Wish I could remember what this yarn is. I bought it last summer at Knitting Addiction while on vacation with the parental units and the girls at Nags Head, NC. It is cotton, and gorgeous, and I am pretty sure the label floated away while I was knitting it on the beach.

Side note: This is hands down one of the BEST knitting stores I have ever been to. They were stocked mostly with cotton and non-wolly stuff, since it was July, at the beach. Huge, sunny, and LOTS of samples - well labeled. I would be there now if I was a less responsible mother.

So the yarn. Really it would be pretty just nailed to the wall. Originally I turned it into two shrugs for the girls. The shrugs were CUTE, but by December they had worn them exactly once. Enter FPS (Fiber Protective Services). Yarn abandonment. 

So I re-purposed it into a cowl for me. Size 11 needles, cast on 80 stitches. Four rows garter, Knit until you think you might not have enough for the last four rows of garter -do the four rows of garter, cast off. If you get bores of the knit throw in a line of purls. I did prime numbers (3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 or 23) Because I'm nerdy like that. Perfect.

Problem is I cannot get my hands on it. Yesterday the girls and I went to Carytown to look at their favorite toy store - World of Mirth:

And our local yarn store, the Yarn Lounge:

And now I can't get it back - Little-sis refused her coat so she spent the afternoon with it wrapped over her head. Last night big-sis wore it for movie night. No longer abandoned.

Knitting Books

We had an unexpected snow day today. We've had pretty miserable weather lately so the girls are gitting rather crabby with the indoors.

To liven things up we went to the bookstore to hang out. In betwee reading "Llama llama mad at mamma" and Barack Obama's new kids book I got to look at some knitting books.

I seriously want to make this:

Vicarious Thrills

So it is exam week, which has been unusually hectic this year. Generally I can get some knitting in while the kids test and I peer menacingly, but so far I have been swamped with work. Blah.

So some window shopping, if I can't knit I can pretend, right?

• Paradise Fibers I don't keep a bucket list, but an "empty nest" list of all the things I hope to have time for after my soccer mom days have passed. One is dying yarn. I have done a few projects, and I am totally ready to convert the basement into my own mini laboratory, but time and budget (and the husband) do not yet permit.

Opposite Day

So today is opposite day. I do these occasionally to prevent a funk from settling in. All day I do the opposite of my first instinct.

So today I did not stay in bed, I did wash my hair and I did not have marshmallows for breakfast.

Ice Day

We have an unexpected day home due to an ice storm. Two thing on the agenda-catch up on lesson plans and knitting.

I just finished chart A on the Brandywine shawl. The bright blue helps on such a dreary day.

Needing Color

Typical gray January day here. I decided yesterday I needed some color to get me through the rest of the month so I cast on the Brandywine Shawl in Blue Yonder Stroll by Knit Picks. It is the happiest blue I can find right now. 

 The chart is pretty easy to follow so far - it took a bit for me to get that the first few rows were essentially garter stitich. Today my goal is to find a printer - trying to follow a lcae chart on my tiny iTouch is huting the eyeballs.

Comfort

Why I Love the Internet, reason #57

I am plugging away at Little-Sis' monkey sweater today. I am at the point of putting the underarm stitches on waste yarn, and I have no idea of how many to do.

Internet to the rescue!

Wool Works Raglan Pattern

Accoring to this I need 1" under the arm. Back to knitting.

I am so consistent

So I am participating in the Self Imposed Sock Club (http://www.ravelry.com/groups/self-imposed-sock-club) over at Ravelry. The idea us you kit up 12 socks-yarn and pattern and each month you randomly grab one of your sock kits.

Great idea-I do have a pile and a half of the sock stuff sitting around. When I started putting together my kits this morning I found this:

Granted a small, but consistent, selection of my sock yarns. Green & blue. The rainbow one on top is the only exception.

Next in the Queue

So the queue feature in Ravelry might make it a bit too easy to imagine project after project...but once I finish Little Sis' mystery monkey sweater, and my Purple Thursday socks this is my next contender:

Brandywine Shawl

The Brandywine Shawl is by Romi Hill. I love the idea of some lace and a lot of garter - semi-mindless is good right now. Also she is donating $5 for every pattern purchased to Haiti relief. 

This past August The Husband spent a week in Haiti covering a local effort to bring Haitian college kids tot he US to finish their degrees. The entire college system was destroyed in the earthquake. The cause couldn't be better.



The Husband's Article on Haiti

Added: I must try this:

Beaded Bind Off

Knitting Socks

Must be the extreme cold this winter that is making me obsess over socks. I have joined the "Self Impossed Sock Club" Group over at Ravelry. The idea is you bag up patterns and yarn - one per month, then every month graba  bog and knit.

Course I have no bags, patterns or yarn yet, but I am trying to finish a few things first. Mainly my garter rib socks.

Some good links to techniques. This one lets you cast on (for top down) without the bump where you join the round.