I don’t know how I’ve failed to mention this before, but I’m on Twitter as @cassinator. Feel free to add me!

Yikes. It looks kinda excessive all piled up like this, but I have big plans for all this yarn! I made a 2010 commitment to myself to make something nice for myself this year, and that starts with the Blue Sky Alpacas Lacy Wrap Sweater for my spring break trip to San Francisco in March.

I figure San Francisco weather in early March will be kinda chilly, and what’s better to combat chilly than with a cute wrap sweater in Malabrigo worsted? This is the first big garment I’ve ever made for myself so I’m really hoping I don’t screw it up too bad. I decided to go with Malabrigo worsted in light blue (Stone Blue 99) because a.) Malabrigo worsted is probably my favorite wool yarn in the whole world, and b.) I LOVE light blue. I’m a rather curvaceous gal and quite short to boot which means this sweater will be challenging, but I have faith in my skills. I’m looking forward to the lace as I’ve not done any patterned lace in a really long time.

The other yarns are Lion Brand and Patons yarn bought with a gift card to Michaels. I plan to use all of these yarns to make items for my shop. I decided this morning that I want to get serious about making a few standard items to sell. I played around with my shop for the past two years and I want to give it a real go this Spring to see if I can make this a part of my life.

I picked up some of Lion Brand’s Nature’s Choice Organic Cotton yarn in ‘Pecan,’ ‘Strawberry,’ and ‘Pistachio.’ I’m really looking forward to using this as it appears and feels to be very similar to Cascade’s Luna line. I usually don’t like a loose ‘boucle’ spun yarn, but I guess there’s something about this style in cotton that works well. I like the colors I got in Organic Cotton, but I hope Lion Brand expands the line because with the quite comparable price of Luna online, I may just stick with Cascade in the future. But I’ll give Organic Cotton a chance before I start professing any brand loyalty.

Ah, what a beautiful day it’s been in Atlanta. It’s so nice to come to the evening and finish the day with lots of winding to do!

Just a little round-up of fun links I found today.

+ Simple crochet circle garland from Quilt While You’re Ahead: I feel confident enough in my crochet skills to try this and use up some of my scrap yarn.

+ Totoro mittens!: Available as a free download on Ravelry (link goes to Ravelry page).

+ Zora cardigan on Knitty.com: Perfect for a Spring Break trip to San Francisco in early March.

+ “Knit Rodeo” cards by LocalGringos on Etsy: The cowgirl kinda looks like Patsy Cline.

And if you’re able to give, please consider donating to the International Red Cross to help Haiti. The Yarn Harlot posted the “Knit-Signal” and I am, too. If you knit (or crochet), please consider posting the Knit-Signal and encourage other knitters to donate. As a grad student I can’t offer much, but the minimum donation on this site is $25, but I figure: a.) I’ll have a roof over my head tonight. 2.) I’ll have clean, running water today. 3.) I can forgo groceries or eating out tonight with the assurance that I’ll be able to get food tomorrow.  4.) I won’t NEED $25 today.

Even for me, $25 isn’t an amount of money I throw around lightly. There are other sties where the minimum donating is $15 or $10. I just hope that you are able to do something to help.  And please, pass on the Knit Signal. Correction: You CAN donate a minimum of $15 at the icrc.org website- just enter 15 in the “different amount” box.

It’s a beautiful day here in Atlanta, and I’m all the more thankful for it! I hope things are well where you are.

Oh what a tricky winter it’s been! Around Thanksgiving I mentioned that my grandmother (my only living grandparent since my other grandmother passed away over ten years ago) had a massive stroke. On Christmas Day I flew to St. Louis & waited 8 hours for a little propeller plane to take me to the Marion, Illinois airport to see my grandmother, uncle, and my parents who’d driven up from Atlanta. I sat waiting for this tiny plane all day without food because the airline told us a plane could be ready at any moment and we were so far away from the main terminal that I was too scared to leave. By the time I made it to Marion I was hungry, tired, and seriously grouchy. We visited my grandmother in her nursing home, but she was really out of it. In the morning she’d had pancakes with my dad, was talking to people, and generally doing very well. As the day wore on, she started drifting in out of consciousness and finally my mom decided to have my grandmother admitted to the ER. The next morning I learned she’d had another stroke. My mom and uncle were exhausted from staying up in the ICU with her so my brother and I took turns all weekend in her hospital room and amazingly she was able to talk for awhile, knew who we were, and wanted to listen to music. It was such a miracle that she had the ability to speak and read- she kept reading the calendar and white board on the wall with the nurses’ names. At the end of my short visit, my grandmother was trying to drink from a straw and was sitting up in a chair again. It was amazing!

I hate to put all of my personal issues out there on this blog, but I haven’t been able to think about much besides my family and work over my break from school. I made an attempt to take a few days to relax (all this snow & ice in Atlanta helped- we couldn’t leave the house for two days!), but I found myself working more in my three week break than I did over the semester.

I want to post more in 2010. I decided not to make any resolutions this year about blogging or knitting (I don’t want to be disappointed!), but I have already started to make a conscious effort to put out more positive energy into the world. I plan to knit more this year and try more service projects that involve knitting.

All this to say- I’m here! I’m breathing! Despite being snowed in all weekend, I’m feeling great and ready to work hard at school and my life in 2010!

Soaring above the clouds in the tiny Cessna between St. Louis & Marion. Exhilarating!

Our tiny two-prop plane.

My seat was directly behind the pilot’s seat- I could’ve reached up and flown the plane! (But I don’t think our pilot would’ve appreciated that.)