Slowing down

I haven't been posting much due to a resurgence of work contracts and a substantial bout of illness... What an August!

I'm still queuing things, at least. And slowly working on my worsted sweater, which isn't very promising, as I haven't even gotten to the sleeve separation yet. Regardless, there's something on the needles, so that's a relief.

Anyway, here's some stuff I've queued:

On the Grass is a Joji sweater. The pattern page has some lovely interpretations, my favorite being this one by Rav user jettshin. If you haven't checked out jettshin's projects, you are absolutely missing some of the best needlework on the internet. She's like lightning, too. I have no idea how she finishes so many test items so quickly.

To continue the grass theme, I also love this slouchy Grassroots hat by Dandilion Girl Designs- a very simple toque/beanie with a cute little leaf pattern. Nothing particularly standout about the design, I just think it's a very nice combination of design elements, executed well.

Finally, I have Harbinger by LondonLeo, which is an incredibly wearable shawl with simple, geometric design elements. The angora/merino Lion Brand suggested looks fabulous in the sample, and makes me want to knit this immediately.

Yum. Too bad "winter" won't start here for another two months!
- YX

The Mystery Worsted

Okay, so I was in Florence last May, and went to a lovely little yarn store called Campolmi Roberto Filati, which I found via Nicky Epstein. It's a lovely store, large and chock full of fibery goodness. The language barrier was noticeable until an English-speaking employee stepped in to help translate.

I should've bought some cashmere- we picked up a sweater quantity of cashmere yarn for my mother-in-law, who celebrated her birthday just before our trip. When the yarn lady quoted me a price for the cashmere, I started laughing. I couldn't help it! It was about 50% of the cost of similar-quality cashmere in the US. So inexpensive. It was about the same as a regular skein of superwash.

I picked up only two things, but I made them count. Both are GIANT skeins of worsted yarn, dyed in the shop.

These skeins are LITERALLY as big as my head. They're huge. 400g (14oz) of worsted yarn. It's probably close to 1,000 or so yards each.

I love the colors, which have some abrupt changes. The grey skein goes from light to dark smoothly on one side, but has a dark line on the other. It's super odd, in a cool way. I tried casting on for a "huge shawl of indeterminate size", but ended up ripping it out when I decided that I was wasting a great opportunity for a gargantuan sweater.

Yep, a worsted sweater, even though it's currently 103°F (39.4°C) here.

Yep, a worsted sweater, even though I just finished a sweater project and determined I needed a break from major garments.

Yep, a worsted sweater, instead of cracking into any of the various other yarns I have in my stash, doing a lovely little hat or a pair of super-bulky-fun-fur-electric-house-stomper socks.

What is wrong with me? Seriously?!

- YX