Yarn, Yarn, and More Yarn

I need to post tonight so I'll have two posts this month!

Although I am knitting along on my second Entangled Stitches glove and Pei cowl, my yarn stash is, as usual, growing faster than my FOs!

About a week and a half ago, I saw (on Ravelry) the prototype for Boo Knits' Fragile Hearts, and knew that, not only did I need to knit it, but that I needed to knit it in the same yarn -- DyeForYarn's Tussah Silk Lace.  This yarn is made in Germany and until recently was sold only through their Etsy shop.  (Just last week, they opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Furth, Germany.   Weirdly enough, when I lived in Germany 30 years ago, it was near Furth -- our "big PX" was there!)

Anyway, I ordered a skein from their Etsy shop, and it came all the way from Germany in just 8 days!  I don't think I've ever knitted with 100% silk before.  Hopefully, I'll start this soon.  So pretty!

It's actually a little pinker than this....

Then, last Saturday, I made a quick trip from Mom's (where I spent Thanksgiving) to Champaign to have lunch with my cousin.  I could go there without hitting Needleworks, where I left with three skeins of worsted weight yarn.  I never buy worsted weight unless I have a specific purpose -- I don't know what came over me!

Two skeins of Berroco Lustra, a wool/tencel combination, in a color that's kind of red and a little orange that they call Capucine.  Maybe it's coral.  Maybe someday I'll get a better picture...

One skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Candy Floss Mix, which I think is a fantastic color name!  The color is sort of a darker, pinker version of the LOFT yarn I'm using for my Pei.  I'm hoping one skein is enough for some sort of hat -- they only had one skein of this color left.

I'll try to post sooner next time and with better pictures.  I just hate trying to take pictures in the winter dark...

Well, hello there!

If I have any followers left -- I had a very busy October and am just now recovering from it!

Mostly, it was "work busy," since I was at two conferences.  There was knitting at both, but the second, in Baton Rouge, was best, at least in part because I got to see Steven!

I was working on a sock while I was there -- the Lenore socks I talked about in my last, long-ago post.  I worried that they might be too small, remember?  After I turned the heel on the first one, I decided to slip it on to see how it fit -- and it was huge!

Can you see?  They're practically baggy -- and they actually are baggy around the foot!  Steven admitted that when he saw them, before the heel turn even, that he thought they looked awfully big...

I love this pattern, but I'm thinking the I'm going to frog this and make something simpler -- ribs, maybe, with an eye of partridge heel....

I've also been working on the Sugared Violets shawl.  I have to admit that the sparkles make this yarn a little scratchy  But -- still very cute!  And not as eye-searingly bright as it might appear here....

My third currently-active project is (are?) my Entangled Stitches gloves.  I'm working on the index finger of the right glove right now, but what you see here is just the back of the hand.  There's a mis-crossed cable there, but we won't talk about that.

I am suddenly very take with several of Jared Flood's designs, so I ordered several skeins of his new LOFT yarn, from which I plan to make the Carlisle mittens and the Pei cowl.  I ordered three colors:  Postcard, Homemade Jam, and Stormcloud (top to bottom):

There's another skein of Postcard (a gorgeous pale grey with flecks of pink hidden in it), which Alice had some fun with in the few minutes between when I dropped in and when I realized it was gone.

I think it will be fine.  I hope so, since I plan to use one skein for Pei, and the other, with Homemade Jam, for the mittens.  I'm not sure what the Stormcloud will be -- when I ordered it, I thought I might use it for the mittens (with Postcard), but I think Homemade Jam is a better choice.

High on my queue is also Jared's Juneberry Triangle, which I plan on making from Madeline Tosh Vintage in Amber Trinket, which is an absolutely lovely color -- a mix of reds and ambers and bronzes, and a little darker than my picture.

However, I really need to get to working on the sweater I promised my niece for her miniature chihuahua, Thor, who, at 4 pounds, is half the size of the smallest cat I've ever had! Yes, a dog sweater.....