works in progress

Right, now I have two works in progress on the needles: I'm knitting the simple shrug from speed knitting (I really think I am addicted to that book, it's awesome!) in Rowan cotton tape in Hazy and the swirled pentagon pulllover from knitting nature by norah gaughan (a really, really beautiful book) in Lion Brand Microspun in black. Yes, I know Lion Brand sucks, but I love microspun. I think it may be their only yarn that has any redeeming value. It's so soft, and since I'm not using wool right now it seems like it would be the best choice for this project. Plenty of commercial sweaters are made of acrylic. I also hear really good things about Lion Brand cotton-ease so I will probably try that if I ever see it in a store near me. *shudder* When I first started knitting I did a project with lion homespun and lion suede and both were completely awful. Even more awful, I have leftovers of both yarns that stare at me whenever I go into my stash. Maybe I can give them away....
And now for a pic:
beginnings of the sweater:

Scarf style-lady eleanor

I have my second fo and book review- Scarf Style by Pam Allen
I think this book is just awesome. It has tons of different scarf patterns with a lot of really clear directions for different techniques. Colorwork, lace, entrelac and cabling to name a few. Also, a lot of popular designers are represented: Teva Durham, Norah Gaughan, Nicky Epstein, Annie Modesitt, etc, etc. However, the designs aren't only traditional rectangular scarves, incuded is a triangular neck shawl as well as a shrug that is a turtleneck with sleeves. For my selection from this book I chose the lady eleanor shawl, which will be a gift to my grandmother for Christmas. I found it to be a fairly quick knit, and entrelac is definitely not as hard as it looks. It is knit from 10 balls of patons sws in Natural Plum. I really liked the color of this yarn, but I think it is itchy. I actually think I may be allergic to wool, everytime I've knit with wool lately my eyes get itchy and my neck starts itching like I may break out into hives. I'm going to the allergist soon to figure it out (I have other allergies too) so in the meantime I'm knitting with non wool fibers. I was actually fine when I began this shawl, but after awhile it started bothering me, so I was knitting one tier a day to get it finished. Pics:

And a closeup: