Swan Song

Wait, did you miss something? yeah, sorry...wing in progress was pretty boring so I skipped it. But here it is complete.

Specs:
yarn: Elann lace
needles: Addi lace US3
time: from start of MS3 to Aug24, 2007

And for the record...the wing was a bit boring, but I kinda like it.

Final thoughts? Thanks to Melanie for an interesting lacy summer. Beads? new experience. Liked it, but next time, will find beads that pop a bit. yeah, I can't see the beads very well either.

The Mystery is Revealed

The MS3 secret is out. What's my thoughts? Well, due to the fact that I was super lame and did not put in the 'super important lifeline' properly, I shall forge ahead. And it has nothing to do with the fact that if you're knitting it symmetrical, you need to frog back a bazillion stitches...Actually, I had decided to follow the pattern as written back when there were hints as to this stole being 'different'. What's the fun in a mystery shawl knitalong if you don't knit along?! (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it)

Of course, do I wear shawls? No. Do I wear my knitted items? Actually sometimes yes. I wear Bianca and Leafless Leaf.

Anyway, it doesn't matter if this stole is unconventional (since I don't wear haven't worn shawls), I believe there will be hundreds and thousands of the same stole all over the world anyway (if even a fraction of the folks that signed up for MS3 actually complete the shawl).

I might make another one, but this time, in a different color and more contrasting beads. And maybe on this one, I'd make it symmetrical.

MS3 clue 4 done

Given the fact that I haven't read HP7, it still took me awhile to finish clue 4. Not only that, but I had 2 errors in the project. They can be seen here.

I only fixed one. I tinked back 5 rows to fix it. The other problem I tried fixing by laddering down, but decided to just knit it back up because I could be making more of a mess than it is. I'm pretty sure that no one will notice unless I tell them there's a problem.

The other issue I had was with the putting in the super duper special lifeline. I forgot until row 295. I went back and weaved in a string. I'm totally crossing my fingers hoping that the lifeline won't be used, because I could be totally hosed.

MS3 Clue 3 finished

Here's clue 3 finished yesterday. What more to say? uhmm...I bought beans and it's onward to bowling, steg, wicked, and others...

MS3 Clue 2 finished

I suppose I'll just keep posting my progress on this project. I finished Clue 2 yesterday (July 8, 2007). We're now in the straightaway portion. Janis at Yarn! (see side for link) claims to see a face in there...and now, that's all I see...

oh, hey, like my lifeline? the only time I used it? yeah, when I was trying to knit w/ the lifeline in as I started clue 2. I don't usually put in lifelines, but I figure since I have no idea what it's going to look like, I'd better.

Here's a picture. I'd better get crackin' on my other projects now.

Get a Clue! MS3 clue 1 finished

Did I mention that after I decided not to start MS3 until I finished the cardi? Well, I finished the thing and cast on for MS3.

Materials:

2 skeins of elann.com Peruvian Baby Lace Merino in parchment.
1 tube of pearly white #8 beads (a pain to find)
1 32" US3 Addi Lace turbo
1 #13 crochet hook


I wanted to do the bead thing with this stole because I've not knitted with beads and I thought this would be interesting.

So, first off, procurement of materials.
YARN: I had black laceweight yarn and some pale-ish colors, but I didn't have white/off-white yarn. Oh, I take that back. When we were up in Oregon last year, I got a ball of alpaca laceweight, but there wasn't enough yardage (yeah, that's it...not enough yardage...). btw, they're now out of the parchment color.

NEEDLES: I wanted to check out Addi Lace Turbos so I went to my LYS (Article Pract) and they actually had it on sale. Of course, they had mislabeled the needles so I thought I was getting an even better deal...sigh...but it's still pretty good.

BEADS: I checked every big box store in the area for the right size beads -- to no avail. Okay, I found red #8 seed beads at J's but I didn't want a huge contrast. I then went 'Doh!' and remembered that there's actually a bead store on the island. I'm sure I was annoying the ladies at the store because I couldn't decide between 2 colors. I guess I could have bought both, but that would have been extra lame. I settled on the pearly off-white.

CROCHET HOOK: Okay, lesson learned the hard way. For one night, I couldn't find my crochet hooks and ended up fashioning a bit of 20 gauge wire into a hook device thingie and used that to get beads on. Then I found my crochet hooks only to realize that the smallest size crochet hook I own is 12. That hook looked itty bitty, but only ~15% of the beads slipped over okay. I sorted through the beads to find the ones that would fit over the hook. So, I limped along using a crochet hook that was too big. So, yesterday, I broke down and went to Lacis in Berkeley (yes, I know how lucky I am that this store is in my hood) and purchased a hook for less than $2. Oh, drats! if I'd know how cheap hooks were, I would have gone by there earlier. I purchased a 13 and got home and read that I should have gotten a 14. Oh, well. The great news is that all the beads fit on this size. YES!

I did have to tink back 4 rows yesterday because I realized that I made an error the night before. Yes, I tried knitting this after we got home from watching fireworks -- very lame. Note to self: do not knit lace when exhausted. The only other thing is that I forgot 1 bead in the center. I'm not sure how I did that, but I wasn't about to rip back 8 rows to replace it.

We received Clue 2 today. After a bit of yahoo group reading, I thought I should put in a lifeline before I started clue 2. Yeah, well. Putting in that lifeline? yep, I screwed up somewhere. Need to figure out where I went wrong on 1st row of clue 2. It figures...