MS4 Swatch, Beads Revisited, and K'nex Swift

It’s a lovely rainy afternoon here, so of course, I’m knitting.  

Here is a photo of my MS4 swatch on US size 4 needles.  KnitPicks Gloss Lace Yarn in Celery, with assorted beads.  I’m not thrilled with the stitch definition, so I’m going to re-swatch with US size 2 needles and whatever the new favorite color of beads turns out to be.  Lemme know what you like.

I wasn’t sure where to put the beads for best effect in the pattern, so I just scattered some around.  To the far left is a handful of (juicy) Cranberry beads, then a few Green, then the Yellow (which are totally lost in the lace, and is now out of contention) and then an inch bead-free.  To the right of the swatch is a length of yarn with a few other bead color choices strung on it.  At the top is Blue-Green, which looks blue on the yarn.  Then Orange, Purple, Pink, and Glossy Coral.  We are all liking the Purple and the Orange.  

A smidge bigger.  

Below is the beginning of the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Spring Knitty.  I know this one wasn’t in the plan released earlier this summer, but that just goes to show I’m not very good at sticking to my directives.  I can’t recall what the yarn is and can’t find the ball band.  It is the remainder of the yarn I used on last year’s Mystery Stole.  

And here in this final picture for today, is the result of our collaborative creativity the past few rainy afternoons.  Because I need very little incentive to break out the K’nex and I found this page and this page, which employ K’nex and Tinker Toys to create inexpensive swifts and ball winders for knitters who are either cheap (like me) or only occasionally need to wind a hank into a ball (also like me).  This is the Yarn Swift Sonar X5 and I put together.  We modified liberally.  If anyone would like step-by-step instructions, let me know.  

The ball winder is still in the prototype stage.  Sonar X8 will get back to you on it.  

And yes, yes YES! I finished all three of the Stealth projects I had slated to knit during the Olympics.  They make a funny little set and I will photograph them to share later.  

Now back to the Deployment Socks.