Mystic Light Lace Shawl

On April 23, 2008, in lace, Mystic Light, pattern, shawl, by Anna


The Mystic Light Shawl draws its inspiration from light in its many forms. The upper parts of the shawl show the starry night sky, and the lower part of the shawl represent the dancing flames of a warming fire.

Mystic Light is a triangular lace shawl with a height of 97 cm (38″), and a width of 206 cm (81″). There are cables in the center and along the top edge of the shawl. The first half of the shawl has one-sided lace patterns only (plain wrong-side rows) but in the second half of the shawl there is some lace-patterning on the wrong-side rows as well.

My shawl is knit on 4.5 mm needles, using 230 g of Merino 2/6 yarn from Fleece Artist. 100% merino wool yarn from Nova Scotia (325 m per 115 g). The shawl uses approx. 650 m of yarn. As always, yarn substitutions are encouraged.

This pattern is available in .pdf format for $8.00 CDN.

Mystic Light comes in two separate files. The MysticLightInstructions contain the beginning and finishing instructions, as well as the legends. All the charts are in MysticLightCharts. Please read the instructions carefully as they contain the entire setup for the pattern, as well as instructions on how the charts are used.

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Mystic Light is the second shawl in a series of four representing the four elements (water, fire, earth, air).

 

In the past week or so, I have started no less than three project. There was actually a short period of time there where there were NO projects on the needles. Obviously that was rectified quickly.

I’m working on two new lace stoles. One is knit in Blåmussla from Färgkraft. It takes its inspiration from the ocean – the colours in that skein were just perfect for the theme.

The second stole is knit in Prezzie from Brooklyn Handspun. The yarn is a lovely purple and makes me think of “April showers bring May flowers”. I hope that April snow will bring the same…. Actually, we’ve had a few wonderful days in Ottawa. It’s been 20C, and it’s incredible to sit out on the back deck in shorts and t-shirt looking out at the snow-covered lawn. I don’t imagine this state will last a lot longer, but right now it is surreal.

The third project is a Spiderman blanket for my youngest son. The pattern is available for free at AnneM‘s blog. It was a bit of a rough start (I forgot to check the errata on Ravelry…..) and I found a missing k1 in row 17, but aside from that, it’s moving along nicely. I’m knitting it using Paton’s Classic Wool Merino, which had the best colour-choices for the Spiderman theme.

Here is a visit from an old friend…. the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan.
I’m sure many are already aware that MAGKnits folded last week. This lead to the pattern for the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan being unavailable (out of print already?!?). The pattern is now available again. I’ve republished it via Ravelry. Happy knitting!

 

Thistle Scarf

On April 9, 2008, in lace, pattern, scarf, by Anna


The Thistle Scarf is a Lace scarf knit using 2 skeins (44 g) of Luxurious Buffalo Down (100% Buffalo, 155-160 yds per 22 g) from Cottage Craft Angora. The yarn is a natural, chocolate brown and incredibly soft.

The thistle pattern starts small near the end of the scarf and grows larger as it approaches the centre of the scarf, and then transitions to a diamond leaf pattern.

In spite of its lacy appearance, the “halo” from the yarn makes this a nice, warming scarf for those cool spring/fall evenings.

Blocked dimensions:
l: 190 cm (76″), w: 25 cm (10″)

You can download a .pdf version of this pattern using PayPal for $8.00CDN.

Lorraine of Cottage Craft Angora is offering a discount on the Luxury Buffalo Down yarn to the knitters who would like to knit the Thistle Scarf. The yarn can be purchased from her web-site for $20/skein (as opposed to the regular price of $22) with a discount code that can be obtained from me with the purchase of the pattern.

 

Stitch Markers & Yarn

On April 7, 2008, in Uncategorized, by Anna

I received some fun mail today. The first package contained a set of stitch markers from Laurie. She designed a set of “Mystic Light” stitch markers. Don’t they look wonderful? It’s hard to tell in the picture, but the coloured beads look like they are on fire.

Head over to the Lima Pop Shoppe to see what else she makes. I’ll be sure to put mine to good use.

The second package contained 2 skeins of Prezzie from Marie at Brooklyn Handspun. The yarn is slated to become a lace shawl. I already have some ideas for motifs but I will have to mull over the colour just a little longer. I’m thinking bluebells and summer meadows, but we’ll see. I like to use the yarn for inspiration, so it takes a little time to see what else it makes me think of.

 

As it turns out the Mystic Light swatch has more uses than a pulse warmer. So let me introduce the Mystic Light Beer Cozy.

I got this idea from Spiraling on Ravelry.

Spiraling is located in Australia. I’m not quite sure what the weather is like in Australia right now, but I’m thinking that when it’s -20C outside, a beer cozy would be just the thing to keep your ale at a perfect cellar temperature. Much more handy than a pulse warmer, don’t you think?

This is one of the things I really like with running the KALs. I’m getting so many new ideas from all over the world. Thanks for sharing all your pictures (and creative uses of the knitting…..).

Over the weekend, I finished the Spring Shawl Surprise. I will try to block it this week and take some pictures of the completed stole. I really enjoyed LUL’s knitalong and the “Mother Earth” Stole. I also really enjoyed the Angora yarn I used. Amazingly, I ended up with a LOT of yarn leftover. I had purchased 1,500 yards, as per the specification, but I think I have about half of it left. That’s not a problem though, as I really loved the yarn. I’m sure I can think of another project or two in which to use it.

I also cast-on for a new project on Saturday – an as of yet unnamed lace stole with the ocean as the main theme. I’m using the Blåmussla yarn from Färgkraft that I purchased at Bohusslöjd in Gothenburg, Sweden last summer. It’s a 1-ply, 100% wool yarn, and 700 m per 100 g. I really love the colour. The name of the colourway means Blue Mussel, and I think it’s very aptly named.
I cast on for the stole and started knitting. All went well for the first hour or so. Then I decided to stretch it out a little so that I could measure the width, and POP! the yarn broke in my cast-on row. Nothing to do but to unravel it all. I then redesigned the beginning so I won’t have this problem again.