Does anybody still remember the Mystery Stole 3?

Pattern: Mystery Stole 3 (Swan Lake) by Melanie Gibbons
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr wool-silk, 50% merino wool, 50% Chinese Tussah silk
Color: Pewter (a very nice light grey)
Price: I don't know anymore, I bought it at Sarah's Yarns a while ago
Amount: not sure, officially 1000 yards
Needles: also a good question, I'd assume 3.5 mm needles
Gauge: not necessary
Dimensions: ??
Modifications: none
Comments: I used black beads. I thought I was very clever, but later on I thought they resembled black sesame seeds. I have to find a way to store, because if you fold it, its own weight will cause creases, that's what I realized when I took it out from the box where I had stored it to take pictures.

They Mystery Stole 3 was a knitalong that started in June (oops, June 2007! :o I just looked it up in my project list on Ravelry. It says I started in August 2007 and finished it in December 2007). I blocked the stole using the lazy method (just pulling it apart without using needles) when it was finished, so I had to re-block it a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't managed to take pictures until today. Obviously I'm in dire need of a good photographer, but don't worry, I will try to compensate quality with quantity, which is always a good idea in my book. :D (The good thing is also I don't have to decide which is the best picture and which one I should use. I just take a couple that look ok.)





Melanie won't be doing another Mystery Stole knitalong this year. Her mom will be responsible for the design of the Mystery Stole 4.

This top my mom knit for me. The pattern is her own.



I still haven't been able to block Lily's Leaf Shawl. It's quite big and I don't have enough of the jigsaw pieces.

MS3 clue 1

I pinned it on the back of a pillow. Looks ok as far as now, no mistake noticed.


I found two little tin boxes to store some of the beads. Much better than tubes that tip over if you're not careful and more convenient than the little zip lock bags in which these beads arrived.




And when you open them, they look like little treasure chests. :D

Last details about Hanami Stole

Pattern: Hanami Stole by Melanie Gibbons (Pink Lemon Twist)
Yarn: Colourmart 100% cashmere, 3/28 heavy laceweight (by the way, if you have ever wondered what all these funny numbers like 2/28, 3/28, 1/18, etc. mean, they tell you how many plies your yarn has, first number, and how thick it is, second number. For more information go here)
Color: Rumour
Price: $34 per 150 g cone
Amount: probably 120 g, because I have 30 g left and this was a 150 g cone
Needles: 3 mm, but 3,5 mm would also work out
Gauge: it seems my swatch had 28 stitches x 40 rows/10 cm
Dimensions: 45 cm wide and 168 cm long
Modifications: I cast on more stitches, 113, because my gauge was different. As I didn't want my stole to become so holey, I left out the last two charts. I somehow had to make up for the missing length and I wanted to have a slower transition between the basket weave lace pattern and the blossom pattern anyway, so I inserted a somewhat longer stockinette section (two charts long) between the two pattern sections. And I thought less holes would make the stole a bit warmer, too. My stole was still too short though, so I took the first blossom chart and doubled the number of rows between the holes till this part was two charts long. After that I just followed the pattern. The last thing I did was made the ruffle at the end a bit more, uhm, how do you say, "ruffly"? Instead of one row of kfb I did two. And I added beads every four stitches when binding off the ruffle. I felt like having something a bit more girly and sassy, therefore more ruffles. :)


That's how the stole looks worn (I wonder when I will have the opportunity to wear a stole?! And I'm already working on my next one. :D). The yarn becomes incredibly soft and fluffy after washing. It does not smell good when you buy it, because it still has spinning oil on it, but I think it's worth it (and it added some polish to my wood needles :D).

Finally - casting on for MS3 stole!

I thought I would never start this stole. First I didn't know what yarn to chose, given that Melanie said the best choice would be black or white. Personally I found it difficult to find laceweight yarn in these colours. Eventually I chose Zephyr wool-silk in "Pewter" which is the nicest light grey that you can probably find. I really like this color. :) Then I had trouble finding the right beads. I wanted the same glass beads that I had used for the Hanami Stole, but I didn't have enough for this stole. I finally found some on the internet (the shops here only carried acrylic beads or they were too big, too small, not the right color, not the right shape), but it took another couple of weeks till they arrived. As I have already said I initially wanted the same transparent glass beads as I had used previously, but in the end I settled on matt black beads that I purchased with the other ones. I'm knitting the stole with my new ebony needles (I've totally spoiled myself recently :D I got a couple of Holz & Stein knitting needles, 350 g of really nice glass beads, Alpaca Drops yarn in a beautiful raspberry color for knitting the Wine and Roses Mitts and a small blanket for me and a new bike (I didn't have a bike for maybe more than 8 years)) and I found that the matt black of the needles and the silver of the yarn were a good combination. The black beads make the stole look a tad more interesting. I'll show pictures later.

And last but not least, a website I found recently: Knitting Delight. There are some awesome shawl patterns there. I really like Sternblume, Moonflower, Spiderlady and Numero 13. Unfortunately the pictures are all in black and white, while some might consider this chic and classic, it appears a bit dull to me (also the quality of the pictures could be a bit better), nevertheless, it's still obvious that these shawls are very pretty.

Mystery Stole 3 has started!

Mystery Stole 3 has started and I'm sososo excited! :D After seeing Melanie's fabulous designs I just had to buy some of her patterns (at the moment I'm knitting the Hanami stole using laceweight cashmere in a color called "rumour" ("orchid" seems to be a more common name for this color)) and now I'm going to participate in this knitalong! I just signed up for the knitting group, don't forget to sign up , too, because the group closes on July 6. This is going to be such fun! :D