This June Hubbs and I will be attending the wedding of one of our oldest friends. He and his finance are have an outdoor wedding at a winery in the foothills this June. It's four months away but I'm already thinking about what I'm going to wear.

Since it's going to be June a dress is tops on my list. Here's my top 5 pattern choices right now.

Vogue - V1088, design by Donna Karen

This one is a halter.

McCall's - M4769

Butterick - B5490

Butterick - B5029

Butterick - B4443

While I like the yellow version, I'm actually leaning toward the white version sleeveless with the black sash and trim.

I just don't know which one I want to pick!

Well...Adiez is done and I'm not happy. It's too small! It looks too small, it's so tight I can barely get into the dang thing and I'm so disappointed. I'm hoping that it might fit my older sister. She's smaller then me.

The back. You can see that in putting it on I blew out the seam on the right seam on my shoulder. I like the length.

The front...I look like 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5 pound sack. It looks terrible. And the sleeves! I added 1/2 inch to sleeves because I have monkey arms and they're still too short and too tight. I just don't get it. My arms are so skinny that I'm often compared to Olive Oil from Popeye! Yet, still...too short & too tight. Sigh.

I would remake this in a larger size again but not right away. I'll put it back into my queue on Ravelry and see if I get back around to it. However, despite the tragedy that Aidez turned out to be (tragedy might be a bit strong...maybe, maybe not), it did do one thing for me. It got me to retake my measurements. All this time I've been making 36's because that's the size I thought, for reasons unknown since I don't recall measuring, I was. But it turns out that my chest size is 38, not 36. Suddenly I'm much bustier then I was before! Score! lol Anyway, now I know and hopefully this won't happen again to me.

My yarn for Larch didn't show up over the long weekend. For some reason USPS sent my yarn from Reno all the way to The Bay Area for sorting instead of sending it to Sacramento. Some times I just don't get why the postal services does the things it does. Hopefully I'll get it this week.

Aidez is pretty much done. The sleeves are blocking and as soon as they're done, I'll be ready to seam it up and wear it. But since I can't go 20 min's without something to knit, I started going through my back issues of Interweave Knits. I found this really cute satchel in the Summer 2010 issue that I remember wanting to knit but not really having the time to do it. The pattern is called Lacy Leaf Satchel by Pam Powers.

© Pam Powers

© Pam Powers

© Pam Powers

Seriously, how cute is that bag? The pattern calls for Worsted weight yarn. I didn't feel like making a trip to my LYS so I headed to Jo-Anns Fabrics to look at their yarn. I picked out an Aran weight yarn by Debbie Stoller. I got 6 skeins of Bamboo Ewe in the Lipstick colorway. It's 55% Bamboo and 45% Wool...let me tell you, this stuff is so soft. It's a smidge splitty but it's softness makes it worth it.

Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller, Bamboo Ewe in Lipstick

I haven't blocked it yet so I'm a bit concerned on how it's going to block out. The last time I used a Bamboo yarn it was 75% acrylic and 25% bamboo. It blocked beautiful so I'm hoping this will be the same.

The only problem I'm having with the pattern is that it says "Block to indicated measurements" but I can't find those measurements anywhere. After looking at all the other project pages on Ravelry for this bag, it doesn't seem that anyone else is having the problem. I guess I'm just going to have to wing it and hope for the best. I have almost finished one of the leaf side panels. As soon as it's done, I'm going to block it just to see how it comes out.

Since Girl Friday is done and I can't seem to force myself to work on my one remaining WIP, I swatched for Aidez.


I had my Cascade Eco + that I ordered from Jimmy Beans Wool, so I got out my needles and got to swatching. The pattern calls for US 10 1/2 needles, so I figured I start there for a gauge swatch. Gauge is 15 sts = 4". I got 15 sts = 4". So I figure, I'm in business.

I had read somewhere that the Cascade Eco + was itchy but I'm not finding that to be true at all. It's soft and easy to work with. And I freaking love the color. When it first arrived I thought I had chosen wrong but when I saw it in natural light, it is the most beautiful color of deep blue. I love it.

