An Ombre Goodbye

Last year one of the last good knit shops in my area is closed up shop.  For several years now, I have not shopped at any shop, but I hated to see a Stix-n-Stitches go.

I swung by there for the Going Out of Business Sale and picked up 7 skeins of yarn to make an ombre sweater...of course it'll be for me...something similar to this Kenzo Basket Weave Sweater

sweater.

 

You can't tell from this photo but it is a basket weave pattern that transitions the colors dark to light . I hope to put the dark color on the bottom. We will see...I'll be designing the sweater myself.

4 Cascade Worsted in  colorway ginger (color 2414)
2 Deluxe Worsted Wool in a medium gold tone (color 12182)
1  Deluxe Worsted Wool in light ecru tone (color 12174)

Here's to custom sweater design and stash building. ~ksp

A Much Needed Rest

I needed a break...I plotted when daylight's savings time was going to give me my hour back and I planned to hole myself up in the house this weekend and treated myself to no cell phones and death-by-indulgence and some craft time.

When I was in DC, I took a side-wind trip to FibreSpace in Alexandria, VA because I needed an excuse to buy some of Jarred Flood's venture into retail yarn - SHELTER.

I picked up 2 skeins in the Hayloft colorway to coordinate with my favorite Land's End winter jacket.  It's my go-to jacket through most of the winter.  The color was tonal and nubby but a little too dark for the look I was going for, so I decided to carry ember-colored Kidsilk Haze from Fabric.com to provide a halo and soften the color a bit.

Yarn and riesling...perfect together.

Chocolate-covered strawberries for Hanna Krause.

I may never come up for air. ~ksp

Birthday Wishes...and Oyster Dreams

Lots of folks have asked me what I did for my birthday. Here's part one of the full accounting.

First off..I went to work. Ordinary some may say...but I wore pink. This may not be shocking to some, but for those in the know Kelli doesn't do pink. I got mucho compliments. Since I usually wear casual wear (jeans and cardigans), it was quite the shock to my co-workers and my students.

After work, I went to dinner for these:

First Course

I'm a sucker for a good raw bar.

Second course

That weekend, I went to the New Jersey Quilt Guild in Somerset and walked around. I didn't buy a lot but I picked up these little beauts on clearance. They remind me of the time I've spent in the Caribbean. Not sure what I'm going to do with them but I am registered for a hand quilting class here in April and I need to make a little ditty to practice on. This might fit the bill.

I ran by MY and picked up a couple of skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn.

One day, I hope these will grow up to be knee-high socks. Since my calves are 16" around a lot of yardage is needed.

Outside of the stuff I bought myself (I believe in being a good gift-giver), I also received some really great gifts. More on those items next time...~ksp