yarn tootin'

Late 2008 Acquisitions

     It is already the 16th of January and so far, I haven't purchased a single skein of yarn this year.  My first day off of the new year was Wednesday and I spent some time in the yarn room looking at all of my pretties.  For 2009, I'm going to do my best to knit from my sizable stash.  Fortunately, I'm not having any sort of financial crisis in the bad economy (though considering my line of work, I'm bracing myself for the worst), it's just that I have a lot of yarn.  Yarn is good.  I love yarn, but I don't really need any more.  Bob got me a subscription to the 2009 Rockin' Sock Club for Christmas, so I will get a little fix every other month and there are still two more shipments of the Wollmeise Sock Club to go. 

     We'll see how long this lasts.  I have no plans to travel to any of my favorite yarn shopping destinations any time soon, so if I can just manage to stay out of the local yarn stores, I might be able to make a small dent in the stash (special note: this temporary ban on new yarn does not apply to gifts; if someone were to give me yarn, I would happily accept it).

     While traveling over the holidays I picked up a skein or two and I'm already knitting two of them. 

 
     That's a skein of Ella Rae Merino Lace that I got at Needlework Unlimited in Minneapolis (I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I love the colors), a wound up skein of Handmaiden Casbah from Cloverhill Yarn Shop just outside of Baltimore, and the Wollmeise on the right is from a Ravelry trade.  I traded the burgundy skein from the December Sock Club shipment for this which is more to my liking.  I also got a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock and two Addi Lace needles which I put to use immediately.

 

     The Noro (left) is a pattern I found on Ravelry called So Simple Silk Garden.  It is my purse/on the go knitting for the time being.   I'm also working on a Leyburn Sock (the bandwagon pattern du jour) with the Casbah.  I'm knitting the Leyburn top down instead of toe up, so I've had to make a few modifications.  It took me a couple of tries to get the stitch count right.  For my birdy bird legs, 60 stitches for the ribbing and 61 for the leg seem to be working out.  I started with 68/67 and that was just too big.  The Casbah is a dream to work with.  Don't tell the folks at BMFA, but it might be my new favorite.  It's dark and dreary here today, so the outdoor picture didn't come out very well.  The indoor picture is also crappy, but I think it shows the Leyburn pattern a little bit better.

 

     Now that it's sort of wintry outside, I've found myself wearing both of my Chevron Scarves a lot and call me crazy, but I'm itching to knit another one.  While I was upstairs admiring my yarn the other day, these two jumped out at me as a good match for a Chevron.   That's Backstabber and Walking on the Wild Tide, both in Silkie STR.  The other color combination I'm considering is Lenore and  Rockstar in Lightweight STR.  I think I'll end up going with the combination on the right because I'm not convinced that Silkie STR would make great socks.  Any thoughts?

   

Neck Warmers

     I've been busy traveling, celebrating holidays, and playing concerts while others celebrate, so it's been awhile since my last post with actual knitting content.  This doesn't mean that I haven't been knitting. Bob and I went to the Motherland for the Holiday and it was very cold.  I spend at least a few minutes watching the weather channel on most days so knew it was going to be cold before I left Big Texas.  Perhaps this is what inspired me to cast on for two different neck warmers.  Of course, it's 80 degrees in San Antonio today and there is absolutely no need for a neck warmer.  I'm waiting for a cold day, or better yet, an Arctic Blast to finish them.  The first is a Birthday Cowl...

     This is being knit with Malabrigo worsted and it's almost finished.  I haven't knit a stitch on it since before I left for the holiday, but this project accompanied me to Minnesota and Baltimore nonetheless.  I had big ideas about giving it to someone (no one in particular) as a gift, but it just didn't happen.  I think the other neck warmer got in the way.

     This is a Herringbone Neck Warmer and I'm knitting it in Dream In Color Classy in Pansy Go-lightly.  The color is more purple in real life, but either way, this is a great yarn.  After doing a little research on Ravelry, I found a link to this YouTube video which makes the herringbone stitch so much easier.  This is what the pattern tells you to do: K1, *sl1, k1, psso but knit through the back loop first * K1.  Does that make any sense?  I makes absolutely no sense to me, but sometimes I'm challenged with these things.  

     The YouTube video suggests the following alternative which produces the same result: K1, *sl1, k1, YO, psso* K1 and that seems so much easier to me.  This project, along with several installments of The News From Lake Woebegone podcast occupied me on the two flights to Minnesota.  I had vague plans of giving this as a gift too, but I clearly didn't finish it.  I now have a little more than 50 weeks to finish these babies for next Christmas.  I think I can manage that even if there is no Arctic Blast.