Mermaid Sighting

Dad isn't the best photog for the knits (look, ma, no hands!), but I thought you'd like to see this from the front. See how it's a little sheer? I'm wearing a v-neck t-shirt underneath. It's OK, though, I don't mind.

Have I mentioned that I love this yarn? The sheen of the silk. Yum.

Mermaid in action

Here's the sweater in action on Easter. Sorry I don't have a full shot yet but I didn't think to get one. Love the color, love the fabric, love my mods to the pattern. I am quite happy, though I think it needs some more blocking. It's a little sheer, so I wore it with a similarly shaded long-sleeve shirt because it's so blasted cold here in the Chicago area this April. I mean, it snowed today! And the snow is still on the ground. I don't even have the heart to photograph it, it's just so ridiculous (and wet and not very photogenic). Thank goodness I'm a knitter! At least I brought Isobel's hat/scarf/mittens set and my Malabrigo gloves.

I'm working on a beret from Greetings from Knit Cafe in some of the leftover Alpaca Silk. There should be enough also leftover to make some long gloves for next winter.

And I'm ten rows from the end of the Old Shale Shawl I started when attending Stephanie's talk last week. Man, is it going fast - thanks again, Suzanne! I'll let you know if I need packing help. Unfortunately, the shawl got out of hand, and I had to buy more yarn to finish it. Of course, they didn't have the very pretty Monet's Water Lillies-esque yarn I started with, so I found a mixed purple skein that should complement the main yarn nicely. I'll post a pic when I'm finished, which should be in a couple of days. The pattern calls for one skein of Misti Alpaca lace, which I have, and the yardage is almost the same, but I did go up a needle size, since the Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn is bulkier than the laceweight. So, lesson learned: that means you need more yarn :)

But guess what?!? I think we're going to stop at The Fold on the way to visit my Grandma on Saturday! Home of lots of Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn! I'm anxiously awaiting my next STR club shipment, even though I haven't done up my Monsoon socks yet, since that yarn is in the boxtobeshipped.

Since my stash is in cardboard, I'm working on acquiring a new stash by checking out some of the new "local" yarn stores. There will be a full report later.

FO sighting - Lala Scarf

I promise I'll post a picture tomorrow. I finished this cutie pie with a sc, c1 bindoff (single crochet, chain one for those who don't speak crochet, not that I do), which worked perfectly. I might do this one again but use smaller needles and go farther to make a bigger one. Only concern then would be the bindoff, which takes a loooong time but is very pretty. I like it, but the fabric is very open, as you'll see tomorrow.

Slip Slip asked about my Hourglass Sweater in the Queue post, but since it's a WIP (work in progress), it has moved out of the queue and into the work bag! I cast on for the bottom of the Mermaid variation last night and completed one repeat of the lace pattern WITHOUT INCIDENT! Yay, me! One more repeat, then perhaps a couple of spaced-out repeats: I went from solid lace to lace every other "stack" on the sleeve so will probably do the same at the hem of the body. Then, smooth sailing stockinette with occasional decreases for a while. Ah, the kind of soothing knitting that we all need sometimes.

Did you know there was a new Yarnival last month? Me, neither. I've got to figure out how to stay on top of that, probably Bloglines.