I Don't Know Why You Say Goodbye

Good-bye, Mystery Stole 3:

Hello, Autumn Lace Scarf:

I've been thinking about abandoning the Mystery Stole for awhile now, and today I finally took the plunge and ripped it out. I started a little late, and although I like the pattern (even the controversial "wing") my motivation really dropped off after I started two other lace shawls, and I don't think it's coming back. The yahoo groups dynamic really turned me off, too--way too many messages that were totally off topic, repeats of other topics, or that attacked other knitters. Also, I don't like knitting from gigantic charts, I like patterns that repeat across more than really large patterns. Although it does look nice in the photo above, doesn't it? That's natural light for you. The Hanami Stole by the same designer is more up my alley, it's already in my Ravelry queue.

I'm glad that I finally ripped it out, and not just so that I can reuse the yarn for another project that I'm more interested in right now. I have a small tendency to hold onto projects that I've lost interest in or that have a flaw that I'm not ready to address. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

I'm now using the yarn for Evelyn Clark's Autumn Lace Scarf, which is available on her brand new website. I think I've overstretched it a bit above, and a stray MS3 bead has weaseled it's way into the frame. I'm making it wider by one pattern repeat, so that there will be three large leaves across instead of two. In laceweight yarn, the scarf is about 9 inches wide, and since I have plenty of extra yarn, a little wider can't hurt. So far, so good. The yarn is Alpaca with a Twist Fino, and I'm using size US4 needles--same as the Mystery Stole.

This seems like a good project to take on vacation. Its nice and portable, but with enough patterning to keep it interesting. I'll also take the Bee Fields, most likely, and the Poppy Socks so that I have a choice of projects. It's hard to tell whether I'll have a lot of non-aircraft knitting time & mojo, and what I'll feel like working on. With two very long flights, there'll be plenty of time to mix it up--now I just need to make it through three and a half very stressful days of work, and I'll be ready to go!