Almost seven years ago, I started a ballerina tank top. I wove in all ends and sewed the side seams about five and a half years ago. Even though I modified the pattern to raise the neckline by an inch or two, it was still much too low for modesty's sake, so it's been languishing for years while I try to figure out edgings that might work. I think I've finally found one (the disturbingly named Baby's Tears), and I hoped to have it finished in time to post this week, but that wasn't possible. I'm still resting from my illness earlier this month and our surprise Vacation Bible School last week, and I've been too tired to even get much done on that score. So, perhaps next week you'll see a picture of a finished top for me. The project page has a couple other pictures if you want to see more. This picture is probably the closest to the actual color, but it's still not quite right. There is a tinge of purple, the color name is columbine blossom, and that is really what it looks like: Blue with just a touch of purple, a shadow of it, if you will.


The swatch hat is finished, and I am on to starting the actual sweater pattern. I'll post a picture of me wearing the hat soon so you can see the lace pattern better. I believe it is a variation on fir cone. I started with size 3 needles on the hat, but the gauge was too tight, so I went to size 4s, and it worked well. I didn't bother casting on again. Since I knit it top down, I figured it would be fine, and it was. I just switched to the larger needles on the plain stockinette section and kept knitting.


I am glad finally to be finished with Yasmina's heart bowl, and I think I'm finally happy with how it is felted and shaped. I'm excited to give her this for her special items in her room. It will be one of a few birthday presents from us. It's hard to believe that this little girl who was just starting to walk when we moved will be six in just a week.

There has only been negligible progress on my friend's Beatrix Potter Scarf, so I don't even have a picture. Imagine one or two more rows than last week.

I'm still looking for test knitters, 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 quickly read one of my happy little murders this weekend, Yarn to Go (A Yarn Retreat Mystery), but I was disappointed. I remembered trying this same author's crochet mysteries, but didn't like the forced social agenda in it. It was a little lighter in this new series, but it was still there, and was jarring and out of place. I don't think I'll read any more of her books. Also, I figured out who the murderer was in the first or second chapter (when that character was introduced) and got the motive pretty close, though I was wrong about thinking there was a conspirator. I'm terrible at figuring out mysteries, so when I can do so this easily, I know it was sloppy writing. The book did reawaken a desire in me to try to start a knitting camp and retreat.

The real meat of my reading though remains both Christ in His Saints and The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things.

Labels: Ballerina Tank, Birthday, Books, FOs, Homemaking, Knitting, Yarn Along