No, your eyes are not deceiving you.  That really says 123 colors.  Four large boxes came late Tuesday just brimming with TML.  The new spring colors are included and more of those colors will be arriving soon.  Here’s a preview of Envy above and Cathedral below.  You can see them all here.  Hope you like them!

The pallets, what to do with the pallets?  Firewood came to mind, but no, I could put them to a more constructive use.  My husband loves to barbecue and always complains that he has no table to use for food or utensils.  Over the years, much of what we tried has been destroyed, eaten or wasn’t a good solution to begin with.  Remember the anonymous person who originally sent the link to pallet furniture, well it led me to this site and this table:

Isn’t it great?  I had a couple of modifications to make to it.  First it was way too large and the table top was made of salvaged boards, not pallet wood.  I wanted something much more rustic looking that didn’t require anything other than the pallets and legs.

To get to a smaller size, I cut one pallet in half.  At the time, I didn’t realize what a help this would be in constructing the table top.  Pallets are really difficult to take apart and much of the slats on top will split.  It was much easier to get half a slat off in good shape than to get a whole one.  I needed the additional slats to fill in the spaces between the existing slats on the pallet.  Because of the differences in the thickness of the slats, I planned to sand the table down to a uniform and level top.  I later changed my mind preferring all the irregularity and not wanting to expose fresh wood.  Part of the appeal for me was the dings, dents and dirt on the slats.  Initially I wasn’t going to plant the top, but another change in mind.  I built the planter box using both slats and 2x4s from another pallet.  The only other materials that didn’t originally come from the pallets were some screws/nails and the table legs.  I found some wrought iron legs at The Habitat Store for $5 for all four.  They were rusted and a perfect solution for an outdoor table.  Here is a picture of the table without plants or a protective finish.

On the lower right is Loki eating all the wood he can get his mouth on.  Needless to say he was very regular with all that cellulose!

A light sanding, a coat of Sikkens, a few plants and I am loving this table.

The only thing left to do is to add a few hooks to the front to hold BBQ tools.  And now, back to knitting.

P.S.  If you have been paying close attention, you might have realized that it didn’t take all the pallets on hand to make the table.  There were three pallets left which I unloaded on the person who originally sent me the link.  She is making her own table.  A sort of poetic justice with crafting in that I turned the tables on her!

A bit of background first.  About two years ago, we finished a bedroom in our basement for our then 14-year old son.  We were going to have a platform bed with storage built into the alcove that was formed as the room was constructed around the mechanicals on the unfinished side of the basement.  At the last minute we decided not to so that if we wanted to use the room for another purpose, we wouldn’t have a built in bed to contend with.  For the last two years, I have been looking to snag some kitchen cabinets or something to use for storage to build a freestanding platform bed.

Fast forward to two weeks ago when a certain anonymous person sent me a link to furniture built with pallets.  Yes, shipping pallets.  Looking at the link, I found a few different beds and thought I could easily make a platform for a single bed and put it on some industrial looking casters.  Okay, no storage, but a really neat solution.  A few phone calls and a day later I brought home about 4-5 different pallets.

The very next day, I was in The Habitat Store and saw these drawer units.

Unbelievable!  For two years I can’t find anything.  Now that I have been lugging pallets, they are really heavy, the perfect storage units fall into my lap.  Each 2-drawer unit is 4′ wide x 2′ deep and the drawers are 10′ high.  The only thing holding me back besides the pallets on my back porch, is the fact that I would need to cut one of the drawer units in half.  I didn’t know if it would survive the surgery.  After thinking about it overnight, I went back and bought two of the units.

After lots of measuring, I finally grabbed a hand saw and performed a drawer-ectomy.  To my surprise, the whole thing didn’t fall apart.  With a few of the frame pieces from the cut off part, I was able to strengthen up the single drawer unit.  The drawer fronts slipped out of their metal frame and I replaced them with the leftover laminate flooring that was originally used in that room.  A trip to Lowes to get the plywood top and about 12 screws later, voila – my son has a platform bed with tons of storage!

I know what you’re thinking, “Whatever happened to the fourth drawer?”  Fret not, it didn’t go to waste.  I added some casters to the bottom so it would slide on carpet and it now holds Malabrigo Finito in one of my yarn closets.  It’s giving it’s neighbor, a cardboard box, an inferiority complex.

