¡Yo Lo Hice! (I Did It!)

The Acer Cardigan is done and is blocking on my living room floor!  Yay!  There was a moment or two when I suffered from boredom with knitting with the same color for all those miles, but I powered through:

The pattern is mostly well written, but there came a part where the explanation for the back arm shaping instructions were unclear, and without giving away anything (since this is a paid for pattern), it said, 'knit to x stitches before the arm edge, wrap & turn twice.  What does that mean to you?  Also, I'm not real happy with the button placement, but that can be changed after the sweater dries.

This sweater was knit with Valley Yarns Northfield in the purple haze colorway that I purchased at WEBS.  I used US #6 needles and used the entire two months of the KAL with Knits 'n Things Podcast (Heather V) to get it done.  It took me the whole two months to realize that I don't like making sweaters in pieces - top down is the way for me.

Here are the buttons on my sweater.  Don't they look like the Knitting in Circles Podcast logo?

OK, enough about the sweater that you've been hearing about for two months.

Here's the other thing I did.

My personal deal was to stop buying yarn and work from stash.  OK, let's face it, that's my resolution every year and every year I fall off the wagon in January (thanks to Vogue Knitting Live!).  Anyway, since January, I've used about 15 skeins of yarn from my stash, (I am so proud of myself!) and I only purchased one skein of yarn at Vogue.

However, and I'm not sure if this constitutes falling off the wagon, but Greenwood Fiberworks was having a sale, and they sent a private message to some of their customers a day in advance.  I took one look at the page and knew I was doomed.  So instead of buying yarn I bought fiber.  (Does that count as falling off the wagon?).  If I have derailed my yarn diet, then all bets are off!

I decided to go way off the grid for colors and purchased 4 ounces of heathered BFL in Tiger Lily:

I also purchased 4 ounces of superwash merino in Passion Fruit (Hey, it's February and this was my 'date' - with the spinning wheel, dang it!):

And then, as if that wasn't enough, I bought a surprise polwarth sample pack.  Half an ounce (called pigtails) of each with a surprise carnival batt thrown in:

My order arrived very fast and was wrapped so beautifully I hardly wanted to open it at all.   However, the shop owner, Carolyn, was so nice to send me that email and to provide me with so many color choices and a discount, that  it was hard to resist.

Now it's time to clear the wheel.  Below is some punta fiber that I purchased from She Spins, LLC (Juanita).  Talk about nice people - her husband prepped the fiber for me, which takes customer service to a whole new level!  I was so flattered and impressed that I put it on the wheel right away - where it's been getting no love because of the sweater.

Thank goodness I didn't sign on for the "Spin Your Bin" contest where you had !  I was smart uneducated enough to stay away.  Instead, I signed on for 50 skeins in 2014 group where the rules say: spin 50 or 26 skeins or spin 20% more than you did last year.  I'm behind on all counts, and I don't think I can make it up during the Tour de Fleece.  50 skeins or 12?  Did I mention I have a problem with math?

So much more to tell, no time or space on this page, so I'll see you real soon.