Hello Knitty

The Wool Peddler’s Shawl is moving along.

Yes, I use paper clips as stitch markers. I suppose if someone gave me some of the fancy schmancy ones I would use them, but until that happens I can’t justify spending any money on something I can accomplish by filching from my office. Kidding!

I will be so glad when this shawl is done. My last go-round was frogged at maybe 10 rows before the point I am now, so I feel like I’ve knit this twice. And it’s not an exciting enough pattern to warrant back-to-back projects. I’ve only got 40 rows left, which will probably take me another 2 days since there are close to 250 stitches in each row.

Andy had a big morning. He caught and ate his first fly.

If you are on a yarn diet, you should probably not view this entry.

As my current project is boring to photograph at this point, here’s some of my recent stash enhancement.

Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn in colorway Good Luck Jade. Aside from being a beautiful to look at, this yarn smells incredible. Clean, like soap, but also spicy. I have no idea what it is from, but I keep putting the yarn up to my nose and inhaling deeply.

Araucania Quellon in color #3. If you can’t tell from the picture, it is chenille, and I’ll be combining it with Knitpicks Suri Dream in Ocean Heather to make the Squiggle Shawl from Magknits.

These beauties will be made into another Shetland Triangle. They are Artisan Merino and Silk in Aztec Gold from Ball and Skein.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Pirates Booty. No idea what it will be made into yet, but my oh my is it pretty to look at.

Two more BMFA Sock that Rock Lightweight, this time in Tlingit and Count Cluckula. They will be turned into the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Sundara sock yarn in Green Tea. The color on Sundara’s site was much more sedated, but in person these skeins remind me of supercharged green tea. And that’s a good thing. Soon to be the the Tuscany Shawl from No Sheep for You.

And finally, a yarn by a small company I had never heard of, Doodlebirds. This is their sock yarn in Tiger Lilly. Tiger Lillies are my favorite flower, and I love orange, so when I saw this yarn I was a goner. It is so soft. I had planned to make it into a pair of socks, but I don’t think I can hide this yarn away on my feet.

Lately I’ve had a number of new people coming to my site, but no one is leaving comments. You should do that! I don’t bite. Hard.

I’ve started another Wool Peddler’s Shawl. It probably wouldn’t be my choice in projects at the moment, but since I had to frog my last go at it, it has been stuck in my mind. I know it wasn’t a personal failure. The yarn wasn’t right, and that’s all there was too it. Starting and not finishing projects drives me slightly nuts.

There’s really not much to see. Two-thirds of the project is garter stitch with some yarn-overs thrown in. But here are a few pictures anyways.

I’m using Garnstudio Silke-Tweed in colorway 24. Yes, another purple project.

I’m using size 4 Knitpicks interchangables, which are a work of art by themselves. If you look closely at the yarn, you can see slight tweedy flecks of white, red, and green.

About a month ago I came across a pair of socks made in Alina by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It was love at first sight. They were the most beautiful socks I had ever seen. The colors knocked me out. Immediately I went to the BM website, but as luck would have it, Alina is a discontinued color. Through some good old fashioned begging and pleading I managed to get my hands on a skein.

I could kick myself for not taking a picture of it before I wound it.

The pattern, Broadripple, is the same as the original pair, which you can see here. Before you think I’m super amazing-o, it’s the stitch pattern, which is fairly simple, that creates the wavy edge.

I am trying so hard to convince myself that I like sock knitting. It’s not working.

I know, I’ve been a very bad blogger. Last week I had planned to update, but on Tuesday I accidentally pulled half the stitches off my needles, and the next day I did a whole row completely wrong. Fixing over 200 stitches is not my idea of a good time, believe it or not, and I decided to put off a post until I finished the Shetland Triangle Shawl. Which was yesterday.

This morning the shawl was a shriveled mess.

This afternoon it might be my favorite finished object ever.

Hi, I’m terribly pale.

But at least I have a pretty shawl. Expect to see at least one more Shetland Triangle Shawl in the near future.

Swoon.

Work has been busy this week, so not a lot of knitting has gotten done. And what I have knit doesn’t make for the greatest of photographs.

This is the Shetland Triangle from the book Wrap Style. Unblocked it looks like a mess, but when it’s blocked it’s one of my favorite shawls ever. Hopefully it will be finished up this weekend.

I’m using Sundara sock yarn in colorway Black over Violet and size three bamboo needles. I almost don’t want to tell you about Sundara yarn, because I love it so much and I want it all to myself. Not that it’s any real secret. The color in the shawl picture is much more accurate. I think it might be the most beautiful yarn I’ve ever used. If I had to think up my dream color, this would be it.

Andy is feeling dramatic this morning.

It’s hard work being a kitty.