Making her Internet debut...Girl Friday!

Pattern: Girl Friday by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (Worsted) in Red (11 skeins)

Needles: US 8

Size 37

Started: 11/27/10

Finished: 01/08/11

Mods: Added an additional 1/2" to sleeves. I have monkey arms so I need a longer length.

This sweater blocked up so nicely. It was a very easy pattern, not much shaping. Easy to memorize charts. All over, this was a fun knit.

The new Winter/Spring 2011 preview of Knitscene has been up for a few days now. Previews of magazines that I don't have a subscription to are so awesome. I love being able to decided before it hits the news stand whether or not I actually want the magazine. Otherwise I end up spending a day searching all over creation to find it, only to discover that I don't want it.

Here's my favorites:

Gürtel Cardigan by Tonia Barry

Chiton Pullover by Melissa Wehrle
Love the draped neckline.

Love the side detail - So cute!

Camellia Shrug by Cassie Miller

I'm not really a shrug wearer - but it might be a fun challenge to make this into a pullover with the detail on the back only. Also, the color is fabulous.

Love the detail on the sleeve

Bandha Hoodie by Christa Giles

Love the belt detail and the lace hoodie.

Yet again, I've got to hand it to Jimmy Beans Wool. They are easily becoming my favorite on-line purveyor of fine yarns (fancy way of saying on-line wool shop). On New Years Eve, I was searching for a new project since I knew that I would be finishing Vintage Knee Socks and Valpuri soon. I had had my eye on Aidez by Cirilia Rose for a while and was finally getting to a point where I thought it would be safe to look into what yarns I would want to use for it.


Hubbs grandpa gave me a Visa gift card for Christmas and I figured why not use if for something that would give me joy multiple times. So I started checking out the project pages on Ravelry. A lot of people had used Cascade Eco+ for their projects and I had been wanting to try out this yarn for a while. So I ventured over to Jimmy Beans to check out their color choices. It was really hard to choose but I finally decided to go with 4009 Aporto.

I figured that Jimmy Beans would be closed on New Years Eve and New Years day. But they were open and shipped my yarn that same day! I couldn't believe it. I figured that ordering it on a holiday would give me more time to finish up my existing projects (I did finish 2) but my yarn arrived on Monday! Monday, people! I know that I'm really close to them as they're located in Reno, NV and I'm in Sacramento, CA (by the way if you get the chance to go to their brick and mortar store, you totally should...it's a great shop) but getting the yarn on Monday after ordering it on a holiday weekend is really awesome!

I love Jimmy Beans so much!

The new Winter 2010 Twist Collective is up and I'm in love. Twist Collective always has one or two patterns that I like but not love and this time they have several that I really, really like.

Photography by David Whitfield

This is Leaving by Anne Hanson. I've often admired her designs and I follow her blog, KnitSpot, but so far I haven't found anything that I really want to knit but that has changed. I love this sweater. The scoop neck and the details on the sleeves is really attention grabbing.

Photography by David Whitfield

I love the pull over version. I like the unbroken pattern down the front and the back.

Photograph by Jane Heller

This is Roheline by Suvi Simola. I love the dropped stitch (go figure) detail on both the yoke and the cuffs.

Photography by Jane Heller

Photograph by Jane Heller

Parcel by Carol Feller. Love that the detail is off to the side and not taking up the whole but is the the main focus.

Photograph by Jane Heller

Love the detail going down the arm.

Photograph by Marten Ivert

Chambord by Karen Maple. Love the neck line on this one. Simple but dressy. It would be great for a holiday party.

Photograph by Marten Ivert

I try not to love something because of the color and really purple does nothing for me but I do love the little twist of color on the cuff and the collar. It's unexpected.

Photograph by Marten Ivert

Greenway by Amy Herzog. The neckline on this sweater needs no introduction from the body. The plain stockinette stitch really sets it up for the neckline to shine.

Oh me, oh my. If only there was time to knit everything I want to knit. The only way I could get it all done is if I had nothing else to do all day but knit, no chores, no work, no time for nothing else...on second thought that doesn't sound all that fun. I think I'll pass.