Monday, November 28, 2011

Stash Enhancement


Well, it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks.  We all have them now and then, and not a whole lot of knitting has been happening around here.  Not only that, but I haven't been posting or reading online, so blogging adventures have taken a real beating.

I'm back to normal now (whatever that means) and I thought I'd share my recent acquisition!  Beautiful yarn came via UPS over the weekend and after squishing it in my hands over and over again, I guarantee whatever this yarn becomes, I'll enjoy making it.  Let's see, there's some Fleece Artist, Shaefer, and two hanks of Lorna's Laces.  Can't wait!

Notice the tendency to lean toward pinky-rosy colors?  I just can't help myself, I suppose.  The colors in this posting are a bit deeper and richer in person, and I hope this comes through in future photos.  Thanks, SUNLIGHT, for not cooperating with me today.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Ball Winding.....gone wild!


Being a long-time-knitter, I've wound hundreds of balls of yarn over the years, but yesterday was a first!

I've been working with wonderful Malabrigo fingering weight yarn (which I love), and the time came to grab a new hank of yarn, wind it, and join it to my ongoing project....no big deal, right? 


After winding about one third into a ball, I came to the end of the yarn...what?  Ok, I can deal with that.  I added the new end to the ball, and continued to wind.....about 6 yards, and another end.....hmmm.  Alrighty, then.  I added this new end to the ball and what do you think happened?  You're right.  For the remainder of that darn hank of yarn, every 6-10 yards, another end of yarn slipped through my fingers.  What's up with that?



In another life, I'd have chucked the whole hank, and chalked it up to some weird yarn-fluke-thing, but I'm almost finished with that lovely pullover, and this was my last hank of yarn. 

The picture immediately above is an example of what I was dealing with.  You know what this means, don't you?  It means, I'm going to have about 15 joins in this sweater, instead of 3.  Crap!

I have used Malabrigo yarn for quite a while, and it's always been a joy to handle.  Has this ever happened to you? 

I know what you're thinking.  Maybe I cut the yarn accidentally.  No, I only snipped once, and the yarn hank was tied with a different color of other yarn. 

Not wanting to end on such a sour note, I did win a $25 coupon from Eat, Sleep, Knit!

Monday, November 7, 2011

So much knitting...so little progress


Row after row of stockinette is looking beautiful in this Malabrigo Tiziano Red, isn't it?  Although it's an easy knit (I'm nearly ready to begin the sleeve prep), it does take a lot of time with fingering weight yarn.

I'm eager to have this completed before Thanksgiving, and with socks and another shawl on the go, I need to pick up the pace!