That’s about how often I post lately, for which I apologize.  I’ve been knitting quite a bit but everything I’m working on is slow.  Plus, as is my nature, I often work on so many different projects at a time that it takes even longer for me to finish something.

So here is a project I finished quite a few weeks ago but didn’t post about because it’s difficult to photograph due to its short, “bat wing” shape. It looks cute on, but not so cute on my mannequin. I wore it quite a bit when I was in New York recently for a fun girls’ weekend.

The sweater is Eastbound, designed by Courtney Kelley for Interweave Knits. I used the yarn called for in the pattern: Fibre Company’s Organik. It’s a blend of merino, baby alpaca, and silk. Yes, it’s nice but as is the case with many soft, single ply yarns I expect it will pill. The color I chose is Solstice.

As I said, hard to photograph but easy to wear. (I’ll distract you first with my cherry blossoms.)

Thanks to everyone with their comments about fabric stores.  I did get to Crafty Planet and it has a ton of nice fabrics.  Mostly prints, and a decent yarn selection.  I could not decide on anything but I will definitely go back.  The cute logo says it all!

We Missed It

Our bloggiversary.  On March 20 it was our 9th anniversary.  We talked about doing something to commemorate it, but time flew by and nothing happened.  So, thank you all for reading our blog these past nine years!!!

Oh, my.  It’s that time of year again, when all things wild go wild.  I woke up to heavy gobbling in the backyard this morning.  “How you doin’?” in turkey talk!!

There were 20 of them, the males puffed up and proudly displaying their gorgeousness.

Strut it!

The blue thingie with the white balls hanging down is a little disturbing.  If not “blown up” the deflated balls are red.  The males walk 3-4 steps and then stop, pause, and turn ever so slightly.  Did you see that?  Can you believe how sexy I am?  Rinse and repeat, Baby!!

Could not resist a little replay of Marvin Gaye from 4 years ago!!  😉

PS to Julie: They are a flock of wild turkeys that wander through our yard every day!!

Still alive but not much goin’ on!!  I spent yesterday sewing.  You may experience this — when  I finish a new sweater I realize that I have nothing to wear it with.  This was the case with Window to My Soul.  The bright reddish/orange-ish/pinkish color made it a “unique” addition to my ragged and pathetic wardrobe.

I spent the good part of last weekend shopping for fabric.  The fabric stores in the Twin Cities are sad.  We used to have some wonderful shops, but they have all closed.  You get JoAnn, Hancock and Treadle Yard Goods: boring, boring, and small/nice-but-hit-or-miss.  ** See PS **  So, I ended up at Blue Bamboo Fabrics (NOTE: I had the name wrong when I first posted!!!).

I always seem to end up at Blue Bamboo.  They have expanded and are now huge.  They specialize in quilting fabrics (especially Japanese prints), but quilting fabrics often work for my needs.  They are not a full service sewing store — you still need to shop for notions, lining, etc. elsewhere.

For my bright reddish/orange-ish/pinkish target color, the pickings were slim, however.  I settled on something I wasn’t quite thrilled with, but I figured that something is better than nothing.  It is Chamberry by Adorn It (#s 387, 404).

It has a kind of vintage feel.  I used my binding method again, but with a contrasting fabric.  I tried the dress on with the sweater and the sweater covered up everything cute about the dress.  So, the sweater needs to be worn unbuttoned.  Okay…

I continue to work on my Fading Lines.  I messed up and started the sweater with the wrong skein — it is too whitish and there is a definite line where I started the 2nd skein.  I considered starting over, but finally said, never mind.  I keep second guessing that choice, but too late now!  And, no, I do not alternate skeins!!  Life is too short.  I’d rather stew about it forever instead!! 😉

PS — Jill mentioned SR Harris in her comment (the nice website photos must be from their new location!!).  I live 5 minutes from there but it is a scary warehouse situation that screams “fire trap” to me!! I never think of going there but I know many people swear by it.

