Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Further knit-wittery

Oh, baby, it's a sickness. And there's no cure.

I completed another scarf, Twilight Slubby Blue Leicester, chunky and soft. It is a bit stretchy so I might have to redo it, but for now, I like it. It went from this:

To this:

It was my birthday this week. (Never mind how old. Not important. I still have my own teeth and I can get around without a walker, okay?)

And Youngest is also back home on her Spring break.

What better way to celebrate both than by a visit to the local yarn shop.

Looky looky. These are silk blends, soft and lustrous, the colours so vibrant I can't help but fondle them even though the sign said no touching. I figured it was like the stop signs here in Quebec. Merely a suggestion for the majority of drivers. (I'm probably the only one in this province who actually stops at a stop sign. I've almost been rear-ended by drivers who assume I'm not actually going to stop.)

But before I dig in, I have to finish another couple of scarves I started. This one is in Easter colours (below) because Easter can be very cold here in the Great White North. Or it can be hot enough for shorts and sandals. We never know what we're going to get, so it's best to be prepared. I could always knit a bikini with the leftover yarn. (And use it for a dishcloth...)


And I've also got this one on the go (below) which is also baby alpaca, but two colours blended together because the darker green one was kind of meh on its own. If I'm being honest, I bought it because I liked the feel of the chunky baby alpaca.

(I have since learned not to buy yarn based solely on how it feels. One cannot be ambivalent about colour. That's like Yarn 101. But seriously, if you felt this stuff, you'd want to take it home and cuddle it all night too.)

I'm trying to decide if I like the two mixed together or not. They're both the colour of grass in the spring, but together they kind of remind me of grass clippings flying out of the side of our lawn mower. Thoughts?

Too bad you can't tell from this photo how unbelievably soft this is. Baby alpaca is so soft, it's like warm buttah. Seriously, you just want to rub your face in it. Or chunks of lobster. Mmm, lobster...(Eldest's beau surprised us with a box of live lobsters one year, which he'd had couriered to our house in Montreal all the way from Nova Scotia. I wanted to adopt him. Maybe I should just knit him a scarf.)

But my favourite of all time is this stuff. It's a fine-spun mixture of wool and silk, so soft and deliciously shiny, the colours so vibrant it practically radiates energy all on its own. It almost has a chain-link quality to it, and I'm looking forward to wearing it. But first I have to finish it. Actually, I have to unravel about half of it because there's a teensy hole and I fixed it incorrectly, so it's bugging me enough that I need to go back and redo it. Perfectionists should not be knitting. (I thought it was supposed to be soothing?) This colour in the photo is actually toned down, since reds are very hard to photograph properly. But it's actually a very bright orange, red and deep purple.

Then I bought this (below) so I can make a hat. I thought I should get out of my comfort zone and try something other than scarves. I'll let you know if I abandon it and go back. Youngest said she'll help me before she goes home. She doesn't want any more panicked emails or Skype-begging for knitting help.

Don't you love the mix of colours? I don't know how they dye them this way. Maybe I'll try that next. I've dyed fabric for quilts, but never yarn. Hmm. I hardly ever use my dining room. I could set up some buckets and dye in there. How hard could it be?

And these, below? These puppies are a silk, baby alpaca and cashmere mix. Oh, my. They are the softest of the bunch, like, newborn baby bum soft. I have no idea what to do with them. If all else fails, I can pin them to the sides of my head. Hey, it worked for Princess Leia.

Help me. I can't stop...

10 comments:

nightsmusic said...

Okay, I can see we now have a knitting fiend on our hands. Be careful or an intervention might be in order. Of course, I'd be nice and let you take Leia's hair...

:OD

Some of those colors are just gorgeous. You're giving me the itch to pick up my needles again. Thankfully, it's still just an itch.

Still.

Itching...

Lottery Girl said...

I am speechless...

K--I got my voice back now. Where do I begin? I love it all!!!

I clicked on the photos to enlarge, and I do love both of the greens together. The Easter scarf is awesome. And the silk... What can I say?

We need to make a vow, you and I, that we will NEVER shop together for yarn. I can just see it now:

Me: Of course, you should buy that, darling.

You: And you should treat yourself and buy this

Me: But I have so much yarn at home that I can't fit it all in the cabinet anymore. It's bahhhhing at me from most every corner.

You: But not every corner, right? Buy this silk for that one bare spot. You will not regret it!

Me: You're right as always, my dear.

A Novel Woman said...

Dealio.

Anonymous said...

You may want to check out the "Knitting on Impulse" blog. It's written by a woman from Whistler who dyes beautiful yarn. I love looking at her nature photos and the resultant yarn.
Beautiful pics here:
http://impulsivearts.typepad.com/knitting/yarn_for_sale/

Jayne said...

Phwoar, love those colours!
Next time have a look for bamboo yarn, it's incredibly soft and light and is very versatile :)
Yes, buy that silk/cashmere blend....yes, crochet is easy to do you should give it a go so then you *must* buy the baby alpaca in blues....crocheting a hat is dead simple, btw ;)

A Novel Woman said...

Oh, Lila, why, oh WHY did you do this to me?

Lottery Girl, go check out the Impulse Knitting blog Lila mentioned. I'm not going down alone...

Jayne, I went, I saw, I fondled the bamboo yarn. Oh, baby, it's incredibly soft and in a pinch, I could feed it to Giant Pandas.

Youngest keeps telling me hats are dead easy. I'm not a believer YET but I'm giving it a go.

NM, have you picked up the needles yet? You know you want to...

nightsmusic said...

grrrr...I did go in and pet the yarn, it's so sooooooooft...but no, I am resisting!

I am.

Really.

Really!!

*sigh*

Deniz Bevan said...

No, no, no, you can't do this to me!
How dare you buy gorgeous wools and silks and alpacas in such vibrant colours and then have the gall to post brilliant photos of them?
I have unfinished objects (UFOs)! I have barely-started projects! I have difficult patterns to attempt (kilt hose, anyone?)! I don't *need* more wool.
Well, maybe just some more alpaca... It's for my cat, you know. He loves the stuff. I've got photos...

(word verification: fibras
could have been fibres)

A Novel Woman said...

Deniz, I have UFOs going back to my quilting days, nay, my stained glass days...

As for the UFO yarn projects, I like to have several on the go so I can pick up whichever one calls to me that day. I have several books on the go, too.

Deniz Bevan said...

Oh yes - I can't remember the last time I didn't have anywhere from 2-10 books I'd started at the same time. Oh wait, yes I can - it was a few years ago, when I read the Outlander series for the first time. Didn't touch another book for weeks :-) And then I found the Forum, and the rest is history...