Goddess or Not so Much

Okay, first things first.  I finally got around to asking Walker to take a picture of my hair.  The lighting's really crappy and all of the colors look really dark (hair, skin, teeth, all of it), so keep that in mind:

Ta da!  We didn't color the whole thing, just did a foil on some of it, so it's rather subtle.  In a few weeks, I have the option of getting another foil done, which would reinforce the red that's already in there, and make the whole thing a little redder.  I haven't decided what I want to do yet.  I like it this way and have considered going redder...thoughts? 

You can also see in that picture that I am sporting the completed Goddess Top.  Here's a full shot of it:

The pattern is by Stitch Diva and to be honest, it was kind of a pain in the butt.  The pattern stitch was awful!  It was k2tbl, keep both stitches on the left needle and ktlbl of the first stitch.  Slow and painful.  It looks nice, but man, not worth the effort.  The band at the bottom was supposed to be 2.5" longer, but I couldn't stand it anymore. 

The stockinette was lovely to knit and the shaping was pretty straightforward, but I think I did a little too much fudging with the sizing--XS on top and S on the bottom and the bottom section came out a little too small.  The finished product is quite hawt in the bust area (even Walker noted this), but tight and bunchy in the hips.  I really don't think I'll wear it as is--why wear something that makes you feel fat?--so I plan to (at some point in the future) take the bottom portion apart, add some hip increases, and do some lace edging, rather than the horrible mesh Stitch Diva likes.  Bah.

And now something happy.  For my birthday, Walker's mother made a VERY generous contribution to my yarn fund in the form of a Knit Picks gift certificate and this is what I ordered:

Oooh....aahhhhh...almost like yarn porn, isn't it?

That plans to be (from top left to bottom) Starsky, Que Sera, Matilda Jane, and Pas de Valse.  Que Sera is going to jump the line ahead of Venezia because 1) I want to show Walker's mother something I made from her gift when they come up on a few weeks and 2) I want to knit something quick and easy once I finish Ivy, which looks easy, but is taking me a surprisingly long time--probably because there's just so much surface area in a wrap sweater.

Last piece of news: Sale in the Etsy shop!!
To celebrate the end of summer, I've marked down all spring and summer items by 30% and all orders over $25 have free shipping!  So if there was something you had your eye on, but were waffling about buying, now is the time!

Next time: A Finer Peace Socks

Cheers,

-Allie