Saturday, November 10, was my birthday. I had a great day! M and I went on an excursion so I could buy this red wool coat. I love the red, however, almost none of my hand knitted accessories coordinated, as my other jackets are all in the fuchsia-plum color family. So I cast-on some Impressionist Sky Malabrigo sock yarn to knit the Cherry Lane Cowl. They also had the coat in black, and then all my current accessories would have worked, but what would be the fun in that?

One of the birthday presents M gave me is two skeins of Elsa Wool woolen spun fingering weight. It’s 100% Cormo wool (a first for me). For these two skeins the sheep lived in Montana (some of her sheep live in Colorado). It is the natural white wool color, and I think it will make a smashing wrap. M said he had a great shopping experience with Elsa; she seemed like a “very nice lady.”

Attached to the yarn is a copper shawl pin given to me by my friend Elsie. Elsie knows I have a copper bracelet I love to wear, and I think the maple leaf is so delicate and pretty. She bought it at Sterling Simplicity on Etsy. Luckily I have other shawls the copper will look good with, so I don’t have to wait until I get this yarn knit up to use it.

On our shopping expedition to buy the coat, while I was driving, M spied what looked like a place that sells pots for plantings. On the way back, we managed to exit the interstate at the right exit to get there without trouble, and the number of pots was huge! Standing in the middle of the place, looking one way there was this:

And then turning 180 degrees, there was this:

Not to mention what was in the other two directions. There had to be 2-3 acres of pots. We picked out one in a gorgeous green glaze with a hexagonal opening. The photo with me shows the pot’s color best, but I look like a vampire about to burst into flames in the sunlight. With M you can see it’s a pretty sizable pot. We didn’t realize that until we got home. Although it was mid-size there, it’s the biggest pot we have, and we thought it would be smaller than several of our containers. Ooops! But it will work out fine.


I think this photo illustrates why ladies at the Clinique counters I’ve visited over the years always say, “You are very pale.” And then they tell me I can’t wear any interesting colors of make-up without looking like a clown. *sigh*
Anyway, M made his famous French onion soup for my birthday dinner followed by hot fudge sundaes with home made hot fudge sauce and Spanish peanuts. Much tastier than the peanut buster parfait. It was a great day, and I got yarn!

Knitters often talk about being either a process knitter or a product knitter, and I think most knitters are a mixture of the two. The only true process knitter I ever witnessed was when I was on a church council. One member knit a garter stitch scarf in a multi-colored yarn every meeting. When she got to the end of the ball of yarn, she would rip the scarf, winding the yarn back into a ball, and then she’d cast on and do the same scarf over.

I have to enjoy the process to enjoy the product, and each type of project has points where I really feel I’ve made progress. In knitting a top-down sweater, getting past the division of the sleeves from the body always boosts my mood. There are so many dang stitches on the needle before that point, and it seems like I’ve been knitting forever what must be a very small part of the sweater. But here knitting Vodka Lemonade, since the collar is already done, I’d guess the sleeve-body division is a good third of the knitting. Excuse the wonky “styling” of the collar. Becoming a photo stylist should not become a career goal of mine.

Next point is getting to start the lace motif that runs up the front edges and down the center back. I still have a little over 3 inches of mostly stockinette to get to that point, so I think my Netflix streaming queue is going to come in handy.

I’ve already started to think about what sweater I want to knit next. This is not an easy task. I really want to use the purple Venezia worsted (70% wool/30% silk) because I’ve had it a long time. But I can’t decide on a pattern (plus Vodka Lemonade is rather purply). Perhaps the Windsor cardi by Amy Christoffers? It calls for dk, but at 20 spi, so I think the Venezia might work (the spi the yarn label suggests).

I really want to knit up the pink (Quince and Co. Lark in Rosa Rugosa), which was a Christmas gift last year from my parents, but the pattern I’m leaning toward, Vignette by Amy Herzog has perhaps a little too much stockinette (the entire back) to follow a mostly stockinette sweater.

Knitting up the green (Wool of the Andes in Fern) would provide a color missing in my wardrobe. But I can’t decide between Acer cardi by Amy Christoffers or Crane Creek by Sandi Rosner (I already have both patterns).

Decisions! Decisions!

When I was getting out those three yarns to photograph, I found this:

That’s Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL sport in Thraven. It’s really pretty (but I’ve had it the shortest amount of time, so I feel like I would be cheating the older yarn to knit it next). I think it might work for Pomme de Pin cardi by Amy Christoffers (I think it’s safe to say I’m due to knit a cardigan by Amy Christoffers in the very near future).

Please feel free to throw in your two cents about my anguished process!