it’s a sunny day, oh yeah

it’s gotten super cold here again, but we’ve had three or four days of full sun and blue skies in the last week (not all in a row, but you can’t have everything).

even the [ETA] amaryllis is finally responding. it sat there for a few weeks after i planted it and i was beginning to think nothing would come of it, when suddenly this week, it started growing—a couple of inches every day, if i’m not mistaken. it warms my heart to have something coming to life before my eyes.

maybe next year, i’ll do some more of these—all different varieties. i really like the results that other people have had with brightening up their homes this way (and i never really thought of doing it for us—duh—i’m a gardener; why wouldn’t this work for me? it’s not even very much trouble to take care.).

i haven’t started drooling over seed catalogs yet and am not thinking too much of the garden either, right now, though i’m sure i will be soon—i feel a lot more energetic once we start having sunny days again.

anyhoo, here we are and it’s friday already, can you believe it? it’s already been a week since i flew away to denver and i haven’t even shown you some of the beautiful things i took home from there.

christie, from tin cup arts, purveyors of lotion bars and sticks, gave me a lotion bar and a stick in two different fragrances to try on my very dry hands. these are smooth, very fragrant blends of the best oils and butters. she doesn’t sell online, but you can find tin cup products at local shops—see a full list of retailers here.

and you know there was some yarn to succumb to as well . . .

i just love these two skeins of red rocks aspen sock yarn given to me by mary kay, the dyer behind the label—she has many more awesomely beautiful yarns and spinning fibers in her online shop (and take a look at her wonderful photo shoot from the workshops last weekend—much better than i did).

i’m not sure what colorway this is, but i just adore it—i can practically smell the peat, the pines, and fresh mountain air when i look at it. the colors are rich and complex—a little more brown than the photo shows—just the kind of yarn i like, thanks mary kay!

another couple of gorgeous yarns came to me from debbie o’neill, who, along with kristi geraci (who i missed seeing last weekend, pout), has started a little dye business called pink dendelion yarns along with the myriad other wonderful things they do (they design, they write, they blog, they are moms—they are superwomen!).

yeah, yeah, so what about the yarn, you ask?
well, it’s lovely—the fingering sock, shown above in colorway tequila sunrise, is deep, juicy, complex semi-solid with a springy, plumpness that will surely show off stitch patterns to great advantage.

they also gave me a couple of skeins of their merino lace in the color purple—another winning yarn for sheer lace projects.

debbie has also announced that her new book, the stitch collection, is at the printer and in the works for a may release (hopefully we will get a closer look at it, once it’s ready—you know how i love stitch dictionaries).

back at home, there were a couple of yarn deliveries waiting for me, too—i am very excited to show you something new from craig at great northern yarns

new spring colors for the cashmere/mink collection. just the thing for late-winter knitting, when it’s still plenty cold enough for mink and cashmere, but you need something to perk up your spirit.

from left to right we have coral, apple green, terra cotta, lavender, and marigold. these will put a bright touch of accent color to those brown and gray coats, to let everyone know that you know that spring is coming.

and chris has sent some yarn to help me get ready for the knitting olympics

a batch of grandma’s blessing and a big batch of sea pearl (which didn’t photograph well enough to show you, sigh).
she has also stocked her online shop to the gills in preparation for the games over the last few weeks, including items that have been out of stock for a while, PLUS—a listing for her cashmere special

(this gorgeous stuff i showed you a little while back, YUM).
AND she is offering knitspot readers a 10% discount on all orders between now and february 6—simply use the code “knitspot” when you check out and your order will be discounted.

she is rooting for me to knit along with her for the duration. i have to admit that i haven’t given the olympics much thought (oh, the shame of it), but since the first olympics was a feature of my earliest blog posts four years ago, i feel it would only be right to make something.

so i have two possibilities: i need to knit david a hat (i know, i still haven’t done that!) and by coincidence, he chose a yummy, dark, chunky merino that chris sent about a month ago

which i despair of photographing well.

OR, i can finish his blue fatigue sweater, which has only about half a sleeve to its name (i haven’t worked on it since before christmas, if i remember correctly). it would be a big push to get that done, but i might be able to do it (my secret knitting is going well at this point).

ooops, i gotta run now—we have a doctor’s appt and i have to get my license renewed today—o good opportunity to take my longjohn socks out for a ride and to add a little length to them . . . yup, i don’t even have time to proofread this til later, sorry.

next time, more knitting to show, i promise.