I feel bad that I haven’t been updating more than once a week,  and I must admit that my desire to stay in my little hobbit hole for the time being is s-t-r-o-n-g.  But, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making things. Currently I’m working on a personal project that I’d like to keep secret until it’s finished (which could be months) and I have also been really into yarn. I started working at my local  yarn shop right before I left for Texas, and being around all of the pretty yarn gives me even more motivation to stash-dive. The way I see it, the sooner I use up my stash, the sooner I can use my store discount to make a few choice purchases. The only issue is that I’m kind of sick of  making hats to sell (plus that season has nearly passed), and I also don’t want to start anything too big because I know I have some work projects coming up. So when my friend Meredith at Paper Dolly Girl posted her cute new baby sweater yesterday my eyes lit up right away. And a stash-diving I went.

I completed this little number in one evening (minus weaving in the ends–I did that today, and blocking—um, I’ll do that later). I also just love the opportunity to use up one perfect button. The button above? I went crazy and bought several in that vein recently– I just can’t get enough of them. And making the sweater was so much fun that I already started on my second version. I’m making a few pattern changes and have thoughts for some more, but it’s a really great basic shape to start with.

I’ve been talking with one of my friends about how soon we will be old ladies who just stash knit and crochet baby stuff for whatever babies come into our lives. Yep, I’m almost there. I am incessantly practical, so I always worry who will use the things I am making–these seem to be a nice little thing to work on in between more focused projects.  The pattern is free (and here’s the ravelry page) in case you’d like to give it a try, too. The directions are a little vague, but if you’ve crocheted from a pattern before you’ll figure it out. And it will help you use up some of this:

(drawing by Paul Heaston)

If you’ve read this far, stay tuned tomorrow- I’m going to post all of the information for my 2nd Patchwork Swap (we’ll be swapping scraps plus one small handmade patchwork item). I’ll limit the sign-up to the first 40 people (because I am only one person, and I’d rather keep it to faithful readers) so be sure to check back tomorrow to sign up.