New places to drool

Thanks to the newsletter from Lime 'n' Violet, I spent a little drool time at etsy, now that the site is back up and running. People are producing beautiful things all the time. And from there I somehow ended up at pureknits, which has more droolworthy yarn and patterns. And they led me to Fable which produces a pure alpaca yarn. Drool. Pureknits has a really nice site.

I'm in the home stretch on Clapotis now. Maybe I'll even complete it before the weekend, though there are cupcakes to be made tomorrow night (the little lady turns two on Sunday).

French Girl patterns

How cute is this? Doesn't hurt that the pattern is called Isobel. I just read about French Girl patterns on the Knitlist. I just wish they had more information about the patterns on their site (sizes, how much yarn, needles, etc.). They do list the yarn used, but I think knowing how much yarn a project is going to require helps in making a decision. Ah, Jimmy Beans Wool includes some pattern information but doesn't have as many patterns for sale. Looks like the patterns are Rowan-centric, yarn-wise, though, again, Jimmy Beans Wool shows some alternative yarn options when Rowan has discontinued the yarn for the pattern.

In other news I dropped another two stitches on Clapotis. In the straight section I could manage one repeat a night, and yesterday I did one decrease repeat. I hope to increase the number of rows as we decrease the stitches on the needles because I want to finish this! There are so many other things to knit.

For that future project with the Boucle, I want to call it En Garde and tie it closed with a big, red, silky ribbon. What do you think? I want it be quite shaped in the body, too. It's starting to take shape!

Home stretch

I started the decrease portion on Clapotis last night! Thank goodness, since I was getting a little bored. The decreases make things go faster, especially since you drop two stitches in each repeat. Big fun. Someone on the Clapotis KAL group forgot to do the second drop stitch and had to frog back. I'm sorry that happened but am glad to have read the cautionary tale before embarking upon the decrease myself. It's looking really lovely.

While listening to CraftLit and Cast-On this morning on the drive in, I started to imagine all sorts of future sweaters, as well as learning to spin. Heather recorded her podcast at SOAR, and Brenda spoke with her sister, Pam, for the Today's Sweater segment. I think I'd like to knit a bulky sweater like the Green Leaves on in Loop-d-Loop, especially since I just received something like 13 skeins of Lopi wool. I might try my hand at dying, too, since the Lopi is "natural".

Other project ideas include some sort of shrug, and those Kidsilk Haze arm warmers from One Skein, though I don't think I'd actually wear them.

If I were to try spinning, I think I'd go with a drop spindle first, to see if I like it at all. Wheels are a huge investment, but one would certainly fit in our house. The previous owner (who gave me the Lopi) had a wheel.

[Added] I'm not sure I'm up for the Leaf Lace Pullover (also in Interweave Knits Summer 2005), having googled it a bit. You Kitchener up the sides, and then you Kitchener the sleeves to the body. Gah. Plus, I'm not crazy about the ribbed hemline. Being an Apple, I am generally against anything that squeezes in the hemline of something around my middle, which is why I prefer turned hems or just letting them roll in stockinette.

Laceweight

What's my fascination with the stuff? I'm not even that into the look of lace shawls. Sure, they're beautiful, but I'm not really at a place in my life where I want a lot of complicated lace around my shoulders. But the idea of laceweight makes me drool-y. And there aren't a whole lot of people in my life who would want lacey shawls. Weird. But I just spent a bunch of clicks on "Fleece Artist Kasura" after seeing a skein of it on the Destash blog. I even considered joining the Yahoo! Yarn Coop. Oh, that's just what I need, more yarn.

Boston area knitter

Just found another Boston area knitter, and she appears to work at Three Bags Full in Newburyport, which I have never been to. Maybe I can check it out this weekend.

Gloucester Knitting

There is another blogging knitter in Gloucester! I'll have to get in touch with her. I found her when I was looking at the closeout yarns on the Webs site. And they have a closeout on K1C2's Angora Soft, which sounds lovely, but I thought I'd better google it to see what other bloggers have to say about it. And up popped Kathleen Valentine. I haven't had a chance to read her entire blog yet, but I will.

Superwash

I've been thinking about making another sweater for DD, something out of a superwash wool. It's tough raising a toddler, working, taking care of (or trying to) a big, old house, etc. etc. We all know the story. But the last thing I want to do is handwash sweaters that get covered in ketchup half the time. I'm pretty much pro-natural fiber, so I can't just knit everything for her out of acrylic (I did start one for her but it's turned into a UFO).

So, today I found this bit of information, which may help me make a decision on some yarn. Like I need more. But I would like to add a supwerwash fiber option to my repetoire, and it looks like Cascade 200 Superwash might be it. Now, I just have to find an LYS that carries it so I can fondle before I buy.

Then I'll have to find a pattern.

In other news I attended the Tuesday Knit Night at my LYS, which is the new night so is less crowded. It was nice to meet some new folks and see others who can't attend Wednesday's KN. I got to drop another stitch on Clapotis and think two more repeats of the straight section might do it, which is good as I want to start knitting other things! But this must be finished before I start anything else.