Sweater as an FO

"Finished Object," or FO, is this sweater. Preliminary pic taken last week. I haven't yet had one taken to show the button closures. I love the lace panels front and back, and the panels in each sleeve. "Goes With Blue Jeans" is the color of the yarn-- my title, not the yarn company's.

It was a bit difficult to get into this pattern, but I persevered and the lace panels got easier as I continued on them. By the end of the sweater I was thinking "what was I so worried about?"

Back to Yarn Fumes

My first visit in a long time to a LYS. I'm too busy in my own town (don't ask!), but when wandering around Ventura with my friend we directed our steps to Ventura Fine Yarns, which is indeed.

Met my first skein of Madeline Tosh Merino Light (fingering). The pic below hardly does it justice. It is an emerald to beat all emeralds, greener and brighter than the pic shows. You might be tempted to call it turquoise, but the two skeins next to it were both a true turquoise: one light, one darker.

I think this will be a post-Christmas project. For now, I will fondle it occasionally and cruise all the great patterns on Ravelry to see what it wants to become when it grows up.

Since I've recently been captivated by lace knitting, this skein is just the thing!

Open!

Finally! Yesterday brought me an open Amaryllis flower. . .

And today. . . Two!

I can hardly wait til tomorrow! Perhaps there will be three open at once.

Amaryllis 1, 2, 3, 4

Since they are usually received as gifts, you see Amaryllis most often blooming in the early spring. However, mine is a couple of years old. It didn't even bother to sprout this spring, and I assumed I had probably killed it last year with my off-and-on care.

Imagine my surprise when it presented me with a tall, budded stalk on my birthday! It looked like this on Wednesday:

 

This (below) on Thursday:

This (below) on Friday:

and THIS today (Saturday):

But it hasn't opened yet! Perhaps by the time I return from Church tomorrow . . .

I am a gardening wuss, so this is the first time I've had any success with a potted flower. I am so excited that waiting is not my favorite sport! Stay tuned . . . I'm not knitting anything to do with it, but my lately-arrived hummingbird may love it so I am watching!

German Souvenir Yarn

My favorite souvenir yarn from our Germany trip made a nice pair of "Monkey" socks. I think the designer was Cat Borhdi, and who knows why they're called Monkey!

Done, I reiterate, is Beautiful.

 Yarn is Regia Cinema in colorway 07253

Entrelac Attack

Since Cicero didn't allow a very good view of the entrelac-in-progress for my last entry, I thought I should post photos of the completed thing.

It made quite a stash buster! All the yarns are various shades of purple and lavendar. Most are some kind of alpaca or mohair blend, but there is also one diehard acrylic. The yarn I had to buy to complete the shawl and add fringe adds a little more color: it is Moonshine, by Crystal Palace, and there's green in with the lavendar. And silver sparkles. Why not!

Close up of Entrelac Scarf. It's heavy-- not great for our climate, but so pretty!

Enter Entrelac!

Since Mom's little helper took control of this project, you can't see too much. Stay tuned, because my stashbuster project is an Entrelac scarf. I tend to pick up odd balls of purpleliciousness and it was time to use them all, or most of them.

Cicero wants to use them too, but perhaps in other ways than my intent.

Organizing yarn, what a thrill

Kindly put, my housekeeping is casual. In theory, I have had time to organize in the years since my dad died. I'm a sucker for a good theory, anyway.

Reality strikes in the form of mail that's never quite all answered, projects which take hiatus when I least expect it, and things I haven't gotten to quite yet. Life is so much more than housework, I say to encourage myself.

However. I try and try again to get myself organized so I can accomplish more. And sometimes an organizing tool reaches out and grabs me!

Perfect example: Trader Joe's wine bottle carrier. What a great yarn tote! It has six neat divided, skein-sized pockets and a pair of carrying straps. The best part is the price: 99c!

Each pocket has space for a pair of sock weight skeins, or even a long worsted skein. Needles can go right in next to their yarn. One pocket can serve for the work-in-progress. Several of these totes could sit inside a plastic tub, holding individual projects. Talk about possibilities! Best part is that they fold completely flat, so if not in use, storage is not an issue.

Yes, they even work for wine bottles. But that's a water bottle in the left pocket here :)

Whenever I find an interesting or tasty item at the above-mentioned store: "Trader Joe Strikes Again!"