I know, you’re yearning for some more dye-on-yarn action. You will wait! Last week, I swung by Yarntopia to pick up some more Renaissance, and they had Debbie Bliss Pure Silk as their yarn of the week - 25% off! I have no self-control. None. I bought two skeins. I remembered that I had a half-finished Counterpane bag lying around the house, and wouldn’t it look so much nicer in the Pure Silk?

The year-old half-Counterpane bag (the bottom bag in the photo) was knit in DB Alpaca Silk. Nice yarn, pretty color, way too hairy. It will be frogged. The Pure Silk is extremely soft and luxurious, but it’s a bit fuzzy. I couldn’t imagine knitting a sweater out of it - besides the prohibitive cost (I am a cheapo yarn purchaser, usually), it would pill like crazy.

The bag pattern is from Handknit Holidays. Knitting this bag renews my deep-seated love for that book - I bought it for the hot socks with the lace bits in the back, and the fair-isle pillows are also lovely (in non-xmasey colors). Yum!

I’m planning on some killer finishing for my little clutch. I bought a metal clasp from M&J Trim, which will look awesome. Unfortunately, the clasp cost more than the yarn. Ugh. But the bag, it will be so adorable!

Also, Yarntopia has DB Cathay on sale for 35% off tomorrow. I have a feeling that I’ll be stopping by there on my lunch break…

I’m also almost done with the Basalt Tank. I just need to add the garter border around the neckline. I added waist shaping by casting on less stitches in the side hexagons. I think that the sweater may turn out a tad too large - I wish that I had added more waist shaping. I also doubled-up the border on the bottom, because otherwise it would have been way too short. I’m planning on doing the same around the neckline, in the name of decency!