A Change in Plans

I'm always happy to see Friday come around again, but I'm especially happy today. It's been a tiring week. Remember how I told you that commencement lists were due? One of them was 46 pages long. That's 46 pages of names that I had to make sure were in alphabetical order. It's not hard, but it is rather mind numbing. I'm very happy that's done with for another year and I won't have to do it again until the fall, when we put together the December commencement program.

Thank you for all the compliments on my wee chicken! I'm most definitely contemplating another one, at some point, at a tighter gauge. I like the size, but I can also see the stuffing through the fabric a bit. Plus I'm thinking of how to add some stitches to make seaming easier. And I'll definitely be rewriting the pattern before I use it again because even the third time through, there were certain ways the instructions were worded that tripped me up.

While I didn't have a list or a definite idea of what I was going to cast on next, my acceptance to SSK* has caused me to shift my plans a bit, at least for the next month or so. One of the signature perks of the event is that they always have a ton of door prizes. You can win prizes by putting tickets in for the items you're interested in, and you can earn extra tickets for things like participating in knitalongs/makealongs prior to the event and earn more for using yarn from vendors or handspun. At least since I've been attending, the patterns you can make are ones designed by the teachers at that year's events, with one featured for a set length of time leading up to the retreat. Through the end of March, the featured designer is Rosemary "Romi" Hill. I knew I didn't have much time to make anything, so I went for small projects.

This is the washcloth from Romi's Silvermist Bath Set (Ravelry link). I made two to ensure I had used at least 100 yards (you get one ticket for every 100 yards you use), and the red/purple one is handspun -- it's cotton from HipStrings! It was actually the very first -- and, to date, only -- cotton I've spun, and it's very uneven and highly textured, but I think it works quite well for a washcloth. The white (which is plain-old Sugar 'n Cream) shows the pattern better, obviously.

Starting April 1, the featured designer is Carina Spencer (Ravelry link), and I'm planning to knit two of her patterns. First is a top I've wanted to make for a while, Sugar Maple (Ravelry link). I pulled these two skeins of handspun to use:

Both are from Southern Cross Fibre. The one on the left is a blend of superfine merino and silk; the one on the right is merino and rose fiber. Both feel smooth and cool to the touch, so I think they'll be good for a tee. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to stripe them or start with one and fade into the other. I'm open to ideas! I'll likely wind these up and start swatching this weekend so I'll be ready to cast on next week.

I'm also going to make another Zuzu's Petals (Ravelry link) -- I made one years ago -- using this yarn that I spun from batts I won at SSK in 2023, bringing it full circle:

We have a fairly quiet weekend ahead, with a bar mitzvah to attend tomorrow (the son of one of the Mister's high school friends) and our usual family dinner on Sunday. I'm hoping to get some dedicated reading time in this weekend, given how little there has been during the week. And it's supposed to get warmer, after we had another cold snap and even some snow flurries this week, so perhaps I'll get out to walk.

I hope you have a great weekend, whatever you have planned, and I'll see you back here on Monday with my One Little Word reflection for the month (I can't believe how March has flown by)!

*Pam's comment on Monday reminded me that not everyone knows the acronyms I tend to throw around and I should probably explain. SSK stands for Super Summer Knitogether. It's an annual fiber arts retreat in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by Leslie and Laura of TheKnitGirllls. This will be my third year attending; I previously went in 2017 and 2023.