Friday, December 07, 2007

More cool yarn!

I’ve been pretty busy the last couple of weeks - test and doctors, you know the drill.  The good news is that my cholesterol and blood sugar are perfect :) The bad news is that I will need to start chemotherapy again after the first of the year.

I tend not to do a lot of knitting when I have a lot of running around to do, but I’ve been working on dad’s socks.  In fact I brought them with me to lunch-with-the-girls this afternoon.  We ate at TGI Fridays, where we always meet, and while Friday’s food is pretty good (go for the Dragonfire chicken - it was awesome!), it’s lighting sucks when you’re knitting charcoal colored yarn.  I had to stop when I realized I had dropped a stitch somewhere.  I didn’t have a prayer of finding it in that light :)

I’ve also begun swatching for a blanket.  Having absolutely no luck at figuring out what stitch patterns I want to use, I finally decided to swatch a bunch of them and see what pleases both my eye and my fingers :)

And thanks to a surprise gift from another friend, I came home with more vintage yarn!

This is Unger French Tweed.  There are three huge hanks of it - 3.2 oz, 384 yard hanks.  I was able to trace it back to late 70s/early 80s.  It is a very tightly twisted yarn so I’ll have to be careful about how I work it.  It is beautiful though - an orchid colored yarn with slubs of pink and purple.  I have never worked with anything like it before and am looking forward to seeing how it works up!  The ball band recommends a size 4 needle, but I’m thinking a larger needle might be more appropriate.





This is Bernat Musetta.  Unlike the tweed, this is in standard 50 gram balls so is a more recently manufactured item.  It’s a bulky yarn, about 75 yards/ball, of wool/mohair composition with a small percentage of acrylic and it is the most gorgeous burgundy-cedar-eggplant colorway.  I’ll have to think about what to do with this because it is just so luscious :)

I love mohair - could you tell?

Okay - this last isn’t vintage :) It’s Schoeller and Stahl Socka - beautiful, fingering weight washable wool - 5 balls of it.  And - see that color?  I probably won’t be making white socks, but won’t this dye beautifully?  Whee!





Chatters is on Saturday evening - most definitely :) Drop in if you have the chance.  Hot yarn talk and festive companionship!  What’s not to like?

And have a great weekend!

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1. I’m so sorry to hear about the chemo, but that does not distract me from the rather disturbing fact that you love mohair. Do you ever have to frog what you knit? How can you bear that? I love the feel of it but tinking and ripping becomes such a nightmare for me that I avoid mohair as much as possible! At least I know where to send all my mohair now. :)

   Posted by Opal  on  12/07  at  10:52 PM
   Location : Honolulu, Hawaii



2. Opal - LOL!  I’m not a perfect knitter by any means, and do have to tink from time to time.  The secret to that seems to be to do it slowly and carefully - don’t yank!  And it’s also important to keep a close eye on your work so that a minor error can be repaired without having to rip out several rows to do it.

   I love it because it’s light weight, warm as toast (something you probably don’t need to worry about) and takes color like silk - rich and saturated - and is, often, bulky enough to work up quickly.

   Posted by Robbyn  on  12/08  at  12:30 AM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



3. I’ll be at Chatters tomorrow! Weee!

   Posted by nat  on  12/08  at  01:24 AM
   Location : typimg im the dark



4. Nat - Yipee!!  It will be great to see you :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  12/08  at  11:52 AM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



5. well, i’m bummed about the chemo too, but i also know its benefits, so we’ll concentrate on those!! you had sorta ‘hinted’ to me this might be in the works, but i was hoping it might be farther down the road- oh well, you have such lovely yarns for distraction that i can see lots of excellent ideas and much color play coming into the picture-

   i have a major penchant for mohair myself, and i think that even the annoyance of frogging it pales in comparison to both working with it and the finished projects- i could probably open up a shawl/scarf store if i ever used up the amount i have stockpiled because i just saw it and immediately had to have it- too bad my yarn purchases have never been matched by my completed ‘ideas’-

   socka yarn- i have a ‘collection’ of that too- i think i bought a few skeins and they reproduced when i turned my back- i’ll be eager to see what you decide to do with yours, so i can immediately play lemming-i did see the new ‘knitty’ has a *sweater* made from sock yarn but i do not even aspire to making anything that large- if you remember, i have ‘henry viii’ about a week from completion and haven’t looked at it for years!!

   if i can distract everyone here at ‘dysfuction central’ from bellowing my name i will try to drop in at ‘chatters’ and see what you creative people are up to-

   stay happy-

   Posted by  on  12/08  at  12:19 PM
   Location : looking for christmas spirit



6. I’m sorry to hear about the chemo Robbyn, but I am thankful it is available for you when you need it. I am going to try to hang out in Chatters with ya for a while tonight, after we get back from dinner and some shopping. Have a great day!

   Posted by Lisa  on  12/08  at  01:43 PM
   Location :



7. Aren’t you just queen of vintage yarn lately?  Sorry you’ll have to go through chemo again.  I’ll be thinking of you!

   Posted by Laura  on  12/08  at  02:04 PM
   Location :



8. You’re back up! Yay! I missed you last night!

   Posted by Lisa  on  12/09  at  01:23 PM
   Location :



9. Barb - Sorry the chat fell through.  I was so disappointed - as well as frustrated at letting all you good folks down :(

   Ah yes - mohair.  Perhaps one of the most cantankerous things to work with, but so warm and lovely!  I was first introduced to this with the King Cole mohair - the most elegant colorways and truly luxurious stuff.

   I know it’s going to be tricky to work, but I love the stuff with an unabashed passion :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  12/09  at  02:15 PM
   Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



10. Lisa - thanks for the good thoughts :) Again, I’m so sorry about the “Chat” loss last night.  Things weren’t actually resovled until about 2 PM this afternoon.  ARGGHHHHH....

    Posted by Robbyn  on  12/09  at  02:16 PM
    Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



11. Laura - You know, the more vintage yarn I get to play with, the more fun I have :) Some of this stuff is so funky!  And of course some of it, like the Pingouin wool/angora is so lush and beautiful, you can’t imagine how anyone in their right mind could have kept their hands off of it for 30 years!

    Posted by Robbyn  on  12/09  at  02:18 PM
    Location : I won't tell if you won't :)



12. I was so sad to miss Chatters last night, I know these things cant be helped. I’ll be visiting with rellies next weekend and away all week, but maybe the 23rd is a possibility if you are hosting so close to Xmas

    Posted by nat  on  12/09  at  02:57 PM
    Location : typimg im the dark

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