Hubby let me spend my whole birthday on the sofa with my pure silk.

It wasn't all pure bliss: there was the inch and half I had to rip out at the start (arrrrgh!), then some dropped stitches in the middle of a cable much farther on (man, that silk is slippery), keeping track of the two pattern repeats was literally exhausting (thankfully, they synch back up every 24 rows), and then the Germans lost in the World Cup (poop). But it still ranks as one of the best birthdays I've ever had.

The perfect day to start my new birthday project.

Debbie Bliss pure silk

Look at the amazing yarn that super-sweet knitbuddy, Dani gave me! I fell in love with this yarn when I knit a swatch for the store with it. If you haven't ever felt this yarn, go, go now and do it. It's incredible. Softer and sleeker even than any of the other pure silks we have in the store.

So I thought was happy having knit the swatch and watching Dani knit a cap sleeve top in the pure silk and Lisa knit the Tie Bolero with it and recommending it to practically every customer. But then last weekend, I got chilly from the a/c in the store and I slipped on our store sample of this lace shrug. Just like when I tried on crinkle, I knew I had to make it. Dani agreed and got me the yarn for my birthday.

I heart this yarn

Thank goodness that this yarn is so incredible, because the Debbie Bliss pattern isn't. It's no worse than your average Debbie Bliss pattern, which is to say it's pretty frustrating. (At least this book, mercifully, contains schematics!) Her designs are often complex with multiple stitch patterns and unique constructions and there's never much in the way of explanatory notes about where you are or how things fit together. This one dosen't even indicate which side is the right side and which is the wrong side, which has already led to one failed start of this project. And I have to rip out most of the above (due to my own stupid error caused by trying to keep track of two stitch patterns with different row repeats without a row counter and while watching Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Carribean). But this yarn is so fabulous, I don't mind knitting those few rows again. And like most Debbie Bliss patterns, it'll all be worth it in the end.

So I'm planning to celebrate my birthday by knitting more of the shrug while watching Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Carribean with a row counter. Happy, happy!