Spring Mystery 2010 (Flora) – Complete

I finished the Spring Mystery Shawl this week, and even managed to block it in a timely manner. Pre-Blocking, it looked like this:

After blocking, it looked like this:

I’ve said it before, but I love, love, love what blocking does for lacework. The beads really, really add a nice touch to the shawl. This is the first beaded project I’ve managed to finish, and I do wonder what it’ll be like to wear.

The only other beaded project I’ve ever done is currently in this stage:

That’s Pink Lemon Twist’s Mystery Stole 4, and it’s been waiting for me to get around to grafting it for about 6 weeks now. *g* I was gonna do it yesterday, but I had a crap night’s sleep, and I somehow think that much Kitchener is going to require that I be well rested and … patient. Maybe that’ll be next weekend’s project.

Which mean right now, I pretty much have nothing I really want to do on the needles. It feels…weird. I signed up for the GoddessKnits 2010 Anniversary Shawl, but I haven’t enough laceweight in my stash, so that’s on hold until I get some. I think I may hit the Knitter’s Frolic in a couple of weeks to get some.

Lace shawls and stoles, everywhere

These days, it seems that all I've been working on is KALs for shawls and stoles.


For one thing, I've been working along on the Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl 9. I'm a little concerned about actually being able to finish it, since most people who bought and used the recommended yarn ran short. I've finished clue four, and have 30 rows left to go. The good news is, the pattern is pretty easy to cut short from this point in - it's a 6 row repeat, done 5 times, so I'm going to put in lifelines at the end of each repeat, and if I run out, I'll rip it back and finish it early.



This is just one side of the shawl - it's got Faroese shaping, so the thing is actually huge. I wasn't willing to take it off the needles in order to try to get a complete shot. It's done in fingering-weight superwash merino, and I think it'll be wonderfully warm once it's complete. Without blocking, it's already long enough to fall from my shoulders to my wrists, so it should be quite snuggly when done. Plus, this is the softest wool I've ever worked with - it feels more like alpaca than sheeps' wool.

I've also been working on the Mystery Stole 4. This is my first time doing any beading, and I love the look of the result. I wasn't fond of the process, though. Placing the beads was a pain in the ass. I am a little concerned about how it's gonna look in the end, though.



I'm at the end of clue 3 for the first side, and the pattern is very obscured on the left side. Part of it seems to be due to the lifeline - the worst part is the row that's got the dental floss. I've gone back and checked it, and there isn't an error as far as I can see, it just doesn't seem to fall right. This is probably one of those times I'm gonna have to keep going and hope that blocking will fix it.

So, now I'm trying to figure out which of the two to bring to Stitch'n'Bitch tomorrow night. Both, probably :-)