Big News

I’m engaged! It still feels kind of surreal to write that but oh so great. He proposed on Friday. Actually, it started while I was still at work. For almost as long as we’ve been dating, he has sent me occasional love notes via email. At some point I started calling these gooey emails and the term stuck. So on Friday afternoon he sent me a gooey email about each month of our relationship. Some were sweet, some were funny and they all made my day after a very tense morning. Though I suspected something was happening (I’ve known this was coming since we bought the ring together a few weeks ago) I didn’t want to get my hopes up so I tried to remain calm on the trip home.



When I arrived home, I found flower petals leading down the stairs to our door, which had a flower stuck in the handle. Then, when I opened the door, the first thing I saw was a glass containing two tulips. Once I came inside he presented me with a large bouquet of tulips and a mysterious purple flower before getting on one knee and asking me to be his wife (squee!). He said other stuff too and I just wish I could remember any of it but I was too focused on the “it’s actually happening!” excitement.



Afterwards, we went out for dinner at the Red Door to celebrate. Good food and good atmosphere.

On Saturday I went to Fibreswest with Lara and Gabrielle from Thursday night knitting. I bought my first wedding purchase: yarn for my veil. Saturday evening we went to Maple Ridge to celebrate with my parents and a few family friends.



Those are the flowers his dad sent us.

WIPs

Although I have a number of projects officially on the needles, I’m only actively working on two: the Tilted Duster and Leyburn Socks.

I’ve been wanting to knit Tilted Duster for a while. I have a long sweater that I love but it’s getting old and worn and I decided to replace it with something I knit. I picked up the yarn at WEBS while on vacation and I’ve been dying to cast on ever since. I started it around the time I finished the knitting for CPH. It’s going quite fast. I finished the top parts (the back and both fronts) in a few days. I’ve sewn them together now and started the skirt. Picking up all those stitches was a bit tedious but I survived and I’ve now finished 3 out of 9 skirt repeats. This project goes surprisingly fast. Due to its size I’d expected it to be long and tedious. I think it helps that it is super easy to memorize.

I’m using Berroco Peruvia. It’s quite soft and the colour is beautiful but I do have this warning: it does not frog worth a damn. I completely messed up the right front the first time around but ripping it out was so frustrating that I decided to just start over with new yarn. Luckily the fronts knit up super fast and I have plenty of yarn. My goal is to finish this project by the end of the month and I think I’m on track to do that. That way I’ll be able to wear it as a spring jacket this year.

Stash Stash Stash aka Yarn Pron Galore

I apologize for the unplanned hiatus. Time to get updated.

My yarn stash has grown substantially since the start of the year, mostly due to January being an excellent month for stash enhancement. First, I bought yarn at the Three Bags Full sale: 7 skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair, 2 skeins of BSA Bulky that have turned into mittens, 2 skeins of Rabbitworks Toe Jam sock yarn and 2 skeins of Fiddlesticks Zephyr Laceweight.


Then we got to Vermont and my Loopy Ewe Xmas shopping spree order was waiting. In it were 2 skeins of Yarn Pirate Alpaca in Sweet Magnolia and Bitter Valley, 2 skeins of Tuscan Grove Venice in Eggplant and Mint Ganache, 1 skein of Enchanted Knoll Farm in Black Magic Woman, 1 skein of Gypsy Knits DK in Robin Hood, 1 skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks in Harbor Fog, 1 skein of Indie Dyer in Golden Eye, 1 skein of Chameleon Colorworks I Black Cherry and 1 skein of Creatively Dyed Calypso in Promise. Yum, yum.


Among the odds and ends that I’ve acquired over the last few months are two skeins of Wollmeise in Baba Jaga and Baristo and my artist’s choice order from Sundara: I got Foreign Correspondent and Smashed Berries. I was a little nervous about getting surprise colours but I love these.


I better get started knitting socks!