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!

Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew?

Hi everyone!  I am sorry I am a day late in posting.....It has been a crazy week.  This past weekend we went to Rockport and I did not take my laptop and very rarely checked my phones!  It was great!

I have quite a few stash enhancements.  After Finishing Celeste's sweater last week, I decided I wanted to make her and Cataleya matching coats/jackets.....I want to make it look like Elsa's Coronation dress (from the movie Frozen).  I picked the Three Tier Coat/Jacket pattern.....I want to do it 3 colors like this one:

Photo inspiration

My Colors (that pink has a bit more purple in it)

I also got in some yarn for the Reine Cardigan for Paige:

I ordered some fiber to practice spinning:

And, I had a friend on Ravelry contact me that she has some Miss Babs in an orange that is like a Texas Orange.....and she was right.....It is perfect Longhorn Orange!  Thank you Debbie for the yarn and the cute little Eiffel Tower Keychain!  You are the greatest!

My Miss Babs Destination 1 yarn came in....we are going to Sri Lanka.....I forgot to take a picture of my extras (candy, elephant stitch marker, tea)....but I do love this yarn.  The pattern (called Ves) shows two colors....I really liked the red/pink better (and I got the blueish/turquoise)....so I ordered the red pink and I think Darlene will want to buy my blue/teal/turquoise one!

I finally got the District 12 colorway of yarn from Brazen Stitchery....one is mine and one is Darlene's

I also got some yarn to make a hat for Paige...it is Blue Sky Alpaca Suri Merino.

And, I got some new pajama pants....I love these (I got Darlene a pair too)....I love them so much, I ordered myself a second pair because I know I am going to wear these out.  I saw them posted on Instagram and had to buy them!

Lastly, I got a YarnIt....I have not started using it yet, but I am anxious to try it.

I think that might be it for the enhancements.....well, I may have one or two more...but will save them till next week.

Now....what did I knit on?  Well, do you remember that Weigh It Shawl where I ran out of yarn and used black?  I super sweet person on Ravelry had some left over Volcanic Eruption and sent it to me...so I tinked the picot bind off (yes, it was a pain) and re-bound off with the correct yarn and I am soooooo happy with it!

 I started a "secret" project....I will show you a picture of the yarn I am using and the beginning....I cannot wait to show you the whole thing...but it will be a few weeks.

You know that yarn I posted above to make a hat for Paige.....well, I finished it!  It was a complete surprise for her and she was not wild about the color....so I am making a 2nd one in red....she went to Tinsmith's wife to get the red yarn for me (Blue Sky Alpaca) and I need to finish it by Friday because she leaves for Colorado on Saturday...and she wants the hat for Colorado.....the picture of the hat on my head shows the color the best.

While Paige was at Tinsmith's Wife, she found some bed socks she wants me to make her and she picked up Madeline Tosh Dandelion Yarn for me to make them for her.

I worked on my rainbow socks a little

And, I started some new socks with Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock yarn.....these are for a Hiya Hiya KAL

That about does it......Yes, I know....I got lots of yarn this week....that is why I feel like I have bitten off more than I can chew with everything I want to make....and I want to make it NOW!

Anyway, my little Antonio has been sick, so I wanted to share a couple of pictures of him yesterday with the new legos Ga-Ma got him...I know he does not look 'sick', but it is a stomach bug...

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!