I am working from home today and decided to pilfer through one of my yarn bins (yes there are more than this one) at lunch….. and after

 

 

I found it! Now I know what Charlie felt like when he found the golden ticket.

 

I am not talking about me I am talking about yarn I am still looking for that skein. Argghh!!

The end.

I recently cast on another project as knitting my cashmere cardigan (aka Hazelwood Sweater) is taking awhile. Last month I posted about wanting to knit something for my daughter. This gave me the perfect opportunity to  give  into my mother’s guilt. I cast on Old Growth by Tincan Knits. I am using a heavier weight yarn(Plucky Knitters Primo Aran) and reaping the satisfaction of watching the project progress very quickly.

Which leads me to my question of “too much of a good thing?” It was just a couple of months ago when I had yarn on every flat surface of my living room. I decided to organize and move these to a central location. A few skeins were left downstairs in my living room, the yarn for my daughter’s new sweater being one of them. I have almost worked through the 1st of the 3 skeins and set out in search of the other 2 skeins… The trouble is I couldn’t find it. I did manage to track down 1 of the remaining 2 but the last one is MIA. I was hopeful that working through stash would make it easier to find and sort through my stash ( you know less to look at it) I know that will actually happen, but 1st I need for track down that last skein of yarn for my daughters new sweater:)

 

Acquisitions:

Orla Mittens

Aisling Leteknits

Carly Leteknits

Masgot Leteknits

Linia Leteknits

Catherine Glenna C

Scottish Barley Cabinfour

Cognac  Babycocktails

Sinapore Sling  Babycocktails

Green Iguana Mitts Babycocktails

 

 

Work In Progress:

Acorn Trail Customfit Amy Herzog

Hazelwood Sweater Shannon Squire

Old Growth Tincan Knits

 

Finished:

 

The weather has been uncharacteristically warm in the Pacific Northwest this year, so a day trip to Bainbridge island with the family seemed go be in order. I know I am lucky to be in a city with so many LYS’ and to have Churchmouse Yarns and Teas as one of them is really nice. I will talk about my trip to the shop but this time I wanted to focus on the island more.  I think Bainbridge is a pretty special place. This trip we took last weekend was great because it was less focused on shopping and more on exploring other areas of the island we haven’t seen.

There are so many great places to eat while we packed some food for our trip I was able to pick up some shop and one of my favorite cafe’s Fork and Spoon which is just a couple of doors down from Churchmouse.

I have been staying away from bread  but the Blackbird Bakery is not to be missed if you are visiting the island. Just remember to bring cash or a check because they don’t take credit or debit ( there is a bank of America ATM across the street if you need to pick up some cash) and if you get to the island early I think a trip to the Streamliner Diner is a good choice too ( a local breakfast place).

It was great getting to spend some time with the family  and see the island in a different way. We had a picnic on a bench near the waterfront, beachcomber, did some urban hiking along the waterfront trail and grabbed some amazing iceream at Mora Mora.

Oh yeah I stopped in the shop and chat with some of the Churchmice too. The store is especially beautiful the with the spring colors and lighter weight yarns for the new season.  I especially liked this version of the Churchmouse poncho which uses yarn held double ( I think it is Cima with Twig, but my memory isn’t so good on this, what is clear is how much I liked it.).

 

The little must haves that I picked up were a monogram embroidery kit and some tea (WOOT WOOT still going strong on my yarn diet!).

All in all it was a perfect day. Plus I finished my new test knit for Miyoko Cancro. It is called “Spring in the Air” it is a really sweet cowl,

Acquisitions:

Monogram Embroidery kit from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

Oolong and Darjeeling Teas from Churchmouse Yarns and  Teas

 

Work In Progress:

Acorn Trail Customfit Amy Herzog

Hazelwood Sweater Shannon Squire

 

Finished:

Spring in the Air Miyoko Cancro

 

 

 

Okay I have been knitting…. (not really)… I have been spending time working on knitting related tasks but don’t have much to show for it. I find it frustrating. My time when not spent with work, or my family  has been spent: blocking, counting, picking up stitches, re-counting, contacting people on how to modify a pattern, thinking about how to modify a pattern, and preparing to do the math for modifying a pattern.

I know knitting detours happen to everyone but these were happening simultaneously so I was a little bit annoyed. I have been trying not to cast on new items and work through my WIPS or the projects I have planned on Ravelry, so I was pretty determined to not cast on something new. After blocking, counting and picking up stitches on one of the projects I am close to being done with it and should be getting ready to cast off tonight (which I find gratifying, because there is nothing I like more than saying a project is done). That is the good news, the bad news is now I have to figure out how to modify the pattern for my Hazelwood Sweater. I was very motivated after my class with Joji and used my Customfit measurements to take a good look at how the pattern for my size would fit my measurements. The result is that I learned that a raglan style is not the best for my proportions (realizing this did make me think and I removed a lot of raglan sweaters I had in my Ravelry queue). However I am still not  did not sway me on my decision to make the Hazelwood Sweater( after a few attempts I will  let you know if I have changed my mind).

Oh and in other news…. I finally finished my Ashby.

 

Acquisitions:

A project bag from Little Skein in the Big Wool

Stitch markers from Little Skein in the Big Wool

The Mallory Mitts and the Northbound pattern from This.Bird.Knits

Work In progress:

Spring is in the Air(Test knit) by Miyoko Cancro

Acorn Trail Customfit by Amy Herzog

Hazelwood Sweater by Shannon Squire

Finished:

Ashby  by Leila Raabe