Does anybody still remember the Mystery Stole 3?

Pattern: Mystery Stole 3 (Swan Lake) by Melanie Gibbons
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr wool-silk, 50% merino wool, 50% Chinese Tussah silk
Color: Pewter (a very nice light grey)
Price: I don't know anymore, I bought it at Sarah's Yarns a while ago
Amount: not sure, officially 1000 yards
Needles: also a good question, I'd assume 3.5 mm needles
Gauge: not necessary
Dimensions: ??
Modifications: none
Comments: I used black beads. I thought I was very clever, but later on I thought they resembled black sesame seeds. I have to find a way to store, because if you fold it, its own weight will cause creases, that's what I realized when I took it out from the box where I had stored it to take pictures.

They Mystery Stole 3 was a knitalong that started in June (oops, June 2007! :o I just looked it up in my project list on Ravelry. It says I started in August 2007 and finished it in December 2007). I blocked the stole using the lazy method (just pulling it apart without using needles) when it was finished, so I had to re-block it a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't managed to take pictures until today. Obviously I'm in dire need of a good photographer, but don't worry, I will try to compensate quality with quantity, which is always a good idea in my book. :D (The good thing is also I don't have to decide which is the best picture and which one I should use. I just take a couple that look ok.)





Melanie won't be doing another Mystery Stole knitalong this year. Her mom will be responsible for the design of the Mystery Stole 4.

This top my mom knit for me. The pattern is her own.



I still haven't been able to block Lily's Leaf Shawl. It's quite big and I don't have enough of the jigsaw pieces.

Suggestions for wedding stole?

One of my friends is getting married and I would like to send her a knitted gift. I suggested a wedding shawl, but she already has one, she doesn't have anything yet for the dress though that she is going to wear in the evening. I'm thinking about a stole.

That's the dress.



Since this is a simple dress with clear lines I think the stole should also not be too girly or frilly. As the dominant color in this dress is already red a white stole might match it nicely. She is from Tahiti and will get married in November, so I thought I could use mohair, as it's light and airy, yet warm. What do you think? And what pattern would you suggest? What do you think of the lead and follow lace scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer? And maybe instead of mohair I could use alpaca (I don't really like knitting with mohair and I'm not sure how well it would work with this pattern)? I have one skein in white from Alpaca with a twist.

I need...

... a new job.

(Warning: endless rant about stupid people following. No, it's not about cyclists, eBay sellers, sociologists, this is a new group of people - graphic designers.)

Starting here:

A new job where I do not have to work with people who reduce the dpi [not dpn as I had written previously. Obviously even unconsciously I'm thinking about knitting.] number of a screenshot thus decreasing the resolution and the size of the screenshot and then create a banner image adapted to the new dimensions of the screenshot!!! It will be too S - M - A - L - L!! And not only once, but like four times? Five times? Six times? And do it to the same screenshot of the same website, creating the same wrong-sized banner image over and over again? He just keeps sending me banner images that are simply tooooo small. Small, small, small! No matter what I tell him.

I don't understand how a graphic designer with more than 15 years of work experience could do this!

If he believes that graphics on a website have to be reduced to 72 dpi (I have no clue) he should reduce the original image and then create the banner image. Increasing the resolution will just give you a low-quality image. What's so difficult to understand about this??? He complains that I don't give him the exact measurements of the image while I tell him to make design changes to the layout as he wishes and that the technical implementation was my business and if I couldn't do it do I would forward it to the multimedia agency who created this \&%$/§& website. I'm going crazy with that kind of people. This is just an example, but it's irrational things like these that drive me nuts. Recently just mentioning the words "marketing" and "website" drives me up the wall.

Rant over!

