Knitting in the New Year

I went out to Jimmy Beans on Tuesday.  They replace broken wooden double pointed needles and I have a size #4 that I've been saving for replacement.  I also wanted to look at some magazines and get a couple of stitch holders.  Cheryl takes care of the needle replacements and when we had finished, she invited me to take a tour of the warehouse.

The inventory is mind boggling.  I wasn't too tempted by the yarns as I'm right in the middle of a stash reduction period.

What got to me was the fantastic cottons they now carry.  I had this bolt in my hand but I didn't have a pattern or yardage.  It's on sale for $4.50 a yard and I'm going back.  There's a lot on sale right now but I've told myself - only buy what you'll sew.  We'll see how that goes.

That is what you think it is - a hot tub full of yarn.  JBW is one of the fastest growing companies in the nation and it's my local yarn store.  My only saving grace is that it's on the other side of Reno so I can't just drop in.  Phew.

As for trip knitting, I only finished one hat.  It's the same pattern as the purple hat but it's a little lackluster, I'm sorry to say.

The real trip knitting was on this revised Penelope Blouse.  I've added armhole and neck shaping.  It's actually a denim-colored tee but I'm planning to use it as a tunic.  No one wants to see me wear sleeveless anymore, especially me.  I'll leave that look to those who can wear it, like Michelle Obama.  This is stash yarn from Theresa Davies and I have enough to make two more tunics.

I'm serious about dealing with stash.  I'm tired of storing it.  Use it or lose it, that's my motto.  This is from a box of Jamison Shetland that I bought from Allison when she had a stash sale about four years ago.  I dug out Kaffe Fassett's pattern book and have spent the afternoon, trying to make some sense of the colors.  I've looked for pattern ideas for weeks and finally decided to make one up in Stitch Wizard and use one of Fassett's patterns.  I swatched for a while, testing patterns, then decided to just cast on and make the sweater the swatch. 

This is the box and as you can see, there's plenty more.  I'm treating this is a 12-steps program - one day at a time.  One sweater at a time.  The ugliest sweaters in life might just be looming on the horizon. I'm sure I'll learn something in the process.

Ian drives down the mailboxes every morning with the dogs and collects yesterdays mail.  This was waiting for us today.  Jan, our mail lady, is wonderful.  We leave packages with money in an envelope, she ships our packages and returns the change.  We leave her an empty jar and money and she returns a jar full of honey for Ian.  It's local and that's all I know, but Ian loves his honey at breakfast every morning.  He always leaves her a tip at Christmas and she always leaves us a card and cookies in January.  I'm sick to death of the cold and dreary weather, but I love where we live and the people we live with.