Mystery Stole 3 through Clue 1

OK. I had to do some catch-up on pictures before I could let myself post the Mystery Stole progress. I'm actually working Clue 3 now -- but only one clue per posting until I catch up!

Clue 1 consisted of 100 rows -- to make the starting triangle. Row 1 had 2 stitches, the last few rows had 99.


1.) Here's what the beads look like close to the yarn. I did not end up using the Original Balene circular size 5's. I changed and started the test swatch with an Original Balene circular size 4's. I didn't like using the circulars. Especially with lace, I like being able to prop long single-needles to one side of my hip or the other when doing something tricky. So I finished the test swatch with straight Original Balene size 4's.



2.) Here's a somewhat blurry closeup of the beads -- I was trying to show the iridescence and color highlights.











3.) Here's the test swatch after blocking. Even though the stockinette section was very airy, I thought it would be OK. When I got to working on the real thing, and after looking at Cathy's pictures, I decided to frog and start over on size 3's. I didn't have Original Balene size 3's -- but I did have Balene II size 3's -- which are working well for me. The yarn isn't too slippery on the Balene II plastic.


4.) I wasn't liking the way Clue 1 was turning out even on the size 3's. I was pinning it out to take a picture to send to Carol at Row 90 -- and saw an error at Row 82 (I think). I must have accidentally dropped a stitch and picked up a different stitch somewhere, causing a cascading error. I decided it didn't look too, too bad when pinned out, so I tinked back to Row 83 or 82 (I forget) because I couldn't figure out how to fix it and all subsequent rows. I worked a little past Clue 1, then pinned this to my ironing board and spritzed it, so I could see what it would look like lightly-blocked. I decided to stick with it, even though it's still somewhat airy, because size 2's would be way too small.