Big plans for tiny yarn

I'm working away on several WIPs at the moment. For the previous few months I've only worked on one WIP at a time. I was worried that adding more projects to the mix would mean I'd never finish any of them and I'm so tired of knit knit knit and never having anything to show for it. So far so good though.

WIP 1 - Multnomah (my rav project page)

This has been a fun knit. I'm using Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in Reluctant Dragon and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dye job. I got mine at the Cloverhill Yarn booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool (btw - best booth at Maryland for indy dyers).

The yarn looks great in both the garter and feather and fan portions and I can't wait to be done so I can stretch it out and block it. I have one repeat left (the photo above is from a few days ago) so I should bang this out pretty quickly today.

BTW - once this is done I will have knit all the yarn I got at this year's MDSW. Damn that feels good.

WIP 2 - Vesper ( my rav project page)

I bought a bag of Hempathy on eBay a few weeks back for a lightweight top. I picked several possible patterns but then larakarma's vesper popped up in my friend activity on ravelry last weekend and I knew it was for me.

The free pattern is ingenious. It's knitted top-down and you start by casting on all the stitches for the widest part of the yoke. Then you work that even for the length of the yoke. By starting off with all those stitches you create the extra fabric for the pleats. She even does some short rows to build up the back a bit (that's what you're seeing in the pic above).

Larakarma used a provisional CO and then knitted the pleats by knitting all 3 layers of the pleat together (similar to a 3-needle BO but with a third layer) and I love the more polished look. I'm might also do a few rounds of garter after making the pleats. I also really like this method because I'll be able to play with the positioning of the pleats and only knit them once I get the just so.

I'm not sure if I'm going to do bust short rows or waist shaping, but that's the beauty of top down. I'll figure it out once I get there.

I have 2 more in the plans - a Citron possibly out of my Just Our Yarn Aziza with a beaded bind off, and a pair of design your own for the June SKA Challenge, probably with the same gusset as my Aragorn socks.

ETA - Tahki Stacy Charles just emailed this week's newsletter and I love this skirt.

It's from their Garden Variety book. I would choose more figure-flattering colors so the bands aren't as pronounced (maybe reds and oranges?). I've already emailed my LYS to see if they have the book. I don't have any cotton classic in my stash so if I make it I would have to add to the stash. I can envision wearing this a lot throughout the summer though so I think I'll CO for this in the next few weeks.