Monday, April 30, 2012

Cherry Blossom and Ice Cream Update


Hi Knitters,
All links will be found at the end of the post.

What did you do last weekend? I hope you had some time to knit. On Friday we did another trip to Minneapolis with my son. He had a recruiting weekend with the swim team at the University of Minnesota. My husband and I drove up and back but my son stayed until Sunday and took the bus home. He survived just fine so all is good. I worry.

On our Friday that was filled with car time I knit on several projects but made really good progress on my Cherry Blossom socks from Cakewalk Yarns. I have the heel and gusset decreases completed and now I am ready to fly on the foot. I should have this pair done in no time. I am in love with this yarn and colorway. I'll be sad when the socks are done because I am enjoying knitting them so much.

I also worked on my Silk Moon Crescent (ahem, Fruit Slice) shawlette. I am almost done. There is so much interest in this shawl now that Jaala Spiro, the designer, started a knitalong group on Ravelry and loads of people are joining in, including me. This is such a fun and fast shawl that some are already finishing up within a couple of days. 


On our way home we drove through St. Paul. My husband had just been up to Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago for work and he stopped at this homemade ice cream shop and wanted to go again. We had a nice healthy lunch and then ruined that by treating ourselves to enormous ice cream cones at the Grand Ole Creamery. It was totally worth it. I had banana cream pie and coffee half scoops (yes, those are half scoops) and my husband had marshmallow and mango half scoops. We were like a couple of kids in ice cream cone heaven.

I kept telling my husband that I thought I had been on this street before when I was on tour for Itty-Bitty Nursery and I went to the Yarnery way back in 2007. I knew the Yarnery was in an old house-type building. Sure enough as we were driving away I saw the yarn shop! The Yarnery is a great yarn shop and you should visit if you get the chance. It is really fun in there. And who knew that after you knit and shop for yarn that you can walk down the street and have the best homemade ice cream around? That sounds like a good day to me.

Coming up this week I am reviewing and giving away a new book that you won't want to miss. Be sure to check back for that. On other fronts, I really have to buckle down on some work knitting that I have to finish up as deadlines are approaching quickly over the next couple of weeks. Today I also need to write a list of all of my upcoming project commitments and the deadlines so I can prioritize and keep it straight. I have a busy knitting schedule lined up over the upcoming months! Much knitting fun is ahead that I am really excited about.

Here are all of the links from this post:
Cakewalk Yarns
Cherry Blossom Cakewalk Yarn
How I make my socks (the free pattern)
Signature Needle Arts dpns (the US size 1 green needles in my socks)
My post on the Silk Moon Crescent Shawl
The Silk Moon Crescent Shawl pattern
The Silk Moon Crescent Knitalong group on Ravelry
Itty-Bitty Nursery
The Yarnery in St. Paul, MN
Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul, MN

Have a good start to the week, Knitters. I'll be back soon with an awesome book giveaway!
best, susie