Da Loot

So.  As so often happens in the case of ambitious plans colliding with reality, the Webs sale plan kind of came apart.  It wasn't the shopping ... astonishingly, I found everything on my list, and came home with nothing that wasn't on it.   I got there on time, I shopped on fast forward, I reluctantly accepted there would not be any time to browse the local fleece vendors and dyers in the parking lot, I was in the checkout line--which I had observed was very long--twenty minutes before I needed to leave.   The checkout line was not traveling in the same space-time continuum as the rest of the planet however.  I waited in line for over an hour.  

Had I not been on a schedule, it would have been fine- I stood in line, chatted with other knitters and worked on my sock.  But. The alert among you may remember that I only had an hour blocked for the whole visit.   I blew my deadline, made us all (my husband, I,  and the friend carpooling with us) late for our meetup with other friends to the grumpiness of everyone.  Late enough that I did actually consider apologetically dumping my basket in front of an employee and walking out empty-handed.  But after all the arrangements I had made to get there, I couldn't quite bring myself to do it.  If I ever go to one of these again, I'm going to have to drive myself--or carpool with knitters who also want to go to the sale.  On the plus side, I now have enough yarn that that possibility is a couple of years off.  At least.  

So, you ask--what did I get?  (I was really hoping you'd ask that question!)  First off, there was yarn for sweaters.  While I do have some sweater projects planned with yarn I already own, I also had sweaters that I wanted to knit for which I have no yarn. 

Berroco Pure Pima-  This is for my sister Kate, who has conceived a passion for a corset tank top.  It is probably going to be the next project up after the Celtic cable sweater as Kate is busy designing a brand new outfit to go with it.  (It's a bit darker and more saturated than it looks in this photo.)    I've got my fingers crossed- the pattern calls for worsted and this is DK, but the nominal gauge is a match, so I'm hoping I can make it work. 


Ella Rae Country Tweed- wool/acrylic with some alpaca and viscose.  This is bulky weight, and I'm picturing a nice plain heavy sweater out of it for my husband.  He frequently layers sweaters in the winter, so there's clearly room in his wardrobe for something warmer.

Rustic Wook DK (Queensland Collection) - I really couldn't believe it when I spotted this--it's exactly the colorway I was visualizing for a friend of mine.  She's very fair, so the flashes of gold in the yarn should go well with her hair.  Sweater pattern is yet to be determined but I have a few ideas. 

Plymouth Galway Paint- this is destined to be a plain sweater for me- a nice  comfortable sweater, probably a top-down raglan.   Casual enough to go with jeans, nice enough to wear to work on cold winter days. 

Valley Yarns Northfield-  This is a merino/alpaca/silk blend, and perfectly luscious.  I'd left one slot in my list as open, to accommodate finding a yarn I liked and coming up with a plan for it on the spot.  I looked at this and said, "Lace vest."  Something else to jazz up my moribund work wardrobe.


Sock yarn- I don't really need more sock yarn, but it's well-nigh irresistible for a project knitter- it comes with a project attached--socks!  So I allowed for up to three skeins on my shopping list and came home with only one.

Plymouth Encore- and this was what started the whole thing- my sad lack of worsted weight yarn, particularly worsted in dark and bright colors suitable for kid mittens.  While I will undoubtedly double up a lot of my current oversupply of sport weight for this purpose, knitting doubled yarn is a bit slower and fussier to work with.   I do like to have some nice basic colors on hand that I can just grab and go.  And this is a relatively inexpensive washable wool-acrylic blend.  I've used it before and like it a lot, so seeing on sale was one of the reasons I originally wanted to get to the Webs sale.

This more than restocks my stash-- my plan this year had been to try and knit down a bunch of the current yarn and here I am with more than I started the year with!   Clearly, my knititng output is going to heavily feature sweaters for the rest of this year (and probably part of next!).  This is going to be fun!

Ready

1.  I have a sock for the road.
 
Fortissima Socka Mexiko Cotton Stretch 
 
2. I have a list of project ideas, with estimated yardage needed.  

3. I have a budget.

4. I have a calculator, to ensure that I have the means of sticking to a budget.

5. I have reviewed my stash and reluctantly resolved to limit myself to only one or two skeins of sock yarn.  Or maybe three.

6. I  have arranged to be rescued picked up after 1 hour. 

7.  I think I am ready for the Webs tent sale.  

Wish me luck!

WIP-lash

It was another one of those weeks consumed with employment and employment-related activity like commuting.  I'm not entirely clear on the reason, but rain seems to double my commute time four days out of five...and it rained all five days this week.   At any rate, on the rare occasion I actually had a few minutes to pick up my knitting, I was usually too tired to remember what I was doing with it.  But this morning I managed to finish off a couple of WIPs that had been lying around, and I can show you the Celtic cable sweater, which has grown since its last appearance.  So.   There were mittens, of course- my go-to knitting when I need something requiring no thought.

This morning I finally found a minute to finish the swatch I was using to work out how to do closed cable loops, and then applied it to this hat.  When I started it, I thought it was going to be just cabled diamonds, but I didn't like the way it was coming out, and one of the brilliant and inventive crowd that populate the local knitting group suggested hearts, which I liked a good deal better.



And then of course the aforementioned sweater.  The collar is almost done (important since I wanted an exact length before I buy a zipper) and my next step, hopefully tomorrow, will be to cast on a sleeve.

Not the whole WIP roster- I've actually had the fine-gauge bamboo sweater out (stockinette has been about my speed, most of the time), and there's a baby blanket I want to get back to.  And I doodled a lot of quilt designs during meetings this week.   But this puts a couple more FOs on my list and into the random knitwear bag.   And I anticipate a few more working brain cells this week, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace...and cast on something new!  Because what better way is there to celebrate finishing things?

Wildwood

It has been a crazy week, but I did finish and block Wildwood.     I did not succeed in taking a picture of myself wearing it  (my few attempts were so bad that I immediately deleted them to ensure that no one else would ever see them), so you get to see it lying flat:


I blocked it to 10" in diameter, which wind up just the right size.  

The pattern was great fun, and a charming design.  I really like the way the leaves flow organically out from the center.  The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns Top Cat DK (Merino/Cashmere/Nylon) in Wheat Field, and was lovely and soft and a delight to knit.  Thank you, Valerie!