April Flowers

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers:
Of April, May, or June, and July flowers.
I sing of Maypoles, Hock-carts, wassails, wakes,
Of bridegrooms, brides, and of bridal cakes.
-Robbert Herrick

I'm loving April for so many reasons. An interesting, less-stressful work month. Check. Lovely San Diego in the spring. Check. Going home to see all my family and friends for an awesome wedding celebration next week. Check. Oh, and my husband is coming home today. Big check.

So, before he gets here and you all ignore all my projects and clamor to see him in his new sweater, let's check out my new projects for April.

First up, a nice travel project for that cross-country trek next week: The Lacy Kerchief from an old IK in Cotton Ease Candy Blue. I'm shamelessly copying Lynda's version here, since it came out so well.

And then there's the long-neglected yarn. April's Yarn of the Month is Anny Blatt Kanpur, which may very well be my oldest yarn in the stash. I got 6 skeins in the Sakonnet Purls sale shed for $2 ball way back before I could ever even consider knitting with silk. But I knew it was a gorgeous yarn in a gorgeous color, and that someday I'd find a use. Thanks to Ravelry and the ability to search by yarns, similar yarns, yarn weights, other projects, and really on any kind of whim you want, I found the project.
The Surplice Bodice Camisole from Knitting Lingerie Style. It's a quick knit - the above was the result of the ABC Family The Cutting Edge marathon - thanks to Sarah I learned that there's now a Cutting Edge 3. Because the 2nd wasn't bad enough? And then they had the heroine of #2 say in #3 that she had gotten divorced? Way to ruin a romantic comedy . . .

But I digress. Two thoughts on the actual knitting. Knitting Lingerie Style is really intriguing. When it first came out I thought it was a little odd, but the more I look at it the more patterns I find to like. A gal in my knitting group is knitting the Waist Cincher Top and it looks great.

Also, turns out that I'm completely paranoid about running out of yarn. This is probably related to some inherited traits, such as how my grandfather had saved every empty margarine container for years, and my mom stockpiles cans of soup like the next famine is coming. But one of the things that had kept me from using my lovely silk for so long is a fear I was going to run out of yarn. And now it's clear that I have so much I'll have to find another project for the leftovers. Any one else have this problem? I'm pretty sure it explains all those lots of 2-3 balls of yarn in my stash.

And, since we've digressed so much, let's check out the other great thing about April:
Three cheers for the Wee Tiny Sock Swap!