Prizes, MS3 Clue 6 & Future Projects

The Blogiversary prize for which I gave a cryptic crossword type clue still hasn't arrived from the US. I was advised that it would be here in about a week and that was eleven days ago so it should be here any day now. Until then, for those of you who haven't guessed what it is, recall the clue was:

EXTREMELY large puddles of water lie before one of a particular type!
So, EXTREMELY large puddles of water = SEAS (well, I did say EXTREMELY large!)
Hence, SEAS lies before "one of a particular type" which = ILK.
Put the two together and you have SEASILK! - in the hard to find Pinata colourway!!!

As soon as it arrives, I'll let you all know. Then the draw can take place and the winner of the 'desk' competition will be announced at the same time. So, if you want to get your hands on that yummy seasilk, you've still got a few days to enter the Blogiversary draw.

Moving on to MS3, the penultimate clue was released yesterday and I had to wait until 8.30 pm before I could start as I was house-clearing all day. Unfortunately, my in-laws' house has had to be sold to fund their care and, I can tell you, that house-clearing is one big, stressful job and we have a very short time in which to get it done! Suffice to say, that knitting MS3 is what I do for relaxation at any opportunity I can grab between sorting, packing, cleaning, more packing, trips to the dump, etc, etc. Having started last night, I was impatient to see what it would look like after the completion of Clue 6 so I got up early this morning and finished it. This is how it looks.


I'm really not sure whether I'm going to go with the original design or whether to do something different with it so I've left the lifeline in place just in case. I may end up doing it without the wing and making a symmetrical stole as, at the moment, I do feel that the wing (although very lovely on its own) does look a tad incongruous as part of the whole. When I've seen what the final clue brings, I'll make a decision. Here are a couple of close ups of Clue 6.




I have such a love of lace at the moment, I really can't let a beautiful design pass me by which is why this new Fiddlesticks pattern, Arabesque, ended up in my Woolly Workshop basket!


It's knitted in Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight which I've been wanting to try for ages. Now, the UK, as far as I can tell, seems to be a bit thin on the ground when it comes to sources of solid coloured laceweights so I was glad to discover that KCG stock it and Gill at Woolly Workshop has just got some in, too. No prizes for guessing what else ended up in my WW basket, then! Yes, that's the two skeins you see in the photo above in the Dianthus colourway. It's very delicious, being a blend of 50% merino wool and 50% tussah silk. I love the Jade colour of the original but, alas, neither Woolly Workshop nor KCG had any!

Last but by no means least, I SOOOOOOOOOOOO want to make this!


This is Cirkeltroje which is just one of many beautiful designs featured in the book, Feminin Strik. Having bought the book from Saxo, all I now have to do is to fathom out the instructions with the help of an online Danish-English Knitting Dictionary such as this!