decisions decisions

I decided to make another Big Lacy Thing with Beads.

I dunno why; I am not a lacy kind of girl. But I love knitting big lacy things with beads. And they're having a Round & Holey KAL on one of my Ravelry groups. KAL = Knit-A-Long (and yes, I do need to get to work on that glossary of Knitting Terms for the Uninitiated). Round means it's knitted in the round (although it doesn't have to end up round--it might be square, or a rectangle, or any other shape on the spectrum between circle and not-a-circle). Holey means it has holes in it; in other words, lace. I do love to knit lace. Too bad I hate wearing it. Oh well. Big lacy things with beads make awfully pretty gifts.

Himmelblau

I chose the yarn easily enough. I've had it for a while, waiting for the perfect project. It's blue. Specifically, Himmelblau. Possibly the prettiest blue on the planet. Certainly the perfect blue for early spring when we are starved for true-blue skies.



The pattern is Amillë, by Emily Ross. It's a looooong rectangle, knitted mostly in the round. I may actually wear this one--it looks nicely scarf-shaped. Wrapping it around a couple times tends to neutralize the laciness.






Then I had to pick the beads. This part took a little longer. Teeny beads or bigger beads? Sparkly or matte? Clear or blue or light green or dark green or purple or dark purple with a rainbow-y coating or pearl or bronze or gold? I have a significant stash of beads, so I restricted myself to beads already in my possession...which meant I couldn't use the tiny bright silver ones I was already picturing. *Sigh* But when you have stash, you must work from stash. And man, do I have stash. (Bead stash, that is. Bead stash. Well, and yarn stash too. I have, um, epic yarn stash. And fabric, but there's no need to get all confessional in here.)

pretty picture of a few of  the beads

pretty picture of a few more 

the bead drawer isn't that pretty

particularly enjoyable fish button

I couldn't just go through my bead drawer, because my bead drawer had been overwhelmed by buttons (somewhere along the line I thought it was a good idea to start a button stash, too). So before I could get on with the beads, I had to pick all 7965963 buttons out of the bead drawer, sort them by size and color, put them in ziploc bags, and find them their own little storage bin.

I particularly liked the fish buttons. I left one out so I could enjoy its little fishy face.

And then, at long last, I started stringing beads on my yarn to see how I liked them. Funny thing happened...I liked all of them. I strung increasingly unlikely colors...and I liked them too! Clearly, this was developing into a situation. Indecision does not suit me. I decided to wait until daylight.

daylight photo of all the pretty beads on the heavenly blue yarn

It would be fun to draw this out longer, but that would be deceptive. I never exaggerate. In the cold light of day, it was easy enough to make my choice. Fifth from the right, tiny silvery gray beads. (Of course, I don't actually have enough of them and they are no longer available, but whatever. When I have to choose a complement, I'll blog about it again.)

Watch this space for updates on the Big Blue Lacy Thing With Beads.