Not-wedding shrug finished!

I finally finished my not wedding shrug!  According to my master UFO list (in which this project is no longer listed) I started it in February, 2013.  It's been sitting waiting to be blocked for a few months - I even actually wore it to the symphony unblocked over Thanksgiving weekend.  It's a lot easier to get on and off now that it's blocked open.

I used my new lace blocking wires (they were a Christmas gift from Robert). 

I originally intended to wear this over my wedding dress at our wedding reception, but I didn't finish it in time and the weather was so perfect that I didn't need it anyway.  Also, my wedding dress had a high lace back with buttons all the way up to my neck, so it wouldn't have shown off either the dress or the shrug to full advantage.  I think the lace shrug looks really great over the black t-shirt.  Now I need to make a high-backed solid color dress or two to wear it over!

The pattern is the Lady Grey Lace Shrug.
The yarn is Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere in Ivory.

Wedding cake topper (& stand!)

When Robert and I got married in April, my mom and a family friend of ours made the cake topper for us - the night before the wedding!  I got the idea for this from one I saw on Etsy, and it turned out really well.  Robert and I decided to save it as a keepsake, and he made a stand for it out of bird's eye maple. 

He used a decorating technique called kolrosing to write our wedding date on it, and finished it with some combination of oils.  Here you can see the gorgeous patterning in the wood.

Here it is on our beautiful wedding cake on our wedding day.  This last photo was taken by our lovely and talented wedding photographer, Alyssa of Dandy As Lions Photography.

Vacation knitting

This is the knitting I did while we were on vacation for Christmas and New Year's.  I decided that it would be nice to knit myself a fancy shrug to wear with my sleeveless wedding dress at our reception (which will be outdoors, so unless summer comes early, I'll probably be chilly).  I chose the Lady Grey Lace Shrug pattern and ordered this lovely cashmere-silk yarn from Webs. 

I got gauge (or close enough) on both the stockinette and the lace pattern in my swatch, so tonight I ripped out the swatch and started the shrug.  So far it's lovely!