BIG 4 Retreat Failure?

I think I might just be a failure at my own Retreat.....I mean, I do not want to call myself a 'failure', but I think I may be a semi-failure.....Let me explain!

By the end of this post you will see that I have finished 3 of my 4 Big 4 Retreat items....I know that is not failing at all, but here is where the failure comes in....my last item is Spire and I am 38.28% done with it.  However, the last 61.72% is all lace pattern.....and I just cannot work on nothing but lace day in and day out...I need mindless things in my life (apparently, my brain does not like working)!

Now, I have made myself a chart and I only have to do 812 stitches per day to finish my Spire by September 1.....so, I am going to finish everything I wanted to for the Big 4 retreat (at least I think I will)...but my semi failure is that I apparently cannot do it without casting on something else for my non thinking knitting!

So, you all already know that I have cast on my Rennandi, and I have a poncho I want to make that is all stockinette and mindless that I will probably cast on soon....so I am a semi-failure!  Please do not hate me or give me too hard of a time....failure is hard to admit to....LOL!!!!

Now, on to what I have been up to:

Let me start with Stash Enhancements.....now, my first stash enhancement has a kinda medium to long story....

About a year and a half ago....I made Paige one of the greatest cardigans I think I have ever made and it is called Breezy Cardigan (blogged here):

Then, a little over a year ago she wanted me to knit her a cardigan called Reine.  She picked some beautiful Madeline Tosh Sock yarn for this project and I bought 4 skeins (the 7th picture in this post).

Here I am a year later and I have not made the Reine cardigan....but Paige informs me that she thinks she ruined the Breezy Cardigan.....she had washed it before and it was always fine, but this time it seemed worse...Here it is on Antonio:

Now, I think I may be able to re-block the sweater and it will be okay, but I am not 100% sure yet because Paige has not brought it to me....well, she wants another Breezy Cardigan.  So, I thought maybe I could make it with the Madeline Tosh she had picked for the Reine Cardigan.

Turns out that 4 skeins is not enough yardage, so I ordered another skein (which is my stash enhancement)....

Well, guess what?  Yup, you guessed it, Madeline Tosh does not have dye lots and I am buying the yarn a whole year later....so the new one does not exactly match and I am not sure if it will work with alternating skeins......

I showed it to Paige and she said she would really like a Breezy Cardigan in Black....UGGGG!  So, I think I will use my black yarn I was planning for my Hitofude to make her a Breezy Cardigan (I think I may have to order a couple more skeins) and then I may use this Madeline Tosh in the Antique Lace colorway for my Hitofude and alternate skeins and I should be fine!  So this is probably going to go to the frog pond:

I also bought some more Signature Straight Needles for my Memories Blanket....both Darlene and I purchased size 4 (3.5 mm) to make our blankets...well, Darlene liked her blanket better on size 2.5 (3.0 mm) so I got some too to restart my blanket and see which one I like best!

Then, I got my Loopy Academy Swag!  I am so glad that I crammed to finish everything because I love this cute little bags and notions!

I also got some yarn from Darlene!  She is so awesome to me.....she watches the Knit Girllls Podcast and saw Leslie's finished Inara....so even before we went to the lake house, she was scheming and she bought me the Cherries and Chocolates Gradient set so we can make the shawl.

I love this Gradient Set....Thank you Darlene!  I will probably start this wrap with my new Dyakcraft needles...I know I showed them to you last week...but I just love them in my Graces Case and have to show them to you again!

That is it for my knitting stash enhacements...I did buy some leggings recently...one pair is just circles, but it reminds me of yarn balls....I planned to wear these this past weekend to Hot Rod Night, but it was postponed to this coming weekend because of the rain.  I still wore them and they are soooo soft!  I just love them!

Now, I have an FO.....I finished my 3rd Big 4 Retreat item....Smooth Move!  I love it!  I have not blocked it yet, but it is still cuddly and large even without blocking!

Then what else did I work on.....well, here is my Spire to show you how far I am (I really have made progress):

I told you (and I think may have shown you before) that I started my Rennandi for the Miss Babs tour....well, I was just dying to get to the green/chartreuse color.....and I needed that 'mindless' knitting....so I here is my progress on that.

Lastly was the sweater for Darlene's DIL....it is semi mindless knitting, but not always...and it is hard to tink, so I try to knit on this only when my mind is semi fresh (not tired)....LOL!  I am back to where I was before I frogged it.

