Blue And Green - No Surprise

A very strange thing happened to me the other day.

I sat down in my floral couch (it's no secret anymore.  I can't even pretend it's anything but floral) and when I looked in my knitting basket, my Autumn Arbor Stole wasn't there.

For the past 19 months, that shawl has kept my knitting basket company.  But you guys, it's done.  I don't think my size 6 needles have ever been so relieved, but I was sort of at a loss about what to do.

 

I'll do a proper post once I take more pictures, but it does feel good to have that piece finished.

Now, I felt the need to start another lace project immediately, because it's not right to not have one of those on the needles at all times, right?

I have the yarn to start one of the patterns from Knitted Lace of Estonia, but I didn't feel like committing myself to such a long-term project.  I have that MadTosh lace that I posted about a couple posts back, but I'm still debating which pattern to use it for.

I was reading on one of Tina's blogs* about a designer I hadn't heard of before, and I loved some of her designs.  I even have some nice fingering-weight yarn that would work.

But then late one night I needed to start something immediately.  Do you ever get that way?  I just wanted to wind some yarn and cast on so badly.  I searched my apartment for the perfect indulgence and found myself happily knitting none of the above.

It's not even lace!  But it's just what I needed.  This is Stephen West's Blue Whale pattern, available only through A Verb For Keeping Warm's Pro-Verbial Club (or through a knitting sister in the club willing to part with the yarn and pattern) using their Luster yarn - 75% BFL, 25% silk.

Ooh, Ravelry tells me that the yarn what created especially for the club as well.

It does have a nice shine to it, and I'm excited to get further along in this pattern.

 

I finished my Westward hat about two weeks ago now, but I forgot to take a picture before giving it away.  The teal and black together looked too feminine - you'll see if I ever remember to snap a picture.

*On an unrelated note, I just wanted to put the word out that Tina is currently trying to raise some funds for a friend in need.  You can stop by her other blog to read about what's going on and if you feel compelled to donate, I know she would be incredibly grateful.