The sun has finally emerged from behind the clouds - it was a lovely spring day today.

…Flowers and trees blooming, light breezes…

I guess you could say I have a little *spring* in my step!

…beautiful weather and pretty new socks…

Berry Socks
Yarn: GGH Marathon [sadly discontinued!]
Needles: Size US 1.5

Basic stockinette pattern with small ribbed cuff, and the German heel and French toe adapted from Knitting Vintage Socks. The beautiful yarn was the star, so simple stockinette did the trick. I knit on these on my way back from North Carolina over the weekend. Surprisingly, half of the second sock was knit in the dark, so I am surprised it looks this good (a few visible ladders, but hey, you wear them on your feet!)

The yarn was from a long ago trade with sweet Debi. It is the second pair of socks I have made with this yarn (Kris’s were the first), and I am sorry that it is no longer manufactured. I love the subtle colors and striping. It looks like handspun. Luckily, Trekking is a close comparison, and that is well-represented in the sock yarn market today (and my stash… )

I finished the last few inches and the toe decreases last night, while watching GAME ONE of the Stanley Cup playoffs between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators. I have been a Penguins fan for a long time (basically since Kris and I got together about 10 years ago!) and I am so excited about the series. The Penguins won 4-0 last night! Dear Ottawa friends - I know there are a few of you - we can remain bloggy buddies

With the playoffs and the race for the Stanley Cup in mind, a few of the hockey fan knitters over on the Ravelry group Puck This! were starting a playoffs knitalong. I decided to make my game-watching knitting a stashbusting activity… so I will be Stanley Cup Stashbusting for the next two months… until the Cup is raised over someone’s head (preferably a Penguin’s) Please feel free to join me - no matter what team you support, or if you know nothing about hockey at all! It is nothing formal - only fun! I am planning several small projects for the random green and brown skeins (for Project Spectrum) of yarn in my stash. Cowls and fingerless mitts galore!

~Many many thanks for your comments on my sister’s cardigan!

I knew I would finish my Aftur pullover on my drive to Alabama, so right before I left the house, I grabbed a ball of yarn and some needles for a quickie scarf project. I had planned to participate more fully in Kathy’s second Noro-vember knitalong (I made Kolsva last year…) this month, but time just got away.  With the knitalong in mind, I grabbed a ball of Noro Silk Mountain that I got at the stash swap earlier this year. Nice colors and pretty boucle texture. I figured I would go for something along the lines of the Noro Transitions cowl I made a few years back with the one skein.

After finishing my pullover, and feeling the need to work on something else, I pulled out my needles and this lovely yarn, and cast on a few dozen stitches.

Fifty minutes later, I had this:

Yarn: Noro Silk Mountain #7
Pattern: Circular knit, 45 stitch cast on
Needles: Size 10.5 DPN
[Another view of cowl]

My sister Mimi was the recipient (and model) of the little cowl scarf. It had purple in it, which is her favorite color, so it seemed natural to just give it to her after I knit it up. Plus, it looks quite nice on her, doesn’t it? Thanks for hosting the knitalong for another year, Kathy. My little cowl came in just under the wire!

I have so many random little skeins of yarn in my stash - both purchased and swapped - I should be making a lot more little things like this… I tend to make scarves and hats with these random skeins of yarn, but I also want to try a larger scale project like a blanket.

Do you have a “go-to” pattern for stashbusting?

Pattern: Aftur, from Lopi #25
Yarn: Botanical Shades, Lite Lopi, and recycled wool
Source: MDSW 2006, Weaver’s Webb (NC), thrift shop
Needles: Size US 7 and 8 circular and DPN

This was a true surprise - in my mind, I did not expect it to turn out so well! The colors came together haphazardly - I bought the main color, the beautiful indigo-dyed alpaca/wool/mohair blend called Botanical Shades, at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2006. Jenna bought a similar silk alpaca blend and is using it now for a Norah Gaughan pullover. The yoke is a mixture of yarns. The ivory is from a repurposed thrift shop sweater, and the other colors are from the Lopi Lite that I picked up in North Carolina last spring.

I completed the body and both sleeves in the first fifteen days of the month. I joined them together the night before I left for Alabama to visit my family (for my cousin’s wedding and the Thanksgiving holiday). The thirteen-hour car ride was the perfect time to complete the yoke. Kris even let me turn on the little car light on the passenger’s side so that I could complete it after dark. When we pulled in to my aunt and uncle’s house, I was finishing the collar. The next morning, the 17th, I seamed the underarms and wove in the ends.

Then I wore it during my entire stay. These particular photos were taken on Thanksgiving morning at my uncle’s cabin in Bankhead National Forest in northern Alabama. It was a very chilly morning, cooled by thunderstorms through the night. The orange-red of my uncle’s barn provided a nice backdrop for the pullover’s color palette.

This sweater started in Williamsburg, Virginia on November 1st and was completed in Alabama on November 17th. Truly a sweater knit on the road! I knit this for the National Knit a Sweater Month knitalong, hosted by Shannon.  Two years and counting - it’s a fun knitalong!

I love the yoked construction and the traditional Icelandic motif. This will not be my last Icelandic pullover - I have plans for many more! This pullover is also my first garment colorwork, having only completed the Kristen hat last February. I managed to keep an even tension over the yoke, and there is very little puckering.  It was so much easier than I imagined - and the results are so much better than I imagined!

…More about my trip down South soon…

Oh! `darkly, deeply, beautifully blue’ / As someone somewhere sings about the sky. –Lord Byron

Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the Deity to be a source of delight. –John Ruskin

… …

Aftur update :: sleeve one complete, sleeve two in progress

Saturday errands in the new blue shoes (and store bought socks)

…More thoughts and observations on blue…

I love November. I love sweaters. November is the perfect time to knit sweaters. Shannon must have known this when she created National Knit a Sweater Month knitalong last year. Year two has been a success thus far (only five days in!) and the Aftur pullover is flying off the needles!

The speed and progress of knitting can be attributed to the car rides between my home and Williamsburg, Virginia. Coming back yesterday, I completed the body - knit in the round to about 15.5 inches. I extended the body to accommodate my long torso, and I just hope it is enough. After I knit the sleeves, I will be able to gauge how much yarn I have left, and I may add on another inch for the body. In the meantime, I have started sleeve one on the size 7 double pointed needles.

I was saddened to hear that this yarn, Botanical Shades, is no longer produced. It was a small operation that used only natural fibers and natural dyes - I bought the yarn at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2006. It is a beautiful blend of alpaca, wool, and mohair. It is naturally dyed with indigo. If you have worked with indigo-dyed yarns before, you know that your fingers and your needles become blue. I do notice some color on the needles, and my hands are slightly blue after knitting, but not nearly as bad as I have witnessed: A friend of mine knit an indigo skirt last spring, and I recall her fingernails being blue, as well as her needles. This is not half as bad.

The traditional Icelandic yoked pullover is a new challenge for me. I have not completed a sweater with colorwork yet, and I am optimistic that this one will work out perfectly. If the yarn colors are any indication, this is going to be a great garment.  A few other bloggers have made this pullover too - they used the more traditional yarn colors.  I am hoping for a good balance with the colors I chose.