2 packages in 2 days! Now what could this be? Oh my lawd, a big honking hank of Skacel Merino Lace, 100% hand-dyed for me! Natasha, you are too kind. Too too kind. The colors are so delicious that I am at a loss for words. Heck it looks gorgeous on a hank that I might just wear it as is. How’s that for a new fashion statement? And look, she even included a card. Aww… she called me “beeeutiful”. Thank you so much, Natasha. Truth be told, this has been a crappy week. Only 2 more experiments to go and I would have completed my thesis, and the machine flat out BROKE and had to be shipped back to the manufacturer for repair. I have a conference to go to at the end of the month and the timing couldn’t have been worse. What can I say? There’s the yin and the yang. Cursed in experiments, blessed in the stash department. A certain knitter dubbed me the Crazy Speedknitting Lady.. girl, it ain’t that crazy when you’re stressed out over work and can’t sleep at nights. Those wee hours in the morning just bought me precious knitting time. So if you happen to drive by my neck of woods and see the light on at 4am in the morning with the moving shadow of a knitter, it’s me. Stressed on research, and knitting like a maniac (and constipated, of course. We must not leave out the important details.)
I don’t know what I am going to make with this yet, but I know that it has to be divine. Incidentally, isn’t life funny? I just totally blogged about how great Skacel Collection is yesterday and today I receive a hank of yarn by Skacel. Ah, the mysteries of life.

Now I am slower than most when it comes to finding good patterns, but ever since I saw this little number on Elann I’ve been very tempted by it. But to order all those yarn just to have a peek at the pattern? I think not. To my knowledge, this pattern book has sold out and is out of print. The last glimpse I had of it was on Ebay and sold for 20 buckaroos (not including shipping.. which was.. like.. another 6 bucks). Undaunted, I googled the internets and found one knitter who referenced this pattern book. Lucky for me, Kim of http://curliegirl.blogspot.com/ is kind enough to send me her copy in exchange for the Japanese wool yarn that I used to knit Stephanie’s Spring Grass Socks. Whew, that was a long sentence. In addition to the lovely bomber on your left, I also fell in love with this cala-lily sweater here.
Guess I have to re-evaluate my opinion on sweaters knit w/ chunky yarn huh? And wait, there’s more. How about this sweater that is on every knitting magazine this fall? So there is another point to this story here. After I sent my first email to Kim about this pattern book, I also emailed Schoeller-Stahl to see if they have copies of the bomber and the cala-lily sweater that I can perhaps purchase - cuz I thought my chances of Kim parting with this pattern book would be slim. Turned out that Skacel Collection is the US distributor of Schoeller-Stahl, and one of their representatives emailed me back saying that though the pattern is out of print, he could make photocopies of the 2 patterns that I like for me. Yipee! Instead what I found on my doorstep today was THE WHOLE PATTERN BOOK with a note that said: (note the pink pen)And then there were two….
Update: So Andrea brought up a question. “Will I be willing to part with one?” The answer is Yes. I received the pattern book from Kim as a trade - my sock yarns for her pattern. The second one was just by sheer dumb luck. If you love the patterns as much as I do, we could always do a My Duplicates for Your Duplicates trade. No duplicates? Make an offer - Cream Puffs sound good to me. Ha ha. Try me - I’m easy (in a good way.. tsk tsk tsk)

That’s right, girl, it’s all you. 13 balls of Den-M-Nit in Dark Indigo to make Raspy. Let’s hope I have enough, or else I’m gonna cry.
Inspired by Wendy, Terhi, Joy, Kris and Crafty Wench’s detailed analysis of the denim yarns. But all in all, I blame it on Diana. There I’ve said it. Come and get me.
Update: Uh oh.. are my eyes playing tricks on me? Shouldn’t I get wider swatch with the sz 6’s? Should I resort to Sz 4 and 5 for my Raspy?

Look no further people, cuz I kidnapped the knitting fairy. After fiddling around with the Barf Opal without success, I rolled it up and threw it to the side so it can evaluate what it had done wrong. Then it suddenly occurred to me :”When was the last time I showed a finished knitting sweater on this blog?” Too damn long ago that’s when! Armed with my Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and the whacked out Rebecca pattern, I summoned the knitting fairy and told her that she needs to sprinkle some magic dust in this household. Voila! This baby started knitting itself last friday night and magically finished in 5 days. 5 days people! That’s a piece a day. Holy cow, they don’t call her the knitting fairy for nuthin’. So that’s a little preview before the seaming party this weekend. Hm, need to summon the seaming fairy too. Heck, I even got some buttons. So which one do you think will work better? Yea I know this indoor lighting is crap for true colors.. but you get the idea. (The sizes are about the same.. just so you know)

Now some of you may wonder: “It’s already Fall. What the hell is she doing with a summer sweater? She must be on crack!”. That’s right my friends. Come on, we’re in L.A - Land of Hollywood and Fake Everything. It’s all about the looks here. Fashion ladies, not function. My titties may be freezing, but I’ll look hot! (okay.. you may all boo now. I totally deserve that).

Meet Exhibit A — the highly acclaimed, highly coveted sock yarn. Her name is Opal.
So after knitting a few pairs, I thought I had gathered enough experience to splurge for a pair of Opal socks. You know, just to see what it’s like. So I bought Exhibit A, pulled out a few yards of the yarn, saw that it had two repeating segments, and pondered: “Hm, self patterning. That should be interesting.” I went about my usual routine - you know, the Sz 0 toothpicks and 60sts for my toe-ups, and knit knit knit. Holy crap. The stockinette looks like barf. Okay.. since it’s so crazy looking, might as well throw in a Chevron pattern to see if that helps any. Woah.. more barf. Okay.. maybe.. ribbing would help - you know, conceal the color changes. Knit knit knit.. ah shit, that trick is for self-striping socks. Duh. Then I thought: “Must be the toe-ups. It’s screwing with the patterning. Oh man.. does that mean I gotta do ‘em top down?” So, CO 60 sts and knit a few rows just to see if any pattern emerges. Do you see any? Well, yea, neither do I. Self-patterning my ass. Is there some kind of a magical CO # that I’m missing? Shoulda gone with the Opal Uni’s instead. Bleh.