If you want a good laugh or two, go to Cara’s post from a few days ago and read all the jokes in the comments. Thanks, Cara!
It seems like everybody is talking about the blog doldrums. I have them, too, I guess. It’s not that I’m not knitting, because I am. I’m tired of talking about the same old projects, though. The lace scarf is a few inches longer, the sock looks about the same, and it’s been too warm still to sit with a pile of Rogue wool in my lap. The remodeling is nearly done, and the hand is pretty much where it’s going to be. So what to write about?
Shopping, that’s what! Nothing like a good shopping spree in the lace yarn section to get those creative juices flowing. Have any of you noticed that most brick-and-mortar yarn shops don’t carry much in the way of lace yarn? At least the ones around here don’t seem to. The internet comes to the rescue again!
First up is this little collection, all from The Knitter.com. This is a good store, by the way. Lots of yarn choices, reasonable shipping, and the site is pretty well organized. My only complaint is that the little tiny photos of the yarn colors are a bit hard to see. I ended up going to other sites that show better, bigger yarn photos to choose the colors. Oh yeah, the colors. Here they are:
There is Zephyr, in Vanilla and Dianthus, and Misti Alpaca in Sea Mist.
Next up is Alpaca Cloud in Tidepool, from Knitpicks:
I also bought this, though not online.
I already have her Knitting On the Edge, and couldn’t resist this one. I discovered a disturbing thing while in the bookstore browsing the knitting section: It’s finally happened, I have more knitting books than Barnes & Noble.
That yarn will all be shawls at some time in the future. I have patterns for several shawls, and have a master plan to work up from simpler to ridiculously challenging.
Here, last but not least, is the ridiculously challenging:
What hooked me on the Wedding Ring Shawl was the little disclaimer on the website “Once gone, this design will not appear in print again before 2010”. There are only 500 copies that will be sold, and I got Number 37. Don’t even ask what possessed me to buy these, since I’m having trouble with a small lace rectangle in fingering weight yarn. All I can say is that lace knitting appears to be like crack for me. Go to the website, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. You also might want to put a protective cloth on your keyboard to keep the drool off.
Now one thing I have always said is that you can’t ever have too many knitting books.
My mama always told me the magic word was please….but I’m pretty sure it is “discontinued” – I fought a long hard battle with myself not to order BOTH those very shawl patterns. Kits. Whatever.
Oh, and re: Barnes & Nobel – um, pretty much me too.
Glad to hear your hand is back in fighting trim – I hope you didn’t lose too much use.
Ha! I got copy #20!! Those words “Limited Edition” should be banned. I broke out in a cold sweat when I opened it up and looked at the samples. I think I need an intermediate project before I tackle that one. And honey, I passed Barnes and Noble long ago and am now working on surpassing Amazon.com. I think I’m the only one I know who has more books than yarn! But I agree that it is impossible to have too many books. When my son came home from England last time he brought more books than clothes – I obviously taught him right.
I just got a few from Sharon myself. I love that she puts a little handwritten note in there. It’s so folksy. She has a yahoo group, Heirloom Knitting(duh), if you ever get around to committing that zephyr to one of those patterns and want some company.
I’ve been noticing the knitting section in bookstores seems to be getting smaller, too. Considering that knitting is still supposed to be so trendy, I find that very worrying, indeed! But I agree–how can you have too many books? (Not that I’m exactly known for my restraint as regards books in any way.)
I have to concur with everyone – I have more knitting books than what’s available at the bookstores too. I also just received my copy of “Knitting Over the Edge” and it has joined it’s sister “On the Edge” on the bookshelf. I just love it.
Again – the words “discontinued” and “limited edition” are 4-letter words in my book. They’ve been my downfall on several occasions.
Knit on…
Oh, I’m sooooo jealous!! I’m waiting to get my copy of Knitting Over the Edge. I have Knitting On the Edge and love it! I have to pay off my latest yarn acquisitions before I can justify another expense, unfortunately.
I must say, I enjoy reading your blog, blog doldrums or not. I check in once a week or so and always enjoy reading it.
Thank you so much for posting about the Heirloom Knitting “wedding ring” pattern. I’ve been meaning to order from them and now I have a great excuse to!
OH man I have been wanting some of her patterns.. and the one I had wanted is gone.. dang it!!!! Not to mention those are awesome…