Yarn Happy

[I mention so many yarns in this post that I am bolding them all.]

Maizy
Originally uploaded by sunasak

To show how happy I am, here's some happy yarn, Maizy in a deep rose colorway. I also got it in a multicolored version called "menswear" in the Woodland Woolworks catalogue (they name all the colors, even ALL 200+ of the Jamieson jumper weight Shetland yarn). None of my usual sources had this yarn, so I am glad my favorite backup source had it!

Ooh, it is very soft and it has that "dry" feel that Panda Cotton has. It feels much nicer than the A-Maize-ing yarn we had at the LYS. I look forward to making something lacy with this pink stuff.

Yesterday, as a reward for my yarn winding patience, I also got myself a skein of Claudia Handpaints silk laceweight yarn. The LYS got a whole bunch of Claudia sock yarn in (which I already have plenty of) and a bit of this silk stuff. It's over 1,000 yards and very thin and shiny. What a nice stole or shawl that will make. Only two colorways came in, one blues and one rainbow. You can guess which one I got! All I can say is it had better wind nicely into a ball!

Success!

All the ladies at Chicks with Sticks who had read about my Schaeffer Anne issue were very sympathetic, and I appreciated it a lot! I was also happy to read the blog comment that said it wasn't just me--others have had issues with that yarn. I am HAPPY to report that all the yarn got wound up last night after I got home from choir practice, and I didn't have to break it or anything.

At lunch break I tried to start the Victorian Lace Today scarf with good ole Anne. It looked too loose on size 4 needles so I went down to size 3. Then I learned a new skill, the crochet cast-on (not the provisional one, but rather the one that looks like a bound-off edge. The pattern uses that so it will look the same on both sides and the slipped edges of the main scarf will also match it. Very slick. And a fun cast-on, once I found my hidden crochet hook. Too bad I mis-read the chart and was making it stockinette stitch when it is really mostly a garter-stitch border. Oh well, good practice and all that--I only did a couple of rows. I will re-start tonight.

It's my month for humbling knitting experiences, I think. I cast on with Rowan Calmer in a coral color for the Shedir cap I am making for a friend undergoing chemo. It felt great, but, sigh, my new KnitPicks Harmony size 3.25mm were sorta squirrely at first so I didn't notice until row 4 that I had mobiused it. Oops. Well, it can happen to anyone, I guess! I worked on it at choir (a lot of bass practice and little alto practice), so I got well into it the second time around. Lots of little traveling stitches in that one, which are good practice for my new cabling with no needles skills.

Look at me, all these years of knitting and still there is so much new to learn! And THAT, reader friends, is why I still knit: there's always something new to try.