23 Nov 2012: Cast on 151 stitches using cable CO and knit the first and last together for a tighter join in the round (so I was using 150 stitches after the join). Using knittimo’s modifications. This is my first project using beads; so far, so good! I am using round 6/0 Toho silver-lined crystal beads and Romi’s method.

27 Nov 2012: Halfway complete! I did switch to using 28 gauge craft wire for my bead hook (I had been using 32 gauge)… it’s still small enough to fit through the beads but is more robust than the smaller gauge wire.

2 Dec 2012: Cast off on 8s using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. I probably could’ve done the bind off on 7s, but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t crazy tight (and in this case, a little loose was better than a little tight IMO).

I still need to decide whether to block it to solve the edge curl. It doesn’t need blocking to open the lacework (the weight of the beads takes care of that), but I’d like the edges less curly. I’ve never blocked mohair before, though, so I need to look into best methods.

I really hope my sister likes it… I think it turned out beautifully! I am not quite sure how to get it to lay the way knittimo does in all of her Sylvan Cowl photos, but maybe my sister can get it figured out.

About the yarn: The yarn is soft and lovely. I didn’t find any knots in the 1.4 skeins I used. I didn’t have to frog, but I did have to tink back a few stitches once, and it wasn’t too difficult. With both tinking and knitting, you do have to pay attention to not catch the fluff on the needles, but it was still quick to knit with nonetheless. The sparkle is really well integrated; I never had any break or appear to be coming loose (I’ve also used Dream in Color Starry, and the silver in there sort of sticks out, whereas in the Luna it doesn’t at all). Finally, I will say that I as very pleasantly surprised with how this yarn behaved during the initial join; I was worried I’d have a hard time seeing the cast on to make sure I didn’t twist the join, but it was actually very clear… I had no problems keeping this untwisted at all.

New Stuff
On this project I learned…

1. How to knit with BEADS!!! Super fun… I can’t wait to do another project with them!