MD Sheep & Wool Report

I've started a new project with some Rowan Summer Tweed I picked up 50% off at Maryland Sheep & Wool. It's the Cloud Bolero, and it's knitting up very fast!

I really like the color and texture of the Summer Tweed, although it's not the easiest to knit with. It sticks to the needles a bit.

I also picked up some Cashmerino Chunky 50% off:

and some Brooks Farms Solo:

I stopped into the Brooks Farms tent on my way out of the festival, and I spotted frecklegirl Jess, aka Mama Ravelry. I felt like I was a fan approaching a celebrity, but I had to say hello and thank her for creating Ravelry. I did have my camera, but I felt like a nerd asking for a picture, so I didn't. After seeing how much fun everyone had at MDS&W, I think I'll have to participate in the Ravelry events next year. It would be fun to meet everyone!

When I bought my yarn and found my group - Bill, my knitter friend Elizabeth and her husband and kids - they could not believe I had met Jess. Of course the husbands know about Ravelry, and even they thought it was totally cool!

Besides buying yarn, I've also added to my stash in the form of frogging. I had knit a sweater a few years ago using Colinette Skye. It's great yarn and beautifully dyed, but I just never wore it. I've got close to 1000 yards here and no idea what to do with it. For now, it's just going to sit on my Ravelry trade page!

PS. Leafy Lacy is finished and fabulous! FO post coming soon.

Settling in to 2008

Hi there! I'm finally back into the swing of things work-wise, house-wise and knit-wise, and I have lots to show you. I've been knitting away at Starsky, and have completed the seaming and am working on the collar now. Here's a pre-seaming progress shot:

It fits OK so far - the sleeves are a little snug, but I think some more blocking will relax it. Let's hope!
I've also put in a little more time on Gretel. I'm through the fitted section and am now into the regular/slouchy section. I think I'm going to make the slouchy version, since I should have enough yarn. I'm using this nice, fluffy alpaca I bought at a farm stand in October.

I also started a stash-busting, really easy top down raglan for my friend's baby. He's a big boy and has already outgrown a hat and booties I made him. This is a 1-2 year old size and should be plenty big for a while (he's only 9 weeks old!)

I'm using some leftover Knit Picks Swish Superwash and just making up stripes as I go.

There's also been some stash enhancement . . .
First, I won a skein of Sundara sock yarn in Lenten Rose from Lara over at Yarn It! Thanks, Lara!! Most of you know that I have never knit socks before, but this soft stuff might be enough to entice me to make some socks out of it. If not socks, it might become some nice gloves or a scarf.

I also succumbed to some Webs' closeouts. I bought several colors of Di Ve Zenith, which is on closeout for #3.99 a ball. It was rumored to be as soft and have similar consistency to Karabella Aurora 8. I have to say, it is really soft and does remind me of the Aurora. It's lighter and a little splitty, but I'm excited to try it out. I bought enough brown for a sweater and a few balls of the green, blue and orange to make some toys/baby items for friends.

And, last but not least, I bought 19 (yes, that's 2071 yards!) of Classic AL in Aged Wine (a nice, pure red) to make what will likely be my BIG BIG project of winter '08. But, I'll have to keep you in suspense about that until the next post.

That's alotta yarn!

Stitches East Report: Tweed Alert!

Saturday was my big trip to Stitches. I went with my friend Elizabeth (non-blogger) and we had a great time. We both felt that there weren't as many vendors as there were last year, but that might just be that we knew what to expect this year. I was well behaved. I purchased items that were on my list and a few surprises, too.

I was hoping that Webs would have their new tweed, Williamstown, with them so I could check out the colors and feel. Let me tell you, this is really soft tweed. It doesn't even feel tweedy. It has 25% acrylic in it, which is probably where the softness comes from. I bought a full bag of color #5, a nice classic red. No project in mind yet.

Next on my list was to find a ball or two of a 4 ply tweed. I am going to make EZ' s Seamless Hybrid for Bill in some discontinued Yorkshire Tweed 4 ply. Inspired by Brooklyn Tweed's version with the folded hem, I wanted to find a constrasting color. Webs had some of the new Scottish Tweed 4 ply, so I picked up 2 balls in a blue.

I don't like the new Scottish tweed as much as the old Yorkshire tweed. Maybe it knits up differently, but it seems scratchier and more felted than the soft Yorkshire tweed.

I also found some clearance Queensland Kathmandu Aran in a hunter green for a scarf for Bill. It was a tweedy kind of a day!

