Secret of the Stole update, I'm getting Quicker!

No excuses this time, maybe I'm feeling a teensy bit better this weekend! Anyway, here are promised photos and I even finished clue 4 in record time, I had only 8 rows left when I went to bed Friday evening (but then I found a mistake and thought it best not to tackle it on half a bottle of wine!). So it WAS completed by Saturday lunchtime...


...I pinned it out this time and put it on a black background 'cos this cashmere- can look greyish on the wrong backing. It's funny to compare this yarn with the one below, they're very different!

Actually, I'm quite pleased that it didn't take too long this week, The Mystic waters clue is a LOT more difficult in comparison and MUCH easier to make mistakes so it needs my full concentration.

This is where I'm up to so far, about 2/3rds of the way thru the clue. The yarn as I've mentioned previously is a gorgeous cashmere silk blend lovingly hand-dyed by Posh Yarns. The shade is Azul and I bought 3 skeins especially for this project. The silk in the mix makes it much more soft and slippery to knit and the yarn, a laceweight is actually thicker than the cashmere 4ply! The pattern is lovely and suits the yarn really well and hopefully I'll be able to stretch the yardage (or shrink the pattern!).

In other knitting news, here's the finished BMP socks....

As I'd mentioned, I scaled down the stitches on the leg and used 2.75mm needles then switched to 2.25mm needles for the feet for extra wearability. If I did them again, I might rotate the hi-score table to the side, but aside from that I;m relatively happy (though fair-isle isn't my forte!).

And here's the first of 2 socks for my mum...pity they don't photograph well!

...You see, they're too long for the hanger foot blocker...

And they look plain weird unblocked! Still, you get the idea, they're ribbed so they fit both my large calves and my mum's much skinnier ones! She's gluten intolerant and has to watch her cholesterol so she doesn't get the chance to put on weight! Come the winter, these little babies will keep her tootsies toasty!

And finally (on the knitting front)...

...The little red square I mentioned in the last post. I might just squeeze another out this week but as I may be comissioned to knit a sweater for the new shop imminently, my spare knitting time will be severely limited!

Anyway, also as promised last time, my latest haul of stash enhancement...

I managed to get a ball (or two..or three...or) of Sublime Merino Angora...soooo soft!

Plus a couple of pairs of my fave Fiskars soft touch scissors... all half price! I DID feel a bit guilty and 'fess up to hubby...(he laughed!).

And the promised haul from the friendship guild...

...There's an extra blob of Merino somewhere, I picked up enough for a sweater's worth. I also got some yak...it will reside with my other wild and wacky fibres 'till I get round to playing with them, some tencel, broken silk tops (much easier to spin with) and BFL washed fleece.

The idea was to mix the ultraviolet purple with the paler purple to give the finished knitting some variation and add silk in for shine, It ended up looking like this...

...I was very unsure of the final effect, had to live with it for a week until I was happy with the effect, the while silk peeking out somehow made it cheaper...it was less shiny than I'd thought too. Still needs a wash and dry then I can explore it in the skein, watch this space...!

You might be wondering quite how I manage to fit in as many knitting hours as I do, It's no miracle, I've suffered with a number of conditions for a while and now it looks like I might have a low thyroid condition adding to the mix. I do what I can in a day then I rest and while I rest, I knit! It's been a fantastic therapy for me in my down times and so long as I don't overdo it and kick off the arthritis, it keeps me from getting down about life. With a little luck, I should get a reasonable diagnosis in a few weeks and maybe start to swing things in my favour. 'Till then, I'll keep on Knitting!