New Year, New Goodies, New Project

I ordered some earrings from Opal (she's got some gorgeous stuff over at her shop).

The earrings are silver (like purple, I can never seem to get an accurate representation, but they are very silver). They are delicate and very light, even though they dangle to nearly the shoulders. As for the stitch markers, they have a lovely unicorn charm on them. When I purchased some stitch markers from Opal before, I had asked her about unicorns. She didn't have any at that time, but had some a little later and made markers. I had just purchased my loom when she posted them on her shop and couldn't really get anything else at that time. But I coveted them and just a couple of days before I was planning on purchasing them along with my earrings, they were sold. When I opened my earrings, I found not only the other goodies (chocolates and stickers with Opal's own handspun), but she had gifted me with unicorn stitch markers (in purple). Thank you so much, Opal! My unicorn marker is now on the next project:

This is another Sahara. I made one for summer without sleeves. This one will be with long sleeves and it's in a lovely merino angora blend called Cascade Cloud 9 that I got last year at Webs on a color closeout. It is just heaven to work with. It's a very light purple and working up very quickly. (After doing a shawl on size 2s, how can worsted weight and size 6s NOT be quick?)

I've nearly finished another small relic mini purse which hopefully I'll be able to show soon.

Ravelry

I'm in. For everyone still waiting, I encourage you to wait patiently for your invite. I've been waiting for weeks and it is so worth the wait! It definitely isn't a replacement for blogging (though it may suck some time away from it), but an enhancement. You can easily see who is doing the same projects as you (or the ones you want to do) and what yarns they are using. You can see what your friends have in their queue and you can see everyone's projects in one place. It really is a wonderfully done site and is absolutely incredible! If you're already on, feel free to stop by and say hi. My user name is Alianne.

As promised, the headless model returns with Sahara:

And Bonsai:

(Please excuse the blindingly white shirt. I do need a cream-colored tee to wear under it, but the white shirt isn't quite as white as it shows up in the picture.)

Thank you to everyone for your kind words about the loss of my uncle. It means a lot.

Finished Sahara

I know, I just don't try to be creative on the titles anymore, do I? The Sahara is done. It is a little tight in the bosom area, but I think it'll be okay. (Though I might consider adding another few rows of pattern around the collar if I change my mind later.) Anyway, here she is:

Specs:
Pattern: Sahara from Stitch Diva
Needles: Size 6 and 4
Yarn: Pima Silk from Misti Alpaca. I used exactly three skeins for the small size. When I say three skeins, I had about three yards leftover. (I had a fourth skein, but didn't have to use it.) It's a nice yarn, but doesn't stretch as much as cotton usually does in my experience which is why I think the bosom is a wee bit tight.
Modifications: None

I know, I still owe you modeled pictures of Bonsai, so I'll try and get those and some modeled picts of Sahara up sometime next week.

It's been a rough week. My uncle passed away early this morning, so please keep my family in your thoughts. Thank you.

Almost Finished

Well, I'm getting very close to finishing the Sahara. I'm on the last few rows of the bottom, then I'll have to pick up for the sleeve edging and the collar edging. I think I've decided to just use the same color for the edging as the tank. Shouldn't take too much more time and I've tried it on and it fits beautifully. We'll see how it works once it's finished. I really have liked how this garment is constructed. I really like that a good bit of it is done in the round and there will be next to no seaming involved. It's a well written pattern.

In random things, we've gotten our first blueberries off the bushes this weekend. I love fresh blueberries and I'm so happy we didn't lose ours to the frosts like so many. I think we really lucked out. Ours had not yet bloomed when the last frost hit; it bloomed a few days later and our two bushes are just overloaded. Also, The Closer starts back next week; I just love Kyra Sedgewick in the show.

Enjoy your week!

WIP Wednesday

I know I've been MIA a bit lately. I haven't been blogging quite as regularly and I've haven't been commenting as much as usual on everyone's blogs. I've still been a bit under the weather. I'm feeling a bit better today though so I hope I'm on the tail end of all of this. Anyway, I also haven't been knitting quite as much as I usually do. Between not feeling so well and a certain video game that I've gotten sucked into, it makes for not so much knitting. I have read a couple of good books lately though and I'll tell you about those after I show what is in progress. (And I apologize for the crappy photography. There's really no excuse other than laziness.)

First up is Sahara:

I've made it to where the armholes are joined and the piece is worked back and forth for another couple of inches, then the neck is joined and it's worked in the round. The pattern is really easy to follow and it really is pretty quick. I just haven't been working on it a whole lot.

Next is the diamond stole. I had to use the flash to get the pattern to show up, but in doing so, I washed out some of the color. It really is a nice, royal purple.

I have made a little progress with this because it really is a fairly simple pattern and easy to memorize. It's easy to work on when not thinking too much.

And last, but certainly not least is the trinity shawl that I've just cast on for. I'm only about three rows in. It will get smaller each row, then a knitted-on border (which I'm sure you'll hear me complain about because those things take forever!)


Anyway, maybe I'll save the books for Friday instead since I'm not making much progress on anything else, I'll at least have something to share. Maybe I'll even post a couple of reviews on some new knitting books I have. I seem to have acquired several in the last couple of weeks.

More Sahara and a Shawl

I've started the front of Sahara.

I'm seriously loving this knit. The pima silk is really nice and soft, nothing like the worsted weight cotton I've worked with before. And I really look forward to not having to seam sides together. I also love my interchangeable needles because instead of having to run a scrap thread to hold stitches, I can just put the caps on the cords and all I'll have to do is put the needle back on the cord to knit them again.

I wound that lovely sherbet-colored yarn from Margene yesterday and tried out a new stitch. It's the Trinity stitch from Victorian Lace Today and I think it's a pretty nice fit for the yarn.

The colors are nice and subtle peaches and purples (and the photo doesn't do justice as usual) with just a little pink and I think I'll be casting on for the shawl today. It's a triangular one.

Sahara Beginnings

This is the beginnings of Sahara:

The color is actually fairly accurate for once (at least on my computer screen).

The Sahara is worked from neck down. The back is worked first back and forth, then the provisional cast-on (in pink) is picked up for the two fronts which are worked back and forth at once (while the back is on a stitch holder), then the fronts and back are joined up and worked in the round to the end. Stitches are picked up for the neck and armholes (or sleeves). Very little seaming involved! And you can try on as you go. It's going pretty quickly.