Its Raining, Its Pouring!

Local Yarn Shop Day

It's Local Yarn Shop Day and I am heading out to ours in Peoria IL!  

Friday Finds

I am not sure if I am keeping these cool knitting related finds or give them for gifts.  I just knew when I saw them, I had to order them.

The first three are all made out of aluminum knitting needles and are from Burr Oak Studios.  Amazing, aren't they?!

Bracelets

Earrings

Shawl Pin

And from A Needle Runs Through It, these super cool sets of stitch markers, for those of us that need some reminders of what to do where.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Spring Sweater Knitting Frenzy

I am on a Spring Sweater Knitting Frenzy.  I want to cast on and knit all the Spring Sweaters and it would seem I am.  

I absolutely could not pass up buying this yarn after seeing my local yarn shop owner, Erin knitting on it in this yarn.  There were a couple of color ways left to choose, but I forewent the one with turquoise in it, because it had a gold that just was not shrinking my fancy.  The yarn is Hikoo Concentric Cotton.  

It is slow going, but it is one of those that I cannot wait to see the colors as they emerge.  I was totally surprised last night when the white started showing up.

The pattern I am using is Sugar Maple.  Cori from Irocknits has it in her sweater class that I have taken a couple of times.  I have wanted to knit it, but didn't think the sleeves would be flattering until I saw a couple of pics of others who have knitted it and added sleeves, so that is what I will be doing as well.

 The knit is fairly easy to knit, and I want to knit it in public, so I have used my new Cocoknit stitch markers to mark for the increases.  I have developed a bit of a method for not having to look at the pattern to see where the increases should be by the color coded marker technique.

Because there are increases on one side of some spots,  increases on the other side in some spots and increases on both sides,  I have developed a method that works for me to remember just by looking at the color of the marker as I knit to it.

A red marker because it has an r in red, means that I increase on the right side of the marker.
A yellow marker means increase on the left side of the marker, because it has a l in its name.
A orange marker means increase on both the left side and the right side of the marker, because, well, red and yellow makes orange.

My other Spring Sweater knit, Sunshine Coast has increases all over the place, and this is really where I developed my method for using my color coded markers and color coiless pins.

Since there is so many different increases going on, I am using the coiless pins in much the same way.  Except on this sweater, there are not any places where there are increases on both sides of the markers, so I have used the pins in the knit to keep me on track.

Red and yellow pins are the only ones being used and as I knit up to them, I know exactly what I need to do and where.

The markers themselves are used to signify what sets off the front, back and sleeve stitches.

I am totally enjoying these Spring knits and have several more that are just itching to be cast on!  Stay tuned for more!

A Little Something To Start Your Week

Show Notes for Episode 23

Head on over to post #5 on Ravelry Here
for the Show Notes for Episode #23 from a couple of weeks ago.

Thursday Things That Make You Go Hmmmm

So many new shawls right now seem to be out of DK yarn.  Unfortunately, I don't have much in DK in my stash, and have been giving some thought to taking some of my finger weight yarns and using them held together to make a DK weight.

Wondering, has anyone else done this?  What did you think?

I'm Blaming It On The Weather

What?  It's Spring!

It is not supposed to snow this much in April, the day before tax day is it?  I have put my winter coat away and my snow boots.  I am refusing to get them out, just refusing to take them back out of the closet.

I am going to blame the weather on my lack of focus on my knitting this weekend.  I am all over the place.  I have so many ideas circulating around in my head of projects that I want to knit next, swatches I want to swatch for  a direction I want to explore on my You Tube podcast later this Summer, ZK contest knitting...

Oy!  So many ideas!

And Veronika, which I desperately want to finish this week.  I am so ready to be done with her.

But, my latest 40 Cowl/Scarves has me wanting to knit on it too.  I am having so much fun with these all of a sudden.  Probably because they can be easily finished in a few days, but also, because I can't wait to see what the next one looks like and to use some stash yarn.

Then there is the need to buy some yarn.  I almost bought some today, even though I clearly don't have time to knit on any new yarn right now.  And so I am pretty proud of myself that it stayed in my cart and is not coming to my stash anytime soon.

Self pat on back!  Happy Sunday Knitters!

