The only prescription is MOAR CAST ONS.

I really did love being in school and the whole academic environment. These days, when I find myself falling into the unavoidable winter slump and feeling like I'm not doing enough and that I need to be living (?) more, I find myself missing learning. I realize this sounds pretty lame, because life as a whole should be a learning process, but it's just not the same (for me) anymore.

This is part of the reason I love working at a knitting store. I'm pretty much expected to be a knitting "guru" and should be able to answer most questions about most different kinds of knitting, whether I have done it before or not. I still haven't gotten past the cuff of a sock, but I've turned a heel. I have never done set-in sleeves...but I have. I was borderline scared of mattress stitch, but when a customer asked me to seam for her, I just did it. And it was great practice.

I am blessed in the fact that I am so passionate about a hobby that always teaches me. In the past two weeks I have "taught myself" how to seam, duplicate stitch, work set-in sleeves, etc. All for work. All for this part-time job that some of my careered friends look down upon. Forget about the haters; do what you love and what fulfills you.

Anyway, there's my rant. Now I just need to overcome the crippling fear of steaks (oh god, why?) and all will be good. I've been in a weird place lately and since casting on for new projects makes me happy, I have cast on for too many new things and stripes seem to be the theme of the week my life

My dormant Cladonia. Which I have touched maybe three times since I moved here.

I started a Delancey cardigan after lusting after one for a long, long time. Doing this as a KAL with The Sweatshop of Love group on Ravelry. I LOVE THIS COLOR COMBINATION. Even better? I scored the last of the Cascade 220 at Rosies...making my sweater super cheap. I will probably spend more money on the buttons because ohmygod I love buttons.

Fletcher Mittens by Amy Swenson, who just happens to be from my hometown. Which I need to just suck up and finish. The thumb that is finished looks like it has a toe attached to it, so I have one thumb to knit, one thumb to fix and two cuffs to pick up and knit. Why don't I just do it? Same reason I don't knit the lace section of my Cladonia: it's not neeeeew.

Another recent cast on...as in yesterday. This is my first time using O-Wool Balance and I love the colors. Aiming for some gradually changing stripes. I guess I had Valentines day on the brain when I selected these. Did I mention how that corally color is driving me CRAZY these days? This is going to be another cowl because I'm trying to figure out just how many neck things one person needs. 

Another shawl. This one is in Fibre Company's Terra in "Belladonna," which I love love love. It reminds me of the "Stephen Loves Tosh" coloway from the Stephen West shawl club...except I like this one better. And it's less ~exclusive~.

And that's that. I still have a few more that didn't get to be photographed (like my mohair/silk concoction from last week), but that's probably enough for now. Started planning crazy KALs with Andrea from work, but we are going to be strong and finish things before we even dare. Did I mention we are going to turn Rosie's into a hobbit hole/fairy wonderland? Shh...you didn't hear it from me. 

Happy knitting!

-Ashley

P.S. I miss my kitty babies. Buy me a kitten...

P.P.S. I still haven't started Matt's Valentine. Oh god why?

This week's palette & knitting tattoos

I call this "the heap of knitting hope" or something along those lines. This week has been slo-ow in terms of knitting related nonsense and tomfoolery and pretty ridiculous in terms of all other things. There have been a lot of work hours and quarreling and running (oh my!) and lazy sloth-like behaviors. I find that when I run more and more, I get so tired and don't even want to knit. Say what? Yeah, I said it. But, yes. That is my heap of hope. This week I find myself drawn more and more to grays and blues above all others. I'll sum it up to the weather and the hopes that I will (someday) soon see some body of water. I'm looking at you, Pacific Ocean.

Spring Beret in Debbie Bliss Amalfi

Things have been pretty slow at the shop since I got back from Christmas break, and earlier in the week I went through and made a list of our underperforming yarns. Once that was done, I set about the task of selecting a pattern per yarn and making little "sample to-knit" lists. For Debbie Bliss' Amalfi, a blend of cotton, viscose, linen and silk, I decided on revisiting an old favorite of mine: The Spring Beret by Natalie Larson. I haven't knit with many cottons before and though I have made this beret twice before, I have never used a higher-end cotton. These knits were back in the day, when I bought all of my yarns at Jo-Ann and didn't even know what linen was. 

Now, the pattern calls for a worsted weight, so I've had to make a few modifications to this pattern. I decided to knit the slouchier pattern, as I have done in the past, but I'm knitting the whole thing on size 6 needles. It's ending up kind of awkward slouch, but I'm confident that after a good blocking all will be well and the pattern will really stand out nicely. As for the yarn, well, I'm not so sure how I feel just yet...

Wee Heap of Koigu

This wee heap was meant to be a Father and Son tie for Matt, but now I'm rethinking it. While my boyfriend has some Joseph Gordon-Levitt characteristics, I'm just not too sure how well he can rock the skinny, tragically-hip tie. Matt is a skinny lad and skinny ties...well, they look a little awkward on him. Plus when I think about skinny ties, it leads to thoughts of sweater vests and how good they look together. Since I already owe Matt a sweater to go with his Ranger sleeves, I am not in the market to be knitting him sweater vests. After talking with Andrea at work today, I decided I might try and finagle a chevron tie out of these three colors. I wanted to use the gray as the main color and alternate stripes, but we only have one ball of gray in stock at the shop, meaning it's "make it work" time. I do love this color combination. 

Heritage Silk and Angel 

The gray in this photo is Cascade Heritage Silk (charcoal) and I had originally bought it to use for Matt's hipster tie, but then I kind of fell in love with it after seeing this scarf, which is just garter stitch on larger needles, but is so simple and beautiful. I've been in love with this plum Debbie Bliss Angel (color 17) since I started working at Rosie's and decided that it was time to take the plunge. I plan on knitting both yarns together (maybe on size 6-7 needles) and just doing an oversize garter stitch cowl. This is my first time using mohair, and, though I am a bit apprehensive, I'm hoping the color combination will cancel out any qualms I may have.

Since I keep jumping ship with many of the WIPs I have going, I have so many FOs looming on the horizon, but I just need to get things reigned in a bit before I finally have anything to share. I'm working on a wonderfully luscious everyday shawl in Terra by Fibre Company (yum), so I'm hoping to have that finished by weekend's end. It's perfect for lazy evenings and weekends when all I want to do is stare at Ryan Gosling's face and overdose on girly movies.

This whole "hey girl" meme makes me way too happy

Oh, and I decided on my first tattoo. At long last. Now I just need to find the right venue and get it done. My goal is to have it by my birthday, so hopefully I can stick to my guns and not wuss out this time. Of course it is knitting-related. And literary...kind of.

"Knitting is the Saving of Life"

I've never been a fan of color tattoos (why? I'm not sure), so I'm undecided as to whether mine will be colored in or just shaded. The quote is from Virginia Woolf, a lovely writer and self-declared "Mad Woman," a lady I happened to fall in love with during my final year of college. Colors could be lovely and if I do decide to use them, I would opt for various shades of colors of life. You know, greens, blues and yellows. However, I do love the black to soft gray that I was able to create with my pen shading. Because I have no markers here. Either way, I am really excited about this idea and it is the first tattoo idea of mine that I have felt truly passionate about getting. I'm planning on right forearm, just below my elbow, because when I first learned to knit I was a thrower. Now I pick, which is supposed to be better, but still manages to sound a little grosser.

Happy knitting!

-Ashley