I was happy to see such a positive response, both here and in the thread in my Ravelry group.

The first piece of the pattern, the preliminary information for the KAL, will be released on June 1. I’ll announce it here and in the Ravelry thread. At that time, you’ll be able to purchase the pattern for $2.00 and you’ll receive a pdf with preliminary information: yarn and needle requirements, suggestions for yarns you can use, a pattern for a swatch you can knit, and more. Then on June 26, the pdf will be updated with Part A of the pattern. You can purchase the pattern at anytime during the KAL for $2.00 up until July 17, the day the last Part (Part E) of the pattern is released. On July 17, the price goes up to $5.00

So if you think you might like to knit the shawl but don’t have tine right now, you can go ahead and buy it for the reduced price and knit it later.

In the mean time, you can feel free to put it in your queue — I’ve created a pattern page in Ravelry.

There was a question in the comments about how difficult the pattern is — can a beginner knit it? In yesterday’s post I listed the skills you need to have to be able to knit the pattern. They are:

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

If you can do this, and think you can deal with close to 300 stitches on the needle, you can knit this shawl. Actually, I think this pattern is easier than last year’s mystery shawl. The construction is different, and if you use stitch markers, you will be dealing with less than 20 stitches at a time.

The only part that a beginner might find difficult is the knitting of nupps. I am including a nupp tutorial with the pattern, and you have the option of knitting it without nupps.

I am knitting the prototype right now with nupps, and once the KAL starts, I plan to knit it again without nupps.

I love love love the yarn I am using: Shalimar Breathless. Love! I purchased mine at The Loopy Ewe and it is one of the nicest fingering weight yarns I’ve used. It’s a blend of merino yarn, cashmere, and silk, so seriously, what’s not to like? It is beautifully soft, has great stitch definition, and is non-splitty.

I’m using the Loden colorway.

I plan to have this prototype Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl done by Sunday, because that’s when I can cast on my Camp Loopy project!

Lucy sez:

“Momma got me a little playhouse.”

“I like it in here!”

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!”

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.”

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!

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 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!”

A couple of you pointed out in the comments that Time Vortex Lace decrease chart that was missing a stitch has now been updated. If you downloaded your pattern before yesterday, you need to go back (the link is in the first paragraph of this entry) and re-print the Time Vortex Lace Charts. The new chart is marked “updated May 9/12″ so you’ll know that you are getting the latest and greatest.

Camp Loopy

It is officially almost summer. How do I know? Because Sheri announced Camp Loopy 2012 in her blog post of May 9. Hop on over to her blog for all the details. I’ve picked out a pattern for my first project and have ordered the yarn from The Loopy Ewe, so I’ll be all ready to get started on May 27. I picked a project that a friend will be knitting (hi, Sharon!), Gyllis, by Stephen West, so we’ll have a mini-knit-along.

Lucy is busy primping for the weekend!

I’ve made some fair progress on the time vortex lace chart. I’m more than halfway done with the top section.

Here’s a close-up of the lace:

As I mentioned on Sunday, I’m using Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the Cobalt colorway for this.

If you are going to knit this project be forewarned — the Time Vortex Lace Decrease chart is not correct. It is a stitch short throughout. (The version I’m working from says it was updated on May 1.) At the end of this section, the chart shows you having 9 stitches left and you really have 10 stitches left. It’s fairly easy to work around the error — just do your decreases one stitch in on the designated rows and don’t mind that the stitch count is off by one. The final decrease section in the pattern is correct as far as I can tell — on the first row of this section you decrease 1 stitch and it correctly states that you have 9 stitches after this row.

While I didn’t block my Wollmeise Bernadette on Sunday, I did do so yesterday evening. I left it to soak in warm water with woolwash, then rinsed and squeezed out as much water as I could. I then . . . um . . . threw it in the dryer on very low heat for 10 minutes to get more water out. Then I just carefully laid it out without stretching. My round dining room table worked nicely for this:

Lucy did not notice me doing this and missed the whole blocking process. I think she’s a little miffed.

The yarn comes in a 150-gram skein and has approximately 575 yards. Before knitting, my skein weighted 160 grams. After knitting, this is how much I had left:

I used the same U.S. size 3 (3.25mm) needle as the Bernadette I knit from Kauni Effektgran 8/2. That Bernadette measured 52″ along the top edge, unstretched, and around 11″ deep at the center back. This one knit in Wollmeise measures about 56″ along the top and 12″ deep at the center.

I did not block the Kauni version — just carefully steamed it without stretching out the body. The squishyness of the garter stitch combined with the short rows make it sit nicely on the shoulders and sort of mold itself to the wearer. I am going to block the Wollmeise version because I know the Wollmeise yarn blooms nicely when washed. So it will be going into a warm bath of Soak shortly, and then carefully laid out to block.

Next Project

The Madelinetosh Tosh Sock that Lucy was inspecting in my last blog entry is indeed slated to be knit into Bigger on the Inside. So many of you guessed that — you guys are too smart! As soon as I saw the pattern,I knew I had to make it. It’s brilliant! The little TARDISes (TARDI?) are perfect, and I think the Madtosh Cobalt colorway is the perfect shade of TARDIS blue.

I’ll be starting that soon. I have some samples to knit for my classes that I’ll be teaching the end of next month at The Knitgirllls Super Summer Knit-together and I’m working on one of those right now, but they are all fairly quick knits, so I think I can talk myself into starting Bigger on the Inside and knit on that at home while knitting the samples as commuter knitting.

In other news, here is Basil’s mileage this morning:

And Lucy seems to have gotten herself into a tangle:

When I get ready to photograph my work in progress, she is always on hand to inspect it.

(I’m more than halfway done with it at this point — maybe two-thirds done? I’m hoping I can complete it this weekend.)

That’s a stitch marker pinned in the middle of the shawl — marking the beginning of the short-row center section. It is there to make it easier for me to count repeats.

But back to Lucy: she also needs to inspect all new yarn that comes in to our home:

“What are you going to use this for, Momma?”

What am I going to use it for? Can anyone guess? Hints:

• It is not my own design.
• I have way more than enough yarn for it in the picture.
• The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the Cobalt colorway.

What do you think?

Needle Length

I was interested to read in the comments some discussion about needle length. some of you have problems using circular needles where the needle portion is short — like the 4″ needle on my 20″ circular. Samina said:

I’ve got some shorter Addis, including the first set of lace needles with the 4″ tips. I’m not terribly crazy about them & I have pretty small hands. It takes me a while to get comfortable with them & I always feel like I don’t have quite enough tip to grip. So much so, that I bought a set of the new lace needles with the longer tips.

And another commenter, Nicola, agreed that she too has trouble with 4″ tips.

Interesting, because I have fairly average, medium-sized hands and I love the 4″ tips. When I knit socks on two circulars, the best possible needle size for me is a 4″ tip on a 20″ needle. If the tips are any longer, they are not comfortable for me.

However, when knitting back and forth on a circular needle, both a 4″ and a 5″ tip is perfectly comfortable. A 6″ tip is a little too long for comfort for me.

I suppose it is a combination of hand size and knitting style to find the needles that are most comfortable for you to use.

Lucy sez:

“zzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . ”

She did have a busy day, after all.