Extravayarnza

So, I had to slow down last night. I've been letting myself get so stressed out the last few weeks. I actually got upset enough on Friday to make myself physically sick. So, my rule for the next weeks until I see my Doctor is that I need to stay calm, be the duck (see a post about a week ago if you didn't get that one...), the calm pond, visualize myself in my happy place (on a lake up in the mountains), what ever it takes. The deadline knitting (chart riddled black lace scarf) just had to go on the side lines. I can't handle a deadline right now. I also can't handle knitting that particular project at the moment.
So, what to knit?
I found my most pleasurable knitting projects, decided to use those magic words like Alpaca, silk, and cashmere & I became the finisher!
(lots of pictures in the rest of the post... just to warn you)

First off, I finished my Cashmere thrummed mittens~

Yarn: 2 balls of Louisa Harding Grace (Wool/Silk) & 1oz of brown cashmere from Ashland Bay (the best cashmere roving I've found... so soft!)

Pattern: Thrummed Mittens from My Bagatelle

I love these mittens! I wore them all day today. Can you tell which one was finished a month ago & had been tried on by God know how many customers & which one was finished Friday? I'll be so happy when they both have that lovely cashmere halo.

Then I dug into some new products & knit these little dragonfly adorned wrist warmers~

Yarn: Elsabeth Lavold Silky Cashmere (55% silk 45% cashmere... this is a truly magic combination!) 1 skein made a pair with leftovers.

Pattern: wrist warmers from E. Lavold Book #10

In fact I liked them so much I made a second pair out of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran~

These are for Sunday (the big Opera & dinner). You can see that I actually painted my nails to coordinate with my shoes. I know my wrists get warm & then that causes my tendinitis to flair up so I needed some fancy warmers that went with my outfit. Today I also found these fab 100% cashmere gloves with little cables on the cuffs. The best part is that the fingers aren't too long for my hand. If you can see in the picture above, I have freakishly short hands. Here's a better view of the accessories for tomorrow.

I love the whole thing... Aren't those shoes so cute. I even like the purse. My dress has a beaded ribbon belt, so the purse really picks it up. I'm looking forward to a big day.

My big finished project is my Iris Garden socks!!!

Yarn: My Amber sock yarn in Dahlia & the yarn my dye-o-rama pal dyed for me using a machine knit blank (this yarn inspired my Iris Garden colorway)

Pattern: My Own! Iris Garden socks, pattern currently only available through the Six Sox Knitalong on Yahoo Groups.

What can I say. I love the socks, how couldn't I? I did better keeping the leg loose on the second sock so it goes over my heel better & the pattern distorts less when I where it.

Why put YES! on the second sock?

1~ I need something to help me remember to stay calm & happy. YES! is a very positive message.

2~ There were three letters I really wanted to use in my alphabet chart, K Y S. I figured out that YES was a pretty good way to at least use 2 of the 3. (KEYS could have used all three, but would have made even less sense)

I needed some portable knitting for the ride to and from Detroit tomorrow, so I cast-on for a new pair of socks~

This yarn rocks! Meet 'Karma's a Bitch' from Scout's Swag. I'm going to knit myself some toe-up knee socks. That will really cheer me up.