a day early…..sort of. Our table is set for an Easter brunch with family tomorrow. My first rule of “entertaining”? Set the table in advance. And in this case, load up the table with gaudily colored plates, decorations, and candy – the brighter/gaudier the better for Easter in my book 🙂
Between Passover and Easter festivities this week, it’s been hectic chez Chalson, but I’ve still got a few fun things to share. First up, all of my patterns are 20% off through May 13th! When you buy any of my patterns, use the MadMay coupon code during Ravelry checkout (you do NOT need to be a Ravelry member). The sale is in honor of Ravelry’s celebration of my favorite independent dyer, Madelinetosh, in May.
Now that we’ve gotten the business out of the way….
Speaking of Madelinetosh, the blue sweater continues to grow! One sleeve is done (I made it longer than the original pattern – I’d much prefer to push my sleeves up than to wear 3/4 length sleeves, just another of my idiosyncracies) and one sleeve is set up and ready to be knit. I’m hoping to have this one done for sure in another week! This is a really crisp photo where you can easily see the stitch definition of the yoke, but the photo clarity is thanks to our crummy weather today:
Overcast, rainy skies make for soggy Saturdays, but great photos! Normally, you can see Shea Stadium and the planes taking off from LaGuardia Airport between those two tall buildings, but today it looks like a solid grey sheet.
In somewhat sadder knitting news, I have a casualty to report: one heel of my first-ever pair of knitted socks has a huuuuge hole in it. You know how you get that feeling that the bottom of your foot is cold, or wet? It’s the sure sign that you’ve got a hole and boy, do I have a doozy:
I made these socks FIVE years ago out of Koigu KPPPM fingering weight merino, and they finally gave in today. I’ve worn them and washed them in the machine so much that their cuffs have even felted slightly. Ah well, such is the life cycle of knitted items, and I’m glad that if I have to retire them, it’s due to overuse.
However, fear not! Providentially, a new skein of sock yarn made its way to my home last night, and it’s also pink, so I think this is a sign that new pink socks are in order:
This yarn is Fiberphile’s MCN (merino cashmere nylon) sock blend, and it has a whopping 375 yards per skein, so I know I’ll get a generous and soft pair of socks out of this. The colorway is “Sakura” (which means “cherry blossom” in Japanese) and it was created especially to fund the dyer’s charitable efforts in Japan following their earthquake and tsunami. This will be my first design project with Fiberphile yarn, so I’m really looking forward to it, and the yarn is certainly luxurious enough to create a fabulous end result.
As if that wasn’t enough of a knitting pick-me-up this week, I may have also purchased two more knitting bags from Michele of Three Bags Full (check out her etsy site here: ).
It’s a sickness, I tell you. Hello, my name is Danielle and I have too many knitting bags. But wait until you see them:
Of course, they both have a French theme. The bag on the right is the pink-fabric version of my grey Tres Chic sweater bag that I showed you many weeks ago, and it’s the perfect smaller size for those subway projects that I toss into my purse. The bag on the left is the same size and is called “la famille du mouton,” or “the family of sheep.” This adorable peach fabric has cartoonish sheep and other drawings on it, not to mention some cute phrases scrawled in French all over the fabric. Sayings like “nonchalant” (that’s an obvious one) and “le royaume du mouton” (the kingdom of sheep), and “c’est la foret de guerir ici,” (roughly, “this bit of forest is healing here”). Unbeknownst to me at the time, my next door neighbor, also a keen knitter in her own right, ordered the same bag in a lime fabric! You know what they say about great minds…….
I think that’s all the news that’s fit to print around here today. Happy Easter to everyone! In parting, Coco’s thought of the day is: “I just got groomed today so that bunny better be bringing me some chocolate.”
daniellechalson.com 
Happy Easter to you ALL…! I read something a very long time ago about “repairing” socks with holes in the feet, and it may have involved cutting off the foot and knitting a new one…! I think that it was in one of Carol Anderson’s Cottage Creek Creations booklets…just saying…!
Your table looks very festive, and I hope you all have a fun fill meal tomorrow.
The sweater is coming along so well, and that is a gorgeous photo of it to. I can’t wait to see you model it. It’s going to look splendid on you!
If you really wish to keep those socks, and if you have any of that yarn left over, just knit yourself a little square big enough to cover the hole, and then stitch it in place over the hole. No one will be the wiser, and you can extend their wear for a while longer. If you have no more of the same yarn, I would guess that any pink yarn would work well enough.
The new sock yarn looks amazing! I can almost feel how soft and luxurious it must be, just looking at it. Mmmmmm
Tell Coco she looks gorgeous too. That tail is really ornamental! 🙂
Sandie,
Thanks for the tip on the sock – I might just do that! I don’t know if I have any more of that particular yarn left, as I use my sock-weight yarn leftovers to do preemie hats, but as you say, it doesn’t really matter if it’s the same yarn on the bottom of my foot 🙂
Coco appreciates the sweet comment, too 🙂