The Buzz That Is MS4

If you don't already know, there's buzz around about the latest knit along, "Mystery Stole 4". This is my first MS to participate in, I've heard such good things about these knit alongs. I enjoy knowing that there are many many other knitters out there working along the same pattern and the same time frame, unless you turn into a Turtle, or a Snail! So far, I'm neither, YAY! I completed CLUE 1 a few days ago, the beading in the beginning was torture! There was a bead every other stitch, but I pressed on and I really like how it adds a nice pearly border to it. I used my recent stash addition, Blue Moon Fiber Art's LACI in Typhoon Tina colorway. The deep rich blues and blacks are very pretty and will dress up any jeans attire. This yarn is soft and luscious, literally, I find myself continually stopping to pet it as I knit. I know, I'm totally weird, but I just love to pet yarn, something about it gives me a soothing feeling... does it do that to you? My bead choice was a lame one, I found myself, again, scrummaging for beads, not willing to drive to a bead shop, but hyper eager to start knitting, so my impatience to knit won over, I just strolled to my local Michael's (just a few blocks away), and bought two different sets of beads, some clear ones, and some really pretty blue ones, that have this sheen, kind of like a pearl sheen, they were very pretty when I saw them. They match the color of my yarn, dead on, and look very pretty knitted up. I took a bunch of pictures last night trying to get all the angles, but sadly my camera didn't want to cooperate, it never does. Sometime soon I'll invest in a new camera that takes really good and clear pictures. The beads are very silky to touch and don't hurt at all when you press on them, which for me is a requirement because I plan to wrap myself with this stole, and I don't want the beads to feel like there engraving my skin. The diamond pattern is very pretty, a surprise for me, which threw me a wrench for a minute is that the right and left ends have sort of a wave to it, so it's not a straight vertical border. As I was knitting, I kept thinking, I hope I don't get a visit from the frog fairy, cause it's not looking straight, but I had faith in Georgia, MS4's designer, and pressed onto the end of CLUE1. It's pretty neat to step back and see it, now I can't wait to continue onto CLUE2. I'm glad I'm keeping pace with MS4, for now, I don't want to have to join a turtle club 8)

Mid-Week Stop

It's Wednesday, and were halfway through the normal work week. It always seems longer following a short week, like the one we had for last weeks Labor Day Holiday. Isn't it nice that the Central Labor Union of New York City worked to get us working citizens of the U.S. and Canada a true paid day off? So nice of them, but ugh.. it sucks starting a new full week thereafter, oh well, guess you can't have all Monday's off, unless your a lucky one 8)

I progressed pretty good on my CLUE 1 of the Mystery Stole 4, I'll definitely finish tonight. I did get to skein my hand-dyed fingering superwash merino too. This was my official first attempt at a dyeing yarn "solo" and end up with a good colorway worth gleaming over. I don't have a skein winder, that's next on my list, so I skeined this laying 2 desk sized CD racks on there sides, and slowly wrapping the yarn around it. It took me about an hour or so, give or take some annoying tangles in between. to wrap all the yarn. I didn't get a tight tension when I skeined it, so of course when I went to form into a pretty braid it came out kind of loose. It still looks pretty though, my hubby said he would make me a skein winder and a warping board as well. I have some ideas for him to make an easier way to setup self-striping yarn, but will see how that goes. When I refer to skein winder, I'm referring to this:



I already have a large umbrella swift, which was oh so handy when winding my uber-duber 1750yds. of BMF STR Laci in "Typhoon Tina" the other night for my MS4 project. Plus my large ball winder too, that thing is a work horse.

Here's my braided version, though it's loose because of the tension I didn't have when forming it.








I really enjoyed the dyeing process.

And to share more my recent endeavors into the world of Crochet, I finished the "Undulating Cowl" last night. I'm liking the pattern and the way the Malabrigo Charrua looks, but I'm not happy with how small it turned out. My gauge was correct, but it's still small, and I don't have a big head, well in the physical sense (LOL!). Then I got to examining the photo on the pattern, the women modeling a completed Undulating Cowl, I'd have to say, has a rather narrow & small neck, so possibly for her a 60 chain stitch diameter worked, but for me, it's a little rough getting over my head. It would be perfect for a kid though. I ended up soaking it with some Aqua Soak that I had a sampler of, blocked it and will check on it later tonight to see if it loosens up a bit, but I don't think it will. I might start another one, possibly instead of the 60 chains, I'll beef it up to around 80 chains. It turned out real pretty though, regardless of the size.





Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Where does time go?

So much lately does it seem like my time continues to diminish everyday. I miss the days when time seemed to stretch out longer, when I had the time to do things I wanted to do, as opposed to running errands, cleaning, working, life stuff. Sadly the days of T --- I --- M --- E really lasting were, as you would guess, when I was a kid.

Doesn't it seem like we lose our time as Adults? Or maybe we don't, maybe it's just our perception. There's a movie called "The Boogeyman", it's a kids movie, and the premise of the movie is that as a kid your mind is open and free which allows you to see things adults wouldn't, like a real life Boogeyman. I think TIME is our Boogeyman, as kids time is endless days of swinging on swings, feeling the air go through you, it's days of just meandering, frolicking or plain nothing.

As adults, our perception is different, our time has a different purpose, no more frolicking, only errands or work, work which most of us can't escape unless we enjoy pillaging for food, leaching for items, you know what I mean *-)

I always wonder if things would be more simple if we just simply bartered for items, maybe as adults we'd have more time, instead of trying to earn that evil green, money that is. I really think money is the root of all evil. It can cause most of us grief, stress, unhappiness, envy, for those who have an abundance of $ it can provide them with feelings of power, veiled happiness, gluttony, to name a few.

What is of real value, not $, is our time, without it, nothing happens. I've digressed about time because I'm obviously feeling like I have none. There is so much I want to do, so much I can do, but time is the key ingredient I lack. As a result, I'm dropping out of HAT ATTACK, cause I just don't have the time to commit, and I must admit my loyalties to the fiber craft are now more towards KALS, Holiday's, Swaps, and oh yah, personal items.

I started my Mystery Stole 4 knit this past weekend, didn't get to far into it, but hopefully I'll at the very least get CLUE1 finished by end of week. I've chosen to go with the LACI STR I bought not long ago, there's going to be A LOT of yarn left over from this skein, as it's 1750yds, but hey, it can always go to another knit, maybe something to coordinate with my finished MS4 Stole.

TYPHOON TINA


As for Secret of the Stole III, I'm still stuck in HINT 2, just haven't go to picking it up, but it is another goal to at least get done by end of this week too.

I've actually been really working at nailing down Crocheting, which has been an interesting experience. I bought a Crochet Cowl design, "Undulating Cowl", and when I first was looking at this pattern, I was like what the hell??? I finally figured it out, and am now one row away from finishing it. I can't believe how fast crocheting is. I've heard it was fast, and I can remember when I first learned to knit, my husband was like "My Mom used to crochet scarfs and sweaters in one weekend when I was small.", and I remember telling him "Your crazy!", but now I believe him, especially if your an experienced crocheter. It's pretty freakin' amazin' to me how fast it is, and I'm still a newbee at it, but so far I'm real comfortable with it, and am confident I can tackle a more intermediate crochet projects. DONT' GET ME WRONG, I'M NOT DEFECTING TO CROCHET, but I've always wanted to learn it so that I could use it to embellish knitting or for those quick needed garments to crochet.

Here's a pick of the Undulating Cowl, I'll post picks of my FO if not tonight then tomorrow morning, this is from the pattern.



I don't think the yarn does this pattern justice, it really is prettier. I'm knitting crocheting it with some real pretty Malabrigo Charrua, which is turning out to be just gorgeous, and soft.



Speaking of time, somehow, don't know how, I've found time to be MOD in Ravelry for the Traveling Scarves Group Noro 37 Knit/Crochet. I'm co-moderating with Trustcrazyideas, it's nice having her help. We've officially started today, our first deadline is on 9/23/08. I'm excited to see how my scarf will turn out. The group is only to us NORO yarn, which is even better, and we can do either Knit or Crochet, perfect for me to hone my Crochet skills.

I'll leave you with this video of the widely popular, plus one of my fave groups, The Bangles video of their hit song "Hazy Shade of Winter", which was a hit for the movie "Less Than Zero", another good but sad movie, great performance by Robert Downey Jr., another FAVE actor of mines. Which reminds me, I'll have to post some movie reviews for some movies I saw recently, one of which stars Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder", I'll say quickly it was "Freaki' Hilarious!". 8)

This song reminds me of TIME.