I'm a day late on my yarn along, but we've had an exhausting couple weeks, and I'm still recovering.

While driving through Oregon and Washington, I made lots of progress on the lace edging of my ballerina top. I'm going to try to make a more compact version of the lace edging for the armholes that still mimics the lace around the shoulders and neck. It doesn't look much different than last week, though, because I've just rounded the corner on the neck and headed toward the back. What I'm showing you above is the test knit I'm doing for Katherine for her Equinox top.

Although I'm enjoying my knitting time in the car, I'm looking forward to our next trip, which is the first in a long time that doesn't include a memorial or funeral. This one, will just be me and Rich, and we each have some work we need to be doing while we're gone, so we'll kind of be dating in the evening, while doing our own thing during the day. On the 15th, it will be 20 years since the night we first met, so we plan on doing something special together that night, then getting back to our work.


I promised a picture of me in my swatch hat. I have started my test of the Equinox top. The pattern is well written, I like how the increases are on different rounds than the lace patterning. There are some elements of her pattern writing that I think I will incorporate in my own. Knitting is quick, and the lace pattern is easy to memorize, so I hope to have it finished in time. My daughter Amira assures me that this color looks good on me, but I'm not entirely sold on it, so if it turns out that I am not happy with the color, I will give the set, hat and sweater, to a friend of mine when I am finished.


Here is a closer look at the hat.
Yasmina was thrilled with her heart bowl, and since we're doing some organizing this week, it also gives her a place to put some of her treasures in her room. She told us she just wanted to do a family birthday party this year, so we did it up well, and had a great, though relaxed, time.

I'm still looking for test knitters for my design, so if anyone is interested in testing Cirrus, please e-mail me with Cirrus Test in the subject line using an e-mail address you check on a regular basis. My plan is to have this available in five sizes, XS, S, M, L, XL, approximately to fit a bust of 34", 36", 38", 40", and 42", and I'd like at least one tester for each size. I anticipate having the pattern available to test between late July and August.

I finished another happy little murder this weekend, Night of the Living Thread (A Threadville Mystery), and this one I enjoyed a bit more. It wasn't too easy to figure out who the murderer was, but there was enough there to make some connections and come up with theories. Still reading and really enjoying Christ in His Saints and The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things.

Labels: Birthday, Books, FOs, Knitting, Yarn Along