I have definitely learned the importance of the old knitting adage “Spend money to save money; buy more yarn.” I worked hard on my Marcelle Wrap over the weekend, even had to rip back 12 rows to fix a mistake I made in the lace. (That was over 5200 stitches. It was very sad.) But I made it back to that point and beyond, and I’m midway through the second repeat of the lace chart and it’s looking just LOVELY!

But do you see that tiny ball of green yarn? That’s all I have left, for nine more rows of green. Um, yeah, that’s not enough. You know what that means, don’t you? I had to go to KnitPicks and order more. And they’re having their summer sale, which means of course approximately 10 more ball of Palette ended up in my card. Who can resist such pretty colors at such awesome prices? Plus, I had to get free shipping, right? So, yeah, this project is on hold. Again. While I wait for more yarn.

What’s that? I should have checked gauge? Well, yeah, I probably should have. But I had to order the yarn before I could do that, didn’t I? So I should have just been smart and ordered an extra ball of each color to begin with. And I should have used the right size needle too. Instead of a 4mm, I’m using a size 4. (Not on purpose. Brain fart.) And my unblocked gauge was only 2 stitches off her blocked gauge, so I foolishly thought I was okay.

I was not.

Well, obviously I’m FINE. But I needed more yarn. So! This is back in timeout. I’ve been asked to do another test knit, which I think is awesome and super fun, but it also uses Palette so I ordered some in that same order and can’t start the test knit until it arrives. And I’m going to make the boy a hat, because in looking through his Amazon wish list I discovered (I almost hate to say it) a knit beanie. Clearly I can’t spend money to buy a hat I could make! Especially not when it’s a good excuse to buy more yarn! That yarn is also coming in my KnitPicks order.

So what to knit?? I needed something to keep my fingers busy! I made two cotton washcloths while at the family Father’s Day lunch, but last night I had a good chunk of knitting time. In my WIPs, I have:

• gray garter stitch scarf (OMG SO BORING WHAT WAS I THINKING)
• gradient seed stitch wrap (pretty colors but also pretty boring)
• bulky cotton blanket (bright colors, soft organic cotton, but a heavy blanket in 90 degrees?)
• crochet afghan for my mom (I’m not far enough along for it to be overly heavy or hot, but it just wasn’t calling my name)

Time to cast on a new project! Apparently in my yarn stash, it’s last in, first out: I picked three colors of the Ultra Pima I got recently and cast on for the Secret Beach Diagonal scarf. It’s a paid pattern, but you get the pattern for both the scarf and the cowl, so I figure it’s worth it.

This pleases me, and will definitely keep me knitting happily until my KnitPicks order arrives.

Now, finally, I would like to humbly ask for your opinion. I knit a little clutch, and my Knitting SIL felted it for me, and I think it needs a button closure. I don’t want to do an inside closure because it’s so small already and I want to maximize the useful space. So what do I use to go around the button to close it??

Oops, that wasn’t really “finally”, sorry. THIS is finally: my daughter is in the school Concert Choir this coming year and they’re planning a trip to Princeton. YAY! But also: time to fundraise, so I’m offering 25% off everything in my Etsy shop, even the sale items, so if you’re interested, take a peek at my shop HERE (this is probably more for my non-knitting readers) and if anything calls your name, use the code LOVEMUSIC25 for 25% off and free U.S. shipping!

Happy Monday, friends, and happy First Day of Summer!