Bags, Yarns and Shawls

Lots of pics today. First of all, take a look at my new knitting bag. It's made by a lovely lady on Etsy: Quiltville. Is this cute or what? 2 pockets on the outside, each with a little magnetic shap, pockets on the inside, and lightweight.



Here's a pic of my new lace yarn, a combo of alpaca and silk. It's still damp, but I couldn't wait to photograph it, so here it is. About 850+ yards, and so so soft! Pricey yarn, so I'll have to charge more than my usual $18. I'm thinking about $25/skein. I need to make a little profit so that I can buy more of the stuff. In case your monitor is off, the colors are sea green with a bit of turquoise tossed in. Very subtle, and should work exceptionally well with lace.



And here's the progress on my Laminaria shawl. I am loving knitting this; it's easy and unusual. This is the Kona fingering weight yarn. I think this will be one cuddly, delicious lacy shawl.




Price update on alpaca/silk yarn: $30/850+yard skein. I talked it over with my dyeing buddies on Ravelry, and the feeling was that $30 was the right amount to charge. So that's where I'm going. So far I only have the one skein dyed, but I'll let you know ahead of time before i etsy it.

Knittyvritti and Sharon - Thank you. I like the yarn too. I better like it because I'm the one dyeing it! The Laminaria shawls is just a lot of fun to knit. Try it out.

The Yarnarian Loves Yarns!

Laminaria is coming along quite nicely. I love the Estonian pattern, and there are no NUPPS! What's a nupp? Sigh. It sort of a bobble except it's a lace bobble, and I truly hate making them. They look wonderful, but they drive me crazy. But this cutie patootie of a shawl has no nupps.

I'm following a Raveler's advice and doing k3tog on one side and sssk on the other to balance it off. It seems to look fine to me, so I'll keep doing it. The Kona (have I told you that I love the Kona? How many times have I told you already?). That Kona is delicious and I think this shawl will be super snuggly and soft.

This skinny 2-ply yarn blooms as I knit with it. I'm using a #5 super sharp lace needle (thank you, BF), and it is just the sharpest #5 I've ever used. I'm a convert as of right now. Give me them thar lace needles.

Clearly I'm going to dye up these yarns and sell them; Everyone should try this yarn out. I told you that a lot of sock knitters don't like the yarn because of its skinnyness and splittyness, but it hasn't once split on me since I started this shawl. Maybe the answer is to use it for something else.

Are you getting tired of my Kona frenzy? OK, got it, I'll just show you a little picture and then I'll shut up about it. At least for today. Nasty smirk.



What else is going on: a pic of Festooned Frippery. It's longer on the foot than it looks, about an inch from the toe decrease.




And look what came in the mail today! Tess superwash laceweight yarn. The colored ones are for Sock Madness 2, even though I'm out of the running. The blanks are for me to dye up. I had forgotten that I ordered this, and here it arrived. Nice treat, no?




Hubbo and I are recovering from our colds. Isn't it amazing how a little cold can make you feel so punk! Well, you know, it could be much much worse. So we're done grousing about it. Which is a relief because we were carrying on as if this were the worst thing that could happen to a person. Enough histrionics!

I dyed this morning, so with a little bit of luck, and the skeins dry, you'll get more pics tomorrow.

Yarns and Odds

The Kona dried! It took about a day and a half to accomplish this but it really dried and now I've started on my Laminaria shawl. The yarn got loftier and softer, if that was possible, in the dyeing process. I think I'm going to love this yarn. I might even start selling it if I can bear to part with it. Here's the beginning of the shawl. You think I have a ways to go?



More knitting news: Here's the latest sock. It's beginning to look festooned. I love the word festooned. I may yet change the name of this pattern to Festooned Finery.





The diseased one and I seem to be on the mend. We sound like a chorus of hackers and sneezers. He hacks; I sneeze. We both blow our noses. Such cacophony.

Ibunny...- What are you knitting on deadline? We're all nosy.

Carolyn and Knittyvritti - I cough, I sneeze, I complain. Shawl is a bit longer now. just large enough to cover a couple of fingers. I'm always slow at lace.

Holly - Thank you!