Summer Stripes

As I've mentioned, I am a big fan of the UK fiber and design company Sirdar.  For the past few months I've had my eye on their new cotton/acrylic blend Summer Stripes Dk and the Summer Safari design book they have released with it.  There are so many beautiful, modern designs that I knew I could learn from, so on my recent visit to Scottsdale's Knit Happens I decided that purchasing this book was a worthwhile investment to put on my credit card write off as a business expense!


It was a tough choice whether I would start with the Boat-Neck Top with Turnback Cuffs or the V Neck Tank...and the color choice was even more difficult.  Ultimately I went with the Boat-Neck in their color choice, Oasis (312).


I finished the first half within about five days, meticulously choosing which skein to join based on keeping perfectly ordered stripes.  Now on my second half (pictured below), I decided to mix it up a bit, and you can see there is a little "reflection" in the middle where I changed yarns and started backwards with the new skein.  I can say for sure now I think it's more interesting to mix it up when using a self-changing yarn like this than to try and keep perfect order.

Home Sweet Home

I am so happy to finally be back in Maine! Even though it was fun to catch up with family and friends and get some long-awaited sunshine, I definitely confirmed that making the big move to New England was the right decision for me.

To make my trip

e v e n   l  o  n   g    e    r

it took me three days of travel just to get home!

Between flying standby, and nationwide crazy weather, I spent Wednesday night in Chicago, Thursday night in Philadelphia, and Friday afternoon I miraculously made it onto an overbooked flight into Bangor, Maine.

From the sky I could see there was already green grass on the ground and buds on the trees. Only my beloved Mount Katahdin was still covered in snow. I am sad to have missed out on a lot of the transition into spring. Where have I been for the past month?