When The World Is Crazy, Might As Well Knit

Despite the gorgeous weather today and the Santa Claus Parade (it starts up the block from me), gotta say I'm not feeling my best. Maybe it's the season, maybe the recent funeral, definitely it's the political unrest... Pick your poison. Point is, I'm a total sad sack. I could barely bring myself to eat lunch (or drink my glass of wine?!?!). Scott suggested that we go out for a walk before dinner, just to ensure I get some fresh air. Note to reader: He never does that.

So, given that Ewe Knit, my LYS, moved from Mirvish Village to, um, basically the top of my street, it seemed like a no-brainer to go shopping. In truth, I've started visiting often, now I can knit again (my pain situation is much improved). There's something so compelling about thousands of artisanal hanks of wool, artfully displayed. It really does make everything seem alright. And when you can experience it against the backdrop of thousands of families enjoying a parade, right outside on a warm, bright day - well, it's a good thing.

For starters, here's the (regrettably overexposed) haul:

While this gives you a sense of the true colour of the Rowan "soot" colourway, it really washes out the gorgeous blue jewel-toned and amazing variegated yarns.

The goodies are: Rowan Superfine Merino Aran in Soot (3 skeins), Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock in Stillwater (1 skein) and Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted in a jewel-toned blue called Rip Tide (2 skeins). FYI, Sweet Georgia is a Canadian brand that I LOVE. The yarn is all hand-dyed and the product is excellent. I liken it to Madeline Tosh but less expensive (in Canada at least). The sock yarn, particularly, wears amazingly because it's got a bit of nylon in it.

You may recall that the Rowan Superfine Merino Aran is what I'm using to knit the garter stitch version of L'enveloppe. FYI, you can also make it using seed stitch. I'm almost finished this unusual garment, btw (subject of my next post). I really don't appreciate the splitty nature of the Rowan yarn - as I've told practically everyone who will listen - but I want a pair of mitts that matches the shawl, so I guess I'm in it for 3 more skeins.

Here are the mitts:

Seed Stitch Mittens + Hand Warmers by Purl Soho

Stupidly, despite the name of the mitt pattern, when I started the garter stitch version of L'enveloppe, I forgot that these mitts are designed to be knit in seed stitch only (infinitely more elegant - if much more fussy - than garter stitch). My goal was to have a matching shawl / mitts set yet I went and made the shawl in garter. My reasoning was sound - garter stitch is WAY easier than seed and I have no idea of how it is going to fit in the end. Didn't want to invest lots of potentially painful wrist-action on an unknown. But now I've got to hope that dark grey yarn can provide a cohesiveness to this "set" that the pattern certainly cannot. Live and learn.

Mercifully, aran-weight yarn knits together fast - especially if you're used to making intricate sweaters in a gauge that rivals dental floss. I can see why Wool and the Gang (and their mega-bulky yarn knit with US15 needles) are so popular. By contrast, I'm used to using fine fingering-weight on size US1 needles.

After the mitts and shawl, I'm either going to use this variegated Sweet Georgia fingering to make socks (my KAL "recipe") - here's how it knits up:

OR the Sweet Georgia worsted to make the Winterlong scarf by Bristol Ivy:

Winterlong Scarf by Bristol Ivy

Y'all know how impressed I am by Bristol Ivy's patterns. She's the one who designed the infuriatingly genius Svalbard.

Would I be better positioned to have used some of the 8000 yards of yarn I already own (and that's probably an accurate count, fwiw)? Um yeah. But I'm a bit sick of matching projects to my stash leftovers right now - that's always a bit of a trick and it requires a certain degree of creativity I'm not feeling.

If only I could predict how much yarn to buy so that I'm not left with 100 yards less than that which is required to make whatever other item I'd be happy to use up my stash on...

Anyway, that's me today. What about you? Do you like these yarns / patterns?