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.

Goodbye February

This month goes by so quickly each year. I typically treat myself a bunch during January and February and then I try to be good the rest of the year and limit indulgences. I did my last fun shopping last week on Zulily. We're getting some things to help me pack lunches for the little guy (We're planning to transition him to a new preschool in which he'll have to bring his own lunch). In addition, I ordered some skin care products and a few pieces of casual clothing. The packages are spread out over time, so it feels like little presents.

I was thinking about signing up for a clothing rental program. It would be nice to have fresh things to wear to work that I can send back for other things. With a big transition happening in my office, I feel like I'm interviewing for a possible promotion everyday. I guess that should be my mindset in general. Should I try a Le Tote plan for a month? There are some good promo codes out there. Let me know if you're aware of any good deals :).

Onto crafting...I finished my one Ravellenics event and for it, I received a free shawl pattern. I love this hat!!! Check it out:  Easy Escher Effect. The hat looks even cuter on my kids. I could make a second one and reverse the colors, then they'd each have one. Of course, they don't really like wearing hats.

I'm still working on the Lilla Bjorn Sweater, but I'm onto my second hexagon. I'm trying to be good and not start a ton of projects all at the same time. My treat this week was to swatch for a couple of sweater that I'd like to start when I'm done with my current sweater.

I swatched for the Carbeth Cardigan and the Alyeska Sweater. What do you think?

Here is Kate Davies Carbeth Cardigan. It's quirky and lovely. It's very chunky so my two strands of DK are not wool.

Alyeska Swatch

Here is Caitlin Hunter's Alyeska

I swatched the middle section of the sweater. I might change the lightest color to a pail pink with tonal variations. I'm debating on the accent color...blue, neon pink...so many ideas.

So...the main event this week is the Rose City Yarn Crawl. In a little over three days, the festivities begin. I have friends planning to get to every shop and I can't wait to see the photos of all the festivities on Facebook. I've chosen not to participate. Work is busy and I have lots of yarn. Maybe next year :). I encourage everyone to check out a shop and support your LYS.

Happy crafting!!!

Taking a break from testing patterns...or so I thought

After finishing the wrap last week I said that I needed a break from testing. Well, on Monday I received an "earburn" that a designer I follow was having a test knit. A pair of fingerless mitts that would take 6 - 8 hours to make seemed realistic with a month to complete them. So...

They are done! I  was good and didn't work on anything else until I was finished hiding all of the ends. The Estonian Inlay technique was fun. I hadn't tried it before and the results are lovely. I feel like that would be a lovely front panel to a sweater.

For those in the Portland area you might be enjoy the off and on snow showers today. It's been a pretty mild winter so the snow has been a bit of a surprise. Even when I see it in the forecast I don't expect actual snow.

The Winter Olympics are another reminder of snow :). There are the 2018 Ravellenic games that are ongoing as well. I always forget to join in on the fun (Ravellenic Games).

I'm hoping to complete a hat before the games are over next weekend. The Olympics always remind me of a few years ago that the powers that be of the Olympics said very rude things about knitters who wanted to use the term Olympics for the knitting games. Here's an article from about six years ago (Knitters Outraged). Knitting/Crocheting can be athletic!

While working on a hat this week, I'm hoping to make more progress on my Lilla Bjorn sweater and a few other ongoing projects (just a quick post this week). Have a great week.

Happy birthday...to my knit/crochet group!

It's a couple days early, but it's the 7th anniversary of the first Meetup, which was scheduled for February 13, 2011. Thank you to those who've been part of the group. Whether you've only made it to one Meetup, moved away, been a member for as short time or since the beginning, your involvement means the world to me. Here are a few pictures from today's meeting/celebration. It's been several years since I've celebrated the anniversary, but it seemed like the right time.

I wanted to give a special shout out to Margaret, Shar, and Cathie for helping with lots of the organizing and hosting while I've largely stepped out that role.

While at the group I was working on a hexagon for Lilla Bjorn's crochet along. I love the idea of the top. Now that the second step is out...I'm still not done with the first. I need to get this one to 22 or 24 rows and then create the second. Then I can do step 2. This is an entirely free pattern and there are some great instructions on YouTube. I'm thinking of working on a corner to corner join as you go pillow to learn a neat way to incorporate so color and triangles.

My test knit is complete. So...so...so happy to be done. I'm also finishing three days late, which is was a big bummer. It turned out beautifully :).

A lovely little surprise was in my mailbox yesterday. Quick shipping is always nice, but it was entirely unexpected. There was also some tea, which I gladly enjoyed today. This yarn is from Six and Seven Fiber. I looked up the shop because it was supposed to have kits for a mystery knit along and I was curious what colors they were putting together. I didn't see any kits, so I'm assuming they sold out. After poking around I saw a colorway named "Luna's shoes" and I thought it sounded lovely. I'm not a big Harry Potter buff, but I always appreciated Luna and the colors are lovely. After deciding to treat myself to a skein, I wanted to enjoy a few other colorways, so I purchased three mini skeins. This minimizes the guilt factor for me and I have more colors to enjoy :).

I had discussed a mood blanket that I wanted to start today. I believe I've found a nice lacy square that will be easy to join as you go:  Square Upon a Square. This link is straight to the Red Heart website, so you can see it without being a Ravelry user. I also love the granny square so much that I started to modify one to make the edging comparable to the more lacy one. I think I've done it. I'll start my tracking spreadsheet tonight and then try to work in the squares periodically. They are about 2.5 inches wide so if I made the table cloth or runner 18 by 20 squares, it would be 45 inches by 50 inches. That wouldn't quite be a table cloth without a significant edging for out modest dining room table, but maybe that could be the center.

The cotton really shines in with the flash :).

One last note, my family has had several unfortunate events over the last week or so. If you could send them some good thoughts or prayers, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Have a nice week and happy crafting.