I've Got The Blues!

With Mother Nature being fickle with rain, snow, 60 degrees, 20 degrees... it would be easy to get the blues waiting for flowers to bloom. However, I am still in nesting mode and happily spinning and knitting away. As soon as I get 5 buttons sewn, my latest sweater will be making its' debut here along with a new scarf or two.
Until then, I am shopping my stash once again and reclaiming/reusing yarn. I have 2 skeins of an unknown indigo dyed fingerweight from a long time past purchase on Ebay that has never found a purpose. The blues and greens of the Mega Boot sock yarn lured me at first sight. I started a simple garter stitch shawl over a year ago with them. However, it was relegated to the time out closet due to the striping of the yarn. I just didn't care for it. Then I saw the simple garter stitch shawl that Yarn Harlot was working on and had to look up the pattern "Shawl That Jazz" on Ravelry. It calls for a DK weight. WHALAH!! The indigo dyed fingerweight and the sock yarn became instant friends! I think the sock weight was just overjoyous to be let out of the closet again! So for our next trick...let's see what a striped, marled sock yarn and a multi-toned indigo dyed yarn can create together in simple garter stitch! Let's see...cast on almost 250 stitches and knit, knit, knit!

Sharing a Smile

When I woke up this morning, the kitchen was full of three huge bunches of these and a homemade chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! (I've never met ANYTHING in chocolate that I didn't like. Haha.) What a way to start the day! When I first saw the balloons, I was grinning ear to ear and said, "How wonderful! All the colors of flowers without the worry of keeping the cats from eating them!" Thanks, hubby and kids; love you so much!

These made me smile so I wanted to share that smile with you.

Another year older (yes)...wiser? (remains to be seen)...but definately HAPPIER!! Here's to the coming year...it's going to be great!

Serenity

New Leaves?

Blue sky...

Moss celebrating a sudden thaw...

New leaves...

Ta Da! Another Redo!

From this...

To this...



Remember the Handspun BFL from February 2008 blog post? It started off as a "Blue Jean Lace Leaf Shawl". It was about 1/3rd of the way finished when it was put away for summer. (Sorry, the picture only shows the start of the shawl.)

The Summer issue of "Spin Off Magazine" came and showed Evelyn Clark's "Old Shale Shawl" and immediately I thought of that handspun! The shawl pattern reminded me of waves and yarn over "bubbles" and the yarn colors spoke to me of surf and sand. I knew they would be great together. However, I really loved knitting the lace leaf shawl. So it sat and it sat until I finally got the courage to rip it out and start the "Old Shale". I am very pleased. It's on the list of must finish!!

Hey! This rip, redo and reuse my stash is getting quite fun!

Hot Off The Wheel

We've had a bit of thawing which is contributing to my spring fever. I am anxious to see some green. So since it is not quite time for Mother Nautre to provide, I searched my fiber stash for something to spin this weekend. The top bobbin is apalca/merino/silk. The bottom bobbin is angora/merino/silk.



Spinning commenced thruout the weekend and here they are plied together. YUM! Aproximately 500 yards 2 ply from 3.6 oz.



I firmly believe that yarn will tell you what it wants to become. This yarn had a definate opinion!! Who am I to argue?

Rip, Rip, Redo, Recreate and Rainbows

I have been reassessing my stash lately and my unfinished projects. My goal is to determine which ones deserve my time and talent. Those are the ones that I will truly love to work on and will truly enjoy for years to come. Some stash or some projects just don't inspire me anymore, so those will be weeded out or maybe recreated into something I do love. Things change, ideas change, priorities change, people change...it's all a process...

Well, WAY WAY back in my October 2007 post, I was working on a diagonal knitted scarf with Noro Silk Garden color #224. I loved the yarn and the scarf pattern was a delight to knit. However the yarn color combination and the way it knitted up, really looked awful with my coat. So I ripped out the yarn right after I finished the scarf and saved it for later...



This weekend, inspiration hit! And now those couple of balls of Noro told me that they wanted to be part of a cardigan! Imagine that! So who am I to argue? Cast on I did! Add one more WIP to the knitting basket!



Often I find that something I am inspired to work on, shows up in nature around me, whether it is a certain color, a certain pattern, etc. Look what showed up on my kitchen floor this morning...



I guess I'm seeing stripes!