Can I start the stole already?!

Apparently not, since I only finished swatching today, having decided the Habu might not be such a good idea! So Motley Hue it is for the SSiii. I was flip-flopping on the bead choice, but I am pretty sure (well, I guess I am 'sure', since I just ordered the rest of the beads) I'm going with the Colonial Grey-lined crystal.

I pulled out the Silver-lined Rosaline 8/0 beads I had purchased for the MS4 and guess what? I think they may work with my now RED Mystery Stole 4!

I bought the appropriate sized crochet hook that will fit the 8/0 beads, so I am set to swatch AGAIN for MS4! Uh...except I still need to wind the new yarn!

Meanwhile, SSiii swatches are washed and laying out to dry.

Above is the fabric I settled on. Well...sorta. I went up to size 5 needles for this swatch and was too lazy to do a whole nother swatch with size 6, so I finished the top portion (the last 10 or so rows after the last beaded row) using my size 6 Addi lace needles. You can hardly detect them, but this whole swatch has the Orchid-lined crystal beads attached.

Here's the swatch I did with the size 2 needles; the top portion has the Colonial Grey-lined crystal beads attached. I decided this fabric is tighter than I preferred.

Here, I was trying to show a side-by-side comparison of the two beads. Clearly the Colonia-Grey shows up much more in the photos. The funny thing with transluscent beads is that so much depends on lighting! In real-life, the Orchid-lined beads seem much more visible. But still, I'm going with the subtler Colonial grey...

OK, maybe this wasn't the best idea (you know, the laziness size 6 needle idea...) and you can't see much difference; but regardless, what do you think? Size 5 needles (bottom 9/10 of the swatch) or 6 (top 1/10 of the swatch)? (All shown on the first swatch)...