I'm disappointed...

in the Kauni yarn that I am using for my Zetor Scarf. It is not soft at all. I read the comments on Ravelry about this yarn and one of them mentioned that it softens up after being washed. However, since I will be spending a good part of the month working on this project, I am opting to put this project away and use a different yarn, probably the Malabrigo lace that I have in Pearl. I don't want to knit up a scratchy yarn for a whole month and not enjoy the process, It's really too bad because I was really looking forward to seeing the Kauni knit up.

Malabrigo at Costco

I went to Costco last week for the bimonthly family stock up: Salmon burgers, bread, salad, diapers...I like to look around while I am there to see what they have new. I used to fantasize that they would one day carry yarn.... Granted, they wouldn't carry all of the fabulous yarns that my FLYS carries, but the staples, most definitely. Variety boxes of Malabrigo, sweater supply gift boxes of Plymouth Encore, perhaps even promotional items during the holidays of handpainted lace. Wow, that would be awesome...

Well, last week, I saw a box of yarn. Huh, I thought. That's interesting...upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was a spool knitting kit, but it had something like 6 skeins of yarn, enough to make a few hats or scarves. Interesting indeed...Costco moving into yarn territory...

The poll, would you buy yarn from Costco on a regular basis if they sold yarn?

Mrs. Brown's Scarf

Mrs. Brown is my daughter's first grade teacher. I think she is a wonderful teacher. My daughter has thrived in her class and feels good about herself. Mrs. Brown has always been clear with her expectations of my daughter, but also understands that my daughter is a child, with a very good imagination and stubborn will. She has never tried to stifle my child's creativity with biases and inflexible beliefs of how children "should" act in the classroom.

Last year, my daughter got in trouble a lot because she has the tendency to lose focus. Her teacher wanted her to be tested for Asperger's Syndrome because of this. My daughter was in the top 5% of her class and made friends just fine in preschool. She socializes on the playground easily and has very good communication skills. I was insulted that her teacher thought that there may be something wrong with my child.

Since changing schools, my little girl doesn't pull behavior cards and she is never afraid of being sent to the principal's office. Mrs. Brown understands that my daughter has a very (over)active imagination and doesn't punish her for it. When I discuss my concerns with her about my daughter's tendency to go off in her own little world (especially in the middle of a math lesson!) she understands that my little girl loves to pretend: her imaginary friend, whom she calls Buggy, has birthday parties, and a house, and makes fancy clothes for her, and talks about Buggy's family and friends...very extravagant imaginings...and it tends to spill over into her academic life.

Mrs. Brown, instead of calling it a problem, calls it a gift. Instead of making my daughter feel like she is doing something wrong when she plays with Buggy in the middle of class, Mrs. Brown redirects her attention and reminds her to put Buggy in her pocket. The worst thing that has happened this year was that she lost recess time because she kept talking. Would a child who had trouble socializing have gotten in trouble for that? I think not.

I am so grateful for Mrs. Brown. For this, I was inspired during my knitting group to knit a scarf for her end of the year present. I had my daughter ask her teacher what her favorite color was... no wonder my little girl likes her so much; her answer was pink. I chose Le Fibre Nobili's Taj Mahal with my daughter yesterday from my FLYS. It is a Cashmere/Merino/Silk blend, one of the best kinds of blends, as far as I am concerned. It is soft with a wonderful sheen and it will show off the stitches wonderfully.

Wonderful fibers for my daughter's wonderful teacher. I wish all teachers were like this.

Zetor Scarf

I cast on for Zetor Scarf this past Thursday, before my knitting group met. I printed it out a couple of weeks ago and for some reason, the pattern never left my dining room table. Every time I cleared the table for a meal, there it was. It haunted me, until I gave in to the compulsion to cast on for it. I chose the Kauni 8/2 yarn that I bought from Stitches West because I thought that the slow transitions would match well with the pattern. When I saw the colors in the skein, they reminded me of roses and the way the petals slowly transition from white to pink.

