Serendipity

This post has been a long time coming.

Pattern: Mystery Stole 4 ("Serendipity") by Georgina Bow Logsdon
Yarn: Aisling Yarns superwash merino lace weight, colorway Perfect Storm, ~1.75 skeins
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: September 7/November 28
Mods: none

This stole was an interesting knitting experience. It was the first time I'd incorporated beads into my knitting -- 6.0 mm hematite beads, applied through the use of an almost impossibly tiny crochet hook. The beads are mainly on the two ends of the stole, which give it a nice weight when worn.

As far as the construction of the stole is concerned, that turned out to be the one tricky part. It's knit in two halves, from the outside toward the center. When the two sections are complete, a row is knit in waste yarn, which is then followed in order to graft the two halves together. This proved to be the most difficult part of the process for me; I spent a good hour and a half weaving the yarn tail through the stitches and then tightening up the grafting row. I'm not too anxious to do that again.

I really, really liked this yarn. It has a nice tight twist and a lovely shine to it, and I think it feels a little more substantial than a typical lace weight. The dyer names all her colorways after movie titles, and I do think this one looked rather like rough ocean waves. I had set out to knit this stole in a solid color, but once I saw this yarn, I knew I had to have it.

Now that I've been through two mystery knit-alongs, I think I've gotten them out of my system for a while. I'm happy with the results of this particular stole, but it's not a pattern I would have necessarily chosen on my own. I think I will stick to the many lace shawls I have in my mental queue for the foreseeable future while I enjoy this addition to my accessory closet.