A Return to Yarn

I'm back from my meetings. It was a work related thing and it went really well. I managed to stay awake through it all (no small accomplishment)and not to embarrass myself (also impressive). They fed us really well and there was some really good news for me personally. I wish I could say more about it but it's a long story for another day and, for now, it's enough to say that I'll be celebrating a wee bit this weekend.

I saw this flower last weekend and I took a picture of it because I though it was kind of cool in a funky kind of way. It looks like it could be missing a bunch of petals or something but, whatever the story is, it’s just doing its own wild little thing. Maybe I’m just feeling more appreciative since it dares to get out there and look springy when fall is breathing down its neck. A rebel flower! Not a bad start for an Eye Candy Friday post – right?

Then again, this is eye candy of a sort too. This fiber arrived on Monday in 2 separate packages. In the front is a beautiful skein of sock yarn that was my prize for winning Risa’s contest. Isn’t it great? The rest is all from Knit Picks. In the back are 3 balls of red superwash for a scarf destined for the Red Scarf Project. You can also see a skein of the new Bare superwash sock yarn. It feels good and I’m hoping that it turns out well because I hated the way the soles of the socks I made with the non-superwash felted. Yuck! I also got some essential in burgundy for socks and some Andean Silk.

The Andean Silk is for the Funky Scarf Swap and I love it. It is soft, soft, soft and the colors are gorgeous. If this scarf were for me, I’d be happy to have this around my neck. I just hope that my swap pal feels the same. I just wish that there was a variegated version that I could mix in. They do offer the tweed but I’m not really loving it.
I can’t tell you how I’ve agonized over this swap. I totally get my pal and I’m into the colors she favors so I’m not sure why this is so hard. She sounds pretty easy to please too – no strong fiber aversions and she’s open to any interpretation of funky. Maybe it’s another case of too much choice. Maybe I’m just being a little too picky myself – I want to do something great for her. This is what I have so far. I’m starting with the Kureopatora’s Snake pattern because I like the movement in it. I’m just not sure that it’s funky enough for me. I need to find a way to dial up the funk a little. I was thinking of adding eyelets and weaving an I-cord through the length of the scarf but I’m not sure about that. The eyelets weren’t fitting into the rib nicely and I though it might be too much. Then I thought about adding beads. I just don’t have the right ones right now. Time for a little shopping! That could be cool if I added them in a way that either accentuated the curve or prettied up the edges. What do you think?

I may not be sure about the direction of the scarf but I have a definite opinion about the Knit Picks needles that came in this order. Perfect! I know that some other people were less than enthusiastic but for me, these are all good. If you’ve been reading for a while then you know that I hate I despise I loathe I’m not a fan of DPNs. I do all of my socks on 2 circs and, until recently it was mostly on a set of #2 Addi’s. They started to frustrate me because of the blunt points and the long cords. The latter problem was my own fault because I didn’t know any better when I bought them... but the blunt tips – that’s just the price of using Addi’s. I went and got Inox and tried them out but I hated them! If you look at the picture you’ll see why. What the hell is up with that join? (see the added arrows) There’s a weird little bump right before the join and I just found it maddening. It slowed me up every time I got to it and drove me nuts. The Addi’s didn’t have a bump like that and neither do the Knit Picks. After using them on the current sock a little bit I’m pretty happy with the new KP needles. They’ve got the right length, sharp tips and the right length cords. I’m a happy girl again.