Ohh, it’s been quite a week in my mailbox!
First, I received a wonderful thank-you from Kathleen Rogers, the designer of the Ms. Prynne Cowl, for participating in a knit-along earlier this year. Check it, I’m an A-Team knitter!
(Stitch marker by the fantastic Knit Girl In Idaho, what a cool service!)
Mr. Salamander says this means I have to watch the recent A-Team movie. I say, only if I can spin while I watch it. Because…well, if you want to know, you’ll have to look under the jump.
My little fibre stash is growing! It still fits in one cloth shopping bag, so that’s good, but the bag is almost full with this package from Corgi Hill Farm. The colours are seriously gorgeous, and apparently Merino fibre is crazy soft compared to what I have been spinning because I just wanted to sit around petting that second braid there and never put it down! I will probably have to use that teaser/gift bump of fibre to make a wacky handspun hat for Edik, it’s too damn perfect. Polwarth, eh what?
But it’s not just my spindle that’s itching for action. Yesterday I was finally initiated into the KnitPicks fan club! I was a bit distracted by the pretty pretty colours, so I a) forgot to get a photo of my Imagination yarns in the skein and b) caked up the yarn that’s meant for my next pair of socks, without considering the fact that I have two gift pairs to knit before I touch mine. Whoops! But surely the yarn will forgive me for loving it too much?
The Unicorn colourway (which looks like the yummiest ice cream I can imagine) is for me. The purple Arabian Nights is for my sister…who JUST GOT MARRIED OMG. I promised her when she got engaged that I’d knit her a shawl for her wedding. However, with a fantastic opportunity for travel just around the corner to stand as a honeymoon, she and her lovely lover decided early this year to have a tiny almost-elopement and actually do the paperwork now, and have the party later when they’re not so much poor students. So, no wedding shawl; instead, WEDDING SOCKS! Which are also a bit of a tradition, and feel to me like an awesome “welcome to the family (legally speaking)” gift. So in addition to royal purple marriage socks for her, I picked up the makings for some vibrantly striped Tootsie socks (from the latest Knitty) for my superawesome new brother-in-law!
I think I need at least one more ball, though – I had just sort of assumed that the yardage that worked for Mr. Salamander would work for J, so I went ahead and ordered. His colour choices made me lean towards stripes, and I’d just seen the latest Knitty, so Tootsie it was…but I didn’t look at the yardage requirements (350 yards of each colour!!!) until the yarn was already on its way. Before I unwrapped the package, I thought I might be okay just working a slightly shorter leg, but looking at how light of a fingering weight the Stroll yarn is, I may not be able to get gauge and I’ll definitely feel more comfortable with a bit of extra yarn to work with, considering J has size 10 feet. I mean, it could be worse (Oh no, you mean I have to make another order? Wonder what will fall into my cart this time!). But Mr. Salamander is only a size 8, just sayin’.
And then, as long as I was ordering from them anyway, I figured I’d better try out a couple of the popular yarns for doll knits, so I picked up some lace.
The blue-purple is pretty, but the yellow clearly wins. IT’S SO CHEERFUL! I’m looking forward to knitting with them, maybe even designing something new! It will be good to compare gauge and hand with the other laceweight yarns I’ve worked with. Yes, I’ve been knitting for dolls for almost five years and I’ve never bought from KnitPicks. Shocking!
Finally, I thought I’d try some of their fibre. It’s no indie-dyed gorgeousness, but it is pretty and bronzy and it was so very easy on the pocketbook. I am hoping it will be a shawl? Like, maybe if I ever become able to spin more than 45 yards at a time? It could happen, don’t laugh!
All this stash enhancement, and the new yarns I’ve spun are just going to have to wait for the next post!
Undermost Salamander Knits 
Leave a Reply