yarn!

Well, the holiday weekend (US Memorial Day) is winding down. It’s been a glorious, gorgeous weekend. And I really don’t want to go into work this week – deadline central. Overtime is guaranteed, which means knitting time will be almost nil this week. However…OK, I have to confess. After this weekend, I really can’t begrudge the overtime.

It was the annual Great Lakes Fiber Show. And I may have gone a little overboard with the purchases!

From Knitting Notions:

(3) skeins of Classic Merino Lace, colorway Pacific (these were on sale as she’s discontinuing the colorway)

(1) skein Classic Merino Lace,  colorway Lilac. I believe this is destined for Crocus Pocus.

From Briar Rose Fibers:

(1) skein, 2500 yards, of Angel Face, an alpaca laceweight. I’m pretty sure this will be fall knitting, probably as the Aeolian Shawl.

(1) double skein (1000 yards) Sea Pearl, a wonderful merino-tencel blend. I’m currently thinking this might become a Trevi shawl, although I’m not 100% certain.

I have to just say, Chris’s (Briar Rose) yarns are absolutely lovely. I don’t think there was a single skein in her booth that wasn’t gorgeous. And she’s really nice, too. I can see why Anne has colaberated with Chris so often!

The final yarn purchase was my real splurge. I’ve been thinking for a while that it would be nice to have a natural-brown sweater or cardigan. So, when surrounded by all those yarns and all those temptations, I came across this handspun, I gave in.

According to the tag, it’s a 70% Border Leisceter, 15% silk, 15% alpaca blend. The seller was from Michigan, and doesn’t appear to have a web site. I don’t know enough about handspuns to know what the quality of the spinning is, but it’s pretty to look at. I got three skeins, which should be enough for a nice sweater. I’m not sure what yet. I do know that I’m not going anywhere near it until the cooler fall weather!

When I was photographing the new yarns, I realized that I’d never gotten around to catalouging any of the yarns I’ve bought pretty much since February. Again, from Briar Rose:

(1) skein Angel Face. It’s actually a deeper lavender/eggplant than the picture shows. I’m not sure what this will become.

From The Woolen Rabbit:

(1) 800 yard skein of Merino Laceweight, colorway Mama Mia. A very gorgeous blend of oranges. I’m still undecided what to do with this. (Yes, I am very guilty of buying yarns without a plan. Although, in this case, I had a plan, but changed my mind after the yarn arrived.)

And finally, (1) skein of Merino Laceweight, colorway Chocolate Chambard. This will become Iris.

In sum, I think that I have more than enough yarns to keep me busy for probably a couple years! I also had reached the point where yarns seemed to be spilling out everywhere, so I took some time this morning and sorted and shelved my yarns (and needles). I think everything’s now neatly in a home so I can knit without the dreaded cloud of a yarn mess hanging over me. Now if only I could decide which project to knit!

too many choices…

The knitting has been pretty unexciting around here lately. At least, to me that is. I think I’ve managed to find one of those black holes of knitting wherein no matter how many rows–or pattern repeats–one knits, the project doesn’t get any bigger. I’m not even working on a circular shawl, or a garter-stitch scarf!  Yet I keep pressing on, primarily, I think, because I know I need to finish it and so I tell myself “just two more rows and then you can work on something else,” by which point it’s too late to move to something else. Note: although the length of said knitting is not (apparently) growing, the length of each row is.

Of course, the other reason I keep working on this little miscreant is that I’m not sure what I’m doing next. That is, I’ve picked a pattern. I’ve picked the yarn. I just haven’t been able to decide on the needle size. You see my quandary. Ahem. This doesn’t even relate to my typical “gauge issues.” It’s lace. Rectangular lace. Gauge is almost an afterthought consideration here. I just couldn’t decide which swatch I liked the best.

It took me three weeks to decide that I really did like the middle one the best (and only after swatching a bit of the center pattern). I’m choosing to blame stress at work.

At any rate, I expect this to be my summer project. And possibly fall as well… The specs:

• Lerwick Lace Shawl (Sharon Miller, HeirloomKnitting.com)
• Cashmere/Silk blend, 2/48NM Cobweb Weight from Colourmart
• Size 000 US needle. (Really, it’s not as bad as it sounds. I’m used to teeny needles.)

I’m planning on (mostly) following the traditional option of  knit the edging first, then the borders, then the center. However, instead of all the sewing called for by the pattern, I intend to knit the center to the borders as I go. Another knitter on Ravelry used this plan, with lovely results. Now that I’ve finally decided on a needle size, I can’t wait to get started!

Which means, it’s probably about time for another project to pop up. After all, I haven’t had a good rash of startitis in quite a while. There are also many lovely yarns looking longingly at me, just waiting to be knit–some have even been assigned patterns, so danger is eminent. To compound matters, the Great Lakes Fiber Show is this weekend. I expect to do some damage…after all, Briar Rose Fibers and Knitting Notions will be there, and I bought more than enough from them both last year! (In fact, most of it is still sitting around. Although some has been used.) I’m hoping, however, to find some yarns for some of Susan Pandorf’s Gardern Variety Patterns, which are the latest addition to my growing pattern stash. I think I’m going to have quite more than enough to choose from to knit this summer!