Some people have all the luck

Before Christmas my favorite hand dyer (The Plucky Knitter) and my favorite designer (Veera Välimäki) teamed up and came out with this lovely kit. I asked for one but by the time my husband got around to clicking the link they were gone, I tried to get in on an update and that went bust; they sold too quickly. So when I heard about her blog contest I thought fine, I'll post a comment to enter but this will go nowhere. There were over 400 comments when I posted and by the time it closed, 565 comments. The random number generator gods smiled down upon for I was one of two to win a kit! After tramping around in the snow this afternoon and looking something like this:

I came home to not one but three packages chock full of goodness. One was something I ordered from Eden Cottage Yarns on etsy. Five skeins of beautiful DK in a brownish orange, like the caramelized edge on a roasted pumpkin.

It came super fast from the UK, I wasn't expecting to see it for awhile. So that was a pleasant surprise and probably means I should get something off the needles, so I can start knitting a beautiful cardigan out of this. Second was a present from my mother-in-law Annie. She sent me a wonderful book called the Lying Carpet. And third was my prize from The Plucky Knitter. When she sent the email saying I won (and after I squee-ed myself silly) she asked what colors I would like. I gave her options but I had no idea what would come. This is what appeared out of the envelope:

I am going to wind it up tomorrow and start it probably tomorrow night because I just can't help myself. WHEE! Plus it is snowing all day and into the night and I got to have brunch with two of my bestest friends everest and it was a good day all around. Some people really do have all the luck.

After all the hullabaloo over Christmas knitting was through a bout of startitis struck me followed by a severe case of 'I-don't-like-anything-on-my-needles'. Mainly I was stymied on a test knit sweater. And when I get frustrated with one project I need to start 18 dozen more. The sweater design is by Ninja8Tofu on ravelry. I love her designs and when a chance to test knit her new sweater design, Foster, came around I leaped at the chance.

Malabrigo Yarn so very nicely sent me a couple of bags of their yarn months ago and I knew that the polar morn color in worsted was just perfect. I hummed through the body fairly quick despite the holidays but got mired when it came to the button bands. In the face of danger I quail when it comes to picking up stitches. So Foster got tucked away and I started new hats and a new sweater and a shawl for The Wool Dispensary's Spar-KAL.

I finished the hats and am almost done with the shawl and I generously even picked back up a fair isle mitten that's been hanging around. But I couldn't deal yet with the button bands. But a streak of bravery struck me (I am reading a book about the civil war and figure if the soldiers could deal with dysentery I could deal with two simple button bands). So Foster saw the light of day again. Really it had been a week since I'd knitted on it. The button bands accomplished I then started in on the sleeves and that's where I am now. So while this isn't quite a F(inished) O(bject), I am still posting about it since I can't wait to wear it. Winter finally decided to show up in these parts and it's time to break out the woolens in full force. At brunch I managed to finish off sleeve one, so now it's on to sleeve two then blocking and sewing on buttons. Sometimes finding just the right buttons to finish a sweater is more difficult than picking up a button band. I searached long and hard and bought about 3 different sets before settling on some like these from Weewhigmaleerie on etsy.

The finished look is very coastal and reminds me of the beaches we visited in Oregon. Super happy and excited to wear it and take final finished pictures.