Less blogging, more….

…knitting on my Mystery Stole. I wanted to wait and take a picture after a quickie blocking…but I must admit, I can’t stop knitting long enough to quickie block. Here’s a pic of the stole (sans blocking) as it stands right now. I’m almost through clue #2:


I opted for not using beads in mine. I figured I’d have my hands full just trying to follow the lace pattern. As you’ll see from the list below, this is one good decision in the list of bad ones…

There are a couple things I’m learning about knitting my first real laciness…

1. Do not use a furry mohair as your first yarn for your first lace knitting project. Pretty, soft, luxurious to work with…but a beginner lace yarn it ain’t!
2. Do not use black. It’s true that black was one of the recommended mystery stole colors this year. But, so was white. Note to self: think before getting sucked into the furry, luxurious goodness of mohair.
3. I must invest in some Addi Turbos. My Denise Interchangeables are just too rough between the connections of needle and cord.

So, other then these small lessons, my mystery stole is working up quite nicely. I haven’t had to rip anything out…well, I’ve preferred to tink back to the mistake rather then rip, rip, rip. I’ve so far been successful at catching mistakes before the end of the row (knock on wood). I’m also not using any life lines (like I said, I prefer to tink). Ripping is incredibly difficult to do with mohair! This I learned while knitting the swatch at the beginning…

At least I’m in good company. As of this post, there are 6,676 knitters from around the world knitting this stole with me. Two of which I think are really inspiring: Bonnie Marie Burns from Chicknits, and The Yarn Harlot. I’m so glad I decided to sign up for this – even though all other knitting projects have been put on hold for now.

Good thing this whole mystery stole thing isn’t done at Christmas time. There would be one gift…for me!

Here's another full glory shot for you. Sorry for all the flash photography. The non-flash pics didn't even show the beautiful design.


PS: For more Mystery Stole Goodness, check out these pics: The Flickr search (266 pics!)