Finished: Cecily's Shawl

After returning from our long weekend, I cast on my Cecily Shawl.  I am convinced there is not much to say about it, easy garter, beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed, and stripes.  Many of my favorite things all together. 

Against my better judgment, I cast on My Favorite Sweater by Fancy Tiger Crafts.  This is an easy (but customizable) raglan, which I am using Berroco Vintage Chunky for.  The odds of me having a new sweater before next week are high, if only I were not actually sweating in my apartment today! :( 

Happy Knitting!

Vacation Yarn

I had an incredibly yarny weekend.  Before we pulled away from the front of our apartment on Thursday, I was anticipating two small packages of yarn from Ravelry destashes.  I have become a little nervous about my stash getting out of control, not financially, so much as running out of space to house it all.  But with these two small packages (4.5 skeins in all--1.5 of Rowan Felted Tweed in Clay for a Cecily's Shawl and three more skeins of Ella Rae to go with my Tea leftovers so I can make another, in the right size, for me), came the delight of already knowing that I had big plans for them. 

Phillip and I went to visit a gracious aunt, whom we have visited on many occasions.  She is delightful to spend time with and even better, there are a number of yarn stores on the way--some that I have visited and loved, some that I have only stalked with the help of the knitmap.   

While in Little Rock, I visited one of my favorite Arkansas yarn stores, Yarn Mart.  This store has always impressed me because not only does it have beautiful hand dyed skeins but it also always has medium range work horse yarns like 220 and Eco+, so while I may have something in mind that is "cheap" (like two extra skeins of Vintage for Beauborg) I can also oogle beautiful things like Shibui sock, which I just had to have.  Also being added to my roster, a sweaters worth of Louisa Harding Nautical Cotton (at a great price!), for something that will hold up to the sweltering Oklahoma heat. 

I also had the pleasure of going to Mockingbird Moon, which is a relatively new shop from what I gathered. Not only did they have a great selection of completed projects (including a finished and beaded Jeweled Cowl), but they had colorways of favorites that I can't seem to find in my neck of the woods.  Picked up there were a few skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Chapel Stone. 

Making a short trek to Fayetteville, I landed at Handheld Knitting, which was a delight to visit.  Not only do they house an amazing selection of beautiful things I had never seen before, but they have a cute little shop cat, whom I was able to pet ((and fall in love with)).  It was obvious the women knitting there were having a regular knitting date, which was really nice to eavesdrop on, but I fell in love with a beautiful skein of Manos Fino, which I had never even seen before. 

The trip was a major knitting success.  I was able to get about 10 hours worth of Rectangle completed, two swatches for Beaubourg and I picked up a printed copy of Knit.Wear, which I have been fawning over since the first issue but can't seem to find in person anywhere here.  I also accidently picked up a Jared Flood pattern (thinking I had Guernsey Triangle in my hand), Romney Kerchief, so I have lots to work on, including a thank you gift to our gracious host whom made my knitters dream possible. 

Finished: TGV

Ever get in that mood where you have to knit? I noticed myself getting into a funk late last week as I had finished my, well, Phillip's Tea sweater.  I needed something, and I needed it fast.  And about 24 hours later I had a finished TGV Shawl in Noro Silk Garden Sock for my dear mother in law.

Once finished, and thanks to daylight savings time, I woke up at 4:00 am ready to cast on my Rectangle sweater by Shibui.  You can imagine my horror when I realized the pattern is only sold in print and the only store in my state carrying it is about 30 minutes away and I had just visited them the week before.  I ended up making the trek, and coming home with pattern and new yarn in hand (duh.). 

Also new to the stash, a skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (Oats) to be a Guernsey Triangle. 

A skein of tosh merino light in Norway Spruce for something unknown...

And a beautiful skein of madelinetosh finger 80/10/10 in Fog, which I can't stop drooling over.

I have decided after this tremendously long round of stash building, this is it for me...at least for now.

Happy Knitting!

Finished: Tea with Jam and Bread

I started Tea with Jam about a week ago.  I had high hopes; I had purchased the yarn months ago on sale and had been dreaming of knitting the sweater for a long while.  I was concerned about the price of the pattern but I threw caution to wind because it comes with two patterns, one for each sex (and children).  A while back I cast one on for Phillip but after realizing I hadn't read the instructions thoroughly, quickly scrapped it.  So last week, I cast on, am moving quickly and dreaming of my new cute sweater.  Fast forward to this weekend when I complete the body and one of the sleeves.  I finally get the idea to try it on.  Beforehand, I checked the gauge again and again just to be sure I wouldn't be heartbroken after all that work.. Well, I still ended up heart broken because it turned out many sizes too large! (Really, my own fault for miscalculating what size I would need.) Some ingenious thinking arose, and next thing I knew Phillip had a new sweater. (Photo is unblocked.)

My yarn buying is still out of control, so not much is new there. I visited a new LYS a few miles away and ended up coming home with more Berroco than my heart could desire.  Many skeins of Vintage, for something unknown, a few skeins of Vintage Chunky (to go with my almost enough skeins that will be another Agnes sweater) and a beautiful skein of Manos Maxima which is begging to be a love and happiness cowl some time in the near future.  

Arriving all the way from Canada was a skein lot of Ultra Alpaca which is begging to be something cuddly and amazing..

And lastly, two new skeins of Madelinetosh which I will be waiting for in the coming days. Happy Knitting!

Progress: Tea with Jam and Bread

I have been terrible about updating this lately.. it is not as if I have not been knitting, but I haven't actually finished anything! I have spent the last week working on Tea with Jam and Bread out of Ella Rae Classic.  I have finished the body as of this morning and only have the remaining sleeves... I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to wear it before the weather flees. I am still toying with the stripes for the sleeves, I basically stopped looking at the pattern once I broke off for the sleeves, so maybe I will play around with the stripe sequence until I find something visually appealing to me. The pattern states to begin the first contrasting color stripe before the break off, and I didn't think a large box across my shoulders would be too nice.  

After finishing Tea, I have too many projects planned to even mention.  I am praying each night for five more sets of hands so I can pack in as much knitting as possible! Beyond my ravelry queue, which is getting out of control, I am drooling to begin Inversion Cardigan, Guernsey Triangle, Danforth Pullover. 

Happy Knitting!