Colinette Rossetti Shawlesque Jacket - and they are Liberty Boots. Zappos. LOVE!

ETA: this is me at Mautner Gala 2009 in what is probably considered vintage (15 years old - ? Leslie, is that vintage?) Laura freakin' Ashley dress that I have decided I will have until I die or explode, whichever comes first. The shawl-jacket thingee is (but of course) a Colinette pattern, Rossetti, that I finished in one week (do not try this at home, I made a lot of mistakes in it) using Colinette yarn Parisienne in colorway Marble and Colinette yarn Tao (how do I love Tao, let me count the ways) in colorway (where did this name come from?) Whirley Fig.

The shawl was perfect though - it's lightweight from the lace yarn and still drapes well from the weight of the single-ply dk-weight silk yarn. The pattern is basically a long rectangle with slits for where you will insert the two smaller rectangles that are the sleeves. 4 seams to sew to put three pieces together. Totally doable.

You do have to pay attention while knitting with the lace yarn. More of a books on tape or NPR knit than a catch up on True Blood knit.

You can wear it upside down or right side up - depends on how much of a collar you want. And how much you want hanging around your knees.

This pattern gets-

Four stars for simple construction
Two stars for understandable pattern (the lace stitch has gotten me questions on Ravelry (friend me, I'm "puppycatrancher" on the Rav), which are hard to answer because I knit in the Russian style which is fairly obscure -'cept in Russia, I'm guessing- and this pattern is written in English for English-style knitters).
Five stars for the ba-gorgeous Colinette yarns
Five stars for a pretty pattern book (Nostalgia)
Five stars for a garment that you can wear in four seasons and dress up and dress down ('cept not waaaaay down - I don't even see Zsa Zsa Gabor walking the pooches in rhinestone collars in this - wait! I do. But not me. Let's say this pattern and your Orioles ballcap - never gonna work.)

and, oh yeah, the boots. My 45th birthday present to myself, found them at Zappos (BIG SHOUT OUT TO ZAPPOS - the friggin' president of it emailed me personally when an order got screwed up - and yeah it was him because I had an in to him ain't sayin' how, it wasn't some form response) along with the matching Tarina Tarantino jewelry!

Felt like such a princess that night (thanks, Sheila, for making me go)!

I had my makeup done professionally for the first and so far only time in my life, and was wearing false eyelashes... if my boobs were bigger and if I had a tan, I would have felt like Queen Latifah at some awards night. (and some love to the B and the single ladies and the Queen [she shows up at 3.28 looking totally amazing] and that fierce Jane Lynch show. and to my own true love who purports to be ring shopping...oops, who said that?)
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