Anyone would think it was spring

The setting : A fairly quiet street corner, tall buildings on each corner, you are walking along, innocently minding you own business when.....

"Pssst.  Yes, I am talking to you, no need to look over your shoulder like that.  Why don't you come over here so I don't have to yell?

That's better.  Now I would like you to know I do not make a habit of this, but you look like  a kindly soul, and when I saw you walking by I thought to myself, now there is someone who would appreciate a glance at something beautiful.  Something that you don't see every day.  Something that I have in my possession, and for the right person would share a peek at.

So, what do you say?  Would you like to take a little peek?"

But wait, there is more...

I am sure that many an unsuspecting person has been lured into the murky path of drug use through those very words, and being a yarn pusher, I mean finder, I just had to share with you what was waiting in my mailbox yesterday!

There is a new yarn seller in town and you have to see the yarn in person to believe just how creative she is!  In the skein you can see that the colors morph from the palest shades of color to deep vibrant tones, but what you can't see is that in the knitting you can't tell when one color changes to the next! (Which I admit can be a little disconcerting when you decide to just knit to the next color change, you can stay up all night knitting that way!)

These are just two samples of the new yarns from Lara's Creations.  Right now she is an Etsy Seller, but to be honest I see her with her own website or yarn in a store near you sooner rather than later!

Just in case you need a pattern for this glorious yarn, something small to try it for yourself to witness those miraculous color changes, try this one :  Wisteria Cowl. (As an added bonus if you are a member of the Sugar Plum Fairy Yahoo Group I believe there is a coupon code to get a discount on the yarn, I might have to shop some more for myself!!)  Tell Lara that I sent you, and when you are done knitting let her know what you thought of the yarn. All Yarnies like hearing that they made other yarnies happy!  :)

Now my new best friends and I are going to sit on a comfy chair and dream of what they will become!

~M

Chart, Knit, Frog, Erase

You would have thought that I would be much further along in my blanket design.  I really don't want it to be anything too fancy.  I do want it to be used to wrap a baby in , after all! (Pretty special baby it will be too, not everyone gets a cashmere baby blanket!)

Doesn't look like much, does it?  Four days since I cast on and all I have to show is a bunch of paper to throw out and a little over 200 stitches on my needles.

I might have been distracted, again!  Sorry Amanda, nothing for your playlist today.....

I haven't kept track of how far around I am on that edging, but finally I am showing you the blanket/shawl I talked about maybe casting on during Pi Day.

I also got distracted by yard work, cleaning house, and picking people up at the airport...so who knows how much further I will get!

~M

We are off to the races...ok not really the races

The ColourMart group on Ravelry is having their Spring Contest.  I thought that maybe it would inspire me to get back to my Baby Blankets Through Time Projects, so dug out some ever-so-soft cashmere/merino blend and cast on.

And frogged.

Then I redid some math, and cast on....and frogged.

Repeat after me : Cast on, and frog.

I had a discussion a while back with another knitter who does a little designing and we decided that creating a pattern is 99% "cast on and frog".  Hopefully I finally have my plan in mind.

The contest started yesterday and this is all I have to show for it!

I am consoling myself with the thoughts that babies start with less of a plan than I did!

~M

Distractions

Lots of things have been distracting me from knitting lately, so I thought for once I would distract you...How's this for a pretty, little melody?

3.14

Happy Pi Day.*
In celebration, at Chez Yarn Diet we will be eating Pie and maybe casting on a Pi.
What are you doing?

~M

*I know, it only works if you write dates the way that American's do....March 14th as 3/14

It looks like our knitter fell off the face of the planet.

Wow, looks like it has been a long Ohio minute since I posted anything here.  I wish I had lots of good stories for you, but I don't.  I wish I had some large household projects to show you, but I don't.  I wish I had some good excuses to give you....but I don't.

Life just kept getting in my way!

It feels like all my stories are depressing ones, so I won't tell them.

All my household projects have been repair ones, and mostly Jerry-rigged ones so I won't show them.

And as for my excuses, they revolve around extra work hours, a new boss who is a little demanding, school work for kids that needed supervising, running all over town to get things done, and not a one of them is worthy of telling, so I won't type them.

Knitting, you ask?  Has there at least been knitting?

Sorta.

There was this pair of socks that were started, left in my car over night and chewed up by a mouse who decided my car would make a good home and the wool would make good nesting material.  That mouse pushed his luck even further when he chewed a hole in the corner of my planner binder!  One mouse was caught, I hope it was the culprit, and dropped off miles from here...even after my tirade about how I was going to smash him flat with a brick, I just couldn't bring myself to do it when those beady little black eyes looked at me from that furry little face.  The socks got tossed in the trash as  there was no hope of repairing them after the damage that cute little creature had done. :(

Sugar Plum Fairy, you ask?  Still not finished, two more charts to go and she is crying on the corner of my desk waiting for me to pick her up again.  I got distracted with some swatches, so there has been a little knitting going on, just not as much as I would like and the only finished objects I have to show you are old!

I never blogged about The First Twin's Christmas Blanket, so I can at least show you that!

I know it is not a great picture, and I feel I should mention the Christmas Tree behind it has been down for months now, this was taken before Christmas!
Stats : The Diwali Shawl, modified to be a square blanket.  One of the best things about triangle shawl, it doesn't take much modification to turn them into a square, just a whole bunch more knitting!
Size 9 (US) needles, and let me tell you it was pretty cramped on them by the time I was done!
Nashua Creative Focus Superwash Wool in Brick Red, I forgot to keep track of how many I used, sorry!

And then there is a little project that I knit a long time ago, but couldn't blog about as the pattern hadn't been published yet. 

This is Elegant Cashmere Triangle from the book One+One Scarves, Shawls and Shrugs.
As you might have guessed it is another Andrea Jurgrau pattern, you might recognize her as Bad Cat Designs.  I used two complimentary colors of Land O Lace yarn and some clear beads, Andrea knit hers in Art Yarns Cashmere in green tones. Don't let the simple look fool you, there are new techniques for both right side and return rows to learn in this one as there is a unique stripe sequence going on.....for more spoilers you will have to get the book!

I leave you with the song that is driving my kids nuts this week.  I have to be the only parent of teenagers who keeps hearing "Turn down your music, mom, it is too loud!"

~M