mystery mess...

my first real lace project, wing-of-the-moth, knit up like a charm. sure, i dropped a yo here or there and i even slid my needle out of the stitches once or twice. but the mohair content in the yarn meant i never lost anything, never had to tink (or frog) back because i couldn't figure out where i lost/gained that darned stitch.

mystery stole 3 on the other hand....

for some reason, i make more progress when i'm watching tv than when nothing else is going on. last night i had a dvd on and zoomed through 5 or 6 rows. today and yesterday at work i made about as much progress backwards as forwards...and worse yet, today as i leaned over to pick up a dropped stitch marker, i discovered that the left needle was no longer in my hand! which meant i had to pick up half a row of stitches. as this is alpaca, not mohair, i of course lost some stitches. fortunately, there weren't too far back and i didn't have to tink (this time). that was however, the last straw, and i've ordered a circular needle (vs. the straights i've been using). i think my problems are two-fold: 1) i think the straights fall out of the yarn easier. 2) i think the relative slipperiness of the alpaca (as compares to mohair) makes it easier to lose stitches. i can't however, explain why i should have more difficulties without distractions than with - i don't think i'm that good of a multi-tasker!



regarding the overall progress of the stole: i'm still on clue 1 (row 87 to be precise.) clue 4 is out tomorrow. i somehow don't think i'll be finishing on pace with the clue release... it's also looking like a bit of a mess. a little finger-blocking has me convinced that this is ok; the stole will look great post-blocking but will look ugly 'til then. i can live with that--it's what makes lace knitting fun!