Pick Up Sticks

Thursday

This week has been flying along.  Work is crazy busy as usual and I am looking forward to a 3 day weekend where I swear I WILL NOT DO ANY WORK!  And by work I mean work work...the kind I get paid for....

I had a good week.  Tuesday was my knit night which I always look forward to.  We have a small group that meets at Panera for a few hours for knitting, food and some laughs.  I diligently worked on my Barb's Koigu Ruffle scarf.  I love the look of this scarf and am using up some partial skeins of DIC Smooshy in shades of blue.  I try to take a mindless project to knit night as I like to be able to knit without paying too much attention to my project.  This definitely fits the bill - lots of mindless stockinette...lots. 

Last night I finally cast off and am really loving it.  I need to weave in the ends and steam...will take pictures this weekend.

We have been enjoying above average temps this week - in the mid-50's - Friday is supposed to be in the mid-60's.  I usually love winter but for some reason am craving Spring this year.  I am looking forward to getting into my garden and making some big changes this year.  I want to add more structure into the garden through some small trees and shrubs as well as some trellises and fencing. 

So in honor of Spring and gardening I will add a picture from last years garden - especially since a blog post must contain a picture.

 

On My Needles

StripedSocks
Originally uploaded by hearts812

I am still knitting everyday. It is my therapy...although sometimes I think therapy might be cheaper!

In 2010 I joined a group on Ravelry called 10 Shawls in 2010. I did actually knit 10 shawls although one still needs to have the ends grafted together...procrastinating on that one. I really enjoyed this KAL although decided that in 2011 I would not make so many large projects.

I am determined to knit from stash as much as possible. I have been winding yarn and taking inventory of it thinking that if the yarn was ready to go I would use it up. I am finding that I have lots of single skeins. You know...the type that you see a lovely color or beautiful yarn and buy just one skein because it is so pretty...maybe others don't do that....

So I have been looking for small projects that use up one skein - I have been making cowls - my new favorite thing to wear. Last year I made a Dipped Infinity Cowl and just love it. This year I have made Awbrey- a chunky cowl in a wonderful hot pink colorway called Strawberry Smoothie. This is going to my DIL for Valentine's Day.

I knit another chunky ribbed cowl that you can also wear pulled down over your shoulders in a deep chocolate brown.

I also knit Thermis- in Dream in Color Smooshy Black Parade. Love this!

On my needles now is a small version of Honey Cowl - knit in Cascade Eco Duo - a wonderfully soft yarn of baby alpaca and merino. I am using a natural colorway called Vanilla and it feels like a cloud - light, airy and soft.

And although I have not knit many pairs of socks - I have a rather large stash of sock yarn - again in single skeins. So I am once again trying my hand at knitting socks. I have a plain jane ribbed sock on my needles in DIC Smooshy and recently finished a pair of socks in striped wool that fit so well and feel great. My issue in the past with socks was getting them to fit me properly - they always bagged at the ankles. but I am getting better at being able to modify a pattern to make things fit better.

I love the nearly instant gratification of smaller projects.  My goal is to have one small easy project on my needles as well as a larger one - that maybe is a little more complicated.  the easy one is great fro knit night as I can talk and not have to concentrate too much on it while laughing and carrying on with the group.