Back to the needles

After a year (as close as I can guess; maybe a little longer) without a single yarn purchase, I was beginning to think I'd never knit again. I know. So sad, huh?


Since I started knitting, I've always had projects going. At least one, sometimes two or three, but always something to keep my fingers busy during the quiet, sit-down hours. When I lived in Portland, I could stash-bust my BFF, Ester, when my supplies ran low or weasel some yarn funds out of my mom. My mother didn't just give me her up-to-the-chin long legs or perfectly adorable dimples, she also gave me my crafty side and she's always encouraged my creativity. Too bad I left Portland and all my knitting cohorts & enablers behind. Yeah, I told you. So sad.

I did bring a considerable stash down with me but I managed to burn through it before we left the house in Orangevale last October, so imagine the pure joy I felt when my sister-in-law presented me with this for my birthday:

You may not be able to count all those skeins but there's TEN of them in there! A whole pound of Caron Simply Soft, a skein of Fun Fur, some lace weights and good ol' regular wool gives me plenty of options to knit with & my Favorites list on Ravelry helped hone me down to a few patterns to choose from. Even with the field considerably narrowed, it took me a few days to settle on something. 

In the end, I decided to use the Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton in Espresso; it's super soft, doesn't stretch much and is a little bulky. The perfect pattern emerged as The Organic Mushroom and I have to say, it is a perfect beret. The weight of the yarn works wonderfully with the lace pattern in the body of the hat & creates an excellent slouch. I wore it to the river over the weekend and it will definitely be getting a lot more wear.