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...