Divine Silks and Divine Signs

First the Divine Silk
This week I won't make you wait and will begin with the yarn porn! Remember my quest for the perfect blue? I decided to focus on 100% silk, mostly because I don't own any and I wanted to work with it. Here are some of the runner-ups to great 100% silk yarn (note - it is not for the faint of pocket!)
Indigo Moon Blue Danube Muga Silk. IM also has exquisite offerings in somewhat thicker Mulberry Silk
Argosy Kimono Silk in Hang Ten. A bit more turquoise-y than I wanted it, but lovely.
The Gossamer Web AK47 . No blues in stock. Make sure to read the description, it is hysterical.
Impulse of Delight Pure Silk Lace. None of their lovely Blueberry Fields colorway, which is a bright turquoise.
And finally, the winner was No Two Snowflakes Pure Silk. I lucked on a 500 yd single skein of fingering, almost sportweight pure silk in Mountain Climber colorway. And once again my pictures do not make any justice to it. A turquoise blue with brown highlights. So lovely I don't know if it will every leave my yarn vault.

So what are the chances that a couple of days after this, I stumble upon an almost identical colorway up for grabs at the Ravelry ChitteryChatters SwapperySwapers?
It is Sknitches sock yarn in Muddy Waters, a limited edition colorway. And now it is mineminemine. The photos are *really* bad
Another lovely surprise showed up this week. Wabi Sabi Yarns Trendsetter Club (where you can get a new yarn base on a surprise colorway when they are available) sent a lovely, soft MCN with 20% cashmere, and a thickness and feel very, very similar to that of the beloved Bugga!. The colorway is quite lovely, Rhubarb Tango, mostly red but with fuchsia highlights.

Really, a LOT more red and less fuchsia than my photo suggests. Everybody knows I am a sucker for reds.

And now for some Divine Signs...

I did finish the corner chart for my cable border. Looks almost miraculous. a cable turning the corner
 
 And  I did start knitting it on the blanket edge. Looked great!

Then I made some quick calculations. DAMN! it would take me another month of concentrated knitting and about 6 balls of yarn to finish it. So... scrapped and filed for later use

On the plus side, I did find a great name for the blanked idly looking at a book on Ireland at Barnes and Noble while I pretended not to be related to the shrieking kids on the aisle. I am not a good name giver so I snapped it up. And the pattern practically wrote itself. It is a SIGN that it was meant to be left as is.
The hard part was to find a place in Phoenix that could pass for even vaguely Irish for the feature pictures. So I packed up the family and we headed for an afternoon at the Botanical Garden.

Here is Babyzilla vandalizing the property. Did i mention how cranberry juice enhances the look of cables? The blanket is back on its Eucalan beauty bath.

And Big Brother trying to be a helpful little model for mom.
I did find an almost irishly serene spot at the Shade Garden and at the Herb Garden for my pics though. And they had a beautiful exhibit of sculpture by Allan Hauser. So if you are in Phoenix make sure to drop by and see the blooming desert!

And more Signs...
It has been a new start for the triangle shawl as well. I managed to lose the whole folder of charts. Probably left it at lunch while my car was being detailed. I am pretty sure the waiter was looking at me funny because I sat there for an hour and all I had was coffee (the car was very dirty).
Be as it may, I had to start from scratch and from memory, and it was a good thing, because it all clicked together so fast! even the math worked.

 
This is the medium-edge portion. The funky lozenge-shaped motif from the other shawl is now refined into this bud-like shape, and I incorporate an edging from an old fashioned doily that just goes so well with the flower motif. I am still figuring out the Chevron portion and the right proportions for it, and the initial chart is being swatched as we speak!
And there will be an option for a larger and smaller size (you hear, Shannen?)

And what about May???
The May Clue for our 2010 KALendar is chosen, swatched, and charted, and only needs to be written and composed. And yes! I chose one of the suggestions from the May thread. I am shooting to keep the date of the second weekend of May (that is, next weekend!) but there is much to do yet. And it is a lovely, lovely clue. I can't stop staring at my swatch.

And June theme goes Seaside. Bring on the surf, the rolling waves and the sparkling water, the seashells and the sunshine!I will probably open the thread tomorrow, so put your thinking caps on