As a yarn shop employee I knit lots of shop samples. We try to have a knitted item--not just a swatch--for everything in the store. The consistent problem for the staff is that we get so excited and start projects but we don't have the time to finish them. We rarely have a quiet moment in the shop to work on any of these projects. But two of mine now have deadlines so I brought them home to work on last night.
I'm teaching a "Socks on the Magic Loop" class. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and knit a shop sample sock for my class sample. The students normally use worsted weight yarn but yesterday I cast on for a Fleece Artist Basic Merino sock. The pattern is printed inside the label. We received an enormous box of the yarn in the last few weeks. The yarn is lovely to knit and the colors are really luscious (they're a bit blown out in this photo). I just need to knit another inch before next Saturday.
I'm also designing a felted teddy bear in Ecological Wool. All the shops participating in this year's LYS Tour will be creating a one skein pattern to give away during the event. I need to finish knitting this guy and write up the pattern by the first week of April which is shockingly soon.
I need to finish this guy up quickly to see how he felts. I'm fairly certain I'll have to knit a second version based on the felting.
Hugo is still hanging in there. His appetite is good (to a fault). He has energetic periods. But he also has difficulty breathing at times and periodic bleeding in his mouth from the lymphoma lesions. His original prognosis this fall was two to six months. He's stuck it out five months so far. The boys are hoping he makes it to his 11th birthday in July. Wes and I are not as hopeful.