Christmas in February!

The yayforyarn yarns came tied up with a Jo Sharp sample and a handwritten note from Kiri, who had read my post to the Spiraluscious thread -- really nice extras that you don't get from big businesses!

And Mel tied her skeins together and strung the Nepalese balls on a cord ... and added a sample of some multicoloured soy DK

I really should stop soon

Yet more yarn arrived today -- strandedinoz's alpaca silk and Nepalese laceweight, and the Kaalund and Araucania from yayforyarn.

The lavender silk could be just the thing for the Viola frills

One last yarn buying trip, to CCCK, to get some Rowans or Patons or Cleckheaton, to make something from Kim Hargreaves' book

And pick up another ball of KSA from Clegs for Satine? no, I've just started the 4th ball and I think I've knitted more than half the stitches (esp as this will be much shorter than the pattern specifies), so I already have enough to make both Viola and Satine

keeping the knitting economy going ...

I feel guilty blogging about all this yarn I'm buying from everywhere but CCCK, esp as Andrea is my one and only follower :-) ... when I went there for the first time, I was all set to go on a stash diet, so only stroked the lovely yarns in her shop, and only bought some buttons and a pair of knitting needles.

Now that I've decided that stash diets are "not my style" I went looking for suitable patterns for some of the Rowan yarns that Andrea stocks, and found Kim Hargreaves' Heartfelt (only available from her web site) -- with postage, it will cost almost $50 but I think it has at least 5 or 6 patterns that I want to make, for Ruth, Clare or me, and some of them call for Rowan Big Wool or Cocoon ... or kidsilk :-)

it's raining yarn

hallelujah! the yarn fairy brought two parcels yesterday, probably at the end of his shift -- he waited for my partner to pedal up to our gate so he could hand them to him (the couriers usually come in the morning, leave the parcels on our veranda, and scurry away to keep to their schedule) and another today:

the (150g) Handmaiden Seasilk skeins from Colorsong / Bob and Nancy, who don't charge for shipping, saving me at least US$8.65 :-) -- here are Seashore and Renaissance:

and the SWTC yarns from ecoyarns -- Karaoke (full bag):

and a single Tofutsies:

And Melissa at strandedinoz is ready to ship the alpaca-silk and Nepalese skeins that she dyed (McLaren Vale colourway) for me over the weekend, so these might arrive by Friday:

ah, the luxury of having yarns custom-dyed -- Mel's given me a bit more than 150g of alpaca-silk, to make sure I have enough for Anne Hanson's irtfa'a, and also ensured there's enough Nepalese to make a large shawl (or airy shrug?)

today's harvest was Malabrigo laceweight and worsted from yarnandkisses (in Oz) -- only 6 days between order and delivery -- here are Alpine Pearl and Indigo:

The Alpine Pearl has more green than blue/lavender ... although in photos it looks like a reasonable match for stranding with Indigo, when I'm holding them side by side in my hands, I'm not so sure -- I'll just have to knit a swatch and see.

is this addiction?

there were several things I planned to do today: my long overdue tax return for 2008, the marking scheme for tomorrow's supp exam, lecture notes for this semester, shopping at Myers and/or Readings, making my first batch of ice cream ...

but all I really did was knit Viola, buy some more yarn, update my stash and projects, read and post to forums

I thought a bit about the *process* of doing my tax return, and decided not to go to Myers or Readings (because of the smoke haze from the bushfires), and bought ice cream ingredients instead (and put the ice cream maker container in the freezer) ... but actually making the ice cream will have to wait until tomorrow -- in the meantime, I've cleared some working space on the kitchen table, and put out some mixing bowls and non-perishable ingredients

stash fairy tomorrow?

a number of stash orders should be arriving over the next few days: the seasilk from colorsong, karaoke & tofutsies from ecoyarns, the malabrigo from yarns & kisses; and Mel might email an invoice for the alpaca-silk and Nepalese laceweight; by next week, the Kaalund and Araucania should arrive from yay for yarn

and then I'd better stop buying and just keep on knitting!

Violet Viola

I queued Viola a week before French Girl even arrived but let it drift down the page, as lacier projects rose to the top ... I told myself there was nothing really unique about it, except the yarn, and I had no plans to trek out to Sunspun to buy kidsilk aura, and had nothing of suitable weight in my stash. But I really liked looking at its photo ...
Today I went to Clegs to buy circs and maybe some sock yarn or even some luscious fingering for spiraluscious ... OMG they have kidsilk night, which is discontinued ... and this deep purple kidsilk aura!! But (according to the ravelry pattern page) I need 11 skeins, at $13.95! if I had a stash budget, this would blow it ... but fortunately, I don't budget :-) (actually, the book specifies only 8 balls for the 40" size -- don't know why the ravelry page is so much over-spec)

So now I've swatched on 6.5mm and then again on 6mm, and have scanned the first two pages of instructions, as well as the tutorial pages on top-down set-in sleeves ... despite all the KAL activity, there are only 3 other Viola projects, and only 1 Louisa and, although the pattern page says there are 8 Veronique projects, there are only two with photos -- the other one has only a photo of the yarn, and no start date, yet has been viewed 60+ times (to my 39).