First things first.  Has it really been over 2 months since I last posted?!  Holy Cow!  I am so sorry that life got away from me so much that I didn't get a chance to catch all of you up on my yarn adventures.  But what a couple months it has been!  My husband and I took a trip to Kalamazoo, my beloved Cubs won the World Series, a presidential election took place (which we will not discuss here), and, among so much else, I acquired more yarn.  And let's not forget all the great skeins I've been playing with, too!  I've been one busy girl!

So let's talk about some of my new acquisitions.

In honor of the Cubs World Series run, local favorite Lorna's Laces dyed up skeins in their Go Cubs Go! colorway.  It was sold exclusively at Knit 1 in Chicago, which was a bit difficult for me to get to, especially this time of year.  But everyone at Knit 1 is so wonderful that they shipped me my order!!  I can't begin to tell you how excited I've been to have these skeins!  I couldn't get enough for just one project so I picked up 2 skeins of Shepherd Worsted (destined to be a pair of mittens and a hat) and a skein of Shepherd Sock (destined to be a pair of Sugarcreek socks).  I have a couple other projects pushing themselves to the head of the line, so these will have to wait just a little while.

Just this past weekend, I ventured out to Downers Grove with my friend, Melanie, to Knitche.  Each month, they have a pop up shop featuring a different indie dyer or smaller yarn distributor.  In November, Bunnybadger had a beautiful display of their hand dyed and spun yarns.  

Melanie and I were first introduced to Bunnybadger at last year's YarnCon, and fell in love with both the vibrant colors and soft textures of each skein.  At that time, I picked up some mini skeins (destined for a knit design that I've had in my head for way too long) and I was fortunate enough to win a skein of Le Squish as well in the raffle.  

But I had really wanted to pick up some more, as did Melanie.  So off to Knitche we went where the decisions were way too difficult to make.  I could have easily walked out with three or four times as much, but I exercised restraint and picked up these two skeins of Warren in Cherry Bomb and Gimlet.  I've already cast on the Oyez cowl by Lynn Di Cristina.

Oh - and the icing on the cake - we got to meet Renée Jones, the Bunnybadger herself!!  It was such a delight talking and connecting with her.  She has an amazing eye for color and is definitely a dyer to admire.

At home, I'm splitting my time between my Oyez cowl and making matching hats for my lovely neighbor and her family.  I have such bad stitching A.D.D. that I always need more than one thing going at a time.  For the hats, I'm using a free pattern from the Craft Yarn Council simply called Ribbed Crochet Hat.  It's a very easy to remember stitch sequence and works up quite nicely in any size yarn.  I've got two more to go and am working hard on them as the weather has gotten colder.

My current take along project is a pair of vanilla socks for my oldest son.  His feet are currently one size larger than mine, so I will be making these bigger in the hopes hat they will fit him for at least a week.  I better get faster at sock knitting if I'm going to make more for his giant flippers!  After that, I have to make a pair for my younger son who has been very patient as I work my way through other items.

As for Christmas, I am in the middle of making my yearly ornament, which I won't reveal just yet because they're gifts (if you can't take the suspense, message me and I'll share the pattern with you).  This is just a blingy little preview of the thread I'm using.  The pattern is a simple, three round/row project and it takes me about 30 minutes to make one.  I'm up to 10 and have at least 20 more to go.

Whew!!  All this, Christmas prep, working, job searching, and more life is certainly keeping me busy!  Just keep stitching...just keep stitching...