Last Wednesday was my birthday and the end of my 7-month yarn diet. I had a great birthday. I started the day with presents, then a run, then a delicious smoothie.

I love having smoothies for breakfast, especially when I'm all sweaty from running. I tried a different combination than we usually use, just frozen strawberries, frozen mango chunks, half a frozen banana, and about 1 cup each vanilla soymilk and 100% pomegranate juice. The vanilla and mango really add to the sweetness, and I swear this tasted just like a strawberry milkshake, only it was healthy. Probably a lot fewer calories, too.

After work on my birthday, Walker came to pick me up at work and we went down to Twisted for some birthday yarn. Walker asked about a colorway I had been craving, "Cloudy with a Chance" from Blue Moon, and they had it in Medium Weight Socks that Rock. I had to have that colorway since it's just like the name of the podcast, plus it's shades of gray, which I love.

I picked out a pattern for a very cute hipster scarf called Ananke (Ravelry link), designed by Shannon, and some Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna with which to make it. The yarn is a cashmere blend, so it should be a luscious scarf.

Finally, I picked out some Malabrigo that will most likely be knit into a gift. The color is great, deep shades of purple and green over black.

I can buy yarn now if I want, but even when I'm tempted, I stop myself: "When are you going to knit this?" I know it won't be anytime soon, so I can wait to buy yarn until I finish some other projects.

I haven't finished anything lately, which is frustrating. I knit all the time, but these big projects are just really big. I have made a lot of progress on the circular shawl, but the rows are now 574 stitches, so I can get maybe 2 rows done a day. The Kureyon blanket is coming together, but again those 300-stitch rows are a real pain, especially trying to pick up all those stitches evenly.

Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have something done and I can focus on working through the rest of the unfinished knitting.