The Calm

Ah, Jackson Falls…I had a great time, met some lovely people and reconnected with others. It was a pleasure to meet the very talented Laura Chau. I really enjoyed teaching my classes and of course, I loved throwing over my diet for the beautiful food by Lee and Paul. But I am loving this delicious, post-retreat calm before the storm of the holidays. These warm, rainy days are perfect for knitting and for taking stock. I’ve got Papa home for a few days, so I’m trying to do as little work as possible in favor of cooking, eating and knitting.

This pretty baby sweater is an absolute delight to knit (despite a little error in the separation row instructions). I am in love with this beautiful mink yarn that I picked up a couple of years ago at Passionknit in Toronto. This is Lotus Yarns, “Miya”, 70% mink, 20% merino, 10% silk. Divine. And I love the color! Grass. It is so enjoyable to knit that it is coming along very quickly.

I had quite a lot of time to work on my orchid socks while at the retreat. I’ve finished my Fleegle increases and am about to start working the short rows. Then, I think I’ll just knit until I run out of yarn. This color is just blowing my mind! <Said she of “black, gray and beige” fame.>

I bought these two fabulous new Covington fabrics about three weeks ago and I honestly can’t decide which one I like better! They’ll find new life as project bags and needle cases which will be for sale at the shop for Christmas. I’ve got a new design for needle cases that I think will make many a knitter happy at Christmas time 🙂

Then, there’s this. As I’ve mentioned before, one of my favorite things about the change in the seasons is finding half-finished projects that I didn’t quite finish last year. They give me such a nice head start! This time, it’s Dark and Stormy from Baby Cocktails. I can’t wait to finish and wear this sweater. Honestly, I’d have finished it long ago but got worried that I’d run out of yarn. I’ve just ordered a little more Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks.