Some mornings the only thing that keeps me going is coffee in my happy polar bear mug.

Isn’t he awesome?  He’s wearing a scarf!  Marc got him for me for Christmas, and everytime I see him it makes me happy.

Last night I knit another (1) row on the cable down ragland, which took me (no joke) 30 minutes.  I think I am done.  I love top down sweaters and all, but I honestly believe that heavily cabled or lacy garments are easier for me to deal with in pieces.  I started the Nantucket Jacket a bit ago (no photos yet) and it’s fine because it involves seaming.  It isn’t so overwhelming, you know?

I played around with making a Fad Classic vest from Knit and Tonic (I bought the pattern forever ago,) but then I decided that if I wanted a  crochet vest I’d probably just crochet one.  It’s going to be much faster that the lace.  I left it on the needles though, because I might change my mind.  It is, after all, green.

So I started something else, which I do have photos of.

That’s Ms. Marigold in Classic Elite’s Classic Silk.  I’m definitely feeling the yarn love here.  It’s got that nice crunchy silk feel, with enough synthetic (nylon I think)to give the yarn stretch.  Plus I just love the textured look.  It reminds me of silky wool.  Doesn’t the color feel like spring?  Apparently our two weeks of winter are over now, because it’s like 60 degrees out there.  I complain, but I actually like the weather here.  We get a winter, of varying badness but never too bad or too long, and we don’t get the full humidity of the deep south.  Perfect for me!

Does anyone else agonize over what size to make before starting any project?  I usually fall in between the two smallest sizes, so I’m never sure whether to go up or down.  I’ve had a lot of success going down, but in this case I went up.  The pattern seems to lack final sizes in inches, but I’m guessing from some blog entries that it runs small… and I want to be able to layer without feeling like a sausage.  We’ll see!

More and more spring designs are starting to come out.  Mostly I’ve been pretty “meh” about things so far, but here are two that I love:

 

The design on the left is from Rowan’s Kasbah collection, and on the right is a new Blue Sky Alpaca design (same designer who made the fitted tank.)  As you can see, my wardrobe is conflicted.  Am I bohemian or… a librarian.  Probably more librarian, but I like to lie to myself.  I really want to make that Rowan top though.  There are a few other cute designs in the collection, but this is the one that says “must make now!”  RYC’s new books are out now, and while I usually like them I’m pretty “meh” this time.  I don’t like anything in the new Rowan mag either, although this may be because I can never figure out what anything actually looks like there.

And I know they aren’t new, but I’m still drooling over some Kim Hargreaves kits.  I really wish they were sold as just patterns.

No, I am not yet over the bolero or cropped things in general.  I can’t seem to help myself!  But isn’t the collar here lovely?