Extravayarnza

So, I'm not dead... Life just had to take over for a while. Life is still sucking up most of my time/energy, but I think balance is soon to be restored. (big breath of relief)...

Should I start with the big news? It's not official yet (still waiting for papers to be signed & the loan approval from the bank...), but I'm in the process of purchasing a building for the shop!!!
We'll be just around the corner from our current location, right near Emil's Italian Restaurant, Magdalena's Tea House, Gone Wired Cafe, and lots of other really cute shops.
This move will triple our floor space, give us more storage than we'll ever possibly need, and hopefully make finding us & parking a whole lot easier.
I will feel a whole lot more at ease with the whole thing once we get the official word from the bank (we have a "I don't foresee any issues", but until we get officially approved I can't be completely comfortable).

What else?... Oh, I redesigned my shops website! It looks a whole lot like my website, but with a different header picture.

We also had heath issues, big birthdays (21st birthday of my little brother), visitors from both coasts & Europe, plus a couple of big parties (Knitterpalooza!) and well over a dozen romps in the new dog park.

In between all that I've been knitting. Knitting a lot actually... maybe more than I've ever finished in a month before. Be prepared, from here on out this is a very photo heavy post. I've got a whole lot to cover!

First off, all those swatches... In total the pile of swatches grew to 30. I will continue to knit up more of them until every yarn in the shop has a swatch, but I feel good that the new yarns are covered & I can lay off those for a while.

I taught a Baby Surprise Jacket class last month & knit up another ultra cute sweater. This one is knit in Nashua Vignette. I used 5 balls total, 3 colors, switching colors when the ball ran out, and ended up with a 12-18 month sized sweater. (btw, this yarn is super stretchy when knit up ).
The colors are pretty far off, but I had to just give in and edit these at work without Photoshop...just picture it with a less saturated red/purple.


Most recently I finished up a couple of lace scarves I started back in June or July.
First up is my Agrosy in Noro Cashmere Island. I used 2 skeins & can I just say this yarn is super super yummy!

The second scarf is my Beaded Silk Lace Stole (from the book Lacy Little Knits). This used 1 skein Art Yarns Beaded Silk & 1 skein of Silk Rhapsody. I think this was a good balance to dilute the amount of beads & make this scarf one I could wear every day.
I knit till I was almost out of Beaded Silk & my stole blocked out to 13x48 inches.

Since I've been gone I also knit one of those fabulous Hemlock Ring Blankets!
Mine is in Nashua Creative Focus Worsted (Alpaca & Wool Single Ply). I ended up using 4 skeins and size 9 needles. I knit to row 101 & my finished size is 4 1/2 feet across.
I think this might be one of my all time favorite projects I've knit. In fact I've ordered a couple of books of Danish knit doily patterns to convert into blankets as well. I just want every couch & chair I own to be neatly draped with one of these.

I also knit on a variety of socks, including knitting up one of these cute little Rowan Slippers from Cat's new book~

Finally I'm almost done with a rather large project, a Wrap Me Up Stole from Knitting at Knoon.
I only have 3 more blocks and the edging to knit (plus lots of ends to weave in). My only issue with this project is that every single skein of Silk Garden had a knot in it, exactly one knot, in every one of 11 skeins. Grrrr....
I've knit several other projects with silk garden in the past and rarely encountered a knot before, I suppose this batch was just um... special...
I'll detail this more when I finish the project.
But it is lovely isn't it?

One last note.. I haven't forgotten about the blogiversary contest, I just need a few more days to regroup..