and now for something completely different

Knitting! And Yarn!

I have been busy knitting since finishing the mystery shawl. I wanted an empire-line tunic top/dress thing to wear for summer. I wanted to be able to wear it over capris so I could do the school run but it had to be long enough to slip on alone for those times when I need to dash from the sand to the shop to buy calippos. And I assure you my friends, no-one needs to see me do that in a swimsuit only.

So I scoured my pattern books. Scratch that, total lie. I scoured Donni's pattern books, found something similar in the Summer Rebecca (no 29 - it's on the cover - the girl is wearing a paper hat). Now to find a yarn suitable. Had to have drape. Had to have a bit of sheen, but no sparkle for I don't do sparkle unless it is beads. Had to be soft and light for summer. Praise you Ebay! Got a right bargain on 21 balls of this cotton.
Shiny, drapey, nice colour. And the folded pressed knitting in the top photo is one sleeve and one back of the finished tunic. I did have two sleeves but they looked nothing like each other so I ripped one back. It was then that I remembered why I hate making anything with more than one piece.

Did I mention that I won a competition? Donna of Random knits held a competition to name the monkey. I won the monkey naming competition! Anyway, she of great stash sent me a prize. A hank of Artisan Lace. Oh and it is the most adorable thing. From a merchandising point of view it is hard to present hanks as they always look messy. But Margaret Stowe has used her info band as a joining tool and makes the hank look like a little braided nest. (Shut up Ailsa - the detail is killing them). Did you also know that Donna has enough sock yarn in her stash to make about 70 pairs of socks? Check out her blog archives for when she flashed her stash.

I had originally considered making the tunic in the silk I recently purchased from the Wool Peddler. It's called Avalanche and is a single silk strand slightly thinner than Lion and Lamb and made to dye at home. I thought I better have a practice run before I went and wrecked $100 USD of yarn. But I'll show you the yarn anyway.I got 5 hanks of it. I think I'll make Annie Modesitt's silk corset from it.

Recently I also found on ebay a bargain on some Lana Grossa 50/50 wool/cotton. It worked out less than $2.50 a ball for this stuff. Unfortunately the colour isn't as nice as it looked in the picture. I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

And then yesterday I went to Miranda Westfeild and got a bargain on some Twilley's denim Freedom. This will make a nice tshirt style knit top or even a crochet throwover (we do not say poncho) for summer. I got 5 balls of this at $3 a ball.

So here's a shot of it all together.

Now dear husband if you're reading this, you might think this is a lot of yarn to accumulate. But if you think this is just a normal part of one's knitting life, I would appreciate a comment here so I can use it as evidence that my yarn buying is not excessive. Thanks guys.