It's fine. No reason to panic. 

I'm 40 today. Yesterday, I was in my 30s. Today, 40s. Feeling a little... cranky? Maybe just, ambivalent? Sleepy? Sedated? Hungry? I hope they still give you a free slice of cheesecake at Michaels off Main on your birthday.

However, enough of that, this is a Knitting Blog, not the Agony Aunt. And what is more knitterly and life-embracing than pictures of yarn? The Arimono Shawl/Sweatermaker Kits have had such a great response, we're going to try some single skein kits, in a fingering weight merino/silk.

Here are a few pics of Sweatermaker Yarns Marjorie, 50% merino, 50% silk, 350 meters/100 g. One skein of this will make a long skinny scarf or a smal shawl. It is wonderful to work with. And I have a gorgeous pile of it, with fantastic colors. More on Marjorie soon.

Cashmere. Camel down. Tussah silk. Blue faced Leicester. Glass beads. Just a few of the tools in the yarn artist's palette. And then there's the colour. Since 1986, Vancouver Island based Sweatermaker Yarns has been producing custom yarns, weaving and knitting designs. Judy Maclean, artisan and founder of Sweatermaker Yarns, pushes the potential of artisan yarn with dynamic color-play and exotic fibers.

And now you can find some of these gorgeous yarns right here on Tricksy Knitter.

You can now buy the patterns from Interweave knit.wear as individual downloads! Here's the link to the Crossed Jacket.

All that winter knitting is coming to fruition. Kind of like planting tulip bulbs (which I never do in time) and then forgetting about them. And then spring, and Oh yeah, I remember now. Ladysmith is out in Knit Magazine, May 2012. Where can you get this magazine? Well, the UK on stands... Online at yudu, but I don't know if it's available yet. 

The Ladysmith is a sweet little cardigan in Louisa Harding Ondine. Seamless, bottom-up, knit-in edging, raglan yoke, wrap front. I love wrap cardigans; they’re so versatile. I originally imagined this worn with a narrow, buckled, velvet belt. But made a matching yarn belt for the sample. You can wear it with a pin too.

If you saw our kitchen reno, you'll know I have a small obsession with this colour of green. Saturated, bright, with a touch of ochre to it. (I have since repainted that kitchen wall to a more soothing avocado green so you can't see it from space any more).

The new Paravel Wrap (which at different times was the Paravel Shawl, Paravel Scarf and Paravel Stole, but I liked the sound of Wrap best) is such a treat in CashLuxe fine. The yarn is a fingering weight, with a little nylon, so I suppose it's intended for socks. But I like trying out fingering weight on big needles (4.0mm) for a lightweight drape. And CashLuxe wet blocks beautifully.