Simple Knits | Progress & Prizes

Whew! April has been a busy month (again) and it's (finally) time to announce the winners of our Spring Simple Knits Knitalong Giveaway and share my progress on our April project (it's really fun)!

Are you knitting along with us?

Spring Giveaway Winners!

Prize #1 goes to... Lisa (her entry was kindly submitted by her friend JWYarnGarden (Ravelry ID). The Milk & Honey lotion bars are one of my favorites and I hope you love the Limited Edition Heart Bar! 

Prize #2 goes to... tmmiller1 (Ravelry ID) | Teresa! A skein of the new Stripey Fine by Spud & Chloe in the Mint Chip colorway is all yours!

Thanks to everyone that's been participating! It was a lot of fun sorting through the FO pictures - we've had some really fabulous projects from our wonderful knitters and I can't wait to see more!

For our April Simple Knits project, I wanted something that was versatile for this transitional time of year and Rathtrevor by the talented Jane Richmond is a perfect fit.

I've been thinking about making another pair for months and I'm super happy to now have a fresh set on my needles!

Aren't they fun?! I tend to gravitate toward neutrals, but with the arrival of spring, my goal was to go bright and I believe I have succeeded. I'm using SweetGeorgia Superwash DK in Grape Jelly and those awesome needles... they're the new Marblz Interchangeables that arrived at Firefly Fibers last week and I couldn't resist pairing them up with this yarn!

I also whipped up a Reversible Sock Bag by Very Shannon in some of the gorgeous Art Gallery Fabrics cotton that we carry at the shop. I'll have more bag news soon, so stay tuned...

Are you knitting along this month? What has been your favorite project so far?

If you missed the Simple Knits Knitalong launch... you can find the details right here in this first Simple Knits blog post or visit our Simple Knits Ravelry Thread. 

Cheers!

On the Needles | Journey-along & Inland

Whew! March was a long month and yesterday was the first day in almost a month that I finally felt like myself again after battling a terrible cold bug. I was a flurry of crafty and kitchen activity all day and I'll share details with you on that later this week. Today I'm happy to share that I'm casting on a sweater for the Journey-along. This beautiful grey is going to be Inland and, from what I've heard, I'll want to live in it.

I've had yarn wound for this sweater for months and now that I'm getting ready to cast on, I'm super excited! The weather is warming up here, but it will still be cool in the evenings for quite awhile, so I'm sure this sweater will get plenty of use.

I'm working on ideas for the next Journey-along giveaway, so stay tuned... Many thanks (again) to the Journey designers, Shannon & Jane, for sponsoring the first giveaway with 2 eBook copies of Journey - congrats to Deb & Sandy on winning!

I've loved the enthusiasm for the projects in this book and our Journey-along Ravelry group is so much fun with both local and not-so-localknitters sharing in the fun. Since we're knitting through November, it's not too late to join the fun!

I'm off to cast on a new sweater and hoping to knit like the wind. Cheers!

On the mend...

I came down with a bear of a cold. The worst cold I've had in years that resulted in me taking a sick day and closing the shop for the first time in the nearly 4 years we've been in business. But... I'm on the mend and slowly getting back up to speed.

In the week before my cold attacked me, I had some super fun stuff on the horizon with the new class schedule and a new toy that I had just picked up. The response to the classes was overwhelming and it was so exciting to have classes fill in just the first couple days they were posted! I have wait-lists for several of the classes and now that I'm feeling better, I'm looking at dates for additional sessions. Super. Exciting.

As for the new toy I mentioned in my last post... well, we packed this happy guy in the car and went on a short trip to a sewing machine dealer...

 Where, I got this:

And this is as far as it's made it. Kind of sad, but there just hasn't been time to unpack it and play with the being sick in bed and all. So, it's patiently waiting in the box and I'm hoping time will cooperate in the next couple weeks. My first project will be the Patricia Cowl by Shannon Cook - I saw her pattern and tutorial over a year ago and I've had it on my mind since then for a perfect first project! I'll keep you posted!

I've spent a good portion of the last week napping, but between naps, I've been OD'ing on Desperate Housewives and working on these:

Jane Richmond's Linden Mittens in Crazy Zauberball for Jane's Linden KAL, but I decided to get even crazier and do this:

I split the ball in half and I'm working 5-round stripes from each and the end result is fabulous:

I have the first one done now and I'm getting ready to cast on the second mitten. The thing I love - and hate - about Crazy Zauberball, is the striping is totally random. I like things to match, so this yarn really pushes me to just let go and let it be what it will be. I know I'll have mismatched mittens with mismatched thumbs, but I'm trying to not care and just go with it because there's no way I can even try to make them match. I'm walking on the wild side. lol!

I'm also still hard at work on this for the Journey-along:

I'm about 1/3 of the way done and now that I'm feeling better, I expect to make some good headway on this project so I can get it out on display at the shop. I love the regular rhythm of Onward, it's a very relaxing knit.

As usual, I've been up to a few other things, but I'll save those for next time.

Until then... Cheers!!!