Doesn't that title make your eyes go wide with anticipation and your heart start beating a little faster? Sort of like love. At the Guild meeting on Thursday night, there was a bounty of yarn that some kind soul had donated. I have learned to get to the meeting just a bit early so I can beat everyone to the new books and magazines to borrow. Then I spied all the free yarn goodies! This is a Japanese yarn of unknown brand but I think it is a discontinued line of Noro. I recognize the tag.
Tachibana is 65% wool, 30% alpaca and 5% silk. I greedily snapped up all 9 skeins. It will be enough for a warm sweater this winter. Yay!
No excitement at the guild meeting itself though. I was kind of disappointed because I have come to expect heated discussions from these fiery women. However, we had a good Show & Tell and the stories were entertaining. Alas, I will not be attending the meeting next month...Cyndi or Kaedean will have to report out!
Violet is busy, busy, busy with her new store,
Frogpond Knits. I can't wait to see it! She and Kaedean are going to have great stuff. Plus, I'm thinking about organizing a group for a knit night. Violet has already offered to host it at her store.
A few posts ago, I mentioned that June's project would be my first pair of socks. Well. Not anymore. We are going to Karl's brother's wedding at the beginning of July so I am motivated to make a little lacy something to wear over the dress I've chosen. The dress is an off-white silk sheath with delicate pink, blue and green flowers. Originally I was going to make a shrug and had narrowed my choices to two. Then I was inspired at the yarn store and remembered the Not-Knit-Round scarf in
The Purl Stitch by Sally Melville. It's actually a capelet because you seam the ends of the scarf together. I figured, hey this is something new, it's relatively quick and easy and I have to finish it in time for the wedding. What better motivation than that?
For once, I'm actually going to use the yarn called for in the scarf pattern, Berroco Cotton Twist. I've never knit with it before but having tried a few similar Berroco yarns, I'm thinking the "twist" part may cause a little grief. But, I like it and it matches the dress.
I wanted to show you a contraption that Karl made after he watched me struggle with winding skeins and hanks of yarn into balls. We tried a conventional swift and ball winder but the swift was too big. He went into the garage and an hour later came out with this...
Loosen the nuts and slide the arms out to hold the skein. Tighten the nuts to maintain the tension. Then start winding the yarn!
Of course, this is what happens. Little Kitty loves it when we play the "wind the ball of yarn" game. She is just about to swipe the trailing yarn with her paw.
All right, gotta run. I started this post before the sun came up and now it's shining down into the garden full blast! Have a great weekend.
2 comments:
You lucky girl! How awesome to get free yarn! And it's so pretty, too.
Your Karl is a genius! Is he going to patent and sell those things? I recently had my first experience with winding a hank into a ball and it was not fun. I think his homemade thingy is so cool!
And the capelet will be stunning!
It does look like Karl has built the ultimate kitty toy :) I can't wait to see your capelet; that is a great idea. I saw a stole on a mannequin at a shop in Truckee this fall that wrapped snugly around the shoulders and tapered at each end. One end had a point that slid into a covered buckle on the other side, providing a clasp. I haven't been able to find a pattern for this, but similar idea of a wrap that will mind and stay in place.
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