One small thing I wanted to mention....I have a knnitting friend that has had a bit of a rough patch lately...her hubby passed last year, her car broke down several times, she hit her head on the clothes line and had to go to ER.....just one thing after antoher...well, Saturday night/early morning her house caught on fire.  She has 2 dogs and Red Cross said they could not really accomodate her with the dogs....so she and her dogs are stayign with me (I have no clue how long).....please keep her in your 'good thoughts' column or if you are religious then a prayer or two is welcomed!

Well, that is all I have!  I hope everyone has a fabulous week.....We have the 4th of July weekend coming up....so enjoy that!  I know I will enjoy my 3 day weekend!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2016!!!

I hope all you ladies had a fabulous Mother's Day yesterday!

I am going to just right into stash enhancements because this past weekend was the Maryland Sheep and Wool show.  My friend, Sara, goes each year and becomes a personal shopper for us yarn junkies!  We get to live vicariously through her!

She was up bright and early and had to face some traffic:

Miss Babs is always the first stop..Here is a skein of the exclusive colorway for me..I get one (or two) every year...now I really need to make something with them all!

 Here is the line bright and early in the morning...I hate to see how long it gets in the afternoon!

The only other shop I had her shop for me from was Verdant Gryphon...she got me a sweaters quantity of Traveller Sport in The Downcast Donkey colorway.

Here are my Maryland Sheep and Wool show purchases.....I should not have spent the money, but it was a little treat to myself for Mother's Day!

Another friend, Peg, is headed up to Virginia (where Sara lives) in a week or so, so she will bring it back for me...she will be the designated Yarn Mule!  LOL!  I will not have it till the after the 20th, but that is fine because I cannot cast on anything till I finish The Big 4 or September 1st.

I also got a fabulous wine glass from a very good friend!  Thank you to you know who you are!

This made me check out a few things that were for sale on a certain knitting/stitching website....and a few things made it to my house...some Knit Happy and Stitch Happy compact Mirrors, the cutest reading glasses with a knitted fabric design on them, and a burnt orange Knit Happy notebook:

A friend of mine wants to make her new boyfriend a Motorcycle hat like this one.....Copyright of Melissa Kemmerer Designs.....Link here.

so I ordered some Malabrigo Rios in the Glazed Carrot colorway to knit this hat for Jaime and she and I can knit it together (I already have lots of black in my stash)!

I also got new signature needles....now these are for my memories blanket...Darlene and I each get a pair of straights to use for our blankets.....

Then, Jaime and I went to the deer lease Friday evening (just to pay the rancher a payment for the lease) and on the way back I stopped at Tinsmith's wife...I got some Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red to make a hat for Antonio (closer to the fall) and some Addi Flip Stix...I know Darlene has been dying to try these and I want to try them too.

My last stash enhancement was a gift from my friend Elizabeth....she borrowed some sock needles of mine and when she returned them, she also gave me a skein of yarn...it is a gorgeous red/orange varigated yarn by Alisha Goes Round.  Thank you Elizabeth!

Now for the knitting......well, I finished my first Big 4 item.....I finished Agleam....sort of.  It still needs to be blocked but I really love it and I am soooo happy one item is off the needles:

It was Hot Rod Night this past Saturday so of course I also worked on my socks (that is Jaime's '72 scamp in the background):

They both need about 3 more stripes before I start the heel.

I worked on my spire, but not enough to show any progress.....the only other thing I worked on is my memories blanket...I have been playing with slipping stitches on the edge and doing ssk's or k2tog tbl or ktog decreases...all to see what looks best and how to pic up stitches, etc.....so, I redid square one...then picked up stitches and cast on the second square....I hope it looks okay.

That is all I have in the knitting world.....but I have lots of Antonio to share.

He went to see some super heroes with his uncle James (Mikey's Dad).

Then I picked him up and let him play in the pool for a little while....crazy boy!  I used slow mo for full dramatic effect!

Then we went to Hot Rod Night....Yup, Antonio came with us.,,,and he had a great time:

Antonio stayed the night with me and then for Mother's Day, we went to Jaime's Mom's house (my mom went to see Mowtown The Musical so I did not see her for Mother's Day)....Antonio played with Uncle Jacob.

After that, we went home and waited for Paige to get off of work....she came over and cut my hair for me and brought me some gorgeous flowers (I forgot to take a picture of).  Thank you Paige!  I had a fabulous, but exhausting weekend.....I did not get as much knitting done as I usually do over the weekend....but I had a fantastic weekend with people I love!!  Sometimes that is better than knitting (but not very often....LOL!)

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!