Dream Yarn... Dream Shawl

So, for Christmas my friend Ash gave me some AWESOME yarn.  I mean ridiculously awesome.  Qivuit sock yarn for both me and Dan, which I immediately placed on our dining room table and let sit for a few months while I decided what to do with it.

That's the best way for me to figure out what to do with yarn.  I just put it somewhere where I'll see it often, and every time I see it I think "Hmm... what should I do with this?" for a split second.  After doing this roughly thirty thousand times, I have an epiphany and suddenly discover the perfect project.

For this yarn, though, I didn't know what to make.  I didn't want to make socks - the yarn is just too soft, too nice... no, no way.  I thought about combining the two colors (red and sepia) to make a scarf.  But, no, the intent was something for me and something for Dan, so... I couldn't justify that in my head.

Finally, when I went to Kentucky, I took just the red yarn, wound in a cake.  I figured that this would finally give me the impetus to cast on some socks for myself.  BUT - when I looked for patterns, I had my epiphany.  No, I couldn't knit socks with this - I had to make a shawl.

What shawl? Well, there only seemed to be one option.  I have been eyeing the Haruni Shawl for a long time, and what better excuse to make it now!

So, I cast on for this shawl two weeks ago, and I'm already halfway done.

Maybe it's just a rebound project, while Dan's Rainbow socks sit forlorn in their little project bag, being surly.  Maybe I should work on them today...

(Also, sorry for the lack of photos! I thought I had taken some but it turns out that I never took one of the yarn when I first got it... Which is bad of me, I should have put it into my rav stash right away!)

WOW. These socks are... just... taking... FOREVER.

Does anyone want some yarn?  I think I want to burn this. 

The problem this time was that I cast on too many stitches.  I just couldn't recoup!

Maybe after a break these socks will behave... or maybe I just need the right pattern.  I'm starting to hate this yarn.  With a passion.  The color variations are so severe that normal stitch patterns don't show up, but so short that patterns that are made for varigated yarn aren't accented.  It's so horrible!

Magpie in Lexington, KY

So I travelled to a plant in Lexington to go to an awesome workshop on ergonomics.  It was really cool to see how each task is broken down and the motions are analyzed - and the Lexington area has got a lot to do and see (well, not for someone who has to sit in the hotel room and prop her leg up! :( )

The one place I made sure to check out was Magpie Yarn downtown.  It had a great selection of yarns (by color and size) and the woman there was so helpful.  Here's some pictures of the inside to get a feel of the ambience:

It makes me want to sit and knit all day. But, doesn't take much.

Anyway, I decided to buy some local Kentucky yarn - which, strangely enough, there isn't a lot of.  I got two skeins of Colors to Dye For, which are very squishy and beautiful.

This blue is for me, it's a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend sock yarn.  Cashmere socks.  I feel so rich!  I actually think I might make wristwarmers for these, or maybe another shawl... I broke my cardinal rule with this, which is not to buy yarn unless you have a plan for it... but it was in the spirit of tourism/supporting local business/Iwantitandit'snotlikewe'regoingtostarveifIbuythis.

I don't want to oogle over this light blue/blue/purple mix too much because I bought it for Alysia.  When I find pretty vegan yarn I like to get it for her because she can't work with animal fibers.  The colorway is "Panda" which is her fiance's pet name for her... right? Destiny!

Then this last yarn isn't Kentucky-made, but I was inspired by it.

A few weekends ago Dan and I went to a convention and he bought me a corset that was cream and this exact color yellow.  So, I can make a shawl with this that will match! At least, that's the dream.  My current pace of knitting probably makes that dream laughable, but whatever.  It's a silky smooth sock yarn from Knitted Wit, and the colorway is "Sunshine." I actually think I might design with this yarn, a first for me in like 6 months.  

Ugh, it's been six months since I finished Moby and I still don't have the pattern up :'(

Red Right Ankle

Okay, so it's my left ankle, but whatever. 

Saturday I fell on ice and twisted my ankle really bad.  One of the ligaments is torn.  The picture above was from last night - today the area is still swollen, though not as bad.  It is all yellow and there is a black spot blossoming in the center.

On top of that, I'm travelling for work.  So pain + homesickness + overwork = grumpy.

Thankfully it's not broken. My life would be so miserable right now if it was.

I have some happier, knitting-related posts coming up!

Finished! Flexible Flirtation Cowl

So, I finished this a while ago but I've been trying to take photos of it.  It's very comfy and fluffy, but... I don't look good in it.  But it's comfy! And actually, it wasn't that horrible to knit with, either.  I would work with this yarn again, maybe to make a fluffy stuffed monster.  It makes a great fabric.

Anyway, it's a flexible cowl because I knit it on larger needles, and the buttons fit through the stitches instead of any set button holes.  So you can button it any way you want.  I found four:

I guess if you wanted to add a fifth style you could twist it and make it a mobius cowl.  I'm sure there are more!

So, I packaged it up and will send it off when I get around to the post store... hopefully tomorrow.  I feel like I have had no time to myself lately.  It was very calming to sew up the package on my sewing machine.

Perfect Buttons

Dan and I went into JoAnn's the other day to get buttons for my cowl.  He told me "I have memorized where everything is in JoAnn's, because everytime we go you go looking for things... but really that's just an excuse to browse the store."

He caught me.

It still took me fifteen minutes to find the perfect buttons. He even helped me!

I'm a lucky person.

Christmas Yarn

I normally don't like it when people give me yarn.  It's usually not my style, or not enough to make a good project out of, or just uninspiring.  But over Christmas, my old art teacher RB gave me this bag:

It's got a ton of goodies! This multicolor mystery yarn:

A bag of this stuff:

A PILE of recycled Sari yarn that I spent the afternoon untangling last weekend.  It was so calming to do that, seriously. 

(Before pile)

(After cake)

And then there is this: "Flirtation."  

Normally, I would call this yarn "icky looking" but it's so soft and squishy.  I knit some of it up, and couldn't stop.  So I'm making an easy garter stitch cowl.  I have a plan and everything - the loops on the yarn are so big (because I'm working on US 13 needles) that small buttons can fit through them - so no buttonholes!  If I  put some buttons on the end, she'll be able to fasten the cowl in a few different ways.  

I'm really excited to make this!