Journey-along | Coming Soon!

A few weeks ago, I posted my review of Journey with ideas for yarns we carry at Firefly Fibers for each of the 6 designs in the book. Since the November launch, I've been clicking away on shop samples - just as I did with Island the year before - and what I quickly realized is, the designs in Journey are just as addictive! This means samples for the shop and second projects for me, too!

I've been in planning mode - or scheming, whichever you prefer - over the last few weeks while waiting for new yarns to arrive for a few of the projects. Do you recall a recent mention that I had a little something up my sleeve with this book? Well, the new arrivals are now all present and accounted for and I would like to share the fun of knitting projects from the book with you, so let's have a Journey-along!  

|| What's a Journey-along? ||

An inspiring, fun and casual Knitalong featuring the 6 beautiful designs from Journey

|| Dates ||

February 12th - November 19th

|| Sign Up & Details ||

Sign up instructions and full details will be posted on the start date of February 12th

In the meantime, join the Firefly Fibers Ravelry Group (if you're not already a member) as this is where the online Knitalong will be hosted. Feel free to chat away about your favorite Journey design, decide on your first pattern, gather supplies and swatch - yes, I said swatch... really, it's a good thing.

 I can't say that I'll be waiting until the start date to cast on another project from the book - duty calls and I have shop samples to knit with the new arrivals, such as...

Last fall Rowan was kind enough to provide me with a sample skein of their upcoming Pure Wool Worsted. As soon as I tested the yarn, I knew exactly which Journey project I wanted to use it for:

Onward by Shannon Cook

Pure Wool Worsted is one of the yarns that I recommended for this shawl when I posted my review and I'm happy to report that the yarn just arrived at the shop in all 50 colors this last week! I'll post progress photos along the way on Facebook and Instagram so you can see what color I selected and how the yarn knits up. I'm really excited!

Rowan's new yarn would also be wonderful for Spate by Jane Richmond.

I've  already knit a shop sample of these mitts out of Spud & Chloe Sweater, but I can see a second pair in the future. Maybe this is what I'll cast on to kick off the Journey-along? And those socks... I just *might* be working on an upcoming class for Climb...

If you don't have a copy of Journey yet, we just restocked at the shop - the print copy includes a digital download - and I have plenty of yarn ideas for you, too.

Are you inspired? Do you want to go on a Journey-along with me?

Treats and Driver's Seats

I found this "recipe" for crock pot dolche de leche shortly before the holidays and decided to give it a try. Simply pouring sweetened condensed milk in some jars and putting them in the crock pot for a few hours with water seemed way too easy. BUT... I figured it didn't require too much effort on my part, so it was worth a try. Good news! It wasn't too good to be true and it made great holiday gifts (2 batches worth) and I made another batch last week. This is what you do:

Yup, simple. I used 3 cans of sweetened condensed milk for 4 half-pints and this leaves just a wee bit leftover (perfect for coffee or tea). After filling the jars, into the crock pot they go, cover them with water and set on low for 8-10 hours (adjust the time depending on how dark you like your dolche de leche). Tip: add a splash of vinegar to the water bath to avoid sediment adhering to the jars and crock pot. 

That's all there is to it and it's absolutely delicious! I've been enjoying in on apples and I can't wait to try it on some ice cream!

On a healthier front...

I decided it was time to use up some of the last of our CSA carrots for this Carrot Butter recipe. I used cashews instead of macadamia nuts and, of course, I used some of our precious homemade maple syrup I blogged about back in April.

After trying to patiently wait for the carrot butter to cool, we finally enjoyed it with a baguette and a healthy handful of chopped parsley. We still have quite a bit left from our late season CSA deliveries and I'm already planning something with squash for this weekend - a soup, perhaps?

And... much to the pleasure of my feet during the Wisconsin winter, I finished these socks:

They fit great and I love the longer cuff! I also made some progress on hubby's worsted weight socks that I mentioned last time. He tried on the cuff and it fits perfectly so I'm confident it will be a great fit for him (and a quick knit for me). Onto the heel!

I'll leave you with this, and hopefully my guy makes you smile:

Logan is quite the car companion and he's recently discovered that he can manage to fit his 112 lbs into his new favorite place - the driver's seat. 

Cheers!

On the Horizon

Life is starting to get back to normal as I'm settling into the New Year - I do still have one gift to wrap up and send off, but it's almost ready. Almost. With the return of my "normal", this means I'm busy looking ahead, so here's a bit of what's on my horizon:

One of my favorite designers, Ysolda Teague, is hosting her very first Mystery Knitalong (a.k.a. MKAL)! I host Knitalongs for Firefly Fibers and rarely do I have time to actually participate in anyone else's, but this one was too much for me to resist. I couldn't say "no" to Ysolda for a few reasons:

• Designer: Ysolda is an amazing designer and her patterns are always well-written.
• Mystery: This will keep me on the edge of my seat and interested. FYI, I'm already there.
• Options: 2 options with each of the 5 weekly clues. It's not like I need to make any more decisions than I already do, but *this* got me.
• Will-Power: I have none. Especially when it comes to Ysolda. Enough said.

Some knitters at the shop are joining in the fun - thank you, ladies - and I can't wait to see how the shawls knit up! I selected this beauty: SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Silver for the MKAL. I swatched this morning and it's amazingly beautiful knit up. Now I'll just twiddle my thumbs until the first clue is released on Monday. Well, not really...

As I shared earlier this week, I've been knitting away on these socks. I've made progress and the second one is ready for the heel (read this as: they will be on my feet in the very near future) so I'm pushing myself to the toe of these socks by queuing up a pair of worsted weight socks for hubby! It might sound like I'm actually punishing myself by knitting a pair of socks to fit a man that wears a size 13 shoe, but Regia came out with a new worsted weight sock yarn and I've been dying to try it out.

The fabulous Churchmouse Basic Sock pattern includes versions for fingering and sport weight, but hubby needs bigger socks than the pattern sizing offers. So, I’ve been planning on knitting a larger sock by using sport weight yarn with the stitch counts for the fingering weight, but I want to knit a super fast pair of socks and Regia’s worsted weight fits the bill - remember, a men's size 13.

Along the same thought process of my previous plan, I’m using a worsted weight yarn (currently on a US 5 - the Blue Sky Alpaca's DPNs are a joy to knit with) and the pattern stitch counts for the sport weight version to produce a larger (and faster knitting) sock. Based on my math and current gauge: so far, so good. I’ll confirm as soon as I can have hubby slip the wee cuff over his foot, but I’m optimistic that this will be a simple adjustment for other knitters that need to knit larger socks - I know of one knitter that has some size 13's at home, too. I've raveled the project here if you want to check in on my progress along the way.

Now... Remember my recent post on Journey? Well, the pattern collection has been a huge hit in the shop, so I've got something special in the works! I'll share details in the near future and it's sure to be fabulous! Like, REALLY FABULOUS! 

In addition to all of this, I'm always thinking ahead, so I've been busy working on classes and some new Firefly Fibers Designs. Yeah, I'm surely keeping myself out of trouble.

As for my kitchen... my cooking time is minimal during the holidays, so I'm slowly trying to get back into a kitchen routine. But, I did make this for supper last night and it was amazing! If you like grilled cheese sandwiches, bacon and eggs, it's a must try!

Cheers!