It has become apparent that when it comes to knitting, I am a joiner.  You see, it all started last July with Mystery Stole 3, or MS3.  I joined up and knit that lace in a surprisingly short amount of time.  And then I was hooked!  I promptly joined quite a few other mystery lace knits, 1 of which was frogged, one of which was completed, one of which is hibernating, and one of which I am actively working on.  I joined other mystery lace knit alongs, but I didn’t even begin those projects.  Then the joining branched out.  I started joining other knit alongs, and initiated a few of my own between friends.  The most famous of these was perhaps the ravelympics completed not long ago.  So, I am a joiner.

I’ve given myself a rule that I cannot start more lace before finishing one of the 2 lace projects I started but are languishing.  But, as you all know, I am not so good at sticking to my rules when it comes to knitting.

So it should come as no surprise to you that I have joined yet another KAL.  Mystery Stole 4.  I thought I would join and not knit until later.  Until other notable projects were done.  But…the first clue came out and the beads sang me their siren song.  I went out and bought new beads, beads that would show up better in my yarn.  I cast on.  I knit.  And I ended up with this:

So…that means I need to finish THIS one before I start any new lace.  I’ve justified my decision somewhat by realizing that I don’t intend to join anymore mystery lace KAL’s as I am tired of them.  (No, seriously.) And I am knitting from stash.

I am using knitpicks shadow in vineyard.  I love it.  Knitpicks has some issues, but their laceweight yarn is very nice.  It is just about the exact weight I like to knit with, and has a fantastic feel and great stitch definition.  And the colors are rich.

I chose, this time, much larger beads that I typically use.  I ran into some lace shawls at Stitches Midwest which used beads that were quite a bit larger than I could imagine using, and I loved the effect.  Pair that with the weaving my aunt does that uses about the same size beads, I thought I could think out of the box a bit and give it a try.  The suggestion for the stole was beads which show well, as they are an integral part of the pattern, so I didn’t figure I could go wrong.  I love the effect!

Speaking of joining….I also joined Sock Knitters Annonymous.  This is a group with various sock knitting challenges which help us knit up our sock yarn stash.  September sock is orange, so I am using my poorly spun and navajo plyed bfl from awhile back.  The sock is coming out better than I expected, and I am thrilled that I am using up yarn which probably would have sat in my stash for no apparent reason forever.