Finished Jacket, and Gorgeous Shawl Pins

First, I have to brag a little about a finished object. It's a bulky top-down jacket in seed stitch, and it was my first top-down pattern. But it definitely won't be my last. The combination of the top-down knitting and the bulky yarn made it go super-fast and kept my interest the whole way. The pattern is called Verandah (I think) and it's from the Knitting Sweaters From the Top Down book, which has a bunch of other lovely patterns in it, as well as general instructions on how to design your own top-down patterns.

Here's a photo of the finished object. Hope you can make it out...I think I need a new camera. ;-)



The only change I made is leaving out the button(s) at the top. The original design has two ties at the top with large buttons sewed over them. I was just going to do a button and button loop. But the jacket is also designed to not quite meet in front...and with my...ahem...generous proportions, I figured if I just buttoned the top button and the rest gapped, I'd look like I made it a size too small. So, no button and it looks great.

Second, I recently asked Rosemary Hill of Designs By Romi design a shawl pin for me. It's a simple design, but one that seems to really speak to me. Here's a picture:



The spiral design seems like infinity...world without end...life goes on. And that message is very important to me right now.

While I'm on the shawl pin topic, here's a picture of a gorgeous shawl pin I picked up at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival last May:



Not the best picture, sorry about that. The pin comes from Gita Maria. This is a link to the pin I bought, just in case my photo above is less than adequate. ;-)

So between the two gorgeous shawl pins, I have something to go with every shawl. So far. But just looking around at those two websites makes me think I need more...

Okay, enough for now! Talk to you again soon.