A Public Service Announcement

If you are in the market for a luxury yarn --- particularly cashmere or a cashmere blend --- then I HIGHLY recommend ColourMart.

They have truly beautiful yarns in nice, lovely, natural, workable colors for extraordinary prices. I just got 420 yards of light worsted cashmere for $36, shipping included. Colorway is called "dust." The best way to describe the color is that it's a light gray beige.



It's even nicer in person. I plan on using it as the main color to make the Folk Art Scarf. Link is to free Ravelry pattern.


Now I'm being tempted by a luscious plum-colored aran cashmere...$32 for 330 yards, shipped.

Commence sitting on hands in 5...4...3....

Oh Yeah...KNITTING

So despite the lack of photographic proof on this blog that would indicate such, I have been knitting --- a lot, actually!

First of all, I finished my Steam scarf! WOO! I had started this back in January. A knitting friend of mine (Elizabeth) found the pattern online and shared it with me and my other knitting buddies. It looks great on paper. But, when you see it knit-up in person. WOW. It just is amazing to see in the flesh (or in the yarn?). What I like best about this pattern is that it's ALL cables. It's total cable-on-cable-on-cable action! A menage a trois...but with cables. There's no space between them. That's part of what I don't like about cable, that weird, flat area between the cables. I think too much, I know.

Anyway, to knit it, I used this absolutely luxurious but affordable (for reals!) 100% cashmere yarn that I got from Cashmeres by Kate (an ebay store) in an ivory/cream color. I just cannot say enough about this yarn except GO GET SOME. It feels gorgeous and has an incredible luster. It seems to glow from within. Here's a couple of photos:




Now I am trying to find the perfect hat pattern to match. I might try to go out on a limb and create a pattern based on the Steam pattern for a hat. A lot of work, but it might be worth it!

Also, I have just finished a Simon Tam (yes, that's the name of the pattern--it rocketh!) to give as my "hat donation" for Knitter's Day Out (KDO). What's Knitter's Day Out? You can read all about it here. So it's this weekend. And I am really looking forward to it! It turned out really nicely, despite using crazy-ass yarn that I hated (Wool in the Woods Pizazz). Here are a few pictures:



It might look a little small on me, but that's ok because I think the hats are meant for kids anyway.

I like the pattern so much, I bought lots of more-suitable yarn to make a bunch of these to give as gifts for Christmas. They knit up really quickly!

Now I am knitting up a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. This is one of those things that you always mean to do and want to do, but you just never get to budget the time for it, and then suddenly it's too late you feel all bad for having pushed it onto the back burner of your life, you know? Yeah. So I buckled down and got this awesome yarn and cast on the other night. I am using Rowan Plaid yarn in the Hearty colorway, which I got UBER CHEAP at Smiley's. I think it was $2.99 a ball! It's a very nice yarn to knit with.

The pattern I chose is one that I actually printed out like 4 years ago when I had just learned to knit. Simple, yet visually interesting. It's a quick knit and it looks really nice with the Rowan Plaid yarn.

What else? I am knitting a Dream Swatch Head Wrap. I'm using the bamboo yarn that my Dishcloth Pal gave me from the last go-round! Lovely stuff to work with. So soft and smooth! I'll try to get a picture of this in-production too. Oh, and I cast on another pair of socks. This time, I am trying it cuff down. The first two pairs that I knit were toe-up. So far, I like the toe-up process better, but we shall see when the time comes to turn that heel....

Um, Yeah, Knitting?

I figured it high time I put some photos on here of some recent knitting that I've done. For one thing, I mentioned that I finished the socks, my first pair ever. Here they are:

Overall I am happy with how they turned out. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but they are WAY too big for me and I imagine that they'd be big for most average women's feet. So I gave them to my dad! I think he really liked them.

While I was in North Carolina in December, I knit up a 45" long by 7" wide strip---just plain old garter knit---for a charity blanket project that someone in our knitting group (Elizabeth) was kind enough to administer. Afghans for Afghans, I believe it's called. It was super nice to be able to just crank out this strip. Nothing fancy, just all wool, colorful yarn. I like the strip a lot! Would also make a funky scarf too:

This was knit with Patons Classic Merino in the Autumn Harvest colorway, I think. With Panda Woolbale in Grape as the purple parts.

While visiting Todd's family over Christmas in Illinois, I started my second pair of toe-up socks. I got pretty far before having to ask for help. (Pat, you are awesome.) So far, I have turned the heel on one sock and am ready to go up the leg. Well, actually, I DID start to go up the leg, but I picked this screwy pattern that was meant for straight knitting and it just didn't translate properly to knitting rounds. So I have to frog the rows on the leg---not many---and work in the new, improved pattern (again, Pat, you are awesome)! The second sock needs to have the heel turned. I need help, again, figuring that out. The wording in the pattern is a little confusing to me, so I like to have some reassurance before I dive in. Skinny yarn on tiny needles scares me a little, still. :-) Anyway here they are:


So far, so good. These are going MUCH faster and seem a lot easier. Only a few snafus. :-)

Then I decided that I wanted to make a luxurious scarf for ME. So I got some lovely cashmere yarn from a woman in New Hampshire who has an e-bay shop. Fantastic price and the cashmere quality is superb. This is the softest most decadent stuff I've ever touched. Anyway, her e-bay store is Cashmeres by Kate. I highly recommend her yarn. So I picked an aran weight cream-colored cashmere. I decided to use the Steam Scarf pattern, that my kitting friend, Elizabeth, found on the internet. Here's where it stands so far:



I guess I have about 15" done so far. I'm absolutely loving the pattern and loving this yarn IN this pattern. I recommend trying this pattern too!

So I've been busy! So busy that I haven't had time to take pictures and talk about all the stuff I've been doing!