Stashalonger down - new knitter up!

First of all I want to say a big thank you to everyone who expressed concern for me when I posted about feeling so stressed. I feel kind of bad because I really don't want to worry anyone! I'm not trying to purposely be mysterious here but I don't feel like I can or should post about things that involve other people then just myself. But rest assured that it's not anything life threatening, just stressful. The situation is somewhat resolved for the time being but a final resolution remains in a sort of limbo. But the immediate source of stress is gone. So that's good!

However - I have well and truly jumped ship on the Stashalong. I still haven't been able to decide which of the Poetry in Stitches of Norsk Strikkedesign kits I should get. I go back and forth all the time. I did get the color card for the Hifa 2 yarn though. It's not at all as scratchy as I thought it might be but I'm still leaning towards a cardi. My skin can be pretty sensitive. It looked like the "Andie McDowell" model black and white sweater got the majority vote. I may go with that if I choose not to get a cardi kit. I think it would look really striking done in a bright blue and a purple.

But in the meantime... I got another kit. Well, three other kits actually. Yep, when I go over board I really go overboard. (You've seen my stash right??) I bought a Northern Nights blanket kit

from Fleece Artist in this colorway of Rainforest:

I'm going to use this kit to learn the mitred squares I was talking about.

I also bought two kits off of Ebay. They are Rowan patterns which are being kitted up with Harrisville Designs Yarns. I got:

These are the yarns:


And this pattern which I have loved for a long time:

With these yarns:


Really purty huh? When I quit I quit big! I think I may be set for colorwork for awhile...:)

Except....that I also sort of accidentally won a copy of Tudor Roses on Ebay. I say accidentally because I bid on the book not realizing I was bidding in British Pounds. So I had put in a much higher bid than I intended. Ooops. I decided to just go with it and let the fates decide. I didn't end up paying anymore than those books usually go for so I guess it was meant to be. My first St*rmore book! I'm sure I will fall in love with at least some of those designs....

In actual knitting news - I almost finished the Besotted Scarf. Until I realized I had skipped two rows about a foot back and decided to rip it out. I just can't live with giving something flawed as a gift. Mostly because I'm thinking I will give this to my sister and I know she wears the things I give her to work and shows them of to her office mates. I have a reputation to uphold here! There must be no flaws! I've used up four skiens from the stash so that's good too.

I also did three more squares for the KTC WTW blanket. I have seen many other members mentioning on their blogs that they are making contributions as well. I can't wait to see the finished result. I've never been a squares maker before but I have been enjoying these quick fix little knits. Plus - another skien gone from the stash!

The best news of all though is that my daughter aka Princess Ariel, has learned to knit! Keep in mind she is only four. First she sat on my lap and held the needles while I manipulated her hands to form the stitches for one of the easy squares I was making. She loved it! She has always been asking me if she could learn to knit so I thought this was a perfect way to teach her. Pretty soon she said she wanted her OWN knitting. So I got her a skein of Red Heart, some size 11 straights (the short Susan Bates ones with the nice pointy tips). I cast on about twenty stitches for her, knit the first row, then sat her on my lap and showed her how to form the knit stitch. (Push the needle through, wrap around, pull it back and pop it off.) She caught on so quickly I was amazed. She can do everything to make the stitch except wrap the yarn around. So right now her knitting is a two person job. :) But other than that she can do everything all by herself. I even notice that she has intuitively figured out where to put her fingers on the needles to help hold the stitches as she works them. She is so darn smart. The crazy thing is that the knitting actually looks good. The tension looks pretty much perfect. The yarn is a pretty aqua color so I think Ariel might be knitting herself a scarf! I'll take a picture when she gets a bit more done.