At this point I thought the craft attack was over.  Dare I say it?  I thought I had put that baby to bed.  But wait, I still have those pallets…

Here is the current state. Body done, sleeve 1 in progress…

Here is the front looking naked without a button band…

And here is a great shot of the stitch pattern.

I really like this yarn. I’m using Debbie Bliss Fez which has camel in it. It’s sturdy and soft and I really could use this cardigan on a chilly day like today. It’s also very budget friendly so I can save my pennies for the Mad tosh special order that is due!

When cream seizes and amazingly becomes butter, the buttermilk separates from the solid butter.  This is not cultured buttermilk, but a cloudy and delicious sweet milk that resembles watery milk.  Apparently you can culture it to get tangy tasting buttermilk or use it as is.  It’s supposed to make very light and fluffy baked goods.  Even if you don’t eat much butter, bake or like milk, and I don’t, this was fun to do and a treat to see.  I really enjoyed it and will make it again – maybe for company.  Even better, I’ll do it after the company arrives!

If you decide to make your own butter, please leave a comment letting me know what you think.

I am working on a new shawl design and am really pleased with how it is turning out.  Honestly, that is not always the case.  Sometimes the yarn is great but the design doesn’t gel or vice versa.  Here I am loving both.  There are a couple of firsts here.  This is the first time I have done a top-down semicircular design and due to some extra edge increases, it could easily be blocked to accentuate the crescent shape.  The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in Solis and Ochre and it’s my first project/design with this yarn.  Mal Sock’s softness, color and drape are just great and I think these two colors work really well together.  I’m working it on size 6 needles which is a bit loose for this light fingering yarn.  There is no lace in this design, but this gauge will allow me to give it a hard block which is typically my preference for shawls.  This particular design has been trying to get out of my head and off the needles for a couple of months now.  There was one false start, but this one is the keeper.  Please let me know what you think!

Here is Anadiomena’s Honey out of Tosh DK in colorway Gilded. Seriously, I think this is so cute I might need to work up an adult size! And isn’t the color stunning?

Here is RamblingRose’s Garter Yoke Cardi out of Vintage in colorway Honorine.

This is Veera’s Hooray Cardigan made originally out of Tosh DK. This was favorited 3,640 times on Ravelry. Amazing.

Here is the Moonlight Sonata shawl by Knitbugval knitted in Pashmina colorway neon rose.

Pashmina is made up of 75% superwash merino wool, 15% silk and 10% cashmere. Yummy.

If you’re interested in taking advantage of the special order discount, go here.

Levenwick by Bethanyh out of madelinetosh Vintage. Her blog is www.prettylittlefiberco.com

Here is Mycupcake’s Striped Toddler Hoodie out of Tosh Merino Light in colors Floursack and Gilded. LOVE.

Can’t we all think of a toddler to knit for?

And one of my fave designers is Gudrun. I made Audrey in Unst and wear it all the time. Instead of making another exact replica, I thought I would put Soay on my list. This one is by arcticdreams and is made in Tosh Sport. I think it’s lovely.

Are you inspired? I sure am!

Here are two Faberge photos with the colorways in the description…

Tosh Merino Light in Colors Rose and Dustbowl

Tosh Merino Light in Lolita and Smokestack

This shawl comes in two sizes, shawl and kerchief, that takes less than 1 skein of each color. Click here to see the kit options.

And you might know Litchfield from Ravelry (44 projects)

Here is one by 52Stitches in colors Baltic, Dusk, and Celedon. GORGEOUS.

Here is Ms. Vicki’s Litchfield in Grasshopper, Wellwater, and Antler

I think that madelinetosh colors are so wonderful that you could basically put all the colorways into a hat and pick out three and they would look amazing. Here is the link for the Litchfield Shawl Kit.

What three colors would you use together?

The month of April is Madelinetosh Mania at Whitknits.com.  You can special order yarn in full bags, typically four skeins of one color, in any currently produced MT yarn at a savings of 20%.  If you prefer, you can special order individual skeins of TML, Vintage, Sock, DK and Pashmina at a savings of 10%.  All in-stock Tosh is 15% off and going fast, and there are some special order pattern kits also at 15% off.  There will be more kits and more information on them in a future post.  On May 1, I will place a large group order with Madelinetosh and, due to some advance planning, they should begin to dye it withint two weeks.  That means the typical wait time of 10-12 weeks will be cut down to a few weeks from the date I place the order.  I should be able to fill all orders before the end of May.  Please visit Whitknits.com for complete ordering information and email if you have any questions.  Thanks!