My kit from Virtual Yarns arrived here this afternoon and I think it's gorgeous. The kit is for the St. Columba vest designed by Jade Starmore. 
The yarn is so much prettier in person. The color Selkie is hard to capture on film, but it's darker, greyer and browner than this, which looks more like denim in these photos. I tried to capture all the different colors in this yarn, but the color changes are more subtle in real life. I think it's going to make a great version of this vest, and very different from the orange shown above, which is also nice.
I got this kit as part of a Ravelry trade with a nice fellow who wanted the Bainin yarn I had. It worked out very well for both of us.
Making progress on my Simply Marilyn sweater, and I'm having fun with this one. So far it's been an easy pattern, the large gauge makes it go really quickly, and I'm hopeful that it's going to fit. I have to say that, because even though I've gotten better at detecting what's not going to work, there's always the possibility that something won't fit after all. I'm using size 10 needles instead of 10.5, and it looks like my sweater will be 36" instead of 40" around, which is still roomy for me given how stretchy larger needle stuff is. I substituted RYC Soft Tweed for the Cashmerino Chunky and I think it's a good yarn for this pattern (and it was on sale at Jimmy Beans for $3.50 a ball or some such thing). It even smelled sheepy as I steamed out the pieces. Love that. So I sewed up what I could with the back still missing and tried it on.
Now I have to decide. I'm eliminating the cable on the back and I wonder if the back will be bigger than the front for the same number of stitches. Does the cable pull the knitting in? I like the size the front is and don't want the back any bigger. If anyone has any ideas on this, let me know.
Now I want to show off my Alice Starmore color cards! These came from "Kibbin" on Ravelry. Since Virtual Yarns doesn't offer color cards, she took it upon herself to make some by buying one of each color, and now she sells them. I think they're gorgeous. Click on the picture if you want to see close-ups of the heathery colors.
I have a kit on its way from Scotland, but the details will have to wait for now.
