The Start of Spring

This time of year in the PNW is generally rainy. A day will start with rain turn to sunshine and back to rain. This back and forth can happen several times in a day and only some of the time you're dressed appropriately. I tend to forget the coat or umbrella and find a way to get completely drenched.

This is a fun time of year for all of the spring and summer patterns. I was looking at my magazine collection and saw one of my favorite spring collections. This is back in the days when I was a big fan of Vogue Knitting and would buy every single magazine without fail from the Seattle downtown Barnes and Noble. Here is a grainy picture of  the cover.

This magazine is in pretty good shape for being nine years old. It's the 2009 Spring/Summer collection. My favorite pattern is the lovely Shrug on the cover. I had actually managed to make the center floral portion and start on the thick outer boarder. I was using some deep red acrylic that I had, so the effect would not be the same as the beautiful neutral cotton look on the cover. I'm dreaming of the idea of trying to make it again and maybe with better materials.

Thinking back to the time I was working on this project...I remember sitting at a Seattle Sounders band practice. My husband was still in the band and I had stepped down from it because we were expecting our first child. So many things have changed since then...

Some very lovely spring pattern collections were released this week. Knitpicks came out with Renew. Below is one of the Sample photos for Invariance. This is knit in Shine Sport, which is one of my favorite yarns and would be great for a spring/summer sweater.

Universal Yarns put out the book Bamboo Pop Adult 2. Below is a pic of my favorite pattern from the website (not my pic...again). This is the Maya tank. Super cute :).

I love that there are so many inspirations for beautiful projects. I made a little progress on my Alyeska sweater and I'm starting a little knitting challenge of a cute modular shawl that needs to be done by April 25. I'm hoping to get one little motif done per day and then do all of the catch up once my busy season is over. I know that taking the time to make the motif each day will be difficult ongoing, but after the first two, I know it won't take much time.

With my daily pattern searches on Raverly I'm starting thinking of what I could make for my sister-in-law this year for her birthday/Christmas. With lots of  months to plan, maybe I could make something truly spectacular this year. Gilly, I'm talking right to you :). I'm putting some pictures below of things I think would be awesome for you. Shoot me a message if you like any of them. No pressure, if you don't see this post.

The first is Bonnie Marie Burns' Cinnie. I'm partial to the cropped version, but they are both stunning.

Next is SweaterFreak Knits design Sleeveless in Vancouver. No joke...that's the name :). This is a great pic from the designer showing all the ways to wear this. Super cool!!!

A fun more fall like pattern is Lynn Garrett's Log Cabin Cardigan. I love the colors she used in her sample. See her lovely pic below. I had to include a pic of the back... so pretty.

Sadly, I wont't have the same colors to choose from, but I'm sure other combos would be lovely.

Do any of these look good? I want to make all of them for me too! Want to be twins ;)

I hope everyone has a great first week of spring. Wish me luck with work...over 60 hours this week completed with a day and a few more hours to be able to get more done. Will I reach 70? I need to.

Wishing all my best and thank you for stopping by.

The first anniversary of the blog :)

Thank you to all of you who have stopped by and to my one follower. As I was nearing this weekend, I was wondering if I would get to 2,000 views. And amazingly I have thanks to all of you.

With my little time during the month of  March, I don't have much exciting news. I did finish my LillaBjorn sweater :).

I love the colors and think it's fun that I can have a purple center or a green center.

There is a new #Initiate Design Challenge that will start on March 26. We'll see if I can eek out enough time each day to do it. I did it during the last session and I think I might start on one of my design ideas and see how far I can go.

I decided to start on Alyeska :). I'm not quite done with the initial ribbing. I love the speckles of color.

Follow this link to see a gorgeous version of the sweater knitted by Knitosophy: A More Fitted Alyeska. It is so pretty. I plan to knit mine more relaxed and with inexpensive yarn.

Hope you all had a happy St. Patty's day weekend. Happy crafting!

Daylight Saving Time

This time of year is difficult given the limited time for deadlines and balancing priorities. The spring forward always drives me crazy. Now that so many thing automatically update, it comes as no surpise that I didn't realize the shift until midday. I thought I had slept in until 8:00 AM and that Ethan hadn't woken up until 6:00 AM without the realization that we lost an hour.

I'm very excited about the idea of getting through my busy season, but there are some big things coming up this week and the next. Sadly, I'm skipping my social and personal obligations (feeling so guilty). Wish me luck this season.

Exercising has been the big focus (trying to something small everyday with a few longer workouts during the week). Crafting hasn't been a priority, but I've been writing a few pattern ideas down from time to time. Hopefully, I can publish a couple online once I've vetted things.

I've been finishing up my Lilla Bjorn sweater. I tried it on and don't like the look on me. I think it's cute but probably on someone else. I'll try to wear it to the knitting group :).

It was a beautiful weekend in Portland. I hope you all got out and enjoyed it. Next weekend is the Shamrock Run and I'm trying to talk myself into arriving earlier to change my race to the 5k. I'm not in shape at this stage and it's going to be stretch for me to do the 8k. I will say that I was in worse shape for the two 15k runs I did a few years ago...still not sure...hopefully, I don't sleep through it like I did one year (thanks to daylight savings).

Ok, a few more hours of work to do, exercise, cleaning, and then sleep. Have a good week and happy crafting.

Happy Yarn Crawl!

I'm wishing all my crafty buddies a happy Rose City Yarn Crawl. Tomorrow is the last day and I'm hoping to see my friends listed as prize recipients next week.

It's been a great week or so for pattern releases. Aroha Knits put out their Dreamer patterns and I'm excited to use it as inspiration to make a top. I have a pretty silk blend that has yellow and pink flecks with a white background. I've made a scarf or two with the yarn before (one for my sister-in-law). I think that could a nicely draped boxy top.

Interpretations 5 has been released and I think it's an absolutely lovely group of patterns. Instead of purchasing the whole book, I picked one pattern that I want to make and called it good. I also went back to Interpretations 4 and purchased a couple of patterns too.

I did decide to try a go at a mystery cardigan. The first clue was released yesterday so I'm hoping to make a gauge swatch tonight to figure out what I'll use. I'm thinking of doing a stripe. I might have enough yarn in one color, but playing with color could be fun too. This is the picture that drew me in...

Hannah Fettig's Mystery Cardigan

Such a cute kitty! Do I want the cardi or the kitty? Great advertising :).

My posts will be a bit shorter for the next six weeks and my crafting has slowed down as well. I wish you all a great week. Thanks for stopping by.