More Yarn

And so I did.  But, only because I want to knit something for a wedding shower, and I did not have anything in my stash that was what it needed.

Stay tuned for when it shows up on my door step.  Catch you on the purl side!

Friday Finds and Finally Finished Friday

It's the Maker's Keep and stitch markers from CocoKnits!  And I love it!!! My local yarn shop The Fiber Universe is carrying them.  I was so very close to ordering one for me, after I gifted one to my friend for Christmas, but then saw that Fiber U was carrying, and well, it was meant to be.  

It was so easy to use it and add my stitch markers to my Sunshine Coast sweater last weekend.  Knit a bit, pull one off the wrist and onto the knitting, knit repeat.

Purl Ridge Cowl #1 out of Madlinetosh Vintage in the color way Willy Wonka.  Super nice pastels for someone for the 40 Months/40 Cowls project.

Happy Weekend!!

One of my goals for 2019 was to use my stash.  But, I did tell myself that, I could buy yarn, only if I needed something for a specific project that was not in my stash.  

I really tried to use my stash for Sunshine Coast by Heidi Kirrmaier, and used the ideas that Ravelry suggested for it from my stash.  The problem was, all of the suggestions that Ravelry had, that were of a cotton type,  there  wasn't enough of any of them.  Or if there was enough yardage, they were much too wintry for it.

I knew that I wanted some sort of Summer yarn for it.  I would have used Revive again, but unfortunately, it is no longer being made.  I opted for going to my local yarn shop, The Fiber Universe to see what they had.  After a bit of help, Erin and I picked this one out, Queensland Savanah.  It has the feel of Revive and I think it will be a good yarn for it.

I was drawn immediately to the green, because it was the closest I could get to the picture on the pattern. It wasn't until I was home with it did I realize that it is almost the exact same color as my Pickpocket sweater from this past Winter.  I'm not sad about it, now I'll have the color for two seasons.

I am anxious to cast on, despite Veronika still waiting in the wings.

Play Ball!

It should be no surprise dear readers that I plan AND have a lot of projects not only on the needles, but circulating around in my brain.  My dear friend Norma was so much like me and  had a grand way of deciding what to be crafting on.  She worked on a different project every day.  That way, they all got a little time devoted to them.

I decided this baseball season, to kind of take her idea and change it up to suit me and my deadline projects.  I am going to knit on some specific projects during all of the Cardinal games that are on t.v. And like baseball games, who switch out a starting pitcher each time, I have decided to take these projects and work on a different one each game.  

These are the first three projects/categories up.

The Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle.  This rectangular wrap is knit out of Hikoo Rylie and is for Hospice.  I love knitting it so much that I had a thought this might be a shawl I could knit another one out of later this Spring and Summer.  This pattern repeat is pretty easy to knit from the chart and watch baseball or attend a Hospice meeting.

Second up, is Purl Ridge Cowl #2.  I had some leftover baby pink from Sweet Pea's blanket last year and decide to use some of it for the 40 Months/40 Cowls project.  I am sure there may be some pink lovers who will like this one.  And super easy to watch baseball by.

And last up is a baby blanket.  I have two to do before July and plenty of the Jelli Beanz yarn for two, so we may see this yarn and color way for sometime this baseball season.

Each of these will get a rotation every third game and I am hopeful for some wins in the column for my knitting and for my team the St. Louis Cardinals!  Play ball er, I mean lets knit!

Get A Picture

You know one of my pet peeves is when knitters don't take pictures of themselves in their knitted sweaters and post in their project page.  When I am contemplating knitting a sweater, I pour over the pictures on Ravelry to see if I can find someone who has a body like mine.  I sometimes even see if I think they may be of the same decade as me to see if it is a style that I should be wearing.

But now, I have to confess I am sometimes that person.

Two reasons, I really dislike the finished project or I can't get someone to take a good pic of me.

For my Avalanche, I have to say originally, I wasn't over in love with it when it was first finished.  But, last Saturday, the weather was conducive to wearing sweaters one more time and I popped my Avalanche on just for giggles.  My friend, Debbie, took the picture and you know what, I am liking Avalanche more and more.

Sometimes, you just need to get a good picture!