Just a Quickie

Just wanted to share my latest project: The Briar Rose Gracie Shawl (From Stahman's Shawls & Scarves).

Precious Little Knitting

There's been precious little knitting. I know you think I must be sewing, but there's been a decided lack of that as well...something IS going on, tho'. I'm just not quite ready to divulge that info...*wink*

But it has kept me busier than normal...I have been taking knitting with me, most of where I go...these squares mostly:

And last night I decided I needed a new shawl, a special one. So I broke out the Briar Rose Sea Pearl I purchased at Sock Summit 09:

The tencel in it makes it darned hard to get a true color shot. There are 800 yards in that cake, and the last 50 or so took a lot of time untangling...but it was worth it. It's a luscious grayed grape, steel blue, taupe mix of Merino and tencel. Yummy!

I hope to put it on the needles this weekend to make a special Gracie Shawl for myself. There should be enough yarn, but it's one of Myrna Stahman's top-down Faroese styles, so of course, I can stop wherever I need to stop and it will be fine....

Ok. That's the best I can give you this Memorial Day weekend. Perhaps soon I'll let you in on my latest info. I hate to be a tease, but then again? No, I think that might actually be fun!!

More Yarn..?? Yup

I'd promised a yarn crawl, of sorts, today, introducing a friend who's returned to her hometown and is an ardent knitter to our "other" yarn shop, Yarn Explosion. It's across town from where we live but NOT out of the realm of a short trek, but she didn't feel comfortable negotiating her way around over there (this side is HOME to both of us!).

And she's the one who found the "sale room!" Oh wow:

Ok, I didn't get all of it there, just the Regia sock yarn. The needles arrived in today's mail (I have yet to find a store locally that stocks Susan Bates' Silvalume 10" straight needles in the tiny sizes, so I ordered 1s, 2s, and 3s). And the Paton Sock Monkey pattern book I picked up at Michael's. That's also across town and my friend was looking for affordable framing...and of course, they also have yarn...

I came home and proceeded to work on the housework a little, and of course, you know my little helper had to get in on the action of tearing off the bedclothes for laundry day. This time he burrowed under the quilt. I helped him to snuggle for a bit, he's such a cutie...

My Little Tonk.

What 2012 Was Supposed to Be

If you remember, I'd thought this would be the year of small lacy things. So, what have I made in lace? Nothing.

And it was supposed to be the year of finishing things. So how much have I completed? Precious little.

I also hoped it would be the year I could finally bust thru my stash and not buy, buy, buy in the yarn department. But how much stash-busting have I done? HAH! And have I refrained from purchasing more yarn? Nope.

In fact, I finally broke down and purchased another plastic bin for the yarn that was piling up on top of the other bins too full to accommodate more. Yup. I gave in.

But I did manage to begin the Sock Yarn Remnants Blanket in blues/tans/browns:

All this harkens back to one pretty important admission I made years ago on this very blog:

Hello. My name is Knitnana and I'm a yarnaholic.

And they say admitting the problem is the first step to recovery? Hehehe. Hasn't worked for me.

So, I'm a committed knitter, learning to crochet. The yarn and needle/hook stash is growing. What isn't? Frankly, the fabric stash. I've taken a huge, hard look at the walls of fabric in the sewing room, and with the slight exception of some rare fabric or a blender for a bag order, I've stopped buying fabric.

I should probably just be happy with that, shouldn't I?

Of course, I'm not. But I did manage to follow a tradition I began several years ago:

I spent Mother's Day picking out flowers and potting them in the urns on the front porch. This was just before the heavens opened up and it rained heavily for two days. Today the sun shown nicely, and the temperatures were even springlike. And look how they perked up all sweet and pretty?

FO And A New Project (or Two)

I finished my blue tweed socks:

And put the wine tweed socks OTN for my sis-in-law:

And decided I didn't have enough projects in process, so I gathered tons of leftover sock yarn and started a new blanket:

It's based on the one Kay Gardiner organized, and put together known as Oliver's Blanket back in 2007 to help raise funds to purchase a new wheelchair for a little boy named Oliver in England.

However, her blanket squares were 4" and I'm making these 6" square. (I'd like not to go nuts sewing them together!)

Have a lovely weekend! I'll be enjoying a smallish reunion of girlfriends who attended the same elementary school in the 1960s...(yes, that does tell you about how old I am, doesn't it?)

And we'll be having a blast!

Why, Yes, I Do Believe I Might Need An Intervention, Why Do You Ask?

A box came for me on Friday (when I was off work), and then another came today...

Today's was the two Addi circs you see in front there, for the Sheep Heid hat that I've had the yarn waiting for me for probably 3 months.

The rest of what's up there? Well, I have to admit the Crochet Answer Book came last week and I failed to blog it. But the Cute and Easy Crochet and all the yarn? Arrived Friday. From Knitpicks. I bought the pinks, greens, and white Shine Sport for crochet, the yellows and greens in the Palette are for more of Bonnie's Squash Blossom Bookmarks.

The WOTA Tweed? Well, you know I'm a sucker for tweed, right? And those colors? SWOON. Those colors make my heart sing...my denim and taupe and ivory. I got them because I wanted to feel the yarn, play with it, swatch with it. I'm committed to getting more of it. Not sure what for, but perhaps a blanket, we'll see...

I have all the time in the world to decide, right? Now, the question is, will I put the Sheep Heid OTN as I wanted to, or pick the crochet granny afghan up again? Decisions, decisions...

I think it's late enough tonight that I'll read a bit of the Cute & Easy book...and drool.

Sharing the Excitement of My Day Off!

The Tonk discovered an ice cube...

Kindle 4/Touch Case!

I'm delighted to be able to share a photo of my new Kindle Touch/Kindle 4 zippered case WITH the KINDLE!

Obviously, the new case arrived safely and was happily received. The purchaser was willing to photo her Kindle inside so I could share that...

Isn't it cute? Oh...I feel the need to splurge coming on...I want a cute little Kindle myself! After all, it's something that with the e-ink feature can be read in the sunshine...ok, I'll admit you won't catch me out in the sunshine often, as it will aggravate my "Lupus-related" MCTD, but doesn't that sound like a good rationale for getting one? No? You mean that just 'cause I already have a Nook Color, I have to be sensible? Oh what fun is that, I ask you?

(if you're interested, the ordering listing in my etsy shop will be up later this weekend, once I've recovered from my past three days in Richmond at an Independent Living Conference - and the price will be $15 plus shipping, and sales tax if you're in Virginia)