Pink Lacey Top

Introducing the Pink Lacey Top.

I really like how it turned out, but I couldn't seem to take a decent picture of the lace. (Sorry for the delay. It's hard to take pictures of yourself...) These few are the best of about 20 pictures I took over the last couple days, however, the bright sun washed out the lace pattern.

The Front.

Specs:
Yarn: Gedifra Korfu
Pattern: Inspired by a free pattern on elann.com
Needles: US7
Lace: Horseshoe lace and gothic arches lace

The Back. Waist shaping is a great thing for a girl with a waist. Go figure... HA.

And here is an arms length shot that shows the yoke lace.

HI! I love you Eric!

Also, I have been painting my new apartment all weekend. I picked really bright colors, but they make me happy. I hope they deliver my furniture soon... Then it will really feel like home... I hope. Go check out the pictures if you are interested. ♥

Pout.

So I'm working on something new; the Fiery Bolero from Interweave Knits. Except I'm doing a Smoky Bolero in a lavender/grey color. I'm knitting along, knitting along. Everything is going well! It's mindless stockinette. Yay!I get to the part where you bind off for the neck... Something doesn't add up... It's not at all obvious from the above picture, but I didn't cast-on one set of six on the one side. I also cast-on 5 instead of 6 on a couple of the increases. :( Boo. I had to rip all the way to the armpits.

Poof! Smoky Bolero, up in smoke.

Done!

Tonight (while watching American Idol for the first time this season) I finished the Malabrigo Scarf of Softness. There was only a couple more inches to go so it didn't take long. Just in time for the Southern California sunny weather. *sigh* I'm still going to wear it because the colors make me so happy. This yarn is SO SOFT.

Yay! A scarf!

Specs:
Yarn: Malabrigo in Little Lovely
Pattern: My So-Called Scarf
Needles: US13
Gauge: ??

Close up of the cool stitch pattern.

I also bought more yarn. This Teseo yarn comes in the greatest colors. These cuties will make another scarf. Probably in garter stitch. I know... I know... How many scarves can one girl make??? But the sherbet colors were too much to resist.

Raspberry, orange and strawberry sherbet... mmmmm...

This cool Suede yarn is going to be a spiffy bag. I love this color. I wouldn't have normally bought such pricey yarn for a bag, but at 40% off... I couldn't resist.

Aqua blue, I love you.

I also bought 4 lovely skeins of Cascade 220 to make Forecast. In the yarn store, I thought the fushia quattro color was a great idea. But when I got home I realized that all the cool texture of Forecast would be lost in the crazy 4-colored yarn (color 5012). When I get a chance, I'm going to exchange the skeins for a heathery celery color. I don't know when I'll get a chance though... Because I'm working again. After a month of no work, it's weird to be on a working schedule again. But it's good for me, because I was going insane with loneliness being out here in Thousand Oaks by myself. I also found an apartment! So I'll be moving next weekend. Again. Woo. ♥

P.S. I also finished the pink lacey top. But I couldn't get decent pictures... Tune in next time for more modeling by Mandie...

Pink lace in the bathroom...

I have been knitting the pink lacey top and it's growing pretty quickly...

Down to the waist...

I think the back is pretty. Peakaboo tattoo too.

I added waist shaping on the fly and it turned out well! Fits like a glove. The paired decreases look cool...

Under the arm shot...

Now to decide on the lace pattern for the waist... time to leaf through the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. I'm thinking gothic arches. We'll see what happens. It kinda fun to make up a pattern as you go along. And it's even better that there is no seaming for this top. When it's done, it's (mostly) done! Yay! ♥

For Kaitlin...

The Tropical Turquoise Waves Shawl is complete! And she is a beauty. After accompanying me across the country and seeing much of the United States, she will soon be on her way back to her rightful owner Kaitlin.

Wingspan...

The shawls completion was not with out some difficulty. First, I attempted to add an ill-fated border. Too complicated and wide for the shawl, I started and re-started about 6 times in Iowa. I came up with a simple yet effective border somewhere in Nebraska. Then I ran out of yarn half-way through the border when I arrived in California... Luckily, a 40% sale at a Thousand Oaks yarn shop and the craziness of them actually having the specific yarn I needed, saved the day! The yarn bled quite a bit during its soak in the sink. Hopefully, Kaitlin will not get caught in a rainstorm at her friend's wedding or else she might have turquoise flowers on her brown dress.

On the left, is a sample after the 1st soak and on the right after the 3rd(!) soak...

The shawl blocked out huge! She's a full 23"x55"... much larger than I expected.

Posing on a chair...

Here are a couple more shots modeled in the lovely CA sun.

Notice I put on my fancy digs for the fancy shawl...

The bamboo is cool against the skin, but will keep the chill off if needed. The shawl has a lovely silky drape that flows wonderfully. And the color is awesome. I just hope the size doesn't become cumbersome. I hope you like the preview Kaitlin!!! ♥

The Cross-Country Journey

I just wanted to share some pictures from my recent week long drive across the country! I have relocated to Thousand Oaks, California to work for Amgen. I decided to make the long drive and my cross country trip took me through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, back to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and finally California. Eric met me in Denver, CO and accompanied me the rest of the way to CA. We made some amazing stops along the way... the Rocky Mountains, Steamboat Springs, Salt Lake City, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, and Point Dume (Zion National Park being the most amazing). I also got to see family along the way! I stopped in Toledo, OH overnight to visit Grandma, drove to Monroe, MI to have lunch with Aunt Valerie, and stopped out in Kamas, UT to see Aunt Lou, Uncle John, Kathy, Chris, Paul, and Luke. It was an amazing journey and here is a link to some pictures taken along the way. You can view them as a slideshow if you would like by clicking on the link in the upper-right hand corner, but that doesn't allow you to see the captions I painstakingly added... :)

*CLICK ME FOR PICTURES*

Enjoy... I know I did... ♥

The journey begins...

Oh my. What a week it has been. I'm in Pittsburgh right now and my parents house and I'm about to embark on a journey across the United States. I'm filled with apprehension and hope and excitement and sadness and I miss so many people already and and and.... I am majorly overwhelmed. This is a huge turning point in my transition to the West Coast and I'm on pins and needles. I would show you pictures of my extremely packed car, but the software to upload photos is not installed on my parents computer. I'll try to add pictures later.

Ooof. My stomach. The butterflies are restless.

In knitting knews... I have started on the border of Kaitlin's shawl. I had an inner argument (too many decisions to make these days) about whether or not to add a border, but I decided that I'd like to have the shawl be a little wider than it currently is and the only way to accomplish that is to add a border. I hope that Kaitlin will agree... because it was a pain in the butt to pick up 500+ stitches around the edge and I'm not changing it now. :) Again, I want to post a picture, but I can't. It doesn't look like much right now anyway. It's all squished on a circular needle and can't be spread out properly.

*insert picture of crumpled pile of beautiful aqua bamboo yarn*
Ok. I have to go drive 2500+ miles. See you in sunny SoCal. Wow. ♥