Lucky 7 (& YOTM recap!)

It's my 7 year blogiversary! Wow. I've been blathering on about my knitting for 7 years? And I still only have 3 readers? Hehe! Well to be fair I don't really promote my blog OR post very consistently. Thanks to anyone who has ever visited my site though!

A fitting tribute to 7 years of "knitblogging" is my final Yarn of the Month, which if you don't remember is a gift of yarn EVERY month (for a year) that my mother-in-law has been personally giving me (with thanks to my SIL for helping her pick out the yarn a lot of the time)! It has been an AMAZING year and I have gotten SO much beautiful yarn. I can't write a thank you note big enough for this gift!!!! (Did I win the in-law lottery or what???) I haven't even begun to knit all the yarn she's given me. Let's do a YOTM recap in honor of my year of yarn, shall we?

Christmas 2011: I opened a christmas gift from my MIL to find not only a gift certificate to a local yarn store (among some other things), but this gorgeous cream-colored skein of Cascade Eco Duo:

January 2012: The new year kicked off with a package in the mail containing my second YOTM treasure, a sage green Rowan Felted Tweed:

February 2012: I received two fun multicolor skeins of Adriafil Knitcol. This was eventually turned into a cute halter top for Norah, but I think I only put it on her once because for whatever reason it made her mad and she tried to rip it off :-(

March 2012: Again I got 2 skeins! Wow! This time it was Berroco Peruvia in pretty blue and soft brown shades. I still plan on using these together somehow... I need to think about that!

April 2012: Another skein of Rowan Felted Tweed, this time in an emeraldy green. I am thinking this would be fun with the lighter green skein I got in January... tone-on-tone stripes? Hm.

May 2012: Gorgeous and amazing Malabrigo... 2 SKEINS... in this sky blue. I can't even imagine what to make with this because it's so pretty I hate to touch it... LOL.

June 2012: Another fun and unique yarn I've never seen - Rowan "Amy Butler" Belle Organic DK! Love the pink!

July 2012: Oops I don't think I ever blogged about this one! A different kind of Malabrigo, "Finito". Love the gold and purple tones in this one! I think it needs to be some sort of lacy cowl perhaps?

August 2012: Oh man, yet another one I never blogged! JEEZ! This is Cascade 128 tweed. Very nice!

October 2012: My birthday month! As a fitting fall/halloween tribute I recieved this festive pumpkin orange skein of Cascade 220.

November 2012: Last but NOT least is another unique find, Punta Yarns Merisoft hand painted! Very fall-ish!

WHEW! Seriously... I do not know how I deserved all that amazing yarn or such a generous MIL, but I am a lucky lady. I hope I can continue to come up with fitting projects for all of those skeins!!!! If anyone has a brilliant idea (for any of them that I haven't knitted up yet), feel free to shout them out!

Thanks again to my MIL <3

P.S. Is it December already???? YIKES! MUST KNIT THINGS FOR CHRISTMAS!!! :-O

YOTM: June

Squeaking it in on the last day of the month, my fabulous MIL gifted me this yarn for my June YOTM:

It's Rowan "Amy Butler" Belle Organic DK - really really pretty and organic! Fancy!!! It's so much fun when someone else picks out yarn... especially if that person consults your knitting SIL for ideas :-) Seriously I won't stop saying how lucky I am!!!!

Also, for your amusement, what happens when you try and photograph your yarn with your toddler around... :-)

YOTM catch-up

In case anyone forgot, I am the lucky recipient of new yarn EVERY MONTH of the year of 2012, as an amazing gift from my MIL. (She rocks!)

To catch up, here is my beautiful skein from April:

It's a lovely emerald shade of Rowan Felted Tweed, which I think will pair great with the lighter more sage-y green skein of the same yarn that I got in January!

For May I somehow was lucky enough to get 2 skeins, with the explanation that one was for the YOTM and one was for mother's day! How sweet :-)

That pile of blue is none other than MALABRIGO. YUM! I am pretty sure I've never knit with this before but I keep hearing how amazing it is. I cannot wait to find something to make with it!

One more shot of the fluffy soft heaven!

Yarrrrrrrn!

I got N's tank top done and I love it! I think it should fit great this summer. Speaking of summer, what is with the weather lately? 70 and sunny, amazing. We have spent a lot of time outside lately which is a delight. She gets more and more confident walking around on the grass, etc. Anyway here is the tank! I used some solid green leftover Swish Superwash for the top part. I think it almost matches the green in the other yarn perfectly! :-)

 Aaaaand I got my March Yarn of the Month!!!! For the second time I got 2 SKEINS! Whew. I repeat again: I am the luckiest DIL ever, seriously.

  Love the colors! It's Berroco Peruvia (100% wool). I immediately thought it might be perfect for husband, but we will see. It might have to marinate in the stash for awhile. Speaking of the stash... I need to do some serious stashdiving. Things are just languishing in there and probably getting lonely. Yarn can be lonely, right? Just kidding. :) I would like to try and use more of it to make things off my list of projects I want to knit this year. I really am enjoying having a list - usually I just knit things as they come up (babies, christmas, gifts, etc)... the one problem is as I cross things off and feel accomplished, I keep adding MORE! Haha! Currently I am working on a hat for my friend Shawn. We went to high school together and she is just a great person. She is really sweet in that she always gets everyone a christmas gift every year. AND it's usually yarn for me!!! I mean awesome, right? I made her some fingerless gloves once but after getting like 5 skeins from her this past christmas I was feeling the itch to reward her for all her generosity. Shawn and her husband have 2 cats so I thought she would get a kick out of this: Pattern: Kittyville Hat Yarn: I Love This Wool! Ombres Shawn gave me the yarn so I think it's fitting I make her something with it. Cross your fingers she likes it!

Yarn and shopping

Today I recieved my February Yarn of the Month! For those of you who don't remember, my MIL is sending me yarn EVERY MONTH this year as a Christmas gift. Crazy amazing, right???


I've never heard of this yarn (Adriafil Knitcol) but it's superwash Merino and is fabulous! I'm thinking perhaps a toy for Norah (since it's washable and all)? But I have 2 skeins so I will have to think about this :) What an awesome MIL!

In other news, Courtney has launched her own website outside of etsy to sell her children's knitwear AND screenprinted tshirts! It looks awesome and I'm excited to see what she puts up there. Good luck Courtney!!!

Yarn of the Month: January

The other day I got a package in the mail.... it was from my MIL and guess what it was? My yarn of the month!!! YAHOO! To officially kick off the year of yarn, I received:


Rowan Felted Tweed. YUMMY. How gorgeous is that green? I am such a lucky knitter!!!!

New yarn!

I got a wonderful gift from my MIL for christmas... a gift certificate to the yarn store, AND some super soft amazing yarn!!!! Cascade Eco Duo - I've never owned any before and it feels like butter!


On top of that, she said she is going to buy me another skein of yarn EVERY MONTH of 2012!!!! WHAT? It's like being in the yarn of the month club!!!!!! I mean how crazy is that. I think I won the Mother In Law Lottery!!!! (Well, and husband lottery... hehe)

Anyway today N and I hit the yarn store and I bought a sweater's worth of Encore worsted to make the owl sweater for one of my good friends. I am excited and I love the bluish grey color!


Getting excited about my 2012 projects!!!