A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

So here I am, returning with photos in hand.

I start with my NYAs...New Yarn Aquisitions. On my recent trip to Toronto and the lovely Lettuce Knit yarn shop, I purchased the following delightful specimens:

Koigu KPPPM


and Fleece Artist Merino


Yummy. I can't wait to start something with them, but I need to restrain myself for a while (have you SEEN my list of WIPs??).

Previously I had been at the shore with my family and visited a yarn shop I'd learned of called Sea Needles in Bethany Beach, Delaware. Cute little shop, though only about half of it was about yarn, the rest involved beads (we like beads though), cross stitch, embroidery, etc. There I purchased some...

Sockotta


and some Regia


And now for some WIP shots. I have a lot of things going right now, but I am really enjoying working on all of them. So much so that I almost don't want any of them to end...which is silly, really, since all I'd have to do is get more yarn and cast on again. Duh. But anyway.

Here is the Fibertrends Fuchsia Lace Scarf I am making, in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Very lovely soft yarn that is so far excellent for showing the fancy stitches. I hope it blocks well though when done, since it's hard to see the stitches all scrunched up. Here it is as I stretch it out a bit:



This has been a really fun thing to knit, I am enjoying it immensely. One of my favorite features on it is the "scalloped" edges. I think it adds such a nice touch and feeling of being finished along the edges. Oh, and I am making the "Trailing Lace" version (there are two in the pattern). I would very much recommend this pattern as it was very well-written and a very high attention to detail.

Another of my favorite current projects is the Feathery Lace Stole from Exquisite Little Knits. (I love this book.) I am making my wrap in Kidsilk Spray, the variegated cousin of Kidsilk Haze. I love the color, such a rich pinkish/red. Should be great for holidaytime wear. Here are a couple of WIP shots:





I got quite a bit of it done on my trip recently. A really great travel project.

One day a while ago while wandering through JoAnn's I happened upon some extremely soft, pale blue yarn that has beads in it. I thought it would make a wonderful soft scarf for a black winter coat. I decided to get some other pale blue yarn to go with it and ended up with a few balls of these two yarns:



I recently just randomly decided to cast on for this, since I'd come up with an idea of what to make. I am working K2P2 rib, and alternating the two yarns every two rows. I think it makes a neat effect, especially since the two colors are almost identical but not quite...here's my WIP:



So far I love it, it'll definitely be a cuddly soft scarf. It's not that wide so I will make it pretty long for extra wraps. I then want to make some coordinating mittens out of the wool yarn, with a little of the super-soft novelty stuff with beads on the cuffs. I think it'll be a fun set!

Guess that's it for now...see sidebar for other WIP pix not interesting enough to mention here...!

Knitting Knews

Long time no blog. Well, I do have knitting updates, though no photos at the moment. Let's see...where to begin? I'll start with this past weekend.

I spent a lovely weekend in Toronto visiting a good friend. She showed me all over the city, mostly normal, every-day stuff. Took the TTC all over, walked a lot, and ate yummy foods I don't know where to get here...my favorite meal was Ethiopian. YUM! They bring the meal all on one giant platter on a large round, flat, spongy bread stuff which you rip up and eat everything with, all with your fingers. We had a beef dish called Tibs and a veggie medley dish that mostly had variations on lentils and such. All very delicious. Then after dinner we had some lovely coffee that had a hint of cardamom and when it was served they also brought some burning incense, which was frankincense. It smelled so nice, and made for such a lovely atmosphere.

We did do one tourist thing, which was go to Casa Loma. Very cool place. I guess a bunch of movies (or parts of them) have been filmed there...one of note to me was the school scenes in X-men. They filmed in the really cool hallways that are lined with beautiful dark wood. Very cool. Upon arriving there (after hiking up well over 100 steps to get there) my friend immediately showed me her favorite feature of the house: a secret passageway leading from Sir Henry Pellatt's study directly down to his wine cellar. Hee. Brilliant.

While in Toronto, my friend graciously took me to find Lettuce Knit. I have read about it on blogs and seen the website, so I wanted to go there. Very cute little shop. I wandered a bit in there before deciding on two skeins of Koigu KPPPM and one of Fleece Artist Merino for socks. I thought it was appropriate to get some Canadian wool while I was there. Fun stuff! I'll put some photos up soon. We went to Lettuce Knit early in the morning and then proceeded to wander about the city for the rest of the day. As it was raining, I was glad to have received a plastic bag with my yarn purchase. Even though I had to carry it around all day, to make it less of a hassle (not that I really complained about having to carry around a little yarn!) I knotted the bag to keep it dry and then was able to slip the handles over my wrist and it stayed put and stayed dry very nicely! The best part was I got to admire my yarn for the whole day since the bag was clear. :)

For knitting on this trip I took my Feathery Lace wrap, which was ideal because it is so compact. I am still near the beginning so I only needed to bring the one ball, and I stuffed the ball of yarn and knitting and needles into a quart-sized ziploc baggie, squeezed the air out and sealed it up, and voila! Compact knitting for travel. It kept me very amused while waiting forever in the airport (no, my flight was not delayed, it was just me getting there super early) and I actually made some significant progress on it both on my flight up and on the return as well. Such a fun pattern, easy to memorize, so very travelable. I highly recommend it.

I finally could resist temptation no longer...last night I wound all of the skeins for my lovely and decadent Colinette Absolutely Fabulous Throw kit. Yum. Lovely yarns. Mine is in the colorway "Wineberry" and it will look really nice draped on the back of the sofa, which is a light, neutral color. Maddie Cat was kneading my yarn where it sat waiting to be wound. I let her do it though since I figured she's just going to knead the finished product anyway. So what's the problem of a little gray fur in it now? I then cast on for that (I only got 140 of the 144 stitches because my long-tail cast-on ran out of yarn, but no matter as I am just doing the simple rows of knit and purl combinations) and completed about 6 rows. I am into the second color. I know it's simple knitting but it will be great to keep by the sofa for TV knitting and as it gets colder and this gets longer, it will be so nice to snuggle under and knit.

I guess that's it for now. I need to get my camera out and post some yarn pix.