Our Fiber Guild had a yarn swap at tonight’s meeting. I scored big time. I arrived with a bag that was overflowing with yarn that I no long wanted, full balls plus scraps. About 1/2 of it was picked up by other members, the leftovers are being donated to a local school’s art dept. And I managed to score some really good stuff: 2 skeins of Knit Picks Sock Garden, 1 skein of Knit Picks Dancing, 2 skeins of Malabrigo worsted, and 3 skeins of Cascade 220 Quatro.
Woohoo!
I’m really needing a yarn fix. I haven’t ordered any yarn in several months. I think since we ordered the yarn for Nez’s afghan back in July. Yikes! I so want to order yarn and The Loopy Ewe has Cascade 220 for $6.60!! I’ve been wanting grey for a long time and they have the perfect colorway! A semi dark heathered grey that is just gorgeous!
I’m trying to be good and not spend my money on yarn, because Amelia has a birthday coming up in a month plus we are wanting to switch her to a toddler bed, which means redoing her room a bit to be more little girl rather than a nursery. Plus we have a long road trip in 2 weeks and then the holidays will be upon us.
But oh how I want to buy some yarn. Agh! What to do!
A while back I purchased 5 balls of Jaegar Siena then decided I didn’t like that color for the project I was doing. DH said to just keep the yarn instead of sending it back. So I kept it but didn’t really know what to do with it. I think I’ve figured it out. I plan to try it on the Weave-It loom. I know it’s fingering weight, but if it works, I plan to make as many squares as I can then sew them together to make a baby blanket. I say baby, because I doubt it will be any bigger with the amount of yarn I have and as much as the Weave-it uses to make a square. It will be a loose weave, as the loom works best with DK weight yarn, but here in the south, it should be just fine.
In addition to that, I just bought some Classic Elite Miracle in Cuban Sunset and Pressed Olive. I think it’s going to look fabulous when worked up. I’m planning on using it to make a bunch of squares on the Weave-It then sew them together as well.
So lots of projects on the horizon for 2008. 
Here is what happened to my skein of Lion Brand Homespun. I had to cut the yarn before this and join in the middle of the square because this mess showed up. I just can’t believe how poorly this yarn is constructed. There literally is no yarn in this section. It’s gone. All that’s there is the thread that holds the fiber together cause it’s not really spun or plied. It’s just crazy. So once this project is done, that’s it. Nothing else will ever be knit or crocheted using this yarn.
It so happened that I was at my SNB tonight when I came across this problem. So after some whining, I cut the bad section out and continued on. But yes, in good blogger fashion, I saved the crap so I could take a picture and post it here.
Besides that I’m really enjoying the simplicity that is N’s afghan. At least till I get to the seaming and ripple border.
I’m beginning to hate Lion Brand Homespun. I’ve had nothing but back luck with this yarn. In my first project one skein had pooling in the color, horrible, there were sections where one of the colors in the mix was missing so instead of being a bronze-y color it was miliary green with a pinkish hue! I thought maybe I had a different dye lot, but the color problem occurred within the same skein.
With this project, I’m getting towards the end of the first skein and it looks like the yarn ends and all I’m left with is the single strand of thread that holds the fiber together. How frustrating!
I think this is the last time I do anything with this yarn! Had I known how bad it would be, I would have just fixed up my other project and given it to my sister, so I wouldn’t have to use this yarn again. But I’ve got 9 skeins of this crap and I’m determined to make this afghan and make it right. I don’t think I’ve ever been more committed to a project. So it will get done, but it will be the last time I use Lion Brand Homespun.
This weekend I taught my sister how to knit. She has begun two small beginner projects (a tank and a little handbag) as a result and is completely addicted. Woohoo!!
We visited two knit shops in Atlanta and had a blast. I bought some Rowan Linen Drape on sale for almost 1/2 off. Enough to make a sleeveless or short sleeve tank and best of all it’s white so it will match with anything. I also got a skein of Jitterbug, a few balls of Kureyon to make another Booga Bag and I got some really gorgeous sox stix in rosewood. Was going to do magic loop for my Jaywalkers, but I might have to use my pretty stix instead.
The two shops we visited were so different. One had a lot of novelty yarns and Berroco but also a few good classics like Debbie Bliss and some Rowan. The other one had no novelty yarn (which was great) and had yarns that aren’t as easy to find like Claudia Handpainted, Malabrigo, Blue Sky Alpaca and Artyarns. They also had a lot of Addi’s in stock and I got an Addi lace (47″) to make dad’s socks on magic loop. I really enjoyed both stores. The owners were really friendly and helpful and I’ll definitely be going back next time I’m up visiting my sis.
