Finishing up the poncho last week has gotten me itching for more knitting projects, and I mentioned that I was lining up another poncho for spring/summer wearing for some travel knitting. I pulled out a skein in my stash- Manos Del Uruguay Milo- merino + linen in petal. I was hoping to trying and find another complimentary pink and fade them together but I decided to go with a contrast because it was too hard to tell on the computer monitor if I could find the right pink to fade. I went with a contrasting colorway called grizzly; it has variations of pinks, browns, greens and hoping to wind it up and do a couple gauge swatches and then try and decide how to lay the color out in the poncho; stripes or color block.

I want to try and work on something before that project and came across a wide cowl on Ravelry today and was smitten. It is called Breeze Louise and is a free pattern if you want to check it out. I love how it looks in the yarn it was made in. I went down to my stash and was not feeling any of the yarn there was what I am wanting, so I think I am going to order the suggested yarn- Emma's Yarn. I like the story of the family that makes the yarn. 

I was excited to see my LYS as retailer of this yarn line and hopped in car today to try and check it out. I understand that COVID has really affected hours for businesses but I was so disappointed to see that they are no longer open on the weekends. They are only open a T-F during the middle of the day. It makes it really hard for me to try and support my LYS with such limited times to go check out the yarn. For some reason our community really struggles to have a good LYS. I am going to order the yarn from the shop that is providing the free pattern. 

All that being said, I figured if I was going to get a new skein of yarn, I should probably de-stash at the same time. If you are interested I just listed some yarns in my shop under the yarn tools and de-stash section.

I also want to share how saddened I am regarding the Russian war on Ukraine. I struggle to understand the audacity of the government of Russian to take this action. I am still determining how my family is going to help in a small way and am compiling information. Here is a starting spot if you are interested also. 

Also you may have heard me singing the praises of an amazing Ukrainian Etsy artist that I supported in the recent months who makes the most amazing wood block stamps; IstiHome. If you would like to support another Ukrainian artist; here is a link to a knitware designers from the Ukraine Pelykh Natalie/knitforsweet  and Victoria Chaplina/mycharmingwool. 

Supporting and visualizing peace-