In Between Cleaning

If you walked into my house, you would think it's in reasonably good order. But when I look through the rooms from the perspective of putting the house on the market, I see clutter and little repair jobs all over the place!

We definitely want to sell the house in 2017, and I feel like that barely gives us enough time to get it ready. Especially these days, when staging is everything. When I bought my first house, people just picked up. Now I feel the need to really cull and clean.

So we spent much of the weekend working on that project, but I did have some breaks for friends and crafting. I finished a second market bag:

The yarn is Plymouth Fantasy Naturale, which makes a nice, dense fabric and comes in great colors.

And I added a few stitches to my Door  County cross stitch. I love the way it is coming out, but I am discouraged by how much more there is to do. I am almost done with the building, but there is a ton of foliage ahead of me.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Warm Weather Colors

I couldn't help but notice that the projects that are calling out to me are either springlike or summery. I've been zipping along on my market bag (pattern unknown). These feel like beach colors to me. The yellow is just so sunny. Don't you love knitting on big needles? The stitches just fly.

My Antarktis is blocking and I am SO tempted to cast on a new shawl, but I am trying to be more organized about my knitting. Instead of starting something new, I'm going to pick up the Garland Shawl by Michele Bernstein, which is in an apple green color -- very springlike!

 As you can see, I have done quite a bit on this project, but it has been in hibernation for a long time. I started it in June 2013! I hate trying to figure out where I am in the pattern, but once I get past that, I think it will go smoothly.

Garland is also the first project I've used beads in. I hope remember how to do that!

As for reading, I'm almost done with Jacksonland. This man should definitely not be on any dollar bill! I have a stack of books from the library and I'll just have to see what sticks.

As always, I'm joining up today with Ginny to Yarn Along.

One New, One Old

Let's face it: How many of us can come home with a load of new yarn and not cast some of it on right away? Maybe some of you have more self-control than I do. But it didn't take long for me to set up my swift and ball winder, so I knew that I'd be casting on.

After all, I am on spring break.  So I do have more time on my hands. I decided that meant I could be a little bit virtuous. Before casting on, I pulled out a UFO, one that I really felt I could finish:

This is a market-bag in cotton. At the moment I can't find the name of the pattern or the yarn. I know the pattern is from Creative Knitting magazine. And the yarn was on sale at my LYS. I'm well beyond the halfway point, so I'm hoping to finish before school starts.

Feeling properly virtuous, I cast on Antarktis by Janina Kallio in Eden Cottage Yarn, both of which I picked up Saturday at the Knit-In. The yarn is a wool-silk blend that is going to be perfect for summer. The yarn knits like a dream, smooth and, well, silky.

My plan is to finish it in time for my trip to the West Coast in July.

As for reading, I finished My Brilliant Friend. I liked it but I can't say that I loved it. I'm not sure why it is such a worldwide sensation. However, there is a twist at the end that not only made the book worth reading but also has tempted me to start book 2. We'll see.

Here's what's up next. 

 

This Should Be Written in the Pressent Tense is a literary novel by Helle Helle, who is a star in her native Denmark. I'm also going to start a Jennifer Haigh novel set in industrial Pennsylvania. Haigh is a good writer and I lived in Pittsburgh for a time, so I'm hoping to enjoy this one.

It isn't all fun and games here at Chez Caffeine. A chunk of Monday was devoted to finished my PDP -- the written document I need to renew my teaching license -- and I have a lot of house decluttering to do. Not that I'm complaining. I know I'm lucky to get school breaks!

I'll be joining Ginny for Yarn Along.