stash knitting

I've not been a prolific poster lately. Honestly, the whole bike jersey thing. The advent of spring. The overwhelmingness of it all has left me with little to post about. Even though the bike shop business has been doing better than I might have expected, it's still meant that I've had to dip into the proceeds from my soap business for things like groceries and gas for the car. In the past that's been my fun fund. Allowing me to get yarn and other goodies as I wanted, but when you have to choose between cereal for the kid or a little yarn porn - you make the right choice.

it's nothing but stash knitting for me for right now. it's not a bad thing. it's a stash of lots of one or 1.5 skeins of lots of variagated natural fibers. You can see it here:

that's it. All in one container. there are some FO's in there as well. things that I'm not sure what to do with. things that I knitted for my next baby who will probably never be conceived that I should give to someone who is actually having that next baby but i won't give them away because i think that they're wonky in some way and can't tell until i try them on that 'next' baby of mine because another person's baby shouldn't be subjected to my wonky knits. phwew. breathe.

but i am knitting now. a placket pullover thingy from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for my son. Using Wool of the Andes in the miscellaneous colors that I have.
hoping i have enough of all three to finish a cohesive piece. but it doesn't really matter. he wears anything. there's lots of knitting and baseball watching going on these evenings. trying to not burn out on all the other stresses.

jersey thoughts

We're designing jersey's for the bike shop (finally!!) but i'm so stressed out trying to ensure that they'll look good. Here are a few of the ideas that we've come up with so far. We're inspired by vintage cycling jerseys and want to keep it simple and not so cluttered. Let me know your thoughts.
Edited to add one other version. Please feel free to leave any comments.

a different sort of knitters tea swap

a dear friend came for a visit a few weeks ago. she's been a good friend and a house mate and we've had loads of lovely times together. unfortunately we now live very, very far apart and our visits are far too infrequent.

a few weeks after her visit, imagine my suprise to arrive home to two packages from her. the first, a collection of teas from SBS Teas and the second a parcel of Lion Boucle yarn. Whether she knew it or not, she had just sent a perfect tea swap package and very apropos considering my obsession with both tea and knitting.

Monkey Socks

Voila! the finished Monkey Socks.
Pattern: Monkey Socks from Knitty
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (can't remember what shade exactly)
Needles: #2 dpns

I really enjoyed this pattern. It was easy to follow, hard to mess up and I'm enjoying the finished product a lot. The one change that I made was that I only used 4 needles. I like needle 1 to have half the stitches, and 2 and 3 to split the remainder. i like this configuration especially once the whole heel and gusset bits begin. The yarn was super easy to work. I haven't washed them yet, so I can't report on how they hold up.

little guy socks

i used the leftover yarn from my socks to make some for the little guy. sorry about the photo, three year old boys are not known for sitting still to pose for pictures of their new socks. still, i like his socks better than mine in that the color didn't pool at all and overall it's a nicer effect. i didn't use a pattern, 2x rib and make it all up as i went along. they won't fit for long, but they're cute for now.