Inspiration or something like it

I was a very bad girl last Saturday. With the possibility of rain all weekend, I packed up my new book and went to the yarn store I spent mucho bucks at on Superbowl Sunday. See - Bad. OK - I had M-D Knitting, but I wanted to show it off cause it is where Sad Blankie was born.


A word about Big Girl Knits. WOW. I am floored by the opening chapters telling us big girls what looks best and why and how to measure ourselves. I was blown away by the patterns and had a hard time deciding which to make. I settled on Bombshell; it's stunning. I went to the not so LYS because they had Lorrna's L&L which is what the pattern calles for, and I wanted to see what their options were. They only had overdyed colorways and I didn't want to go down that path, so I invested in this...

Yup! Bamboo! It was still expensive, but at least I didn't break the bank. Oh and look what else fell into the bag. Sock yarn. Trekking XXL. Been reading about this all over the knitting blogosphere and I had to have some.

It's a good thing that I've been looking to start projects other than "Saddy" but really, its one of two things I've been working on. I tried to work on Ella, but I made a mistake and had to tink. I've been thinking about the viking helmets and have even shuffled past the pattern in my stack of in progress stuff, but haven't done a thing with them.

The blankie is growing, but I think I want it bigger. I never understood the "throw" thing. They aren't big enough to cover someone who is 5'8" tall. If I wanted a lap blanket, I'd make one. I'll plan some more squares for it and see where it gets me.

I don't remember mentioning that I had started Cinxia. I'm using the AC Moore cashmere blend yarn which is really nice to work with. I have the body of the sweater worked up to the arm holes and one of the sleeves done. I need to start on the second sleeve. I know it's not exactly the "don't want to think about a pattern" project, but it is mostly just twisted stockinette stitch, and the slip stitch pattern wasn't too much harder than that. So I've been able to keep up with it pretty well.

It's a beautiful Saturday here in NJ and it's perfect for spring cleaning. I'm going to tackle my bathroom and wash all the pillows on the couch and let them dry ouside. It's the perfect day for it. I hope it's beautiful wherever you are too!

It’s been a while

This has not been the best of weeks.

On Tuesday I had to make the final decision about whether to end my little Nikki’s suffering. She was unable to swallow anything (even water) so there was no question of what to do. She died peacefully.

I keep thinking that I’m doing really well adjusting to not having any pets. Then I’ll start putting my knitting away for the night and I start to say "Ok little girl, sleepy time" and catch myself. There are a million little things that I’ve been doing for the last 19+ years that I don’t have to do now. It’s a much bigger adjustment than I ever thought it would be.

The past week or so, while my little girl was in a steady decline, I decided I needed to knit something that was simple enough that I didn’t need to count or keep track of a pattern, but not boring. So I started the Moderne Log Cabin Afghan from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. I don’t even know if I have enough yarn to finish it, but since I had multiple skeins of 4 colors of Lion Brand Wool-ease that I’d not done anything with, it seemed pre-destined. Besides, LBWE is fairly easy to come by and since its all color blocks, who cares if lot numbers match?

I’ve taken to calling this my "Sad Blankie". I figure if my nephew can have a "Happy Blankie" that I made for him then I can have a sad one. I’ve been making a lot of progress on it since I got home Tuesday.

The new job is going great in spite of the fact that I had to take a day off on Tuesday. They were very understanding and that made all the difference in the world. Besides any company who has a velvet portrait of the head of the division in the main conference room is most definitely the place for me.

To finish on an up note... The Yarn Harlot blogged me. How cool is that?

Sponge

I have a headache. I think it's because I didn't have enough caffiene and I was a learning sponge all day. Soaking up the new job knowledge.

What I really wanted to talk about was what I did this past Saturday. Yes, I went to see the Yarn Harlot.

My knitting buddy and I went to Doylestown Bookstore in PA, grabbed a seat and were completely entertained and charmed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She speaks just as she writes. The yarns she spun (sorry, had to do it) were sweet and funny and appreciated by all, and there were some non knitting husbands in attendance. On top of it all she is very down to earth. It was a pleasure hearing her speak and meeting her.

If you look closely, you can see THE sweater. Stephanie's Olympic sweater. It is beautiful and it I have no idea how she knit it in 16 days. Truly amazing!

Because there has been no knitting content lately. Look! Socks I finished like 2 weeks ago! Please ignore the bad photo and very white winter legs which look really fat because they are leaning up against the couch.

And lastly - here is my little mini me. Huddled all meatloaf-like in my tote bag. Some times she cracks me up!

Sad news...

I found out the day before I flashed my stash that my little kitty has cancer. I didn't want to spoil the fun of FYS with a sad message right before all the stash pics.

Anyway, I'm broken hearted. I have no idea how long we have together but the vet didn't think that it was going to be to terribly long. I'm just enjoying every minute I have left with her. I'm even putting the knitting down when she wants to be on my lap.

She is basking in the sun, upside down right now, so it's a good day.

Yarn Pr0n

Close ups of the stash.

Flashing My Stash!

Today is the big day! So here is my stash.



Worsted Weight wools. In the back there is wool for Tuby (Andean Silk) and the rest of the wool for the Viking costumes.




Sock yarn. Yes I have a problem.









Lace weight. Not too much in the stash, but a growing obsession.