Yarn and Boredom

Sooooo, the afternoon after my last blog, I dropped off a coworker in Bethlehem and decided to find Tangled Yarns. Well, I found it. And I bought 4 skeins of Watercolor colorway yarn there... Oh and more stitch markers for my wedding shawl. Not because I HAD to, but I just wanted to... *Sigh* Then, Rob and I went to DC this weekend, to visit his cousin, Joe, and Joe's girlfriend, Jess. Out of sheer boredom at work, I decided to check out the local area on Google maps (I am a map maker after all...) then, I got the brilliant idea to see if there were yarn shops in the area where we were going to be. And the answer is.... YES!!!! Stitch DC was right across the street from the Georgetown Mall, where we were going to eat on Saturday night. Sooooooo, I convinced Jess to bug the boys with me to go. I just HAD to pick out something to knit up for Jess! She will, after all, eventually be part of the family. Of course, I won't get to working on her items until after the wedding and Christmas socks are done, but you know, that's okay with her! So I ended up getting 4 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (Aran) in the Teal colorway for a scarf for myself and a total of 4 balls of Feza Iplik Cyprus Mohair for Jess' gloves and Rob's hat. Oh, I'm so excited to start on these projects.

What I'm not so excited about is still doing these wedding bags... *loud audiable SIGH* They're getting boring. I just need to hurry up and get them done. The only thing that is exciting about doing these is changing colorways. I have several yarns and colorways for this project (all one ball each): Knit Picks Shine Sport in Fedora (Brown), Hollyberry (Red), and Mallard (Green); Kraemer Yarns Summit Hill (Red) and Tatamy Tweed DK in Harvest Gold (dark yellow) and Ginger (Orange); and Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solid (Yellow and Orange). So far, I've used almost all my Lion Brand in both colorways, as well as the Summit Hill and the Harvest Gold Tatamy Tweed. I just casted on my next little bag in the Fedora colorway.

I love the Shine Sport and this is the first time I am using it. However, I am a bit surprised at how much it sheds initially. I'm not a fan of the shedding... Oh well, the yarn is so soft and shines just so nicely! No wonder it's called Shine Sport! LOL.

Anyway, back to the bags. I was testing out different types of lace patterns and determined the one I modified from Interweave Knits Summer 2008, Wakame Lace Tunic by Angela Hahn was the one to use. I'm still using the bags that I made up as testers, and people can pick and choose their color and pattern from that. I hope everyone appreciates all the time and effort that has gone into these!!!! They're so pretty, if I do say so myself.

I've also been working on my wedding shawl. Which would be fine, but it's a very simple pattern. I picked it because I wanted to make sure it would be accurate and quick to knit up. Uggggh, I love working with lace, but there's just so many darn stitches on the needles. I have them sectioned off in groups of 12 because the pattern repeats every six stitches and I don't have enough stitch markers. The color is turning out beautifully (it's the Shadow Lace Yarn in Juniper Heather) although it's a few shades darker than my dress color... :( Oh well, because it's heathered, no one will notice, right? I already made Arielle's shawl for her, and I hope she likes it!!!!! Her stepmom says she will so I'm trusting Jackie right now!

Okay, I've seriously taken up too much time of my ranting about wedding bags and yarn and all the stuff I'm working on. Time to try and get the heck outta here!