"Bamboo"zled!

I seem to be acquiring a bit of bamboo as of late and I haven't shown any of it off. First up is some Madil Eden that I acquired a few weeks ago from Webs; these colors were on closeout. The pink is a bright pink and the blue is a little lighter than the picture, more of a bright azure.

I got enough of each for a Kimono Top from Knit so Fine (click here if you're on Ravelry). I'm not sure which color I'll be using yet. Maybe I'll get around and do a swatch of each with the butterfly stitches, then decide. The other will be another top, yet to be determined. (As I said, it was on closeout. I couldn't resist.)

The second bamboo I've acquired is Regia Bamboo color, apparently the "tundra" colorway. My husband had an errand to run the other day and asked if I'd mind waiting in the yarn store right there for a few minutes. (How silly was that question?) Anyway, I came across this colorway, not really my usual colors (in other words, not glaringly purple, pink or black), it's quite neutral with a bit of white, grey, blue, green and just a hint of purple. It called to me. It said, "I need to be woven into a lovely scarf." I happen to have a light purple shirt almost the exact color of that hint of purple in there.

Pretty Yarn

A little birthday yarn that came yesterday:

It's tencel from Webs in colors "Jewel" and "Blue Ming"; I also have some black that's on backorder. I hope to weave some scarves with the three colors somehow used together. I'd love to find a bright pink to match the pink in "Jewel", too, maybe a purple (the yarn is actually pretty equal amounts of turquoise, pink, black, and purple; it just seems to be picking up a bit more of the blue from the other yarn). I might even have to use some of the "Jewel" for a shawl (there are 3,300 yards of the stuff). I like tencel; it's shiny. I like shiny.

I also got some cotton in burgundy, elm green and natural for some holiday towels. I had warped enough for 6 sampler towels already and have only done four, so maybe I'll do a couple of Christmas towels before moving on. Since I want to make the Christmas towels using the same threading and treadlings, I may be able to "tie on" a new warp to have enough for more towels. As I understand it, instead of having to thread the dent and heddles all over, you basically tie each new warp thread to an old one. This sounds time consuming until you realize that you can slide the knotted threads through the heddles and dents instead of having to rethread from scratch. Someday soon, I'll try and explain how a loom is warped for anyone interested and maybe some of this will actually make sense. For now, realize that warping is the most time intensive part of the whole weaving process and long warps are good. Unless, of course, you are like me and like lots of different projects going on at once. I really want to play with my new tencel, but I know I should do a few more towels and work on keeping those edges even first.

To all those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Vacation Yarn

Well, we just got back from a trip to visit the in-laws a bit off the beaten path in New York. There is really not much in this town. Really. A couple of small corner stores and that's about it. Lots of farms around. Nearest grocery store is still about half an hour away. So I was more than a bit surprised to find something just for me there - a brand new fabric and yarn store, only had been open about a month. I didn't even get a chance to look at the fabric side, but I was really impressed with the yarn selection. It rivals anything I've seen in the DC shops I've been to. If you're ever in the St. Lawrence county, NY area, it really is worth a side trip to Rensselaer Falls. It's in a beautifully restored building and called Fiber Options. If you hit the small town, you really can't miss it. (There was no big sign on the outside of the building; I don't know if there will be or not, but it's right by the post office.) Here's what I came away with (hey, I was supporting a small business!):

Some LOVELY laceweight Fino from Alpaca with a twist:

I went with a mauve color only because I had so very many purple shawls. They had a lovely purple as well.

And just so Chris won't think I've deserted purple, there's this Anne sock yarn:

The picture in no way captures the vibrancy of these purples. It is absolutely gorgeous stuff!

Some Panda Wool to experiment with:


And something just a little different colorwise for me (it actually has a little more blue than the picture suggests):


I got a little bit done on the Cap Shawl. I'm about halfway done with the whole thing now. I'll post a picture of that progress Wednesday. Have a nice holiday to everyone in the US!

New Yarn

Not much knitting going on as I've been under the weather the last week or so. Seems to be going around Blogland, but I'm feeling better now. Just in time for new yarn. From Webs, I got this beautiful Cascade Cloud 9:

The pink and lavender are discontinued colors, so they were almost half-off. It's a merino/angora blend and heaven to the touch. These colors are for the long-sleeved versions of Sahara and Simple Knitted Bodice. And for a couple of no-sleeved versions of Sahara:

That's Pima Silk from Misti Alpaca. I was thinking about doing two of the no-sleeve Sahara. The pink might have a white neck for accent and the dark purple might have the lighter lavender for the neck. I'm not sure yet. I'm planning on maybe sewing some Swarovski crystals along the neck though either way.

Note that I've given up all pretense of not liking pink and purple. I just plain like the colors and I might as well go with it.

Anyway, Monday I hope to have Bonsai finished and put together, so stay tuned.

Wednesday Madness

I know, it's only Tuesday, but it was last Wednesday when I found Sheri's sneak-up. I say "madness" because apparently I wasn't the only one to come across the sneak-up. The site slowed considerably. Granted, the items I ordered were still up on the site as of yesterday, so I really didn't need to participate in the sneak-up, but she had new laceweight! I'm only so strong. I ended up with another skein of Seacoast in Jewels. I also got this:

Lane Borgosesia Cashwool in Ice for the Frost Flower and Leaves Shawl.


And same wool in Red for the Cap Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. (It's the gorgeous circular one in sort of a pink-red.)

I know, I have a few things to finish first. Well, for the skirt, the knitting is finished! It's currently blocked out and I'll have pictures of that tomorrow. I'll need to sew it together and do the embroidery and crochet hem. I also started the Bonsai Tunic last night. And there's that purple diamond shawl that I started; I need to work on that and the Forest Path Stole. I know that may seem like a lot, but it's really not. Just ignore the rest of the projects on the sidebar, okay? Because I am - until winter calls again for the Hex Coat. And I'll give the socks another try. Sometime. And hmm, well, look, there's a big giant hairy spider behind you!