Somebody Stop Me

I just signed up for the Secret of the Stole group. Every Friday, from October 4th to November 23rd, a new part of the pattern is sent to you, but you don't get to see the entire pattern at once or the finished stole. It's a secret...get it? I was green with envy when everyone and their brother was knitting the Mystery Stole 3 so I decided I have to do this. Plus the idea behind this is that you have a nice shawl to wear on Christmas and New Year's Eve. Plus I have just about all of my Christmas knitting done. And the yarn I picked isn't that expensive (and it's alpaca. We know how much I love alpaca). And I love stoles. They're my favorite (along with socks and hats and scarves...) And work sucks. And school is hard (okay, the learning part is cool. Trying not to roll my eyes at most of my classmates is hard). And except for the fact that I'm now just piling yarn in my room and there is very little walking space (highly overrated, in my opinion--I'll just roll around on the yarn piles), this project doesn't need much justification. But there it is, just in case. (Just in case the yarn police come by?)



I guess my way of dealing with the stress from school and work is to start more knitting projects, despite the non-existence of any free time whatsoever, which is going to shrink even more this week when I start my internship. Sigh.


Who cares? I'm getting a fancy magical mysterious stole!

Back to School

My birthday presents from Bethie! She also gave me One-Skein Wonders, which is where the pattern is from.







The Back-to-School U-neck Vest from Fitted Knits:

Yarn: Cascade 220 Quattro, 3 Skeins, pink/purple/green mix
Source: The Elegant Ewe
Needles: Inox 24" circular, US Size 7, and Inox 16" circular, US Size 5 (Inox are great needles--they're the same price as Susan Bates but the joins and needle tips are smoother and the cable has less memory so it doesn't coil as much)
Modifications: I followed the 42" bust size directions, but knit the lengths for the larger sizes




I saw the pattern in Fitted Knits (which is currently my favorite knitting book) and just fell in love. Also, Stefanie Japel must know me and must know that I would fall for the back-to-school rhetoric about impressing professors and fall days. And, after all, it is my last back to school (well, as a student. Since I hope to be an academic librarian/archivist, there will hopefully be many back-to-schools for the students).





Detail of the waffle stitch and the clever bust increases:

(This picture is truer to the real color, but neither one gets it quite right)




And, voila: Chanson en crochet

Just when you thought I had forgotten about it. You know what's silly? I finished this about three months ago and I was nervous it wouldn't lay right on my shoulders or that I hadn't done it correctly, so I just put it in a bag and left it. I decide to pull it out and try it on the other day, and it's fine. It's more than fine. So I just wove in the ends and attached the blingin' brooch I got at the thrift store (I was worried it would be too blingin' but I think it's just right).


Pattern: Chanson en crochet, from Wrap Style
Yarn: Tahki New Tweed, four balls light green
Source: Patternworks (on sale!)
Hook: Clover (I don't remember what size, but those Clover hooks rock my socks off)
Modifications: Who knows. There are always some modifications because I have this inability to follow a crochet pattern correctly but I don't remember. I just kind of make it up as I go along if I run into problems (or rip it out and redo it repeatedly)



Next up: Clessidra from Knitty