New yarns, FOs, a WIP, and...I got RAK'd!

I just realized that it's been almost a month since I checked in, so I wanted to be sure you knew how busy I've been!

New Yarn

Yes, I keep saying I need to stop buying yarn. But I know that you know that I'm lying, yes? So here's what's come in this month...

First is this very cool felted yarn by Classic Elite called Waterspun. It's discontinued, sadly, but I scored enough on Ravelry to make The Mister a cabled sweater all in one go. He's asked me more than once if it was possible to felt yarn, rather than felting the finished object, and I never had a good answer for him. So when I saw this, I knew he had to have it for his private stash. ;-)

Next is the long-awaited delivery of two bags of Jojoland Rhythm hand-chosen by The Mister for his also hand-chosen entrelac sweater pattern by Sarah James. I never in the world would have chosen this colorway for him! Who knew?

Then there's the latest sale at LittleKnits. Fulay is certainly the devil, because she had a sale on Crystal Palace Yarns "Creme" with is a 60% wool 40% silk. It's a very pale celery green. One bag should be just perfect for Sea Breeze by Martin Storey (Ravelry link).




And finally, today's score at the Portsmouth Farmer's Market, 8 oz of hand-dyed merino beauty by Ingrid of Ward Brook Farm. The wool fumes pulled me into the tent, and the sight of this amazing colors sealed the deal. My plan is to continue to gather up these amazing hand-dyes a skein at a time over the summer and knit The Mister a striped raglan in all his favorite colors! I'm praying for a bright turquoise blue skein next week... Mmmmm!

Still incoming is a Rav swap of 7 skeins of Elann Espirit in Aegean Sea, and a Rav purchase of 12 skeins of Patons SWS in Natural Garden. At this rate, I'm going to have to retire to get all these projects knit!

FOs

I finished another Baby Surprise Jacket, this one for Amanda's impending baby Evie. It's just over one skein of Araucania Nature Wool Multi. And yes, it still needs seaming and buttons. ;-)

The most exciting FO, however, is the blanket for our still-impending grandbaby Trevor. It was finally completed and gifted to the impatient parents two weeks ago over a nice birthday diner for the Mom-to-be. She was very excited, especially when I told her it was machine washable! It's took 10 skeins of Plymouth Linen Isle, which is a very nice linen/cotton/rayon blend that softens up considerably with every wash. The pattern was a bit boring to knit, but the end result is so darn pretty it makes it all worthwhile. It's just lovely and I was very proud to gift it to such a special couple. Now if she'd just hurry up and get that baby out of her poor tired belly and into this nice soft blanket! She's due next week, so any minute now!



















WIPs

I'm obsessed with conquering the Spring Vines pattern. It's been trouble right from the get go with errors in the pattern, typos throughout, and a very non-standard cable chart and key. My advice to any designer: I'm begging you - hire a technical editor!

But with very generous help from the designer, Dao, through Ravelry, I completed the back and successfully adjusted the shaping to reduce the negative ease and draw less attention to my... sigh... back bacon. I also added a hem since the rolled edging in the pattern just didn't look finished to me. The pattern deserved better. Now I'm about 1/4 of the way into the front, after deciphering the center cable by looking over the FOs of the test knitters on Ravelry. I'm about 20 uninterrupted minutes away from the main cable pattern and I'm dreading having to decipher and rewrite something that complicated. I have a call out to Dao for help, but with the holiday weekend I'm really not expecting an answer. I'll soldier on without her if need be.

The darn thing is terribly pretty though. It's going to be a real stunner. No doubt.










And last but SO not least - I GOT RAK'd!





























Zaz from France sent me this adorable set of tins because she knows I love containers of all sorts, and she handmade these beautiful red stitch markers, and the holder, just for me! Thank you so much! That was so nice of you! I just love them all.

The little sheep is an unrelated RAK by The Mister - we were walking around Ogunquit, Maine with friends when he saw a family of these little sheep in the window and he knew I had to have one, so he snuck in and bought it. Isn't it cute? :-)


Finally, a little eye candy. Well, in my opinion, anyways. ;-) It's my son, Edgar, playing for me, his grandmother and his great grandmother two weeks ago when we all converged at my parent's place in NH, near where he's working for the summer. He really is a very good musician, and he writes and sings his own work. Very nice.

Enjoy!