I'm back!

Well, here I am back in the USA. I had a completely wonderful and amazing trip, saw tons of wonderful things, spent some quality time with my boy and his family, and of course brought some yarn (or 'wool', as they say) home with me!

Would you believe that the department stores in the UK have better yarn than the craft stores in the US? John Lewis, which is a chain store, had such luxury yarn as Noro, Debbie Bliss, and this handpainted South American yarn, Mirasol Hacho.

I also got some Rowan Tapestry, in a shade picked out by my boy himself, for a pair of mitts. I bought four skeins, because by my reasoning, if I were making mitts for myself I would buy two skeins. And his hands are much larger, and he wanted longish mitts.



I ended up, however, with more than two skeins left over. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, but it's lovely yarn, so I'm sure I'll think of something.



I'm considering a scarf-sized Clapotis for myself. It's soft yarn, and the striping would look nice in a diagonal pattern.

In addition to shopping in Reading (my boy's hometown), I also dragged him to a shop while we were seeing the sights in London. We went to Loop, which after perusing their website I was very excited about. The shop is very small, and I was a little disappointed by their selection. I was looking for some nice lace or sock yarn, and didn't have that many options. What they do have is interesting however, very interesting. They have a selection of Habu yarns, including one made of paper(!), as well as Hand Maiden. However, those being a bit too rich for my blood, I was almost about to walk out empty-handed when I spied a box of balls over the fireplace...



It's Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb, 825 yards of heaven. This is gorgeous stuff, in nice, vibrant solids, very thin and very soft. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make with it still, after several hours of scouring Ravelry, but I'm leaning towards the Juno Regina stole. Or maybe an Icarus. Or maybe a large Swallowtail. Or... I don't know. I'm really not sure. It's lovely yarn, and I don't want to waste it.

So other than my boyfriend mitts, the only other knitting I got done during my holiday was my socks.



I finished the first sock on the plane to England, and the second sock was bound off the night before I left for home. Just stockinette, the only exciting thing about them was I tried a picot bindoff, but even that you can't really tell. I like them. I have a huge about of yarn left over, enough for another pair.

As soon as I get back to my dorm (on the 5th), I'll start swatching for Wings of a Dream. I just ordered a set of blocking wires and a tiny crochet hook. Once I'm back in Columbus I'll start hunting for the perfect beads. I only need a few of them, 40 or so, because I've decided to only bead the 'feathers' that are along the edges, rather than throughout the shawl. I'm just dipping my toe in for beaded knitting, and I also don't want to weigh the shawl down with beads.

Right now I'm continuing work on the neverending pink sweater. Currently doing a sleeve. I hate sleeves. I mentioned this to the boy, and it struck him odd.
"Aren't they just like very long socks?" he said.
I thought about this for a while. They're not like socks at all! I love socks! I hate sleeves!
But why?

I've decided I like socks because they're constantly interesting. This sleeve is a foot of ribbing and a foot of stockinette. A sock is a toe, a foot, a heel, and a cuff. As soon as I get bored with one part, the next part comes along. That's why I enjoy knitting socks but loathe the tedium of sweater sleeves.

Speaking of which, as always, there are more socks in my future. Sometime while I'm still in Cinti I'm going down to Knit On in Newport to see what they have, and hopefully pick up some sock yarn for socks for the boy - Valentine's socks. And also some lace yarn, because Knit On is the only shop in the area that stocks Daphne by Elegant Yarns.



Long-color-repeats cobweb yarn. Oh, yes please.

Anyway, I'm off. Until next time, I'll be working on these sleeves.

~Joy