Startitis (who's surprised?)

After some serious stashing at Stitches Midwest (maybe 3 or 4 shopping bags on the floor and some more lovely kits winging their way Chicago-ward from Habu, Webs, a California store with cheap baby alpaca, and Black Water Abbey...I'll photograph the pile I have now so you can all gawk at my lack of self-control)...I need to start something right. NOW. Something that I can finish fast and therefore use to justify the number of future projects sitting on the living room floor (because there's no more room under the beds or in the extra dresser).

Thusly I have cast on for a bulky quick cardigan. I'm using lovely Classic Elite Marl La, a 100% wool yarn that's basically 4 strands of yarn held together, not plied, and each strand is a different complementary color. I'm using "Crazy Copper" #8527. Here's a close-up from Royal Yarns:

I'll use the Weekend Neck Down Jacket pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple (it's #0234 and available on Elann for a mere $4).

So for now I leave it up to you to picture me with size 17 circs completely full of gigantic stitches and not even to the widest part of the pattern...I think I'm building muscle.

Reviveth thouself, blog!

Much time and knitting has gone by. I have decided that fact should not stop me from blogging, which I have gotten strong urges to do for the past few weeks.

Though I wasn't working from late April until the end of July, and therefore had lots of free time, I didn't feel like blogging. I did plan a wedding and then get married in it (how convenient!), and I did knit quite a bit. Check out the sidebar for a sampling of FOs. I also finished a couple Secret Items for a friend (for Xmas) and a camo dog sweater for a lovely neighbor Shih Tzu. Photos to come ASAP.

In that time, I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool with my mom and good friend Bekah, and also went to Stitches Midwest with my mom (and took two classes with her). It was my second annual trip to each fest. Otherwise I didn't stash much, which is pretty good for me -- only a couple of skeins on sale here and there from Mosaic Yarn Studio and Arcadia.

This Saturday is the stash swap and yarn adventure at Arcadia. However, emphasis on SWAP. I really need to destash, period, especially considering all the great stuff I got in the last few months. The new finds really do trump the old stuff in many ways. I guess I'll use the stash swap as a warm-up to a full-fledged sale/giveaway.

When I update regularly for a while, I may do a little blog contest with yarny prizes. I still can't bear to destash any books or patterns, but honestly those don't bug me in the way oodles of yarn does.

A warm-up photo until I get back to the home computer (Banana Nut is her name):

Eli the cat in a too-small shoebox.
Photo courtesy of brother-in-law pro photog. Yay David!