Louisa Harding Obsession!

I ran out of yarn on both my Lace Tee and my Noro Shrug! It was a little traumatic, but emergency yarn mail is now on the way. In the meantime, I've cast on something else, of course!

I've been somewhat secretly accumulating Louisa Harding books and yarns for various projects lately, usually only reporting purchases on Ravelry and not on the blog. (It would take me years to knit all the patterns of hers I like, especially since I have to try to keep up with a few other favorite designers!)

One of the recent purchases was Venezia: Felice Mai Dopo, which I've admired since it was published. I really got it in the nick of time too, considering the Thalia yarn I want for it is becoming very hard to come by, especially in my favorite colors. The bright side of discontinued yarn is that when I do find it, it has been on sale!

The first pattern I'm trying from this book is Florian with my favorite shade of Thalia, named fountain. Although I adore the picture of the sweater in the book, I am making some changes as I go to make it more suited to me. I am working from 2 different sizes, adding some shaping to diminish the A line shape a little and working the entire sweater on the smaller 'trim' needles as I am too loose knitting on the larger ones. I was going to do the boat neck, but my version is telling me to change it to a v neck...

Here is the back so far. I will wait to do the rest of the armhole and shoulder shaping until I catch up with the front piece. I'll do them together so they come out the same.

As you can see in the picture, I am already accessorizing! That is a small Noni Market Bag that I made awhile back and have been waiting to embellish in just the right way. I plan to sew on the bauble I found at Michael's that you can see in the picture and embroider on some flowers with scraps of the Thalia.

I am very excited about the two newest Louisa Harding books, Queen of Hearts and Little Cake. They are gorgeous! It is hard to narrow down my list and order yarn for what I can reasonably make. I'm having trouble finding some of the yarn, so that is helping to slow me down some. Some of the shades are new and not available yet, I think. For patterns in Queen of Hearts, I have found the yarn for Flamingo which will be my first serious intarsia challenge, Sixpence and some of the yarn for March Hare. Other projects from Queen of Hearts I would like to make the most are Five (short version), Lacie, Marmalade, Pocket Watch, Roses, and Whiskers.

From Little Cake, I have the yarn for Maythorn on the way. Later on, I would like to get to Thulston, Pikenaze and Wimberry (vest).

It's good to dream, right?!