On the Needles | Lofty Goals

The weekend is here and it's been super busy at Firefly Fibers. Life has been a little less than cooperative as of late and, although I'm mostly caught up, I'm still a wee bit behind on the knitting. So, I hope to take care of a good portion of the knitting backlog this weekend. Can you hear me squealing with joy?

Goal #1: 

The new Fall Knitalong is on my needles and I plan to wrap that up this weekend.

Since casting on with this beautiful yarn at a baseball game...

I've been stealing blocks of time here and there, but now I'm on the last section of charts. It's quite scrunched up on the needles and I can't wait to bind off and see what it looks like in all its glory! Here's another WIP photo from early on:

I cannot sing enough praises about Julie & her yarn (I love every single one that I've knit with and she's a pleasure to work with) and the Campside pattern has such a lovely rhythm to it (Alicia, the designer, was just as wonderful and kind when I reached out to her to finalize the Knitalong details for the shop). Many thanks to both of you and to Pom Pom Quarterly for publishing the pattern!

All in all... This shawl has been a joy to knit, but it's time to wrap it up and get it off the needles so it can be on display at the shop - get ready to drool!

Goal #2:

Inland for the Journey-along.

Yup, this is still the last of the progress - I'm stuck on those blasted sleeves and as the leader of this knitalong, I'm hanging my head in shame.

I lost my motivation when the weather warmed and my practical side didn't see the purpose in plowing through a bulky sweater when summer was right around the corner and I had other things to knit. But now it's 45 outside and I wish I would have stuck with it. So, my goal is to get back at this this weekend and finish up the sleeves, at the very least - after finishing Campside, of course.

Goal #3:

I cast on a new CustomFit sweater this last July on our Colorado trip while watching episode after episode of Gilmore Girls. Sadly, the sweater lost momentum at... you guessed it, the sleeves.

It's a CustomFit version of Knitbot's Featherweight with 3/4 length sleeves and the rest of the body is done, so I hope to get those cast on and finish them up this weekend, too.

 I have a couple other things that might find their way onto the needles because I desperately need a smaller project, but we'll see... I'll keep you posted.

Cheers and Happy Weekend!

Moments | The Good Stuff...

It's been awhile since I posted... things have been crazy and May was relentless. Our little family had a lot happening in our lives - good and bad - and we seem to have come out on the other side with our smiles intact. Making it through especially trying times feels good - it's never easy, sometimes life throws a whole lot at you all at once, and it's a lot of work that sometimes can feel like you're just treading water. But... like I said, our smiles are intact and here are a few of the reasons why: May had us celebrating our 4-year anniversary at Firefly Fibers! The 4-year mark is quite the milestone and this last year has been our busiest yet. I am so proud of our little shop and am so lucky to spend my days working with such wonderful people that constantly inspire me. Many thanks to all of the awesome Firefly Fibers enthusiasts for the last 4 wonderful years and here's to many more!

This weekend was the high school graduation for Beaver Dam and our friends were kind enough to invite us to their son's graduation party. The company was wonderful, we met some great folks, hubby got to play Xbox games with some guys that were *gulp* half his age and didn't die first, and (as an added bonus) there were animals. These are just a few of them:

Not pictured: Frankie the pig, Otis the cat (who slumbers with Frankie), Picasso the angora rabbit, several chickens, and 3 dogs  - all of these animals stole my heart.

Today was also quite a day for "the good stuff". This last Christmas, my father-in-law gifted his 1969 Dodge Charger to hubby. Yeah, kind of amazing, right?! After months of waiting, today was the day it came home with us and it is one beautiful car. Here's hubby driving it on our way home today:

There's sure to be more about this car (and more photos) in the near future, so stay tuned.

Along with this fabulousness, we also launched CustomFit at the shop (more on my first CustomFit sweater is coming soon), I cast off another Journey-along project (there will be a fun giveaway happening this month), and we have some really awesome stuff on the horizon at the shop (that *always* makes me happy).

Cheers and I'll be back soon! I promise...

On the Needles | Inland & Big News!

I had grand hopes of finishing Inland within a week since some of the Knit Night ladies decided that knitting Inland was a contest - I always say that knitting isn't a race, but I guess a sweater race now and then is just fine. lol!  So, I've been trying to knit like the wind and posting snippets of my sweater progress on Facebook and Instagram along the way. Well, I'm not winning the Inland contest by any means, but I have managed to divide for and start the sleeves. Inland hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves since it's a personal project and my hope of completing it within a week has since passed. But, I'm totally okay with that, because...

A really exciting opportunity has come up for Firefly Fibers - like, really exciting - so I've been busy prepping the store launch of... drum roll please...

CustomFit by Amy Herzog Designs!

I was keeping things under wraps - shocking, right?! - but while I was prepping, the shop was spotted on the CustomFit LYS page and questions have been coming in, so the time has come to make the official announcement. I love the enthusiasm for CustomFit so far and I can't wait to share the fabulous shop offerings (and samples) I'm working on for you! Stay tuned...

In the meantime... I've been working with a couple really fabulous new yarn vendors to line up some great new yarn for the shop - sorry, I'm teasing, but it will be well worth the wait. Also, hubby and I are getting ready to head off for Firefly's biennial trip to TNNA next weekend in Indianapolis. This will be my third TNNA and Mike's first, so I'm super excited for him to see what this TNNA hullabaloo is all about. It's amazing, overwhelming, fabulous, exhausting, and so much more! I can't wait and will report back!

Cheers!