For the past three weeks, we've been bouncing back and forth between my mom and stepdad's and our house.  They live about 4 hours away, but needed help after my mom's surgery.  

She's doing great and I think we're home for good, now, but GAH.  I feel like I haven't gotten anything done.  i actually did a few more color sketches last night when we got home just so I could feel like I've done something.

Since my shop hasn't been updated in awhile, I may put the socks I'm making for myself (luscious hand-dyed yarn) on hold for a day to knock out my last idea.  When I've got ideas in my head, I tend to lose steam if I don't make some progress on them, and I'm full of ideas.  I've written them all down, but it's not the same.

I'd really like to get 50 items in my etsy shop before the end of the month, but I don't know if that's going to happen.  Guess we'll see!

Spring is here and my motivation to knit, as it always does, is waning a bit.  Sitting in my craft room with the windows open isn't an acceptable substitute for laying in the grass with the cool breezes, warm sun, and catching the occasional whiff of my blooming iris.  I've been spending as much of the days outside getting my garden started as I can, and trying to do as much work-work as I can on the screened porch with my laptop.

In the evenings, I have so many other projects that I want to start, so I'm having to carve out designated knitting time.  I still love doing it, but I find it hard to make time for it when I have so many NEW things to do.  

I wanted to get the lace piece I started for grandmother done a few weeks ago, but that's been, sadly, delayed greatly.  I took an hour last night to work on it and made good progress, so I'll probably do the same today.  I can't wait until it's done!  I keep playing with it while I'm knitting it because it's so soft and flowy. :)

I did finish a pair of socks for my mom, and have decided that they're going to be for her birthday.  I ended up not being able to resist buying her this double oven mitt (and towel) set from TheGivingTree.  They have ducks and will soon have guinea hens, so I thought the frolicking birds were hilariously appropriate.  Well, maybe not hilarious but definitely a bit funny. :)

And to finish this essay off, here are mom's socks:

After taking last week to work on projects for my family, I'm back and really ready to knit for my shop.  I finished a pair of slippers for my husband, a pair of socks for me, have almost finished the lace for my grandmother, and have picked out colorways for both my mother and mother-in-law for birthday socks.  I'll probably start working on those later in the week.

Over the past two days, I've been working on things for my shop.  I knit a pair of Orange Tabi that I've had listed as made to order in my shop, and have almost finished another pair of Watermelon Tabi that I'll probably list tomorrow.  

I've also spent some time picking pictures out and editing them for color and contrast.  It seems like my monitor must be really bright (even though I've calibrated it), because I've had a few comments about my dark pictures.  Now that I've enhanced them a bit, I can see that they do look better, but I'm still a bit afraid that they're too blinding.

I'm also itching to buy more yarn!  I've been doing really well on knitting up my stash, but there's really nothing quite like new yarn to get creative juices flowing.  I did find out that I have three colors of alpaca (green, more blue, and black) on their way from my supplier.  I back ordered them a few months ago and completely forgot about it, so that'll be fun.  

I forgot to go over what I managed to accomplish last week, but I'll go ahead and do that now.

• I finished sewing up all of the sock sleeves I cut out.
• Finished my Simple Luxury Alpaca socks.
• Knit up a new pair of tabi.
• Worked on a new pair of cotton/wool tabi.
• Printed out a bunch of new sock bands.
• Started a lace piece for my grandma.
• Finished weaving in the ends of a bunch of pairs of socks!
  

This week, I'd like to:

• Finish up the cotton/wool tabi.
• Start a new pair of cashmere or yak blend socks.
• Finish up the lace piece for my lovely grandma.
• Work some more on my experiment.
• Possible take some more pictures, including some action shots.