A number of people have asked me if I was going to do another Summer Mystery Shawl, and until very recently, I had no plans to do one. But now I do.

Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl

Here are the details:

The shawl is sort of a crescent shape that stays on the shoulders nicely. Knit from fingering weight yarn (expect it to take around 420 yards and it’s better to have a more solid than variegated colorway), it is extremely easy to resize (and complete instructions for doing so will be included). It is Estonian-style lace and you can knit it either with nupps or without. You’ll receive a step-by-step photo tutorial for knitting nupps with your pattern purchase.You could conceivably place beads instead of nupps, but I’m not including instructions for beading because I am not an expert in beaded knitting. But if you have experience knitting with beads, you could do so, and I’ll let you know in the materials list how many beads you would need.

The pattern will be both charted and written out line by line.

I’m knitting the prototype right now and think it is looking good! And I’ll knit it again during the KAL.

Skill level: To knit this shawl, you need to be able to:

• knit
• purl
• cast on stitches
• bind off stitches
• work yarn overs and k2tog and ssk decreases

There are a couple more maneuvers used in knitting the shawl (like a centered double decrease), but they are explained thoroughly in the pattern, so if you can do the above, you can knit the shawl.

The KAL will start on the Summer Solstice: June 20, 2012. The pattern will be available for sale June 1, 2012 in my Ravelry store for $2.00.If you purchase the pattern before June 20, you will receive the materials list, information on shawl size and notes about knitting it larger or smaller. Gauge information and instructions for knitting a gauge swatch will be included.

On  June 20, 2012 the pattern will be updated to include Part A of the pattern. All purchasers will be notified via email and Ravelry message that the pattern has been updated.

All future updates will be done the same way: each update will be appended to the existing pattern, so for each update, you’ll just need to print out the new pages added. The pattern will be released as follows:

• June 1: Initial information, including yarn and needle requirements, gauge, swatching.
• June 20: Part A, along with the nupp tutorial
• June 26: Part B
• July 3: Part C
• July 10: Part D
• July 17: Part E

You can purchase the pattern (including all updates to that point) for $2.00 at any time before July 17, 2012. On July 17, 2012 the price of the pattern will go up to $5.00.

I’ve started a thread in my Ravelry group for this project, so feel free to congregate there.

I do hope you’ll join in. The shawl is a very pretty one and very enjoyable (I think) to knit. The last two mystery shawls I did I distributed free of charge, but an undertaking like this is quite a lot of work, so I hope you’ll understand that I’m charging a nominal fee for it. The pattern you received will be thoroughly tech-edited and tested and written with a lot of detail, and offers options for modifications.

Speaking of shawls, I like my Bigger on the inside shawl!

And Lucy sez:

“There can’t be a blog entry without a photo of ME!”

The Bigger on the inside shawlette has been blocked.

As I mentioned last week, I have new Block n Roll mats. I purchased two of them, because the dimensions of the mat are 38 by 50 inches, and most shawls that I knit are wider than 50 inches. I used both today.

The mats are easy to store because they neatly roll up and have attached ties that secure them. Then you can stand them in a corner somewhere. The blocking surface is marked off in a handy grid and is heat and water resistant so you can use the mat to wet block and steam block.

I didn’t use blocking wires, just carefully pinned the shawl in place

Guest Kitties!

Yesterday we went to a family barbecue at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. They have two adorable kitties. Meet Perry:

Meet Della:

Perry!

Della!

Wendy & Lucy

This weeks’ installment:

Lucy Sez

“It’s okay that Momma played with other kitties because they are family.”

I’ve not yet blocked my shawl. Rather, I have been thinking of excuses for not doing so.

It’s been one of those weeks — too many non-knitting-related things to deal with when I get home from work in the afternoon, so no time for blocking. so I think the blocking will have to wait until the weekend.

So meanwhile, I have started something new.

I am using “Traveller,” a yarn from Cephalopod Yarns. Cephalopod Yarns began as part of The Sanguine Gryphon. When The Sanguine Gryphon closed its doors last year, Cephalopod Yarns came into being.

I’m using the “House of Strangers” colorway.

Traveller is a DK-weight superwash merino wool, with 280 yards per 4-ounce skein.

I’m knitting this:

Yes, it is yet another sideways thing.

Oh, I just thought of another good excuse why I can’t block my shawl. Lucy is in my lap.

Must not disturb the Little Princess!

I finished knitting my Bigger on the inside shawlette last night.

When I got home from work, I had this much of the edging done — about half of it.

I finished the edging and decided I’d try to try to complete the bind off before going to bed. I did actually complete it while sitting up in bed, watching tv. Here’s what that looked like:

As you can see, Lucy was on the job.

Here is a quick photo of the unblocked shawl I took with my phone this morning:

As you can see, this piece will very much benefit from blocking. I’ll see if I can get that done tomorrow night. In a happy coincidence, the Block and Roll blocking mats I ordered from Patternworks arrived yesterday, so I’ll give those a whirl. And I’ve got new blocking wires from Inspinknity so I’m looking forward to trying those out.

I weighted the shawl upon completion and found that it weighed 156 grams. Interesting, because on the Ravelry pattern page for the design it says that the original weighed 127 grams. That was knit in a different yarn, but still, that’s a big difference. I knit mine exactly according to the pattern and did the bottom edge for exactly 2″ so I’m not sure why mine weighs so much more. I did some quick calculations and estimate that my shawlette took approximately 560 yards.

Lookie Here!

I got my yarn for my Campy Loopy Project I:

This is Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Cashmerino Worsted in the Niall colorway. Isn’t it nice? I’m going to make Stephen West’s Gyllis. I’ll be starting that on May 27.

I need a project to tide me over until May 27. I’ve got some samples that I’m knitting for my classes for SSK, so I’ll be working on those. I’ll likely finish before May 27, so will need something else to keep me busy until the official start of Camp Loopy. I do have some ideas.

Wendy & Lucy Cartoon

Thanks for your nice comments about my silly little cartoon. It was a spur of the moment thing, drawn on the back of an index card with a ballpoint pen. (I took a photo of it to post because I couldn’t get the scanner on my inkjet printer to work.) I think I’ll post a new cartoon each Sunday . . . until I run out of ideas.

Lucy sez:

“If I ignore it, will it go away?”

I did finally finish the Time Vortex Lace section of my Bigger on the inside shawl, and on Friday night I picked up the 311 stitches required along the bottom curved edge to work the TARDIS section.

I looked at the project notes for this design on Ravelry, and found that another knitter described picking up the stitches by dividing the edge into 8 equal sections, and then picking up 38, 39, 39, 39, 1 stitch in the middle, 39, 39, 39, 38. This seemed as good a plan as any, so while half watching Ghostbusters II on television Friday night, that’s how I picked up my stitches.

Here’s the current state of the shawl after a Saturday’s-worth of knitting:

I have completed Row 28 of the TARDIS chart and this is how much yarn I have left of my first skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock:

That looks like it’ll last for one more row. So I’ll definitely make a big dent in a second skein.

Wendy & Lucy

Just for fun, I’ve started a cartoon series called “Wendy & Lucy.”

No, I have no plans to quit my day job.

Lucy sez:

“That doesn’t look anything like me. But it looks just like you, Momma!”