Sunstone

Destiny finally arrived!

Yum!!

The Star Sapphire arrived, too!

Almost, but not quite a perfect match to the skein from last year.

The new skeins are flanking the old skein in the middle.  I can still make it work!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Three for Three!

In the last month, I have finished three sweaters, one for the husband and one for each of my girls.

A few years ago, I made this same hoodie for the younger daughter.  I called it the Wee Hoodie.  Something strange happened, and it no longer fits.  The hoodie is still wee, but the daughter isn't.

So, here is the Not So Wee Hoodie for the almost eleven year old:

Pattern:  Under the Hoodie
Yarn:  Malabrigo Rios in Paris Night, Ravelry Red, and Sunset.  This yarn is FANTASTIC!  It softens tremendously when washed.  Wee One picked out the color combination.  I think she chose well.

Now, I can work on something for myself!!

Happy Knitting!

Geaux Tigers!

The husband and I are LSU alumni, so there is much purple and gold enthusiasm at Casa del Feisty.  He is particularly pleased with his vest:

Pattern:  Nathan by Jones & Vandermeer

Yarn:  Morehouse Farm Merino 3-strand in Boysenberry

This was my second go at this pattern in as many months.  This is a great, easy pattern that knits up quickly!

Geaux Tigers!!

Represent!!

Another one off the needles!

The daughter is now a student at UT at Austin.  This, of course, makes her a Longhorn Girl:

Pattern:  I Heart Aran by Tanis

Yarn:  Malabrigo Merino in Cinnabar

The sweater was a good knit, until the collar.  Up to that point, I thought the pattern was well written; however, I had a big issue with the number of stitches to pick up for the shawl collar.  All the designer said was to pick up a stitch for each row.  I did that the first time and completed the collar, as well as weaved in all the ends, but when the younger daughter tried it on, it was painfully obvious the collar was too small.

Unpicking the weaving and ripping it out in the single-ply Malabrigo was just about my undoing.  So much so, the sweater was almost burned in frustrated fury; however, the 80-plus pound Remy intervened with a head to my lap (while the rest of the family scattered and hid for cover) and a cooler head eventually prevailed.

I am proud of myself for finishing it, and the daughter loves it!

Shades of Gray

With a digital subscription to Creative Knitting Magazine, I receive a number of emails with previews of their patterns and other knitterly things.

This morning's email alerted me the January 2012 issue is now available.

A couple of clicks later, this appeared:

Pattern:  Shades of Gray by Jill Wright.

A few more clicks through the stash, as uploaded to Ravelry, and I discovered I had enough of this to make it:

Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in Gothic Rose.

Swatching quickly, the old gauge was bang on!

Nothing to do, but start the sweater, don't you think?

Shades of Gothic Rose is now underway!

Destiny

One of my favorite yarns is an aran weight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts called Twisted.  According to its product description, it is a 4-ply with 3 strands of regular merino and 1 strand of superwash.  The superwash tends to take the dye more intensely, giving it a little candy cane stripe effect.  It is really not noticeable when knitted, though.

My first experience with it was in the Valkyrie colorway:

Valkyrie knitted up like this:

Taking stock of my stash, I realized I have a lot of dark worsted and aran weight yarns.  Of course, there is nothing wrong with dark colors, they are simply what I wear most; however, I had the envies for something different.  So, Sunday found me drooling over the colorways back at Blue Moon Fibers.  I fell in absolute and total lusty love with Sunstone:

Late that night a couple of people got an email from asking: "Do you think I can wear this?"

Laura came through with an "Absolutely!"

But, I decided to sleep on it.

The next morning, I was still smitten, but decided not to do anything about it.

Who says I don't have self-control, anyway?

Tuesday morning I had decided I was not going to order anything unless or until I had the perfect project in mind.

Mid-morning found me firing off another email or two essentially asking:  "What do you think of this in this??

I was referring to this pattern in the Sunstone:

The lovely Sherrie was all in with me.

The delightful Laura was a bit skeptical of the pattern, but owned the one-liner of the day:  "Get the yarn. That we know for certain."  Okay, actually, it was a two-liner, but you get the drift.

Still trying to exercise some restraint, I decided it would not kill me to sleep on it for another night.

This morning, my desire has only increased.  So, as soon as I put the skeins in my cart, a thought struck me.

"Didn't I order a single skein of Twisted Star Sapphire sometime last year?"

A quick glance at the stash confirmed it.

Yes, there was a single skein of the lovely stuff languishing.  I adored the color, but it was only one skein, and I hated to waste it on a hat, cowl or mittens I was never going to wear.  Apparently, I was too selfish to part with this little lovely.

With a sigh, I added two skeins to the cart, knowing they would not be a perfect match to the one I already had, but alternating skeins and such, I would just make it work.

Before I could change my mind, I placed the order and clicked over to Ravelry to update my stash.

As I told someone in yet another email this morning, apparently, I am a creature of habit.

This is the link to the stash page with the Star Sapphire I bought last year.  Notice anything interesting about the purchase date?

November 2, 2010.

Today's date:  November 2, 2011.

Destiny...

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Besides, Santa always needs a little help when it comes to Christmas and me, right?