Treasure

As everyone probably suspected from the beginning, it would have been neigh on to impossible for me to go to see the ThreadBears without doing some stash enhancement. I don't feel too bad about this. In the past month or so I have finished the Chai top and Lucky and the Biscotti top. So I am making a dent in my stash.

Here's the first pile of goodies:

Bamboo DPs, A Sheepy Tape Measure, 40" and 52" Denise Cords and Some New Library Books

It might surprise everyone to know, especially after I have complained so many times about double pointed needles, that I got the size 0 and 1 set specifically for the purpose of trying to make socks on them. After my success with Lucy Neatby's garter-stitch short row heel, I've decided that I need to give them another try. I've tried short-rows before on two circulars and they just didnt't turn out as well as they did with the DPs. So now I am actually feeling bold enough to take on a pair of socks on a set of DPs. Watch out! The world may stop turning on its axis.

I have a zillion tape measures, but it was hard to resist this sheepy tape that comes from Mango Moon. Just pull on the sheep's tail and away you go.

I didn't actually get the Debbie New book from the Bears (it came from my Mom's LYS, Knit A Round), but since it showed up in the same weekend, I thought I would show it off. Talk about an inspiring book! I can't imagine making almost anything in the book, but it's hard not to look through it and be in awe of the clever things inside

Domino Knitting has been around for a while. It's one of those books that I had thought about buying many times before, but just didn't have a reason to. Matt helped find a reason for me (see below) and so it came home with me to. The Book of Sweater Patterns is Anne Budd's newest offering. Another great template book with lots of tips and tricks. I think it will likely be useful when I try to decide what to do with this:

11 Skeins of Cash Iroha and Some Manly Sock Yarn

Rob and Matt don't have too much Noro left (lots of chenille, some Silk Garden odds and ends -- probably enough for Karen Baumer's scarf, in a few colors). I consider it a real find to have gotten my hands on 11 skeins of Cash Iroha in a color that I can actually wear. I've been hankering for some of this stuff for a long time, its an incredibly soft yarn. I'm not completely sure what it will become (there's only 1200 yards, so it will have to be something relatively simple) but I can't wait to knit it up. It really is just that luscious.

You can guess who the grey sock yarn is for (according to Rob they stock Trekking in part because of the good manly colorways). The green brown combination may be for him or for me. It depends on how "radical" it looks after being knit up -- the fact that I could even get him to consider it is a pretty amazing step in a new direction for my sock-color challeneged husband!

But none of that was what I actually had in mind when I headed to Lansing on Saturday. This was what I really went for:

A Koigu Rainbow

I've been thinking for quite some time that I wanted another project using some Koigu. The Keepsake shawls I've been seeing were particularly inspiring, but I really don't wear Charlotte enough to justify another shawl. I thought, instead, that a throw might be a better option -- one that would give me a chance to indulge in a lot of color, but that could also be modular and portable and not terribly difficult knitting.

Initially when I started out, I had mostly happy blue tones. But then I discovered the third skein from the right (you can see a closeup in the third strip below). Matt worked some of his incredible color magic and helped me come up with some thing almost, but not completely, unlike my original vision. But his vision was so much more dynamic and insipiring than my original one that I couldn't believe I had ever wanted the original one in the first place.

Matt also suggested that Domino knitting might provide an excellent means for creating a reversible throw that could go together in smaller pieces. Now that I've tried my first domino square, I'm inclined to agree. I want to play with the Domino technique a little bit more before I commit completely, but I am already 95% of the way to convincing myself that its the right way to go.

Since the picture above is a little small, I thought a closer view was in order:

p831, p121, p128, p113, p121

p432, p615, p513, p527, p201

p203, p858, p144, p609

I lovely the purples, blues, greens and pops of yellow that run through the skeins. It reminds me of the best of spring and fall, my two favorite seasons. The order of the skeins is still in the air. I have one recommendation from Matt, but I will likely play with them myself. I think it's good for me to challenge my own color sense to see how different colors work together.

And that about wraps up my little weekend trip to Michigan. I'm putting myself back on my yarn diet again for a little while. I've got to get at least three more projects finished before I consider any more stash advancement. Good thing I've got a lot of good things to choose from right now.

I'm hoping that August will see the completion of my ArtFiber's Mousse top, at least one pair of socks and my Snakes and Ladders cushion. We're having some unseasonably cool weather in Chicago, and I'm already feeling the pull of fall knitting. I keep reaching over to pet my Phil'Eponge swatch. Wanna take bets on what my next sweater project will be?