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!

Arrrrgh, here be yarn!

Click the spoiler screen for the first installment of the Yarn Pirate Booty club! The colors are pretty unusual, and I'm looking forward to casting on--I'm thinking that Charade might be a good choice, but I haven't settled on anything specific yet.

In other news, I finally finished clue A of the Mystery Stole--so far, so good! The sewing room renovation is still in progress, so it's tough for me to take photos. My "studio" (it's a table with a lamp) is in pieces in the garage, so this is the best I could do:

I wish that the photo wasn't so shadowy. I've started using lifelines, but so far haven't needed them. Fingers crossed!

Can't talk . . . Reading

The Harry Potter book arrived a little while ago, time to start reading! I've got a lot of things going on this weekend, but I think that I can get a good start.

In knitting news, I'm at row 89 of Mystery Stole 3, but since our sewing room is torn apart I don't have a place to lay it out for photos. Maybe when I get to the end of Chart B I'll rig something up!

This week I received two outstanding packages, one was the first shipment of Yarnpirate's Booty Club. The colors are not what I would normally choose myself, but I do like them a lot. I don't want to take time to put together a spoiler screen right now (I want to start reading!), so I'll hold off on the photos. The second package was from Wooly Wonka Fibers, and it contained my Bee Fields Shawl pattern and yarn in Tupelo Honey:

I love the yarn--the color is a little more saturated than I expected, which is a relief. I was worried that it would be too pastel / white, but it isn't at all. Also, it's very, very soft, even to my somewhat wool-sensitive hands. The yarn came in three skeins, one bigger than the other two. I started winding the bigger skein, but I screwed it up somehow and it's going to take a really long time to fix, so I just wound one of the smaller skeins. That way, I can get started on the shawl (but probably not this week) and deal with the other skein once I'm fully sucked in.

In sewing room renovation news, the first coat of paint is on the walls (except for a little under the not-working wall heater) and I think that we can get the second coat on this afternoon / evening. The color is called "weathered sandstone", it's a light beigey color. It really helps that there are only two walls that need paint! The plan is to have carpet put in next week, and then it's just needs organization and a massive purging of 40 years of craft crap that has accumulated. Easy, right?

Time to get cracking on the book!

Mystery Stole 3: The Beginning

This morning, after visits to the Dog Park, Bead Store, and a local Farmer's Market, I started the Mystery Stole. I've made it through Chart A of Clue 1, as shown above in the not-quite-straight photo--I just noticed that the beads on each side appear to be on different rows, but that's just bad pinning, not bad beading. I haven't had any problems yet, but I need to start building in some checks to make the inevitable screw up more fixable - marking the stitch intervals on the chart, for instance, or stringing a lifeline. I feel good about my progress, although when I look at blogs of people who started earlier (notably another Carrie), I realize that I'm have a lot of knitting to do before I'll be ready for next week's clue!

The beads that I selected are matte metallic green, and I like they way they look so far. I generally don't want to wear a lot of shiny stuff, and I didn't want a lot of contrast, so I think that these are a good choice. They're the same as my favorite beads from this beaded cuff--my local bead store had the same kind that I bought in Arizona in March. Here's a close up:

Another Day, Another Bandwagon

You know what this means--I've joined Mystery Stole #3, and I've even swatched. The yarn is Alpaca With a Twist Fino, it's an alpaca silk blend. The swatch was knit on size #4 Addi Lace needles, and I like the way it looks. The stockinette looks a little loose when pinned and put under the harsh interregation light that I use for photography, but it is fine.

Here's the swatch, pre-pinning:

The green yarn that I'm using (everything is green lately) is somewhat richer than it looks in the photo--it changes a lot with the light. Here's how the color looked outside, today at sunset:

Totally different colors, but both photos are accurate. Usually I don't see as much of a difference. I like the color, and am excited to pick out some beads tomorrow and get started on the clues. There are a ton of people working on this (about 6,000), so there are lots of photos already in circulation--I expect that that will be a big help!

Now back to the Bavarian Rockstars--I'd still like to finish them up this weekend!