Unfinished Business

As Turtle kindly reminded me, I have unfinished business! In all of my rushing around, I neglected to tell you about the processing on that photo. And also, I didn't tell you who won. Oops!

Many of you were correct in that it is a Polaroid transfer (I love that process!) onto Arches watercolor paper! Polaroid transfers are lovely, but very muted, so I hand colored it to pop the colors. Two of you guessed Polaroid transfer (which is a different process from a plain Polaroid print) and color enhancement of some kind: Thursday and Sarah. I got a random number at random.org and Thursday was the winner! Congratulations Thursday! Please send me your address at romiATdesignsbyromiDOTcom and I will send off your pin! :) btw, those of you who would like an explanation of the process, just let me know in the comments and I will write about it!

Note to Susan: I am stuck in the 80s. I didn't even think about the Robert Palmer connection, but now that you mention it, I think I was channeling him. :g:

Now, I know I promised you all a feather yesterday, but there was something missing. I was not loving it. Then this morning, Denise from CT wrote and jogged my brain into functioning mode again. She asked about the possibility of a one piece pin with the stick portion incorporated into the pin, like a fibula pin. That was IT! That was exactly what the feather needed. So here it is, in sterling:

Sterling silver feather, one piece pin. Length 2.5 in.; width 1.25 in. - $42
Inspired by Melanie Gibbons' lovely Mystery Stole 3, Swan Lake.
Pre-order here.

and in copper.

Copper feather, one piece pin. Length 2.5 in.; width 1.25 in. - $30
Inspired by Melanie Gibbons' lovely Mystery Stole 3, Swan Lake.
Pre-order here.

It is a one piece pin (shown open), as you can see off the shawl.

And from the back (shown open again - it clips into the hook).


Allow two weeks for shipment of your order - a lot of people expressed interest!I am just charging a flat fee of $2.50 USPS first class shipping to US or Canada per order, regardless of how much you order. If you are interested in shipping any way other than USPS first class, please email me at romiATdesignsbyromiDOTcom. If you are in another country, please contact me and I will quote shipping! Thank you all for looking and thank you to all of you who have ordered swans! :)

Houston, We Have Lift-Off!

Okey doke, PayPal woes are fairly well dealt with, and we have a working shopping cart. Wooo! I know this will surprise all of you, but it turned out to be Bl*gger issues. So after wasting inordinate amounts of time, I just put up a pre-order page on my website!

Thank you again to all of you who have emailed me wanting to order a swan pin! Since there seems to be a fair amount of interest, I am doing a pre-order (before it goes up on my site for real) so I will know how much silver and copper I need to have on hand to get your pins to you as quickly as possible!

The pin is approximately 2 in. x 2 in., made in either hand formed and hammered sterling silver or copper. It is feather light (I'm bad, eh?). If you have any questions, please leave it in a comment!

For those of you who would like a feather, that will be coming tomorrow!

Allow two weeks for shipment of your order - a lot of people expressed interest! I am just charging a flat fee of $2.50 USPS first class shipping to US or Canada per order, regardless of how much you order. If you are interested in shipping any way other than USPS first class, please email me at romiATdesignsbyromiDOTcom. Thank you all! :)

Here are the goods. Silver:

Sterling silver swan shawl pin, inspired by Melanie Gibbons' lovely Mystery Stole 3.
Pre-order for $45 per pin, $2.50 flat shipping fee to US and Canada.
If you are in another country, please contact me for a shipping quote! :)
Order here.

And copper:

Copper swan pin, inspired by Melanie Gibbons' lovely Mystery Stole 3.
Pre-order for $30, $2.50 flat shipping fee to US and Canada.
If you are in another country, please contact me for a shipping quote! :)
Order here.

And while I'm at it, several people have contacted me about the sterling ball of yarn earrings that I made Steph and she had on her blog! I'm going to put them up on my site, but I wanted to give you a chance to pre order those, as well! Here's a pic:

and the requisite artsy shot.

Sterling Silver Balls of Yarn Earrings.
Pre-order for $45 per pair, $2.50 flat shipping fee to US and Canada.
If you are in another country, please contact me for a shipping quote! :)
Order here.

Now I'm off to do a feather! Coming soon: the bunny will by hopping onto my site.

A Little Randomness

Thank you all so much for your kind kudos! I passed them all on to #1 Son who is flying even higher, if that can be possible!

Not much interesting going on here today (that I can show you)! So I'll answer a few questions and make a few comments.

NH Knitting Mama asked "How is the book coming along?" Great! Thanks for asking! I totally love Interweave, and my editor is absolutely wonderful! I can't say enough about how great it is to work with her. All of the projects and colorways have been chosen and approved and I am working/knitting on the first section. I love doing these projects because they are fairly small and instant gratification and it really feels like I'm playing (except that I write it all down very very carefully)!

Kat commented that Dr. Destructo must be very good at hiding his alter ego. Yes and no. He is so blasted cute about destroying things that I find it very difficult to punish him. :sigh:

Susan asked if part of the Mystery Stole mystery was whether it was a stole or shawl. No - we all knew it was a stole. There were several Mystery Shawls, as well, but by woman named Renee. I don't know which came first. Renee has some really really gorgeous patterns though. You should check out her shawls! (I have no affiliation rather than having drooled at her site).

