Happy NEW Year!

New year

New laptop

New camera

New inspiration

New pattern!

I think I broke it

My blogger is broken.  Not because I haven't posted in a while.  But because it wont let me leave comments on anyone else's Blogger blog.  After four or five login screens it just tells me I don't have access to view the page.  Hmmm, it has to be something with this laptop, because when I do it on the desktop I don't have that problem.  Trouble is the desktop freezes up after about two minutes, so that wont work either!  So just to let you all know that I have not been ignoring you, Blogger just thinks we're not friends anymore :(.  And if you know how to fix it drop me a line :).

Oh, and about the posting?  Well, I finished the little clutches for my mother's wedding. Then my camera died (I really don't think I broke that) so I took pictures of them with my mother's camera.  Which then went to Hawaii, and is now in the midst of a move from Columbus to Chicago!

But they are so adorably cute (if I do say so myself) that I am thinking about submitting them.  So no pictures, for now, might be a good thing.

Her ears must have been ringing

When I last posted about how my new bag ideas usually come out in the summer I had an idea brewing around in my head, ready to come out when I had some time and a little wisp of inspiration.  Well, my mother's ears must have been ringing because right after I wrote that she called me and asked for a little purse. 

Two actually.  She's getting married in August and she asked if I would make her a little something just big enough for a hairbrush and a compact. And one for my aunt, who will be her Matron of Honor.  I asked her if she wanted anything in particular or if I could come up with something.  She said "You're the purse designer, of course come up with something!" 

Flattery will get her everywhere.  This is one project for someone else I know will be appreciated (ok, two)!

All you purse knitting lovers stay tuned...a new pattern really is in the works!  And it's not the one I had brewing either :).  Stay tuned for a picture...Blogger is not cooperating this morning.

I'm in a yarn shop!

I haven't disappeared. I'm just in baseball/school's out/working part time/summer mode.  So in other words, don't expect to hear from me too much.  But on the plus side, I tend to come up with new patterns in the summer, so please don't disappear from the Backyarn!

I just wanted to make a quick post about a new yarn shop in Westport, MA called Sisters of the Wool.  Fantastic little shop with very friendly staff.  Oh, and they have a little something there you might recognize!
Find and friend them on Facebook!

Cashmere for Baseball, or...adding a little style in the midst of a lot of dirt.

Little League season has started, and now both kidsters are playing.  Kidster #1 is on an instructional team, Kidster #2 is making his debut in T-ball, and of course Hubster is coaching both teams.  Today was downright cold with gray clouds tumbling in and just enough of a wind to chill you straight through.  So even though it's the end of April I cracked out the winter coat and finished casting off this cashmere cowl.  The yarn is reclaimed from a sweater that met an untimely demise.  I held two strands and knit on size 1's.

I'm not much of a cowl person for a couple of reasons.  First off, I haven't found a yarn soft enough not to be irritating after an hour or so.  And I hate having something too tight around my neck (I almost never wear turtlenecks!), plus there's the messy-hair-putting-it-on factor to deal with.  But I am happy with this one.  It is stretchy enough to avoid the hair issues, and not too loose or too tight on the neck.  The result is just right for tucking behind a coat collar and is super soft on the skin.  

Although I have to say that I won't be sad when the weather warms up enough that I have to put it away for the season!

Little socks

Sock minis?

Sockinis?

Sock midgets?

Gee, I hope that wasn't politically incorrect or anything.

Whatever you want to call them, they are little socks.  From the Ballet School Dropout Sockettes pattern, I knit mine with a shorter heel and the regular (not cleavage) toe. 

I knit them specifically for these shoes.  I would prefer to wear them without socks, but they rub right at the inside of the ball of my foot.  So the socks are getting the job done as far a preventing blisters.

It has occurred to me that if I am going to make socks in the future, I need to stick with a solid or semi-solid color.  Trying to match up the stripes was just that, trying.  And having mismatched stripes?  My brain doesn't work that way.

Shrug it off!

My sweater woes have past. 
Spring has finally sprung (today broke 50 degrees, just barely).
And my Retro Redux Shrug is complete. 

Not perfect, but good enough!