Wedding, Washcloths, and Giggles

As I was settling in to write a blog post today, I noticed my last post was quite some time ago (20 days to be exact). There's been a lot going on and as fall is settling into the air, hopefully things will settle down just a wee bit. This last weekend a dear friend got married (the one I knit the shawl for). She's amazing. Her new husband is amazing. They're amazing together. Pretty amazing all the way around, really.

I snapped a quick phone pic of the wedding location as soon as I arrived at The Brillion Nature Center. Pretty, right?

It was a beautiful day and the wedding was as amazing and unique as the happy couple. I can't wait to sort through photos on the camera.

The wedding was on Saturday so hubby took on the role of Mr. Firefly at Firefly Fibers for the day. The ceremony was out of town and close to my sister-in-law, so I stayed with her the night before and Mike met me at the reception after closing the shop. It was a grand time - thank you so much to my husband for helping out so I could be at the wedding and my sister-in-law for the slumber party.

In my typical style, I couldn't handle taking only a store bought gift to the wedding (obviously knitting a lace shawl for the bride wasn't sufficient in my mind - photos of that are coming soon), so I quickly cast on some washcloths last week to include in our gift. It was a close call with weaving in the ends on the morning of the wedding. I hope they love them - I know I do.

Pattern: New Log Cabin Washcloths by Purl Soho

Yarn: Skinny Cotton by Blue Sky Alpacas

Raveled: Wedding Log Cabin Washcloths

Two funny things from my time knitting these washcloths:

• I am a hopeless blocker. I block everything. It may be an illness. Obviously there wasn't time for a full washing and drying and I was without an iron the morning of the wedding, but there was a spray bottle and a flat iron for straightening hair. What was suggested as what I believe was a joke, worked marvelously. Take that MacGyver!
• Then, the night before the wedding at my slumber party, I was clicking away with my lovely company and this happened:

The cat failed at catching the annoying fly (not for lack of trying) and my glass of wine succeeded. Trying to snap a picture while giggling like mad as 'Isn't it Ironic' ran through my head was challenging. Actually, I'm still giggling and I hope you are, too.

Cheers!

Getting TALL

With the revival of the pint & half (24 oz) jars, I decided to modify the Canning Jar Sweater pattern to accommodate the taller jar and it really does deserve it because these jars are fabulous! I think it's rather handsome in Spud & Chloe's Manatee:

This one was for hubby to use with his Cuppow at work and I hope to cast one on for myself soon in Chipmunk. It's already wound and ready to go, so it doesn't count, right?

These are the originals in Pollen, Grass and Splash - I love yarn with great color names!

If you want to knit your own Canning Jar Sweater, the pattern is available here on Ravelry and at Firefly Fibers (as is the Sweater and a variety of Cuppows, both of which tempt me daily).

If you only need the pattern updates, visit this blog post on Firefly Fibers to find out how to get them!

I'm hoping to cast mine on tonight at knitting, but we'll see... Cheers!

A recount...

Last weekend it was obvious as I pulled project bag, after project bag, after project bag out of the, well... knitting bag(s), that I needed to be reigned in, because this is a lot of projects - even for me.

There were 14. Yes... F.O.U.R.T.E.E.N.

And, yes, I am ashamed. Kind of. When I'm not laughing. Mostly, I'm laughing.

So, with class prep and fall sample knitting staring me in the face, I took a deep breath - maybe more than just one and I may have grabbed a bevie - and sat down to make some tough decisions.

In my defense, there are a few reasons for this embarrassing - and hilarious - state:

• Everything (and I mean everything) goes in a project bag - real and 'fake' projects.
• Testing (aka 'fake' projects) - grabbing random leftover bits from shop samples to try a project or technique and these REALLY don't count because they aren't anything, but it's still a bag.
• Class projects - sometimes I might not always count these and sometimes it turns into not counting them at all. Note to self... this is probably not a good idea.
• Shop samples - see above bullet point on 'Class projects' and note to self.
• DOA Projects - these are the ones that never had a chance, but I stubbornly tried to stick with it. In reality, they just need to be frogged to purge the demons so the beautiful yarn can again be full of potential to be what it really wants to be.
• Long-term projects - Beekeeper's Quilt is the perfect example. That puppy is not happening overnight.
• FO's - seriously, I have more exciting things to do after I bind off and block than wind leftover yarn into a ball and put it into the stash.

So, after all was said and done, my 14 contained one or more of all of the above and I'm now down to 8 (or 7 if we are in agreement that the Beekeeper doesn't really count) and I feel this is respectable enough - we aren't going for perfection in a week.

Yes, I know, the leopard loveseat print is totally rad and makes me look even more like a crazy yarn shop lady (thanks Dynae)! Just imagine a Beekeeper's Quilt on it - whoa!

Anyway, here's the breakdown of what's left...

The 4 in the back contain: my Grace, a skein of Spud & Chloe Sweater in Chipmunk for a tall Canning Jar Sweater and Calorimetry, Beekeeper bits (as previously stated, this probably doesn't really count) and a tall Canning Jar Sweater for hubby because he kind of deserves it.

The 4 in the front contain projects for Firefly Fibers: a Little Dragon, a Clapo-Ktus (I can't pronounce it either, but it's lovely) and 2 secret class projects that are really close to the finish line!

I feel like I can cast on another project now.. well, maybe not quite yet.

Now that I've shared... What's in your project bags?