Maia Shawl and What I'm up to

I finished my Maia shawl yesterday and blocked it. I felt like I'd been working on it forever... but it's done! All those stinkin' trs are done!

It seems like everyone else likes it too! One day on Rav and it's already my most favorited piece with 13 faves. That's so cool! My next most faved piece is my Imitation Hawaiian Diamonds pullover- it only has 9 after months of being up. Eee!

Speaking of being noticed, I got contacted by Inside Crochet asking to put pictures of my beret in an upcoming issue! It's so cool- it feels like people are recognizing what I'm doing and that's definitely making me feel good. Crocheting has been keeping me sane while I'm job hunting and unemployed, so hearing someone say I'm good at it is a real boost.

(The yarn I used for the beret. Ain't she pretty?)

I really have to start publishing/writing patterns. I have a few things that I could put out patterns for- it would probably be a good idea to test my pattern writing skills before I put out any paid patterns. We'll see.

I'm working on something now that could eventually be a pattern I put up for sale. I ripped out a tube top I'd made last summer. It took me forever the first time- I kept getting things wrong and it was fitting funny and finally I got it right. I wore it once. The stitch pattern made it way too hot and a tube top? Seriously, tube tops are not flattering on me, and I feel like I'm getting too old for them.Look at it. Yuckers. This time I'm making the rather obvious dye lot changes horizontal, so they'll be more subtle stripes if anything.

So now I'm working on a plain stockinette tank, and if I like the final product it will be my first crochet stockinette garment (other than socks!). The other wrap cardigan I was working on is still in time out. I'm still mad that I messed up the back.

Being Busy

Work is kinda crazy right now. For me, it's partly doing the easy stuff I've been doing for awhile now, partly figuring out complex simulation stuff that I just learned to do a couple of weeks ago. For my boyfriend, it's a temporary lay off while contracts get sorted out. And of course, I'm done at the end of the week.
The good news is that we're planning a trip to New York City since we'll both have time off! I'm pretty excited- neither of us has been. We're going to take the bus since it's really pretty cheap. It's an11 hour trip, so I will definitely be bringing along some projects. I just started my Romantic Wrap today- it's gonna take a looong time to finish (I'm working it in even finer gauge than called for) so that will be on the hooks for the trip. I'm also planning on finding some yarns stores- yarn is the perfect souvenir!

No pictures right now- this weekend I was caught between being busy and sick and just didn't have time. I'm still sick and I seem to be getting home late from work so that there isn't much sun left by the time I get in. Once I'm feeling better I can take pictures of all the stuff I've been working on- mostly wips. My shawl, the wrap and a laceweight mohair top I've been working on. All stuff that's gonna take awhile.

But I'm impatient! So I decided tonight that I'd make up something I'd been meaning to make that I could finish really quickly. I am now the proud possessor of a sparkly red beret. I made it using random stitches and doing basically what I felt like- I wanted simple, no pattern, just easy fun crocheting.
I like the results, though I must admit when I get to the decreases in a beret, I always think that the flat part on top is way too huge! It is nice to have a red hat- now that my hair is black, red looks really nice against it. The pink hair was not so much flattering to red hats!