Anyway, I've decided I want to do something with environment - phytoremediation (short version: the use of plants to remove toxic substances from contaminated soil/environment). As a student I did an internship at a lab where they did research in this field and I still think it's a pretty cool thing. If you have been wondering about my recent blogging frenzy, it's because I'm on annual leave. I'm taking two weeks off (this is my second week now) and not going anywhere so I can take care of this jobseeking thing. I've been procrastinating a lot, but I think having an idea of what you want to do is an important step forward. I'm feeling superanxious at the moment, even if you don't believe it. I have problems with applying for job, because I get hypernervous just reading the job description, so if you have any kind of helpful advice to give, go ahead. It will be very much appreciated. :)

... these puzzle mats (or whatever you call them in English):



I bought them at Obi, but they don't have them anymore. :( Has anybody the same puzzlemats from Obi and would like to get rid of them?

... patience. I gave in and ordered a spinning wheel (YAY, YAY, YAY!! :) ), a Kromski Minstrel, but the delivery time is 4 weeks! I could cancel the order and order it somewhere else, but that dealer had the best offer and I need to be considerate of my budget. *big, big sigh*

Last but not least, my recommendation for a really tasty cooking blog: www.deliciousdays.com I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but the food always looks very yummy and if someone writes with that much passion about food, the recipes must be good.

Finished: Gretel beret

Pattern: "Gretel" beret by Ysolda Teague (I'm also wearing the Backyard Leaves Scarf by Annie Modesitt)
Yarn: Numero Uno Tweed by Lana Grossa
Color: Green
Price: ?
Amount: 1.5 balls?
Needles: ?
Gauge: a bit smaller, I think, but the beret is still big enough
Dimensions: Fits
Modifications: None

I'm pretty late with posting about that one, I think I finished it last year? But never say never! (Hmm, that green of the scarf looks a bit dull in the picture...). It's a ver nice pattern. I made another one with Rowan Felted Tweed in pink, but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. The cables take a lot of time though, even when you don't use a cable needle.

Bloody flickr...

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Finished: clutch with red-white flowers

Pattern: Clutch from "The Happy Hooker" by Debbie Stoller, p. 137 by Ileana Rodriguez
Yarn: "Soft-Merino" by Wolle Rödel (for those who don't have any of their stores in town, here's the link their webshop), 100 % merino superwash, 100 m/50 g, 18 stitches x 22 rows = 10 cm in stockinette stitch, recommended needle size: 4 - 5 mm, wash at 30 °C
Color: blue, red, white (not in order: #308, #360, #331)
Price: 3 € and something per ball
Amount: one ball in red and white, two balls in blue (= one ball and a little bit of the other)
Hook: 4 mm (G-6)
Gauge: was a bit off, but since the pattern is very simple it's very easy to make modifications
Dimensions: 25 cm wide and 15 cm high
Lining: red cotton
Modifications: I made three small flowers instead of one big flower.





I like the clutch although I find it a bit floppy. Next time I would maybe use cotton to give it more rigidity and stability. The lining did help somewhat. At first I wanted the lining to go up to the upper edge of the bag instead of letting it end below the handle as it says in the instruction which might have added a bit more stability to the bag, but then it started to look more complicated than I had planned and I didn't really think the added bit of stability would not have justified spending more time fussing with the lining. In any case, I'm really pleased with how the clutch turned out. It took me a bit more than a week to finish it, so that's a quick project (hm, now I think I want to make one with cotton, in green with little daisies).

The yarn is very loosely spun and probably will pill a lot.

I like this book a lot. I had borrowed it from a friend and then eventually got my own copy. If you have no clue about crocheting this is the book I would recommend. Debbie Stoller starts from 0,00 and explains every "stupid" question you might have. I've never been as proficient with crocheting as I am with knitting and I've been never been really sure if what I did was a 100 % correct. Crochet is somewhat more forgiving of mistakes than knitting and you can crochet happily along without getting busted that soon (although I have heard of people who had been knitting through the backloop instead of the frontloop for years), but with this book you can end your miserable existence as impostor and become a real crochet queen. Apart from the excellent explanations there is also a very nice compilation of crochet designs (hats, a wrap, scarfs, belts, cardigans, bags, a blanket, toys, a pair of gloves, a pair of slippers, a shawl, tops, a skirt, a doormat, a necklace and a bracelet made from wire, etc.) from various designers.