I found the center ball from the skein and pulled it out. I was a little disappointed to see that it was a tan color...the whole center ball. Hmmmmm. I thought, well, it's not a big wad...so I decided to cast it on. I was wrong...the tan color went on and on...for 2 whole repeats of the second part of the pattern. Ugh, if the pattern wasn't so well written and so easily knit up, I would have frogged it and cut off the tan part of the yarn!

I just started the 3rd repeat of the second chart when the color finally changed to pink. THANK GOD! Now I was able to go to bed...

Aside from the disappointing color issue, the shawl is a nice pattern. You have to study the chart and the instructions carefully to understand that there is a 2 stitch garter on each side.

I've given up on lifelines, after forsaking them in my latest completed lace project, Gail. I found that placing markers after each pattern repeat is working for me. It reminds me of the double yarn overs in between the repeats. I am looking forward to seeing more of the pink and white transitions in this project; hopefully, they will balance out the wide tan neck area.

Cozy in Cashmere and Silk

I started Cozy, a shawl that I found on Knitty.com. I had to knit something with the 6 skeins of Karabella Breeze that I bought from Babetta's last year. I refuse to admit that I can't find a simple pattern to use for this yarn. I love the color and for goodness' sake, it's a cashmere/silk blend. What am I...crazy?!

I needed an easy lace pattern in a shawl that will be a good cover up for those nights that I am chilly. I saw this pattern a while ago and kept a pin in it, as they say. I hope to use up most of the Breeze for it...

Fun with Alpacas

I visited the West Valley Alpaca Farm with two of my friends from my Knitting Group today. I heard about it from one of my other knitting friends on Ravelry.

Pat Meade and Jon Robbins run this small farm, where they keep a herd of 11 alpaca. Pat says that at their largest, they had a herd of 30 at one time. They sell alpacas, and have a small store where they sell the fleece that they shear from their animals, their own yarn, and yarn from other alpaca yarn companies. I really really really wanted to buy some of their yarn, but I bought a whole bag of blanket fleece shorn from Phoenix, one of their males, and a half a bag of blanket fleece (split with Claudia) shorn from Dorian, another male with the most beautiful coloring: grey, brown, black, and tan. I am hoping that one of my spinner friends can spin it for me. Phoenix is the back alpaca in the photo to the right =>

I tried spinning with a drop spindle...didn't do much for me...I would rather have already spun yarn.

We watched Pat and Jon (and a young helper) shear Ligu, one of the studs. The fleece that they sheared off looked just like a rug, thick and warm. Pat said that it was a year's growth. They separated the fiber into three categories: blanket, which is the softest part of the alpaca, sheared from the saddle area and for projects that will be worn next to the skin, Seconds, which is coarser and had more particles than the blanket, and Thirds, which is coarser than Seconds, good for felting projects. Some of the shearings aren't considered good enough to use/sell, so Pat says that she uses them in her compost; she wastes nothing. They sell the blanket portions of their alpacas' fleece, 2 of which came home with me. While it is true that the fleece gets coarser with age, I couldn't tell the difference, or rather, I didn't mind paying much less for "older fleece" instead of the more expensive younger alpaca fleece. Heck, it's alpaca--it's all soft, as far as my hands are concerned!

This is Ligu before...and after his shearing!

Finished Gail!

After over a month of intensely focused lace knitting, here she is, waiting to be bound off. I was so excited to be done with the last purl row, I had to take a picture to capture the moment. I took the time to find just the right bind off for it...
It's like that moment where you want to think that nothing can go wrong...yet fear that if something can go wrong it will. My fear is that I will bind it off too tightly, or the edge won't match the CO edge. Oh horrors!

Ravelry forums to the rescue! K2, return to left needle, K2Tog. *K1 (plus st on right needle), return both to left needle, K2tog. Repeat from *



Here she is, bound off, and steam blocked. This way of blocking is so much easier than wet blocking! All I did was pin the finished shawl onto my blocking boards, heat up my iron and placed the hot iron, steaming, over the fabric, without letting the iron actually touch the fabric. I held the iron about one inch above my lace for about 5 seconds and voila!

I let it airdry overnight. This morning, I took off the pins and it was done.

Adorning my husband's recliner

Adorning me