Knitting Fantasies

I cast on Fluffy Lap Blanket #5 and though I still love the pattern and the product, after making 4 of them, I'm ready to be done. In the beginning, I'd thought I would keep knitting until I'd used all the yarn, but there's a considerable amount left. Here they are:











Yesterday, as a distraction, in a moment of impulsive "I have enough money in my PayPal account to buy this and I even have the yarn and I really want to make it"-ness, I bought the pattern for 28thirty, a Zephyr Style pattern. It's so cute and it's perfect for my white Denimstyle! It feels like a cloud.



Also, in a different moment of impulsive stash diving meets magazine inspiration, I cast on the Incan Pullover from the cover of the latest KnitSimple. One iteration of this pattern is in the second row when you go to the link. I'm using some $1 clearance yarn from Crafts Direct. It's actually pretty nice yarn. It's a 50/50 Tencel/acrylic blend that has a slight texture to it. I have a little bit of a gauge issue but I should be fine with as generous as the sizing is for this pattern.



Along with my active knitting fantasies, I have some that are still only in my head. #1 of which is the Endpapers Shawl from the Knitter's Book of Yarn. That shawl has been at the forefront of my mind ever since I first saw it, yet I have not seen any FO's in blogland or Ravelry. Could it be that I am the only one entranced by this pattern?



I've been contemplating various less expensive yarn choices than Koigu. I've never even held Koigu! I think I may have some options at KnitPicks now that they've expanded the colors in several of their yarn lines.

Anyway, that's the knitting life I'm leading right now. As for the rest of it, I have work piled up that needs some attention so that I can hopefully get some knitting time in this afternoon. Tomorrow I'm spending the night at a hotel with a water park along with my daughter and the other moms/girls in her Girl Scout troop. Should be fun times, but I'll miss out on several hours of knitting and need to make that up somewhere.

Has it really been this long?

Good grief! Give me a day off and I'll take a month! I really do love blogging - I just have to get into the habit again of doing it regularly.

So what's been going on? Well, we're patiently waiting for consistent spring-like weather. It was 39 degrees here a couple days ago. Right now we're sitting at a rainy 52. Not too bad - at least there's no snow!

We did, however, have some severe storms last Sunday. Here's what the north side of our house looked like after the baseball-size hail:



Here's one of the hail stones. This photo was taken 30 minutes after the hail stopped and it had probably been on the ground for 45:



Here's what happened to my poor mom's car. She was visiting so her car was outside:



We are going to need a new roof, siding, 1 window, an exterior light, and gutters. Our truck took a beating as well. Both my mom's car and our truck will likely be totalled. Eek. Hopefully this storm was not a sign of things to come this summer. I'm going to stock up on batteries just in case.

Ok, on to the knitting. I've been heavily into the 2008 Fluffy Lap Blanket Bonanza. If you're on Ravelry, you can find the details here. One more to go and then I'll pound out a few more Mason-Dixon Washcloths. Those two patterns are my favorite teacher gifts. Fast, easy, impressive looking, and always appreciated. What could be better?

I bought my first skein of Malabrigo Chunky yesterday at Silver Creek Cabin. The color is Stonechat.



I was forced to buy this after seeing Parikha Mehta's Dolores Park Cowl. I simply had no choice. Plus I needed some yarn therapy after signing up for a stupid safe driving course to keep a ticket off my record. I bought it, wound it, and promptly knit it up. Like it? I adore it!



I definitely can wait for winter weather, but believe me when I say I'll be looking for any opportunity throughout the rest of spring and summer to wear this. I think this could be a new fave for gift giving as well. At $11 a skein, it's pretty darn economical too.

I suppose that's about it for now. I'll be casting on Blanket #5 today - Oh, and I got the call from JoAnn that my Denimstyle in Khaki has arrived! Yay! I'll get it tomorrow and I hope I will finish that sweater (from my last post) over the weekend. It's all good!

Have a great Thursday!