More alpaca fun

Now I can be all matchy-matchy with my Thistledown Alpacas accessories! (Anyone who knows me knows that I do not have the gene for accessorizing, btw.) I'm so happy with this beret that I violated the rule about only wearing one hand-knit item at a time last night and wore it with the cowl from the same yarn (see previous post). I know the cables get lost in the heathery tones of the yarn, and I knew they would before I started knitting, and I don't care! Knitting with this yarn is such a tactile pleasure, so I wanted to do something with it that would require much handling.

Pattern: Cabled Tam (Vogue Knitting, Holiday 2008)
Yarn: Thistledown Alpacas DK
Needles: US6 (4mm) and US4 (3.5mm)
Mods: only did four of the five pattern repeats

TV wasteland = fun with alpaca

How can there be ABSOLUTELY NOTHING worth watching on a Saturday night on any of the bazillion channels we get? DVD player and a hank of alpaca yarn to the rescue!

The yarn is a sport-weight alpaca from Thistledown Alpacas that I bought last year at Maryland Sheep & Wool. Lovely, just lovely, about 120 yards of softness. There's a lot of texture in there. The pattern is the New New Shale Cowl, only mine is about 5 inches shorter than the pattern instructions call for because 1) I only wanted to use one skein, and 2) I thought a full-length one might be a little heavy in this yarn. This is Alabama, after all. It's not heavily blocked; I just steamed it some to get teh YOs to open up a little.

I have two more hanks of this yarn, and I'm thinking maybe fingerless mitts, or maybe a hat...

See the Monkey!

The Monkey sock must be well on its way to becoming a classic by now. Cookie A hit it out of the park with this one!

Pattern: Monkey socks (Knitty, Winter 2006)
Needles: US2 for cuff, US0 for body
Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL in colorway 100

The word from my LYS is that this colorway has been discontinued. I suppose you either love it ot hate it (I love it, Egg hates it, but then he's not wearing them, is he?).

Lia over at The Knitting Defective has challenged herself to knit 52 (!!!) pairs of socks this year. You go, Girl! I think I'm aiming for a pair a month. So these are my January socks; now what to do for February...

Crawling back into the light

A bout of the winter blues has been an unwelcome visitor over the last few weeks, but despite not getting it together to post anything, I haven't been entirely unproductive. Happily, the re-purposing of the Portland Tweed from the unfortunate hooded scarf into a sweater was in my humble opinion entirely successful:

TAH-DAH! Something I will actually wear (and already have)!

Pattern: Climbing Vines Pullover (Interweave Knits, Winter 2008)
Yarn: Portland Tweed by Classic Elite (bought at Sheep To Shawl in Montevallo)
Needles: US7s for the body, US6s for the ribbing
Modifications:

• Worked body in the round until the armholes,
• Simplified the armhole shaping,
• Picked up the sleeves at the shoulder and worked in the round to the cuff,
• Added a small gusset in the armpit (I HATE sweaters that bind),
• Made the neckline a little higher and the overall length a little longer

Santa Claus also had something on back order for me, which finally arrived. At last year's Maryland Sheep & Wool, I bought two hanks of Delly's Delights Twist of Heaven Alpaca DK, all they had left. I had no specific plan for it, but I couldn't leave without it. The name is perfect; it is unbelievably soft and lush, possibly the softest alpaca yarn I've found so far. And the color! A strand of chocolaty brown and one of a soft gunmetal grey (there's an oxymoron for you!) This close-up kinda captures it.

Anyway, at some point I decided that two hanks weren't enough, and two more arrived last week. Yards and yards of the most perfect alpaca yarn ever! And because I think it's so perfect, I'm utterly intimidated picking out just the right project for it. I mean, how can I even contemplate sullying something so wonderful with a mediocre project? So the search goes on for just the right thing...