Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day for those of us in the USA! I read somewhere that a news reporter said it commemorated our victory in the war for Independence which makes me worry about the education that reporter had -- ah well. Happy Commemoration of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. I hope everyone gets a great view of the fireworks at the Dam tonight! I'll be in bed trying to get to sleep :)

Anyway. Updates. I've been extremely remiss in pics ( I won't bore you with the list of troubles the camera and I have with each other). So here we go:
Here is the Sun Hat I began on, oh, Thursday? I ripped out most of it on Friday and here it is near the end of Friday. I had a deadline -- I was to go to a birthday party in a park on Saturday. I had no 'nice' sun hat. My older 'nice' hats have begun to look like **old** gardening hats. Complete with discoloration. So, as I said. Deadline. So not many pics. I was crocheting at warp speed. It is black so you can't see much. It is the pattern our very own Mistell West wrote -- Euroflax sport linen with Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille for a brow band and two rows on the brim -- I only have a tiny brim at this point.
Ok, here is a pic that my friend most kindly took of my husband and I at the park birthday party. I'm wearing my hat, my summer top made of SR Kertzer's Sari and Rani -- and my black linen skirt that you can't see. I finished the hat Friday night at home. There is plastic corset boning in the brim which holds it up. I crocheted the cotton chenille around it. All black. Because I like black. :) And yes, I choose this one because you can see the hat . . . but not us very well. Told you I don't like cameras. :)



Next up: Summer top. I did this rather some weeks ago. It is out of Posh by S. Charles. A 4 spi gauge and done in diamond modules. Very cool. I didn't do much of a neck border because I like my necks very open in the summer -- makes me feel cooler and the way I am built means I can have a lower neckline without showing cleavage. The sleeves are a modification -- just straight (as in no increases or decreases) on a few sizes larger needle to be more airy and open. I don't do sleeveless. :)



A close up of the yarn and a module which you can't see. Come in sometime -- I wear my two summer tops as much as I can. I feel MUCH cooler in them than my commercial summer tops. Maybe it's the texture. Not sure. But I LOVE my hand made summer tops!



Ok. Here is something I picked up partially out of guilt. This is a sweater for my husband made from Cascade's Bulky Leisure which is an alpaca cotton blend. VERY yummy to work with. Shows pattern nicely too. The cables are pretty big --8 stitches and I think 10 or maybe 12 rows apart (notes are at work, I'm at home). There are cables down the front just in a bit from each shoulder and down each shoulder and sleeve. This is a Barbara Walker Seamless Saddle Shoulder from the neck down. I need to do another before I get it in my head. I don't like learning techniques from books -- which is ironic since it is mainly how I do learn them. I simply LOVE this thing. Of course the 3 stitches per inch gauge helps :) I haven't touched the neck yet. I want to do the sleeves and then I'll do the neck and then steam on down the body. I'll be doing a small cable for ribbing I think -- like a 4 stitch cable. We'll see. The sleeves are being worked at the same time on two 24" addi turbos and the body stitches are on a cord from the Denise Interchangeable Needle set. Which I am finally playing with myself. I have heard wonderful things about them, have sold them for over 2 years and only now am allowing myself to have a set to play with. Sigh.

I hope to see everyone at our Annual Summer Sale this week! Remember -- the whole shop is on sale -- ranging from 10-60% off!

Take care and Happy Knitting and Crocheting!!
~Briony