross-stitch is like an impressionist painting. I get so used to looking at it close up, examining each stitch, but it looks so pretty from a few feet away, when each little X or / blends together with its neighbors.