Yarn Along 21

I'm joining in Ginny's Yarn Along this week.

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments yesterday about the Project: Stash KAL July Prize.  Let's have one more glimpse at this beautiful box bag, shall we?

Whenever non-craftsy friends ask me why I love knitting (and knitters) so much, my first answer always is because you all appreciate the beauty of the hand-made.  But it's not just aesthetic appreciation that we all share -- we also know how important it is to create things with our hands, be they artistic or practical. Your response to Gail's handiwork was not a surprise -- you all get it!

Okay, back to knitting: my needles are getting a good work out this week with my Westwood Blouse. The yarn is lovely to knit with ... smooth and squishy which makes the seemingly endless stockinette stitches more tolerable. There's a detail in the pattern for a drawstring that will cinch the top just above the hips when worn. I debated about keeping that in my blouse, but in the end, I decided to follow the pattern so here it is:

I'm short-waisted so cinched tops don't typically look that great on me but if I keep this part of the blouse low enough so that it hits my hips where I'm comfortable, I think it'll be just fine.

I'm loving the subtle changes in tone as I knit and am really excited to see more of the fabric develop. On the reading front, I finally settled on a new book (I was having a similar feeling about choosing a new book as I was choosing a new pattern).

This novel has been on my bookshelves for much too long (pub date 2006!), but I started it last night and I'm hooked. It's a family saga with two sisters as the heart of the story. I'm only on page 5 but I can't wait to get home tonight and carry on.