Tara Donovan

Yaarrrrrn Pirate

So my yarn pirate order came! She's amazing. The shipping was a little slow-- but my gosh did I get a bundle of joy. In addition to the adorable sz8 knitting needles she sent a sz10 set, two pink aluminum circulars, and a skein of handspun which is also beautiful! I'll post pictures later.

I haven't made a lot of progress on anything lately with school being INSANE.

But I did finish the Nightsongs shawl (remind me to never knit a full size shawl ever again!). It still needs to be washed and blocked (will send home for mom to do since the washing machines here are so powerful). Started a reverse cable scarf to use the Blue Sky Organic cotton from Jessie's mom.

In the WIP pile:
- Twinkle Rockefeller Cardigan
- Reverse Cabled Scarf
- Lion Brand Fisherman Sweater

Next up:
- Juniper Socks
- Stroll socks
- shawl for leah with arucania alpaca
- Sweater with lime patons


Yummy yarn I want:
- Artyarns Cashmere 2
- Filatura Di Crosa Superior
- Louisa Harding Aimee

Working on Gail (aka Nightsongs) it's taking forever, it was cool at first but now that it's so wide i find it tedious. This malabrigo sock yarn is fantastic, so soft I can't believe it's wool! This is my first project with malabrigo.

I also embarked on my first acid dyeing experience. Cascade Baby alpaca Chunky, gorgeous yarn. It was interesting... Decided to tub dye the yarn and then steam set it. Forgot to add the alum. All in all it came out pretty well. I'm not a huge fan on variegated yarns but I'll have to live with this one. Only one of the skeins is really different looking than the others much darker green sploches, I'll just have to use it for the back or something.

Besides that made a small, but pricey purchase on our trip to NYC, I just had to stop at Purl, which is an adorable little (overpriced) store. For some reason I expected it to be a lot bigger. I bought another skein of Alchemy Juniper in Chica Pop, beautiful saturated color, i am going to use it to make... something.

Started my holiday to make list, it's pretty long so I should have lots to knit it my non existent spare time at school.

Packing, packing packing. Deciding which yarn to take is going to be hard. Ugh.

I bought a ball winder at 3am this morning. It was a neurotic night. An evening with Something Corporate, followed by a treck out to Merry Go Round Farm. I hope my winder comes soon, I am anxious to start winding some of my very un-photogenic left over stash yarn that's driving me nuts. I'm doing better at keeping my Ravelry up to date. Besides that rainy day.

Finished the red beret for Steph:

Still working on the kini:

Just finished the birthday socks. They are drying infront of the fan. I need then to dry so I can send them off first thing in the morning! Eek! I really hope they dry! Here are the pictures. The left sock with the intarisa grew quite a bit. Oh well.

I started my twinkle (Rockefeller) sweater on Sunday. I'm using Debbie bliss como, which i may add is heavenly so soft and fluffy like a cloud! I'm still debating the pockets or not. Also my gauge is a little off so to compensate I'm knitting the size L, which is only 34.5" to begin with! Hopefully I don't run out of yarn. That would be both tragic and upsetting.

Como: super yummy. I'm sure it will pill horrendously. Colorway: 04 Beige. (It's slightly grayer in person.)

Also, I'm really diggin Insight. I'm taking a sneak peek of (hopefully) what's to come in the fall by looking at the Australian site. The Autumn line looks sick, I've got my eye on the Rozzi dress.

color

Usually I HATE pastels but i'm really diggin softer but bright shades.

more utopia

thinking about utopia

Kurland's and Parkes' works encorporate a great deal of utopian images. I'm toiling with using some of their ideas in my project. The idea of this mysterious blissful wilderness.

black on black, white on white