Mystery Stole components

THE YARN:
Malabrigo lace weight in "Velvet Grapes," purchased online at http://www.yarncountry.com/ . (Order reached me 3 days after I placed it & very good prices.)

THE BEADS: I'm using 2 different types:
For the edge stitch: miyuki hex beads in DBLC-115 (topaz gold luster)
For the inner stitches: miyuki size 6 in 0462 (metallic gold iris)
-- both purchased at http://www.foxdendesigns.com/, another great site. The order got here 2 days after I placed it! ZOOM! Plus they have a great flat rate on priority mail -- all USA orders ship Priority for a flat fee of $4.25.

THE NEEDLES: Brittany birch #4's. I put my swatch on circulars to block it, but prefer to work on straights if possible -- dealing with the cable join on circulars while dealing with LOTS of YOs can turn me into -- dare I say it -- A screaming swaybacked Gorgon.

THE SAGA:
I found out about this knit-along the day before the first clue was released, a Thursday. After looking at Melanie's (gorgeous) previous Mystery Stole designs and other designs in her online shop (at http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/), I decided I had to get on the Mystery Stole 3 bandwagon.

After perusing the laceweights in my stash -- mostly Zephyr and knitpicks --which are wonderful yarns -- I decided to look elsewhere for my MS3 yarn. I am still low on the learning curve for lace knitting, and I wanted something a wee bit thicker for my first "serious" lace project.

I considered Koigu, but since the damned family has to eat EVERY day, I had to look elsewhere. I checked out 3 local yarn stores (LYS's), and found nothing. Went back to the internet and discovered Malabrigo lace weight merino, a low-twist thick/thin merino with a beautiful soft hand. And reasonable -- $10 per 477-yard skein. I researched Malabrigo a little more. It's so hard buying yarn online, but after checking out a lot of yarn reviews, I found that most people loved Malabrigo ("buttery soft!" "silky!" "Slap your momma with this yarn and she'll thank you!"), while a minority of traditional knitters don't like it because of the low twist.

I'm more of a wing-and-a-prayer knitter myself, and the Malabrigo colors looked scrumptious. I picked one in a great variegated purple (Velvet Grapes) and sent my order for 2 skeins to yarncountry.com. Foxden Designs has a great selection of Miyuki beads, so I picked a few that looked like they would work with the Malabrigo.

So: Placed orders for yarn and beads on Thursday. Beads came on Saturday, yarn arrived on Monday. And --oh my -- what yarn. It really is one of the nicest lace weights I've ever laid hands on. Very low twist, almost like roving, but it holds together great. My pictures so far do not do the color justice, but it is amazing. I'd say 5-6 different purples blended together, everything from a dark, smokey lilac to an almost black deep plum.

After reading some of the messages on MS3's website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mysterystole3/, BTW), I decided to go with a finer bead (the #8 hex) for the edge stitch and a larger bead (#6 iris) for the interior of the shawl. Basically, I feel like if I'm going to all of the fussi-tudinessness of placing each of these beads individually, I want them to show up.

Winding the yarn into balls was delicious -- I like hand-winding as I think it lets you get to know the yarn better. Malabrigo was showing itself to be strong and accommodating. If I weren't married, I would date this yarn. Not a single knot in almost 1,000 yards!

And then I started chart A. I hear a few of you out there saying "What about your gauge swatch?" Personally, one of the things I love most about knitting lace is that, IMHO, We don't need no steenking gauge swatch. Am I the only knitter out here who hates to knit gauge swatches? (Can I get an "Amen!"?) And normally I do it, grumpily, because I don't care for sweaters that would accommodate Java the Hut or Olive Oyl, but not me.

But if a knit stole/shawl/scarf is a little bigger or a little smaller -- who cares? I just pick a needle that looks right for the yarn (usually 2 sizes bigger than that recommended for the yarn on the ballband) and cast on, feeling like a knitting heretic because I have broken one of our commandments with impunity: Thou shalt always knit a gauge swatch.

Tomorrow I'll let you know the scintillating details of bead placement, left-and-right leaning decreases, and the controversy over slip-stitched edges. But for now, feed the baby, water your garden, eat a bratwurst, and -- by all means -- knit something.