Yarn Along & Exciting News!

Short post today since I've spent all afternoon working on a project----My ETSY shop! I'm squealing just a little. ;-) It took me a little while to figure out something as simple as putting commas between tags, or I would have posted this sooner.  Sheesh.

Anyway, I'm so excited about how it looks right now! Go look!  I'll wait. :-) What do you think? I don't know why I've waited so long to do this. Help a fellow knitter out, and favorite the shop for me. That would be awesome. Even better, buy something. ;-) Even though I know you can probably make it yourself since you're a knitter and stopped by from Ginny's. :-)

More smiles. Are you sick of me yet?

Anyway, again, that cowl up there is my most recent project that I made up myself. :-) I love it. I call it The Sweetheart Cowl, and I almost hate to sell it. I have some more yarn, I might make another.

No photo of the book, but I'm on book 3 of Kristin Lavransdatter: The Cross. I do love these books. Have you read them yet?

I've got to run. Stop by and see my Rosy Knits. Pretty please. xo

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Oh, and stop by Ginny's, if you haven't, and visit the other knitters and crocheters.

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link at Ginny's to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

I don't think I ever showed off my completed Color Affection! It's huge, gorgeous, soft, and super warm. I don't think I've found a better yarn combo than cashmere, silk, and merino.

I'm wrapping up the 10 Ridge Wrap, though, truth be told, it's going to be a 9 Ridge Wrap. I barely, barely, have enough mushroom to do the 2 rows I'm on right now. I definitely don't have enough to do the 2 rows after the 10th blue ridge. No one will ever know. Except you guys, but I think my fellow knitters won't rat me out and point fingers that my shawlette has some....modifications. :-)

In case you didn't notice...it's made from the leftover Color Affection yarn.

No picture of a book this week. I'm reading a selection from The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection called "Cousin Phillis". You can see what I thought of my last book, Hannah Fowler, here in yesterday's post. Quick review: It was awesome!

We are off to the last regular swim meet of the season. Yay! I generally enjoy swim team, but I dread the chaos it brings to the house and I'm happy when it's over. Now, if I could just learn to be happy about it all the time.  Hannah Fowler wouldn't waste any energy emoting about it; she would just calmly do what needed to be done.

Happy knitting! And have a great week!

Lots of Knitting!

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link at Ginny's to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

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First off, a couple of photos of the finished and blocked A Drop in the Ocean.  It looks so much better once it is blocked, and I just love the size! I can wear it wrapped around anyway I want, or I can use it as a shawl since I made it wider.  The colors are awesome and match today's turquoise skirt perfectly.

Still on the needles is my Color Affection.  Note the size of the remaining yarn balls.  The light blue and brown are scary small!  I had this same problem with my original CA for my sister, but there was plenty of yarn.  With this one, I'm not so sure.  I didn't double and triple check the wrappers when I started, nor can I find them, but I have the distinct impression that the navy blue is actually a thinner yarn (dk vs. sport?) than the other two. So I really, really might not have enough of those two smaller balls.

Finally, I started this crazy Sock Yarn blanket thanks to the generous donations of friends.  It's fun to make the little squares, so far, but I haven't tried attaching them yet, or weaving in the many ends that are going to accrue!

Reading has been audio for the past few days. I'm listening to G. K. Chesterton's What's Wrong with the World, though I've taken a break for Nicholas Sparks' The Longest Ride. It's a pretty long ride, and it's been kind of depressing and intense, so I really hope it's not one of the usual Sparks books that ends with a death! Right now, it seriously looks as if there may be TWO deaths.

I think there is a huge difference between Chesterton and Sparks.  Which way does your pendulum swing?

Finished "Color Affection"

 After blocking, it's much bigger than I expected.  Merino is very stretchy and blocks out much larger.  In fact, I have a shawl that I've blocked twice and it can still be blocked again because it's still a little puckered!

 It think this is just gorgeous!  And the softness is incredible---not a bit of scratchiness.  Soft, light and very warm.  It would be perfect if it were my colors.  I'm dying to make one for myself in colors more suitable for me.  Like blues.

Chilly Quick Takes

---1---

I'll start with a complaint...because that's such a Lenten thing to do...I'm getting a wee bit sick of this winter that can't decide what to do with itself!  One day it's cold and wintry (normal, you know), and the next day it warms up to spring-like temperatures.  But Winter and Spring don't like each other much, so they clash, and we get rain.  Not warm, summery rain, but cold wintry, unpleasant rain.  Now, if Winter would just stay, you know, winter, we could stop having these wet clashes with pushy Spring.  Give me cold sunshine over cold rain any day.  

---2---

I don't like to complain about the weather, but this winter is getting to me.  How are you enjoying your sun/blizzards/ice?  Is it normal for you, or is this winter driving you crazy?

---3---

Our homeschool group had a lesson from Chinese dancers today.  We saw lots of different dances, and the kids got to practice a little with fans and scarves.  Oh, how I wish that I hadn't had my knitting in my hands and I had gotten a video of my 14 yo son doing the ribbon dance!  He was so cute.  (Don't tell him I said that!)

---4---

Said 14 yo son needed a ski mask over President's Day weekend for a ski trip with the Boy Scouts, so he picked one off Ravelry, and I crocheted it for him:  

Oh, sorry, that's the model.  An Ood from Dr. Who.

Here's the one I made:

Pip loved it, but it turns out that it's not actually practical for skiing.  

Who'd (see what I did there?) have thunk it?

---5---

It's taking me hours to finish these nots-so-quick takes!  Mainly because of a phone call from a friend in AHG.  We just talked about everything under the sun while waiting for an email which never came.   Surfing through my Google Reader between takes slows me down, too!

---6---

So, I've been looking all over my house for the kids' standardized test scores.  I can't find them anywhere.  But you know what I have found?  A bunch of stuff that doesn't belong here, or there, or anywhere.  As soon as it warms up....why? why can't I work while it's chilly?....I want to go through my house, room by room, drawer by drawer, and organize the whole place!  I think I probably said that a while back...when the weather was warm...and never did it.  

What do you do when you're sick of the clutter and disorganization?  Don't tell me you clean!  Tell me how you clean!  Pretty please.

---7---

In lieu of actual, official Standardized Test Scores, Meg and Pip will have to undergo Assessment Tests next Tuesday for the hybrid homeschool we applied to!  Say a prayer for them.  They're bright kids, but they're sort of freaking out a little.  Me, too.

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Join the fun at Jen's for more 7 Quick Takes!

January Knits

 I finished Susie's Reading Mitts that I told you about a couple of weeks ago.  Yarn info is in that post, too. They were pretty quick, not difficult, and fun.  I especially like the surprise scalloped edge that I didn't see coming! I thought they might be good for blogging, and I'm wearing them now, so I can tell you that they aren't.  Particularly.  They're just a little too snug around the hand to allow my pinkies to stretch out fully and reach those shift keys!  But I wouldn't want them any looser, either, so I'll just have to blog with cold fingers.

I had 3 skeins of that yarn, and the mitts used a tiny bit more than one.  I was able to make this long-awaited slouch beanie with the rest of it (I have a tiny little ball left!) which my my girl loves.  She has been wearing it ever since I finished it.  I think I'd like a turn with it because the yarn is so soft and light and warm.  It's delicious.  I don't usually say that about yarn, but it is!

 Cute cables ended just in time, because I had had quite enough of them!

She's such a doll;  I think she deserves an adorable hat.