Recent arrivals

I'm not intending to include a lot of photos of my stash acquisitions in this blog -- just take it as read that I have enough yarn -- and projects in mind to make with that yarn -- to keep me busy for many years. Being the relatively slow knitter that I am, really isn't helping with the backlog either.

Of course that doesn't stop me from responding to the siren call of beautiful yarn -- one of the most common things heard at our meetings at Rubi and Lana's is "Step away from the yarn!" after all... ;)

Sometimes though, something is just so good it just has to be blogged about...


These are some cones of cashmere yarn I bought recently from the ColourMart eBay store. Richard truly is one of the good guys on eBay, and nothing shows this more than the package which recently arrived on my doorstep. I had ordered a cone of lace weight cashmere yarn in a beautiful shade of blue, but was surprised to discover that my package contained the two cones shown on the left. It turns out that the item I ordered and another similar item had had their photos interchanged, so Richard -- generous and kind-hearted soul that he is -- had sent me a cone of each to ensure that I received the yarn I wanted. Naturally, I love them both! :) On the right are two cones of DK weight cashmere that Richard twisted in house from finer strands of yarn -- the colours are a bit washed out in the photo, but they are actually a soft blue, and an icy lilac colour -- which I plan to use to make either some fabulous super-soft bed socks or a couple of luxurious scarves. Or maybe one of each... :)

At the other extreme, unfortunately, is the UK online yarn store -- and thankfully that website is no longer with us -- which took (and kept!) money for yarn I later discovered she had already sold through her eBay store a few weeks before I even placed my order. I didn't give up on finding the yarn though, even though it had been discontinued. Here is the end result...


... five skeins of Rowan 'Kidsilk Haze' in 'Dreamboat', which I recently won in two separate auctions on eBay. And believe it or not, they are all from the same dyelot! :)

This isn't the only 'Kidsilk Haze' that has turned up on my doorstep recently either. I've also finally received my 'Rowan International' Free Gift...


... two skeins of Rowan 'Kidsilk Haze' in 'Trance', along with this year's ugly pattern. In common with a number of other Rowanettes, my yarn will be used to make this instead...


... Sharon Miller's 'River' from Rowan Book 38.

Donna wrote the other day that one of the projects she would like to start is Sivia Harding's 'Diamond Fantasy Shawl or Scarf', which reminded me that I've had the pattern for quite a while now, along with a handpainted hank of Twinkletoes sock yarn in the 'Midnight 11-8' colourway which I think will work well with the design...


Looking at the pattern and yarn again, and imagining how beautiful the scarf will be when it is finished, has made me move it back up the list of projects still waiting impatiently in the wings.

While I was outside on the balcony taking some of the photos for this posting, I had a little furry helper constantly trying to be part of of the action. Remembering that no knitting blog is complete without at least one cat photograph, I eventually gave in to the inevitable and allowed Tigger to strike a pose for my blog...


Tigger isn't actually our cat, but she does spend a lot of time on our balcony, and is pretty much in charge of our little street.

This is our real pet, by the way...


... a somewhat insane rainbow lorikeet who lives in our entrance hallway, and announces all visitors to our house better than any doorbell ever could. This was the best photo I could get of him as he doesn't do the whole posing for photos thing -- all of my other shots were just colourful, feathery blurs.

Mystery Shawl Along 3

I followed Melissa's advice and contacted the person responsible for this knit along to ask her how to pay the $US3.00 fee for the pattern as I live in Australia, which unfortunately is not one of the countries her online store accepts payment from. Believe it or not, her response was that I should do exactly what Melissa did -- select one of the countries she does send things to, and then leave a comment to let her know that the country I live in is actually Australia. Worked like a charm! :)

I didn't take part in the first two of these knit alongs, but this third shawl looks like being a real winner -- yes, I peeked at the finished photo as I'm not really into the whole idea of spending time knitting something unless I'm sure I'm going to like the end result. Mind you, as the yarn I'd like to knit this with is not likely to even arrive here for another few weeks, the chances of me knitting this at the same time as anyone else taking part in the knit along are pretty slim at this stage. Anyway, I've gone ahead and put the 'Mystery Shawl Along 3' button in my sidebar -- just to remind me of my good intentions. ;)

There hasn't been a lot of knitting going on here since my last posting, but I have at last started on the final skein of yarn for the 'Lace Modular Shawl', so the end is finally in sight there. I won't bore you all with a photo of my progress as, to be honest, it wouldn't look different enough from the last one I posted to be worth the effort. I do have another posting in mind to write which will have photos though, but that will have to wait until after Michael gets home later tonight as he currently has another device connected to his PC where the cable for the digital camera normally goes, and I'm not going to risk damaging anything by fiddling around with things on my own.