I work at the brand new yarn shop in Hyattsville, Maryland, A Tangled Skein! It's a really great place with friendly people and, of course, a great selection of beautiful yarn. If you live in the area you should definitely check it out. www.atangledskein.com
Technically, I'm working on countless projects right now, but the ones I'm focusing on now are:
The short 'n sweet bolero for my mom from the Stitch 'n Bitch crochet book. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a beautiful shade of bright blue that my mom picked out at the sh
op. It's coming along quite nicely. I'm done with the top portion of the back and almost done with the right shoulder area. At first I was quite nervous to begin this project. First of all, I'm not nearly as comfortable with crochet as I am with knitting, and second, I wanted it to be perfect and fit well since it's for my mom! But the pattern is actually quite fun and I've learned a new technique, how to crochet around the post which creates this cool 3-D effect.Here's a close up of the shell pattern:
I'm also working on the Clementine Shawlette from this Spring's Interweave Knits for myself. I'm using Brown Sheep Nature Spun sportweight in a lovely burnt sienna color that reminds me of the carpet from my parents' house. I've finished the increase section for the first half and am about a foot away from finishing the first part. Then I do the exact same thing again and sew the halves together.
Working on this shawl has reminded me how much I like lace. Luckily, there are three lacy projects in this issue of Interweave that I love. My next project is definitely the Tea Rose Halter. That project is why I bought this issue in the first place. I started it and got to the middle of it, but decided I didn't like the yarn I had chosen and am now looking for a different yarn. I had started with holding 1 strand of Araucania Magallanes in a cream/pink/green color with 1 strand of Ella Rae classic in an olive color. I loved the combination of those colors but I've decided that I want to use a solid color for this project to show off the big bold lace pattern. Plus the 100% wool thing wasn't working for me. It's a summer top after all. So, I'm thinking of making it in either Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (luscious but expensive), Sirdar Just Bamboo (love the drape), or maybe Ella Rae Silkience. We just got Silkience into the store a few days ago and I was the lucky one to swatch it for the shelves. It's a dream to knit with and comes in all kinds of gorgeous jewel tones. Not too expensive either ($6.60/skein). So, we'll see.