Today I taught a “pop up” class at The Yarnery on how to do a garter tab cast on.  It was really fun — they are so good to me there.  I love teaching for them.

One of the attendees was an out-of-towner named Eileen Mitchard.  She is the force behind Breast in Show, a musical about breast cancer.  She is the one speaking at the beginning of the video.

The Warrior Shawl designed by Tanis Gray is also associated with this project, donating 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the pattern to the funding of the show.  Dragonfly Fibers Traveller “Save the Ta Tas”  colorway was dyed especially for this shawl.

Eileen also knew of Sally, having knit her Sleeping Baby’s Castle Blanket!!  Small world!!

So, I just wanted to give Eileen a shout out for her great work promoting breast cancer awareness, and helping find a cure in our lifetime!

The endless tale is stockinette…again!  I am making yet another Joji design: Fading Lines.  I fell in love with the colors she used, so I bought the identical kit from Pigeonroof Studios.  I am a sucker for the colors!!

I must say, I am IN LOVE with this yarn as well!  Even though it is plain stockinette (acres and acres of it), I am enjoying this yarn immensely.  It is a joy to knit.

This one will take weeks and weeks.  I am probably going to have to break it up with other projects.  But it is great TV knitting!!

I finished a new sweater a couple of weeks ago.  One reason I haven’t posted about it before is that I kept hoping for better photos.  Hopes dashed, I’m posting anyway.   Squint and pretend it looks better than it does here (because it does).

The pattern is Piano Lessons designed by Carol Sunday. (Please look at her photos; they’re wonderful. I think it helps to have a young, pretty model!) This sweater uses an interesting construction — mitered corners, short rows, raglan sleeves. It was a fun sweater to knit.

For yarn, I used FÅR by Woolfolk. In some ways, I wished I’d used one of Carol’s yarns, which are all lovely. FÅR is wonderfully soft and beautiful, but the sweater I made earlier in the year with it has started to pill more than I’d like. I’ll need to be careful with this one and keep a shaver handy.

Yep, monogamy works.  But monogamy = monotony…in knitting, that is!!  I forced myself to keep knitting on my ‘Window to My Soul‘ and it actually paid off.  That lil sucker is finito!!  Yay!!

It fits and I like it quite a bit.  It is not very flattering but that can’t be helped.  Blocking made this thing.  It looked terrible before and blocking opened up the lace pattern.  I chose buttons that are a little “out there” for my usual taste, but I decided early on that this sweater was just for fun.

The yarn is Neighborhood Fiber Co. Rustic Fingering, color Gwynn Oak.  It doesn’t know if it is red, pink, or orange, but the overall look is W-O-W!

Sally has a couple of FOs coming up.  She has made two really beautiful things.  I have not yet seen pictures of the finished product, so I look forward to seeing them here!!

My Birkie Boy has a birthday today…Happy Birthday!!  He is at Birkie Weekend but I am not.  I stayed home with our nearly 15 year old lab, Molly.  She just couldn’t make it this year so neither could I.  But the good news is that I did not miss John crossing the finish line (for the first time in three years)!  They had a live feed of the finish and you could also track your skier, so I knew exactly when he was heading down main street — he can be seen at 3:59, as shown in this picture. Yay!!  It is nice that you can replay!!

My knitting is still in a slump.  The Dale is on a time out and the Window to my Soul is deadly boring.  B   O   R   I   N   G … cannot knit a single row without going into comatose state…

I will be able to stop by the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild Tea today for the first time in years — it is always on the Sunday of Birkie weekend so I don’t get to attend very often.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE SISTER!!!

I hate to step on our post from yesterday 😉 but it must be done!  I would never want the day to pass without letting people know what a great sister I have.

She always has my back, and supports me through thick and thin.  She is my rock and it doesn’t hurt that we share (among other things) our love of knitting.  That may sound nerdy, but it’s true!!

So, enjoy your day and many, many more!!