Spring is in the air

Today was a gorgeous day in Colorado. Joe and I took advantage of the good weather to take the B&B team on a looooong walk. I'm thinking Buster enjoyed himself:


I also started a new project in Handmaiden Sea Silk in this lovely warm coppery colour. I'd bought the Sea Silk with the intent of making the Montego Bay Scarf. But after starting twice and ripping it out (I simply didn't enjoy knitting on it) I decided to go with a tried and tested favourite of the mine -- the Shetland Triangle from Interweave's Wrap Style. I'm on a mission to complete this one quickly... more on that later.


I also received my latest Spring Season's mailing from Sundara -- it's a silk merino blend in shade Robin's Egg. If you've been reading my blog recently you know I've got quite the thing for this colour right now. Oooh what to make with this yummy skein of yarn?

Thuja

The Thuja socks for Joe are finished:

• Pattern: Thuja on Knitty.com
• Needles: Size 6 (yes, they knit up much faster on these big ole needles)
• Yarn: Cashmere Merino from The Knittery

I love the pattern, and the yarn is nice. But to be honest this FO isn't much to write home about -- I think the yarn just simply isn't chunky enough for size 6 needles. I should have either gone with something a little more substantial, or gone down a couple of needle sizes and increased the number of repeats.

But Joe is happy and so that works for me. :)

Next!

Goodies

There was a parcel waiting for me in the mailbox today. I galloped home because I knew the parcel contained some yarny goodness from Bea. Wow! She certainly knows how to spoil a girl:


Isn't it beautiful. And it is so very soft too with an insane amount of yardage -- 560 yards!

You can read the story behind the yarn here on Bea's blog and admire some of her other colourways. On reading this particular post this colourway immediately caught my eye. And then to learn that I influenced it in some way, well I was giddy with delight and wanted to get my hands on it.

Now if the yarn alone wasn't splendid enough there's more... I also received a matching project bag. Love it!


There were so many thoughtful details in this package -- the matching project bag; the coordinated tissue wrapping; the stitch markers. And don't you just love her label 'Yarn Pig'. There's a story there too. As you can tell, I can't sing her praises enough.

Thank you Bea - once again you made my day! :o)

Love

I just returned from a long weekend in Vegas with Joe and some good friends. It was fab! The highlight of the weekend was seeing the Cirque du Soleil show 'Love'; a tribute to The Beatles. I think Cirque du Soleil performances are spectacular, and this was enhanced by a great compilation of Beatles tunes. Loved it!


Other than that, I walked my little legs off - up the length and breadth of the strip. I'd never been to Vegas before and everything is mind blowingly massive. The hotels are essentially mini towns all under one roof. So large in fact that it's easy to lose your bearings in them. But, they are amazing to see and experience. It was such a fun weekend and a great way to spend Valentines.

A little knitting content: I did have a Noro sock for company on the flight. I fell in love with the colours in this sock yarn a little while ago and was lucky enough to stumble across some in a local yarn store recently.


And last but not least - the new Rowan magazine was waiting for me when I got home. Yay! Love it, love it, love it! Soo many more projects to add to the queue. Not enough time to knit them.

Hope you had a great Valentines weekend with loved ones,
Sam

Dougie Dog Hat and Scarf

The little boy hat and scarf are done:

• Pattern: Dougie Dog Hat and Scarf from Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids
• Yarn: Berroco Comfort (I know it's aaarghcrylic, but it's washable, and the scarf is for a little boy. Need I say more ;o)

I did make a bunch of modifications to the original patterns:

• I used a thicker yarn than called for and adjusted the pattern accordingly
• For the hat, I decided against the square, patterned top with the tassels and opted instead for simple decreases in stocking stitch - you know like a regular beanie.
• For the scarf, I used the pattern from the hat headband and just kept knitting 'til it looked like it would be long enough for a little kiddo.

I do love the stitch pattern on the scarf. As does Joe, who has put in an order for one (I'm guessing in more 'manly' colours ;o). Which is the perfect excuse to go stash diving to see if there's something lurking in one of my baskets that would do the trick. Assuming I don't stumble across a yarn store in the mean time ;o)

Fantastic Flower Hat

How cute is this pattern:


It is the Fantastic Flower Hat from Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids.

I'm thinking about cranking out a matching scarf. But first I want to make the Dougie Dog hat. Then I'll see if I've got enough yarn, and time, left to make scarves before Thursday (the gift drop off day). In my favour -- it is Superbowl Sunday today, which equates to lots of knitting time for me.

Other good stuff: I received a shipment of Sundara sock yarn. I love the colours she creates and the 'Navy Purple over Salmon' was my achilles heel this time around -- it just jumped off her web page screaming 'buy me'. What's a girl to do? It's not like it goes bad ;o)

Navy Purple over Salmon:


Navy over Cerulean:


Sea Water (I didn't do a great job of accurately capturing the colours in this one -- it has more turquoisey greens than you see here):


And last but not least - the pink in the mosaic blanket has been vetoed. That it would be 'too girly'. Maybe I do just stick with the blues, browns and greens?

Have a great Sunday!
Sam

Purls of Wisdom

Stop 5 on the Colorado Yarn Store Tour is Purls of Wisdom in Parker.


Jen opened Purls of Wisdom a couple of months ago and it's become a bit of a local haunt for me. (Thanks Kelly for introducing me!) What I love most is how open and inviting this place is -- anyone and everyone is invited (heck I'd even say encouraged) to swing by and plop in one of the big comfy chairs and knit to your heart's content. If you live in the area I'd highly recommend it. And if you have young children, check out this great little area that she has set up for them to watch movies:


And she stocks some lovely yarns -- there's some wonderful cashmere on the counter that just begs to be stroked each time you walk by. And she has a good selection of Rowan too!


At Purls I picked up some Berroco Bonsai for the mosaic blanket:


Speaking of the blanket, it feels like I need to add some colours to the mix. Trouble is (and if you read this blog frequently you'll know that) I can be colour challenged. I think I do matchy matchy ok. But contrast colours... hmmm.... help is needed. So I tore through a couple of my old magazines to see if I could get some other inspiration ideas and I put this collage together of images that contained duck egg blue.


You can see that I'm thinking pink might get added to the mix together with some lighter green colours. Think Amy Butler.

Will I be able to pull this off effectively, who knows? But it will be fun trying...