Also on the tweed front, I picked up some Rowanspun Aran in Husk from Jan over on Ravelry. I'm thinking this might become the increasingly popular Drops A-Shape Jacket.

Last but not least, to balance out all this tweediness, I succumbed to the temptation of the beautiful Tilli Tomas Disco Lights (again). I picked up 1 skein in natural. It's simple and stunning and will become a thin, reversible cabled scarf to add pizazz when I need it.

My general report on Stitches is good: there were lots of yarns to look at and touch, but ultimately I only ended up buying from Webs and the other vendor where I bought the Disco Lights. A lot of the vendors just didn't appeal to my personal style. Many featured knitted sweaters and garments with novelty yarns mixed in and boxier shapes. There's nothing wrong with any of this; it's just not my taste. When I peruse Ravelry and blogland, I often find more updated, stylish FOs from knitters. I just didn't see much of that represented at Stitches. But I had a great time!

Hello from the west coast

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately . . . Bill and I left for our vacation out west over a week ago, and we are coming up on our last day. In the past 9 days, we've seen Sedona, AZ, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Los Angeles, and now we are in San Diego. I will share some pictures and details in another post, but the knitting-related highlight of this trip was my visit (well, two visits) to Black Sheep Knittery in Hollywood. I had read in blogland that they were having a crazy sale, so I stopped by hoping it would still be going on. Well, here's what I have to figure out how to get into my suitcase:

Yarn all over the bed in our San Diego B&B.

I bought full bags (10 balls) of Rowan Cotton Glace in light blue, Rowan Handknit Cotton in shell pink, Rowan yorkshire 4 ply tweed (+5 extra balls) in hunter green and DB Baby Cashmerino in a dark lilac. I also got 7 balls of RYC Cashsoft DK in pink, 14 balls of DB Wool Cotton (9 in a dark blue, 5 in lavendar). So that's a total of 66 balls of yarn!! Perhaps that's symbolic of our couple of stops along historic Route 66 . . .

The full bags were a STEAL - 10 balls of Cotton Glace, 4 ply tweed, handknit cotton for $30?! Baby Cashmerino for $40??!

Anyway, just wanted to share that with you. For me, it was the best part of LA. See you back on the east coast with a non-knitting trip report!

Stash Additions

First, thank you for all the nice comments about my WIPS. They are coming along nicely, and I've been adding to the stash in preparation for my summer knits. In trying to stay away from my usual obsession with pink:

Cotton Fleece in Rue for a Rusted Root



Classic Elite Summer Set (a new cotton blend) in color 2146, Awning. For Cable Down Raglan from Spring IK.



Valley Yarns Longmeadow (cotton/microfiber) in Yellow for a Somewhat Cowl.



Kona Bay Cotton in Cream. For the Two-tone Shrug out of Fitted Knits. I want a basic neutral shrug, but obviously mine won't be two-tone.

Classic Silk in Paris Green. Not sure what this is for yet . . . maybe a Green Gable? Or maybe the summer Knitty or Interweave will have something for this yarn. I originally bought it hoping it would match the Tilli Tomas Exotica I'm using for Sahara, but they didn't match.

Speaking of Sahara:

Crappy photo, but hopefully a fabulous FO!

For the love of Ikea

I've been adding to my stash recently, with some new (but on sale) purchases:

Debbie Bliss Merino DK in lavendar, Filatura 501 in Papaya and Karabella Aurora 8 in Pink. I love pink, and when I saw this stuff on sale (like $5 a ball!) I had to buy it.

And, I started playing with it already:

Sorry for the darkness, but I'm not running upstairs where the lighting is better - I'm watching American Idol, people. But, I have to say - these men aren't too impressive.

Anyway, back to knitting . . . I think I want to make something along the lines of the cabled cardigan in Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits, which I got over the weekend. What a great book. I love it for the recipes she provides for top-down garments in different shapes and textures. So, that's something I'd like to start. But, I gotta knock out some of these WIPs first.

So . . . Ikea. Gotta love it. We went there on Friday to buy a corner TV stand for the GIANT television my husband bought (like 50" or something totally ridiculous). With my stash growing and organization/storage becoming more challenging in my house, I found this perfect little bookcase with some boxes for my yarn and knitting books. I think it's totally cute and totally practical. I even got a compliment from the hubby, who said, "Your knitting thing looks really nice. I like it." But, he also said, looking at the pile of yarn before it was organized into these boxes, "I think you're getting a little obsessive about the knitting." They just don't understand, do they?