Stash enhancement

Look what landed on my doorstep last week...


It's three skeins of 'Trekking XXL' yarn in colourways 66, 76 and 71 -- there are definitely going to be some 'Trekking XXL' socks in my future. :) I originally set out to find some of the 'Trekking XXL' yarn in colourway # 68, but got distracted. ;) The quest for a skein in colourway # 68 will continue though...

The fourth skein (the one on the right in the photo) is an earlier 'Trekking XXL' purchase (colourway # 109), which in real life isn't as washed out looking as it appears in my photograph. At the moment I'm leaning towards turning this one into a pair of these...


... the Fiber Fish Mittens which Laurie designed. Aren't they just amazing? :)

I'm enjoying knitting my 'Pacific Ocean Stole' with the Madil 'Kid Seta' yarn so much, I bought some more of it from Rubi & Lana last time I was there, this time in a fabulous colourway with deep wine reds highlighted with some dark purples...


... which I think will make a stunning version of Nancy Bush's "Madli's Shawl", from the Summer 2004 issue of 'Interweave Knits'...


... which I wrote about wanting to knit in an earlier entry.

Some more ColourMart cashmere also found it's way to me last week...


Two cones of 4 ply cashmere in a couple of fabulous, saturated colours -- the deep blue one is called 'Bay', and the rich burgundy one is 'Victoria'. There's 1,150 yards on each cone so there should be plenty to knit a couple of lovely warm, soft shawls to cuddle up in.

These colours were actually quite a challenge to photograph. I think the photo above is quite close to showing the colours as they appear in real life in sunlight (at least on my computer screen), but the original photographs I took the other day had completely the wrong tone to them -- the 'Victoria' actually came out quite orange in tone for some reason.

I had a bit more luck with flash photography inside...


... but even this wasn't turning out quite right colourwise, and the flash made the yarn look a lot shinier than it really is. Maybe I'll get better at taking accurate photographs over time.

I thought I'd also share with you a photo of the cashmere and silk cobweb weight yarn I bought from ColourMart a while back...


That's 'Grey' on the left and 'Navy' on the right, and there's an incredible 5,000 yards on each cone. I'm sorely tempted to use the 'Grey' to knit a truly ethereal version of Sharon Miller's 'Wedding Ring Shawl', but that is still in the future for me, as I'm going to have to work down to knitting with super fine yarns like this.