The wait is ovah! In the middle of sunny Meheeco, I have finally gotten my yarn! Here's your pr0n:
Whole haul: Knit Picks circular needles (sizes 0, 1 & 2, 32" second set of each for either 2 on 2 circs or Magic Loop so I can have 2 socks going at once), Knit Picks Felici in Pebble and Arugula, Knit Picks Gloss in Pumpkin and... Lorna's Laces in Rainbow and Apple Laine Apple Pie in Funny Girl from The Loopy Ewe. Oh. My. Good. Lord.
Knit Picks New Felici Sock Yarn in Pebble (not as grey as the pic, but wonderful browns)
...and in Arugula (yes, good enough to eat, and again, not as grey-ish as the pic).
Gloss in Pumpkin (yum-o!)
Apple Laine Apple Pie in Funny Girl (the pic hardly does it justice, folks)
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Rainbow.Now. I know that many Knitters out there have hauls like these delivered to their doorsteps on a regular basis, but although I have been knitting (get this!) for 29 years (okay, more "off" than "on"), I have been a knitter, rather than a Knitter, until just about a year ago. I never knew what I was missing. Then my dear, dear Grandmother got me a gift certificate to a real live Yarn Shop. A good one. Now I'm hooked (and enjoying getting to know all of the fab yarns that so many of you already love--getting to know it all for the first time ... *sigh*)
Let me back up a bit. You see, I took up knitting again, like so many of us, when I was pregnant with my son, roughly 6 years ago. I was living in the middle of Mexico, where the only yarn shop in town sells only acrylic (and not the "good" kind) that they wind into cakes for you from cones or huge whe-+els. The selection was sketchy at best, but I wanted to knit, so I made do. On trips to the "city" (about an hour away) I could find better yarns at (gasp!) WalMart. Yes, my friends MUCH better yarns. That should put things into perspective.
It's not that I enjoyed knitting with that crap, but it was the only crap I had. After a while, I finally found the outskirts of the online knitting community, but I couldn't order good yarn because it was way out of my price range (I was living on a peso budget) and the shipping alone would have killed it for me.
Long story short (read: a divorce, online classes in the middle of the night and a move to Austin later) I was finally walking in to my first real-live yarn store. I actually felt faint and giddy at the same time. I stayed until it was clear they had to close and get home to their families, and I couldn't even buy anything that first trip because I was so overwhelmed. I knew I wanted to knit a lace stole or shawl for a dear friend, and I knew I wanted a particular shade of purple (that being her signature colour). I went home and pored the internet for days, as all of the knitting books I'd accumulated over the years were in storage in Mexico (I could only bring what I could fit into a van). I found Eunny Jang's Print O' the Wave Stole and knew it was the one. On the next trip to the yarn shop I found the perfect yarn in the perfect shade: Suri Elegance in Purple Mountain Majesty. It had enough yardage in one skein, which was good, as it was the only skein they had in that colour. It was the most expensive yarn I'd ever bought. $48 dollars per skein. I found out later that the retail price for that yarn is far, far lower, but it really was worth it. That project changed me from a knitter to a Knitter.
I knit good wishes, health and joy for my friend into every stitch. I would wake up an hour early on occasion to sit and watch the sunrise in silence to knit on it (and I am a night-owl kinda gal--I normally don't do mornings). I loved every minute of it. And then I got to block it.
Seriously, if you've never knit lace, you owe it to yourself, if for nothing else, then for the blocking. You feel like a magician or a faerie. It catches your breath. You visit it in the middle of the night to pet it as it dries. It is astounding.
I didn't realize that I was going to get into all of this in this post. In fact, it was meant to just be an update to show off the yarn and to say "Hey, I'm sewing the seams on Butterfly and she'll be done soon." Who knew all this was in there?
Anyhoo, since I waxed poetic about my first Print O' the Wave, here she is:
Post-Block on my son's bed
Obligatory window shot.
Let me back up a bit. You see, I took up knitting again, like so many of us, when I was pregnant with my son, roughly 6 years ago. I was living in the middle of Mexico, where the only yarn shop in town sells only acrylic (and not the "good" kind) that they wind into cakes for you from cones or huge whe-+els. The selection was sketchy at best, but I wanted to knit, so I made do. On trips to the "city" (about an hour away) I could find better yarns at (gasp!) WalMart. Yes, my friends MUCH better yarns. That should put things into perspective.
It's not that I enjoyed knitting with that crap, but it was the only crap I had. After a while, I finally found the outskirts of the online knitting community, but I couldn't order good yarn because it was way out of my price range (I was living on a peso budget) and the shipping alone would have killed it for me.
Long story short (read: a divorce, online classes in the middle of the night and a move to Austin later) I was finally walking in to my first real-live yarn store. I actually felt faint and giddy at the same time. I stayed until it was clear they had to close and get home to their families, and I couldn't even buy anything that first trip because I was so overwhelmed. I knew I wanted to knit a lace stole or shawl for a dear friend, and I knew I wanted a particular shade of purple (that being her signature colour). I went home and pored the internet for days, as all of the knitting books I'd accumulated over the years were in storage in Mexico (I could only bring what I could fit into a van). I found Eunny Jang's Print O' the Wave Stole and knew it was the one. On the next trip to the yarn shop I found the perfect yarn in the perfect shade: Suri Elegance in Purple Mountain Majesty. It had enough yardage in one skein, which was good, as it was the only skein they had in that colour. It was the most expensive yarn I'd ever bought. $48 dollars per skein. I found out later that the retail price for that yarn is far, far lower, but it really was worth it. That project changed me from a knitter to a Knitter.
I knit good wishes, health and joy for my friend into every stitch. I would wake up an hour early on occasion to sit and watch the sunrise in silence to knit on it (and I am a night-owl kinda gal--I normally don't do mornings). I loved every minute of it. And then I got to block it.
Seriously, if you've never knit lace, you owe it to yourself, if for nothing else, then for the blocking. You feel like a magician or a faerie. It catches your breath. You visit it in the middle of the night to pet it as it dries. It is astounding.
I didn't realize that I was going to get into all of this in this post. In fact, it was meant to just be an update to show off the yarn and to say "Hey, I'm sewing the seams on Butterfly and she'll be done soon." Who knew all this was in there?
Anyhoo, since I waxed poetic about my first Print O' the Wave, here she is:
Post-Block on my son's bedObligatory window shot.My friend cried when she saw it. But somehow, I feel like I got the real gift.