Valerie asked of Glad "where did that pattern come from? It's too cute!" It's from Rowan Magazine 39, designed by Sarah Hatton. I'm having second thoughts about my yarn choice though. It shows every uneven stitch (and there are many). I might give it a little block in a few rows to see how it's really working.

And I've finally taken some time to play a bit on Ravelry. Oy. It is so cool. If you're on, stop by and "friend" me! My user name is Romi. And if you're not on, you soon will be!

I'll leave you with one of #1 Son's drawings.

Note the name of the ship. :sigh: I just love my kids. :)

In Waiting

Here she is...my Mystery Stole 3 awaits the 3rd clue tomorrow morning:

The bead shot:

Since I am using US 7 needles, my stole when gently blocked is about 23 inches in width.

And late, as always, to the party, I will now extol the virtues of The Grumpy One. While helping Susan with her Odessa, I became so completely hooked that I had to knit one myself. Since it is to be used as a chemo cap, I made it half an inch deeper. It was knit in a mystery yarn that I am pretty sure is Lavold Silky Wool. And here, because I couldn't resist this adorable little face, is Dr. Destructo modeling the finished cap.

Later, I added an i-cord with beads threaded through the bottom row of yarn overs.

Without the beads on the crown, it just needed something, you know what I mean? Plus, the silk content of the yarn made me wonder if it would hold any kind of shape at all.

Thank you, Kathy, for a great and addictive pattern!

I'm Loving This!

Thank you all *so much* for the kind words! Really, all credit rightfully belongs to Melanie, the brain behind the gorgeous Mystery Stole!

And speaking of which, can I just tell you how much fun I'm having with this KAL? I usually don't do mysteries (except of the literary or BBC kind) or KALs, but this one really has me hooked. First of all, it's lovely, and I got to see others' first clue before I began, so I knew I liked (at the very least) part of it! ::g:: And then there's the fact that it's lace, which I totally love! Next, and this is a huge surprise to me actually, I love the fact that the clues are given out at intervals! I have the tendency to whip through lace so I can see what it looks like blocked. This one, though, I am savoring like a fine port. I can't go any faster. And that is making me happy. :)

Here's clue 1 completed:

Here you can see the beads more clearly:

And another bead shot where you can see them standing up a bit from the fabric:

A few people on the MS3 list were asking about reading charts, so in case this is helpful to anyone out there, here's a picture of my chart:

I follow a chart like this one (no repeats) by highlighting the lines that I have knitted. By doing this, I can see where I have been and where I am going. It helps me to keep the pattern in my mind's eye and to "read" the lace as it is knitted.

Now, everyone, go tell Becky that she really really needs a shawl. 'Cause she totally does. Hee.

Wherein the Black Beast is Tamed

Look! Tame mohair!

Gratuitous arty shot:

I'm using US size 7 needles so that the Mystery Stole pattern shows through the halo. The beads are also a bit larger than specified: size 6 instead of 8. And they are plummy purple. I love the way they look - like a glinting purple highlight on the black.

I finally started yesterday after a trip to the bead store (which is next door to the yarn store!). :)

I will save the real gloating until I have actually finished the Mystery Stole. No need to anger the Mohair Gods yet while they still have power over me.

Wherein a myth is tested

I decided to use some black laceweight mohair for the Mystery Stole (which I have yet to start, btw, because I don't have the right beads in my stash and because I was too busy yesterday relaxing - I like that word - to be bothered with it). The only problem was that I had already started another shawl with it. It was languishing because I had already knit that particular shawl (the stunning Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding) several times and it was difficult to convince myself that either any of my friends or I needed another one.

Perhaps, if you knit or crochet with mohair, you have heard as I have that freezing said mohair will make it easier to rip out? Time for a test!

First the freezing: since I couldn't get to it for some time, the shawl spent a few days in our freezer. When it emerged, I began to rip:

The first few rows ripped out fairly easily and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. That was a big mistake! Obviously, I had angered the Mohair Gods with my plucky attitude, and they immediately decided to mess with me. I began to run into giant knots at the end of rows. But I carried on with the steadfast refusal to give in to my mohair. I was determined to win rip it out successfully! After some time, I was at this point:

...and, in the end, I had the main ball of mohair and two other smaller bits which I will save until the end of the stole, in hopes that I can avoid using them at all.

What did I learn? That freezing does nothing except make you feel like you have taken steps to ease your mohair frustrations. On the other hand, I do now have a few tips on ripping mohair. First and foremost, when you rip, place the piece on a table or other flat surface and hold it down with one hand right below the stitches to be ripped. Then, with the other hand, pull the stitches straight out away from the hand holding the knitting. Don't ever rip side to side. (serious knots will occur!) And don't get in a hurry! Take it slowly. If you come to balls of fuzz, pick them out with a straight pin until you can tell the difference between the ball of fuzz and the actual yarn strand.

So now to figure out the beads. I may have to take a little trip to the bead store. (oh no!) :)