New Challenge

Believe it or not, I finally finished the last leaf of the last border for the Anniversary Shawl. Not much to show - just another heap of yellow leaves, waiting to be crocheted together by Tammy. But it means that my part of this project is officially over, and I'll be delivering those final components to Tammy on Wednesday. The next picture you see of that project will be it's final form. (Only 13 months or so late.) I can't tell you how great it is to get that off my plate!!!

Next up: something to wear to the wedding in Arizona in 11 days. Option 1: brown knit tank dress with a shrug fashioned from some lightly aged Yarn Bee "Soft Delight" from my stash in a colorway called Extreme Brown. I'm using a pattern loosely adapted from the Whisper Cardigan in the Spring 2009 edition of Interweave Knits, and will possibly have it done in time for a trial run this weekend. I used to be a big fan of this yarn, although I think I've gotten over it to some extent. In any case, it's soft and fluffy, but I'm not sure I need fat stripes of color running horizontally across my arms and I'm worried that the whole thing will be too warm for an Arizona April. .

I came across Option 2 while making a completely unauthorized stop over the weekend at that little yarn store in Benton Harbor, Ivelise's. They had Olympic by Artful Yarns in the clearance bins in a reddish-coral colorway that will work perfectly with my cranberry sleeveless dress. I was planning to do the long stitch wrap from Lacy Little Knits - but that calls for over a thousand yards of yarn, and Ivelise's only had 4 skeins of the stuff (at 118 yards a skein). A shame, because I really think that pattern is striking. And I really need something which does not require me to clasp or constantly adjust it, because I expect to be busy with my camera much of the time.
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I checked in with my buddies on the Knitlist and got some alternate suggestions, but none of them seem quite right yet:

• the "jackshawl" from the Oct. 08 issue of Knit n Style
• Jessica's drop-stitch shrug (http://www.knitlist.com/99gift/shrug.htm)
• something based on the shrug from A Gathering of Lace
• a shrug from one of the one skein books.

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I'll keep looking. I've got a week before I fly out, plus all that flying time. If nothing else seems right, I'll just cast on enough stitches with big needles to make an appropriate width, then knit what yardage I've got using something like a size 17 and a size 7 needle, then just seam up a bit to make arms. Not exactly elegant construction, but it would do in a pinch.