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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Goodbye great yarn store in Oneonta! Hello Babette Blanket!

I've started the Babette Blanket, due to a windfall purchase of yarn in Oneonta.
27 skeins (2 skeins each of 13 colors, and 1 skein of a 14th - not sure if there was only 1 skein, or if I dropped one in all the excitement/waiting in line with my arms full of yarn until some kind person brought me a basket) of Ella Rae Silkience at 75% off. The yarn is 41% cotton, 39% modal, 12% silk, and 8% rayon. I loved the range of colors and the sheen that the fiber has. On further reflection, I'm not sure what kind of useful blanket cotton/modal/silk/rayon will make, but it will be pretty. I've so far made 10 of the 50 little two-round squares for the pattern. Many more squares to be made. Like quilting, it will be fun to combine the colors in different ways.
At this 75% off sale, I also purchased 9 skeins of Elsabeth Lavold Silky Wool in a charcoal gray,
And 8 skeins in 4 different colors of Ella Rae Kasbah. Those I don't have a real plan for (and if I'd bought more yarn that I just liked with no plan for it, I could have cleaned out half the store, and my checking account). A woman in line behind me suggested throw pillow covers, which was an excellent suggestion. I could make use of approx 520 yards of 4 different colors, and have something to adorn the living room.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Springtime


[Wow - coming by to check on the blog & there's a comment! Hi Marcia!]
It's been a lovely springtime. The grand family trip out to the Midwest went pretty well, lots & lots of driving, but the little guy did quite well.
On the crafting front, I finished off the trucks sweater, it fits & has been worn!

It might need to be a little longer if it's going to fit next year. If so, I have an ambitious plan: unravel one row above the ribbing, knit another couple of inches, then graft the new knitting onto the body of the sweater.


A last-minute project for the big Midwestern driving trip was the Bile bag (or for my Ravelry purposes the Put a Bird on It Bag). This involved learning double knitting, which is somewhat interesting. And somewhat tedious. The result is quite pleasing, but the process... I'm about half done, and should be able to stick it out.


Because starting things is the way to go, I also have started two more scarves, one involving learning another technique - brioche knitting. I had bought a book on brioche, and have had some lovely skeins of alpaca as a gift from my sister-in-law, in two colors. Two-color brioche makes a lovely corrugated effect, and seems like it will be an extremely soft & lofty scarf.


And, tonight I cast on for yet another project. Seems like a bit too many, but I found out today that one of my son's daycare teachers is leaving for a new job. Mindy's been really great, so a small scarf - a Drop Stitch Scarf in KnitPicks Imagination sock yarn (Mermaid Lagoon - blue & purple with a little green). Greatly helpful to have one project with a deadline - Mindy's last day is in a week and a half.