My dad is the BEST. He gave me these two skeins of alpaca from Purple Crayon Ranch (no website) a small ranch here in the valley. I've met Lisi and petted her alpacas, so this gift of local fiber would be special enough, but he also included a card saying he'd bought a Knitting Basket from Heifer International, two sheep and two llamas, given to families in need. I couldn't ask for a better gift.
(for the yarn, I have in mind something with colorwork, maybe, like these. Hindered, of course, by my total lack of experience with colorwork, but we'll ignore that for the time being. For now, let it percolate in my stash).
From my mom, a fabulous thrift-store haul. Clockwise from left: two balls of mystery wool (handspun? maybe?), a big fat ball of Trekking, in a lovely color, mystery fall-colored fuzzy (mohair? a blend?), and Donegal Tweed. The last has already found a new form, as a hat (2x2 rib, very simple, not particularly blogworthy although we'll see), but for now the rest are just for me to pet.
Some good references to have, and some inspiration. From the Interweave book, I have this dream of making the Weekend Getaway Satchel. I'm fully aware that this is pure fantasy. It's intarsia, it's freaking huge, and it takes about a million balls of yarn. ...but isn't it purty?
And finally...look what Santa brought! (ballwinder included, not pictured). Oh man oh man oh man.
I, um, kind of rewound a bunch of balls already in my stash, just because it's so much fun. Hooray!
2 comments:
Wow! I'm particularly jealous of that local yarn. As for colorwork - dooooo it! It's not scary, especially for someone already at your skill level. Of course, I'm a bit biased, because colorwork is my favorite thing to knit. :)
A tiny bit of unsolicited advice: learn to knit with both hands (i.e. both continental and English) if you don't know how yet and you're going to do any fair isle. I did several projects holding both yarns in one hand before I learned to knit continental, and it was really tedious and tangly that way. When I finally learned (from Stefanie Japel's online tutorial, somewhere on glampyre.com), I was shocked what a big difference a small new skill (seriously, it took like 5 minutes to learn) could make.
My knitting gifts: the set of all the original colors of Palette from KnitPicks (awaiting me at home when I move back to the States, for fair isle fun galore!), and a skein of Misti Alpaca Laceweight so I can tear my hair out on some complicated lacework. :)
That's what I thought, too! I thought I would try to do a small simple project, like a hat or something, knitting continental style, so I can get used to it before I tackle the fair isle. Have fun with the lace! That will be glorious. I love Misti Alpaca.
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