Last weekend I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Florida. It was wonderful to be warm and in the sun. Here’s one of my favorite sights, the shoreline along Vero Beach. These are my colors. The blue of the sky and the blue/green of the water next to the beautiful golden browns of the sand. Truly inspiring for my knitting and sewing color choices.

Another inspiring sight while at the beach, this large pile of shells. Thousands of them all together and the color variations are again a true inspiration for knitting projects. Can’t you just picture a scarf or sweater in this colorway. The greys, whites, beiges, and golden browns. Add a little blue and you’ve truly got a piece that will make you feel like a peaceful day at the beach.

And so, A baby sweater. This is the Plymouth Yarn Encore Baby Sweater in Sand and Surf Color #7516. Don’t the colors look very similar to my day at the beach. This is a super simple baby sweater. The yarn makes these stripes as you knit. Here’s the dilemma, I made the back first, love the stripe effect. Then I started the front. Of course, since there are less stitches the blocks of color would be different and I can’t tolerate stripes that don’t match at the seams (blame my sewing teacher in high school home ec). So, I have all that extra yarn at the side. Means, I’m going to be doing a lot of weaving in ends at the seam line but I think it’s worth it.

I also wanted an edge that would stand out just a little so I’m using a coordinating brown. I cast on in the solid brown and did the first row of the ribbing in the brown. I’m very happy with the result. When I’m ready to do the the neck and front band, I’m planning to cast on with the brown, work the rows in the sand and surf and then cast off with the brown. I’ll be sure to post a photo when I’m done. All that’s left is to find the perfect buttons.

I’m also working on several pinwheel washcloths with the both the euroflax linen and the cotton chenille that have been sitting in my stash and I’m busy designing more dress dishcloths. Still have a spring sweater to finish, all that’s left are the sleeves.

On the sewing side, I’m doing the hand sewing on my latest tote bag, have several more started, and have fabric waiting to be turned into aprons.

That’s quite a list for the spring although there’s plenty more that I haven’t mentioned.