Yarn dieters, don't worry

I am picking up the slack. No yarn shops should go out of business in the near future.

Since I don't have the lovely Blossom here to lend class to the operation, I am resorting to other measures. Yarn porn. Gratuitous, wanton, sizzling, Scandinavian dirty blond yarn porn.

First the neutrals:

Regia Silk, Misti Alpaca Chunky (love this), and Classic Elite Blithe (100% baby camel, this is ridiculously, unbelievably light and soft. )

The blues:

Purple Sisik, turquoise Koigu KPPPPPM, purplish Cascade Pastaza wool/llama

The reds:

Pink Koigu KPM, hot pink Lang Jawoll, Lornas Laces in Bittersweet, Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Ruby Red

Ok, so I am a little overboard. I knew it was a mistake to start knitting socks. The sock yarn multiplies so easily. By the way, this spectacular guy from the neutrals category reminds me of this character from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Except a little softer.

It's the crow's nest for you.

My lucky day

I won a contest! I never win anything. Marianne had a birthday contest on her blog and I was the lucky winner.

She sent me this gorgeous KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud lace weight in beautiful heathery blues and greens. My favorite color combination. It's called Tide Pool, so cool and pretty. It will make a lovely, lacy scarf. And she also sent beautiful stitch markers. The blues go perfectly with the yarn, I may have to knit one in, a la Amelia! Marianne also sent me several other sweet smelling and delicious treats.

Unfortunately those are no longer available for photographs...

But look how pretty this yarn is... So incredibly sweet of her.



Then, the very next day I won a ticket to an orchid show at a garden club raffle. I started to get a little bit full of myself and my luck, and thinking this might be a winning streak, I hurried out and bought a lottery ticket. Alas, the streak was not be.

Thank you Marianne! I am so excited about my new luxurious yarn. I think I want to make something like this. Or this.

"It's bad luck to talk about works in progress"

Yolanda, in The Dancer Upstairs (2002). I don't know if this is true only for dancers, but I am taking it to heart. So I won't talk about the fact that I am having to redo the right front of the Nellie cardigan. Or the fact that I fell one week behind on the Red Yellow Green sweater because I was unhappy with my ribbing and the size, and ripped it all out.

Instead, here are some summer projects which are not yet in progress. I have such a problem taking pictures of yarn! Finding the combination of the right light, and a good background is very hard for me. I therefore took my yarn out for a nature trip, and I tried not to flatten too many buttercups.

Blossom (she is the sweetest!) sent me this package of beautiful Berrocco Denim Silk yarn. I love the dark denim color, with small flecks of white and lighter blue. Indigo blue is so soothing. She even included a skein of Berroco Glace in light blue for trim. The yarn is very soft and I think it will be drapey. I want to make something to wear with a summer dress, maybe something like this:

Elspeth, Rowan Magazine 37

I might rethink the lace, but this the shape I am thinking of, a short sleeved, v-necked, cropped bolero style jacket. I ran this past Trinny and Susannah and they approve. The object is to draw focus away from the hips, and the arms, and my short neck... I will wear it with a simple dress; tan with a few scattered denim blue flowers...

Another project for the summer (don't worry, it's not even close to being hot here yet) is this cotton twisted yarn called Flash. It has three different colors twisted together, turquoise, lime, and lilac. This is going to be a tank top, but the style is not yet decided. I can't decide whether I want something cabled, to showcase the sheen of the mercerized cotton, or something very plain, to showcase the colors.

Then there is this fun cotton, Katia Jamaica in earth tones.



For someone who has never been into variegated yarn, this is quite radical. It looks really cool knitted up, and it might become a stockinette sleeveless top. I really like the styles in the Katia spring 2006 magazine, so maybe I will select something from that. I hope I will get to this one before summer is over, but the beautiful denim silk is definitely the highest priority.

Colors

Yesterday was a really productive day for the Birch shawl. I was spending hours installing some new software on my home computer, and instead of spending the down-time studying the book, a hefty tome on programming, I knitted. And knitted and knitted. It's looking like it might be finished in a couple of days!


A bonus for Birch: It's now multicolored. Well, sort of. I recklesslessly started it with only two balls of Kid Silk Haze, when I knew it needed three. On a trip to the yarn shop (a trip to the big city!) I found another from a different dye lot. The shade was so different that it was even obvious without seeing them next to each other. It looks like my first two balls are Oatmeal, and the third is Pearl. It's got a little bit of pearly pink to it. I was too impatient to shop for another, I mean, what are the odds that another dye lot would match any better... Doing one row at a time with each color is giving it a little more depth. I really like the effect!


I have a new sweater in the works. A sleeve is already done. No more subtle colors for me! This pattern is from the book Sweaters! by Tone Takle and Lise Kolstad. I LOVE this book. And I have always drooled over this sweater (pattern 1) which has green sleeves, yellow body, and red patterns all over. It's done in Rauma 3-tr Strikkegarn from Norway. The riot of colors is toned down a little by the brown edgings. I think it's great for brightening up a long, long winter, and I certainly feel very cheerful knitting with all these colors in my hands. This book is full of Norwegian sweaters in non-traditional colors, and it's been one of my favorites for a long time.