In Progress: 3/9/14

Thursday, March 13, 2014

To Buy or Not to Buy

I came across a new fabric line called "Plum Sweet" by Blackbird Designs from Moda. I just love it. It is so sweet and I thought it might make an "oh so cute" little girl quilt for one of the granddaughters in the future.

I am pretty project oriented, which means I only buy when I have a plan for the fabric. The plan may be for far off in the future, but there is usually a project plan. The thing is, manufacturers often do one run of a fabric and when it is sold out it is gone. Forever.

That isn't a big problem unless you finally get to the project many years in the future and find you have not bought enough of your favorite fabric and now you can't find it anywhere. You can try to add other fabric lines to it and that can work, but it is still sad to not have enough of your favorite fabric.

So after seeing the Plum Sweet line, I needed a project to really justify the fabric. I found one at Bunny Hill- just enough "I have a project!" to justify the purchase in my mind.

I ordered my 32- fat quarter Bundle from Stash Addict Quilts. This was my first order with them, and when the package arrived I found a few small extras included. That was a happy surprise and coupled with fast shipping made for some great customer service.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Crazy Pants

My boys have developed a special disease called yarn blindness. I've heard this happens in homes like ours. There's yarn in strange places, it seems to be everywhere as my projects move through the house with me, and to be honest, I have yarn blindness too. After awhile you just don't notice the skein of sock yarn on the kitchen counter next to the bananas and paper towels. This was bound to happen.

Because of this, the boys really don't notice what I'm making- unless it's for them. Then they notice each individual stitch and absorb every ounce of knitting information they can as it pertains to that particular project. Funny how boys can focus when they want to, right?

Since the exploding socks are the only ones on the needles at the moment, they've been following me around, begging for a few stitches at a time. I wish I could work a little more consistently at them, but the last two days have been lousy for use of my hands.

The boys were working on homework last night at the kitchen counter while I had the privilege of cleaning out the refrigerator. We were each doing our own thing, when Ezra suddenly piped up.

"Are those the next socks you're making?"

He pointed to the socks on the counter, and when I said yes, his eyes grew giant and he stuck his lips out in a way that I can only describe as classic Ezra.

"Don't you think they're kind of crazy pants?"

Why, yes, I do think so. Thank you very much, son.

{Yarn :: Pattern :: My Ravelry Project}

One of the things I challenged myself to do with socks is to be a little bolder about color choices. They are JUST SOCKS after all, and if you can't have fun with your socks there is a problem to be had.

The thing is, I'm all about neutrals in my wardrobe. I do a lot of "jeans and a black t-shirt" and branching out beyond that takes a real effort on my part. So I'm trying to branch out with socks.

These socks are a little crazy pants, but I like them that way.

Book of the Week: The Immune System Cure by Lorna Vanderhaeghe, given to me by a friend in our quest to help solve my medical mystery. I actually have quite the "Immune System" stack on my night stand at the moment. Some of it seems helpful, some of it I'm not sure about. Some sounds a little hokey and silly, but I'm reading everything, because it doesn't hurt to at least read about it.