Stitches West 2010 (What I got)

OK. Here is my haul from Stitches, 2010.

First two pictures are of a small skein of Laqured Silk purchased from John Marshall. He looks for businesses in Japan that are selling close-out stock and then buys up what he is interested in for re-sale. This silk is from the 1970 inventory from Nishijin Mills in Koyoto. "What will you do with it?" Everyone asks me this. My response. "I have no Frickin' idea." Some kind of strange doily I imagine but I just had to have it.

Next two pictures are products from Lisa Souza . Cashmere/Merino Top in "Mahogany" colorway and then a picture of her Wensleydale Top in "Petroglyph". The Spindle is from Carolina Homespun and is purpleheart and redwood burl with a mahogany shaft.

Picture # 5 shows what I got at A Verb For Keeping Warm. 3 skeins of Holding alpaca lace in "Indigo Sky" and 2 skeins of Shimmering Tussah silk in "Thai Iced Tea".

Below that is a picture of the new Verb tote which I just had to have and 3 skeins of Shimmering in "Azure" that I got just before Stitches West at the Verb store because I was too afraid to compete with other shoppers for it at Stitches West. It's always a good idea to secure what I really want at Verb before it disappears.

I also bought a pattern at Windy Valley Musk Ox for the "Gracie" top. I plan to use Golden Crown Suri Alpaca in black for this top. You can also see Brittany double points in US 3 in glove and sock lengths (I have no idea where my other ones went) to fill in the gap in my needle collection as well as a "sheep" nail file from Carolina Homespun.

Last, but not least, my sister got me knitting software. Intwined Pattern Studio by Favor Software. It's a chart design software package under $50 and is supposed to be easy enough for even me to use.

Stitches West 2010 (What My Sister Got)

You are looking at my sisters efforts at Stash Enhancement from Stitches West. First picture is of her fiber selections. from Left to Right you have Lisa Souza BFL in "Josephs Coat" A Verb For Keeping Warm BFL in "Magic Bean" and then Lisa Souza Cashmere/Merino Top in "Sedona". You then have a picture of a pair of The Oxford Punch Needle which are sitting in a Kritter Craft Case "Hippy the Hippo" which you can also see in the last picture in this set. My sister also purchased a video from Judith Mackenzie "Popular Wheel Mechanics". Since we now own 4 wheels and one Electric Spinner, this sounded like a really good DVD to own. Lastly, she bought an Alexandras Craft Kate.

Copritavolo Blocking (God I Love Silk)

Ever since I first got my hands on a skein of "Shimmering" in 100% Tussah Silk from A Verb For Keeping Warm, I have been crazy with the need to knit with it. My first project, Hannelore turned out so well that I had to knit another project as soon as I could. On US 3 needles this yarn works really well for those "smaller" Niebling patterns. You end up with a nice little shawl that takes no time at all to knit and the color and drape are just fantastic. Don't get me wrong, I have plans for my smaller gage yarns but those projects are a lot bigger and will take months to knit. This yarn is great for a "quick hit" of lace knitting.

Copritavolo, knit with US 3 needles, 100% Tussah Silk "Shimmering" from A Verb For Keeping Warm in the "Tidepools" colorway. This shawl is about 53 inches across and I ran out of yarn just after finishing row 140. I had to use a different yarn to cast-off (Shimmering in Chocolate Covered Cherries in regular silk). The pattern had a few weird errors in it but it still turned out nicely :-)

Hannelore (Whiz Bang)

After so many projects that take me months to finish I just wanted one that would be fast. Hannelore is another Herbert Niebling pattern. At 142 rows I had to knit it on US 3 needles to get a shawl of any size. About 40 inches across, 50 inches diagonal, I used 100% Tussah Silk yarn "Shimmering"in the Clafoutis colorway from A Verb For Keeping Warm. It took 10 days to knit and it has none of the "hex mesh" you see in the usual Niebling pattern. The silk gives it terrific drape and I will likely wear this one to Stitches West this year. I actually think I like this pattern better than Lyra. Back to the UFO's :-)