This summer was like most - I plan on staying on top of everything, and then I really don't, and then I pick it all up again when school starts.  Fortunately, on my thirteenth year of this, I've gotten pretty familiar with the pattern and have basically surrendered.  

I've been selling a lot of DIY kits lately, and I was thinking about why.  I mean, aside from the obvious, that people want to make resin jewelry.  But - why, do people want to do it?  And I think it's the sense of possibility and fun. 

My Soldotna is finished!  This summer was a bit sporadic for knitting, but I did get some finished pieces off of the needles. I was particularly motivated for this one because I was using Farmer's Daughter Fibers, and wanted to enter it in their Local Yarn Store Knit Along.  Spoiler Alert: I didn't win the KAL contest at my LYS (Black Mountain Yarn Shop), but I did have a lot of fun making the sweater.

At some point this year I realized that everyone with a knitting needle or a crochet hook seemed to have spent the prior 6 months making shawls - except me.  I've made about 500 cowls, but no shawls.  I dunno why - just hadn't caught the bug.  Until now.  (Don't judge, peer pressure is powerful.)

Yep, it's here.  Every year I think I'm going to miraculously manage to be fully invested in summer and the farm and yoga and my business, and it's all going to go so smoothly and nothing will fall through the cracks, and I'm going to feel incredibly chill about the whole thing. 

And then, you know, reality arrives.

My Shifty Sweater is rolling along - body finished, time for the sleeves.  However, as I mentioned on Instagram last night, sleeves can be kind of anti-climactic.  And a pain in the ass to actually knit.  But eureka! Today a friend reminded me that I could get both sleeves started, and then knit them both at the same time on two needles (or magic loop, but I prefer two circular needles.) 

I read a post by Jen Hatmaker on Facebook yesterday, and I was 100% with her.  Yes!  Tell it! This time of year is kicking my ass!  Too many things come together at once, right? But school will end, and summer baseball will happen, and I will make a plan so that my business doesn't grind to a halt while I'm sitting at baseball fields for 15 of the 30 days of June (not really joking there), and I will not forget how to do yoga, and I will keep journaling and knitting and running, and I will figure out how to find a vegetable or two while we're on the baseball field dining plan.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to jump into Andrea Mowry's Shiftalong Hat knitalong for the Memorial Day weekend.  And while I might have ended up finishing on Tuesday morning, still... I finished!