This!

Phillies Opening Day! Yippeee! We're going all the way this year, baby!! Yay! I'm delusional but also optimistic!! [Okay, Gordon blew the win today, but it's a long season which will be full of uplifting Phillies wins!]
And this!

Pretty! In the back yard!
And if it's spring, it must mean it's time for Spring Cleaning and Organizing!!
Yes, I have made a momentus decision. I am going to go on a journey. A journey to a far-off place - a mysterious place - a place of despair and wonder. I am going to go on a Journey To The Center Of The Core Of The Stash. Either by giant titanium-bit drill or tiny miniaturized ship (I can't remember what movie I'm stealing from....) I am going to go to a place that hasn't seen the light of day in years. If I can gather up the intestinal fortitude I'm sure I will be rewarded by a great prize at the center of the core of the stash - nice yarn that I love that has survived numerous purges over the years.
I think Yarn Harlot did a riff on the nature of the stash in one of her books - comparing it to different sedimentary layers at the core of which was yarn that was beloved but that had been deemed too precious to ever knit up. That's what's happened to me. I have three or four sweaters' worth of yarn that I dearly love but can't bring myself to use. Ridiculous! Short-sighted! Silly!
Now granted, I work in a yarn store, so there's a never-ending supply of beautiful yarn and inspiring projects that cross my path every day. It's been easy to succumb to the let-me-start-a-new-project-now-let-me-wander-around-the-store-and-
pick-out-some-yarn impulse. And let me say, I am all for supporting your local yarn store, believe you me! But something's gotta give and my momentous decision is that I Am Going To Knit From My Stash. Non-knitters might find it rather interesting that this is so momentous a decision - to actually use yarn that I've accumulated - but you knitters out there know what I'm talking about.
Here's part of the reason why this is such an epic journey. My basement:

Tucked under the shelf and in various Rubbermaid containers is my core stash.

As you can see, most of those containers contain ephemera from my childhood home, which was sold last year. Organizing them is a project for another year. Anyway, I took the first plunge into the Core this weekend and unearthed a nice yarn, which I will tell you about tomorrow.
In other knitting news, I've been ploughing ahead with the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. This was a Knit-Along at The Tangled Web, and though I've been a big proponent of our Knit-Alongs, this one really convinced me how great a concept it is. This was one of the most challenging projects that we've picked and one of the most surprising. More people completed this project more quickly than any Knit-Along I can remember (and we've done a lot of them!). What's up with that?
And I have to say that there were many moments when I would have put it down and let it languish for a long time if I didn't keep seeing customers come in with their gorgeous finished sweaters. That said, I am on Row 17 (of 18) of the yoke cable, so the end is in sight!
Check out the madness!
