Yay Mystery Stole 3!

So, I dyed the yarn. First time I dyed it, there were a few spots that were still white, and some bits that were blue or brown instead of black. I considered just going with it, but I got the nice silver beads to offset the black, and I'm really looking for a solid black stole. So, back into the crock pot the yarn went. This time, there's only a nickel-sized spot that didn't quite get inundated with dye, so that's as good as it gets. It's my first time dyeing yarn, so I felt that two dunks in the pot weren't bad at all! Apparently I just need to stir more next time. Putting it back in when I had allowed it to dry overnight was quite difficult though. Quite. I really, really wanted to just start the stole! When it was finally all black and all dry (with the help of a fan), I made this swatch:


Only two repeats of the pattern with (though you can't really see them) silver beads at the point of the first repeats. I gotta work on bead placement, they didn't really come out too well, kinda off-centered. I figure there's time for that later. And I probably won't be putting the beads on a triple decrease either. It is my first time knitting with beads in any way but stringing them onto the yarn and using them while casting on, which I did for the Frill (see last post). It is also my first time knitting with laceweight and making real lace. I've done some for Frill, some for Reid, and some for random socks, but this is hardcore lace. My goal for the weekend was to read Harry Potter, get through Chart A and start Tempting. I was quite happy, I started the stole on Sunday and finished Chart A the same day, in a rather short amount of time. The silver beads look amazing against the black yarn, but not so much in picture format. I assure you, it looks great!


Tempting is supposed to be for when I'm watching a movie or reading a book and therefore can't concentrate on the lace instructions. K2, P2 rib is for very simple not-paying-attention knitting. So of course I've been motoring through it. The goal was to have ten rows done per day, with the sweater at approximately 7 rows/inch and 20 inches long, that's about 140 rows so two weeks. There's minimal joining/weaving/seaming to do, and I'm going to make the sleeves much smaller than called for. The ones on the model that Jenna is wearing can't actually be 2.5 inches long, and I've really hated how the sleeves look on the larger sizes when people follow the pattern, so 1-2 inch sleeves for me, thanks. I should be able to fit in the sleeves, underarm graft, weaving the four ends, and threading the ribbon through by the barbecue. I want to wear it to Lee's big summer barbecue. He says I shouldn't. I suppose he's looking out for the knitting, as at a barbecue, it'll probably be not so much clean. If I finish, I will anyway. It looks like I will finish, as it's Tuesday, I started on Sunday, and I'm already 50 rows into it, almost doubling the goal pace. In fact, if I work on it at the knitting group I'll be joining this evening, I may finish it by my trip to New York City this weekend and wear it there. This is one of those that I just can't wait to get finished and get wearing!

I enjoyed Harry Potter, but thought it went out with less of a bang than I was expecting. Ah well, all's well that ends well, and that ended well enough, though in a very interesting way. Don't worry, no spoilers here.