A Start of Sorts

The cleaning bug has left me, as quickly as it came – leaving in its wake a much cleaner house in general, with the exception of a few chores that got abandoned mid-stream when the urge faded rapidly at about 7pm last night.  (That means that the upstairs closet is sort of worse, but closets are like that. They get worse before they get better, so even though it’s spilling out into the room, I’m considering the job half done.) A big bag went to the bin, an even bigger bag out to Goodwill, and today I’m absolutely totally going to think about how to attack the stash room to get the new yarn in.

stashtexas 2014-04-03I had a bit of a “thing” in Texas as the DFW Fiber Fest.  Before I’d left I had decided that I was going to buy yarn. I’d set a budget – because I’m totally like that. I have a thing for yarn, and if I bought all that I wanted I’d be broke and buried in a heartbeat.  I was thinking of this as mostly buying most of the yarn for this year (considering the wee yarn accident I had in February at Madrona) and I was totally committed to project based buying, not affection based buying, which is absolutely how I got in the pickle I’m in now – many fabulous individual skeins, but not enough for projects really, unless you’re talking about an endless parade of hats and socks – or a million striped things.

This trip I sat down before I went to the market, and I laid out some of the things I’d like to make this year.  Sweaters for Lou and Myrie, a gift for a very special occasion coming up, some solid or semi-solid yarns to go with some of the brilliant single skeins I have to turn them into projects, and my a skein or two of yarn that Joe would approve of.  I wrote down the names of the projects, the weights of the yarns I was looking for, and the amounts I needed.  I made a yarn shopping list.

Off I went to the Marketplace, and it went great. I didn’t have much time there – maybe 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there, and that was a great help. There was no time to lose control and fall down on the plan. There was only time to get what was on the list.  I got some great stuff from MadelineTosh, Alisha Goes Around, Brooks Farm Yarn, Knitting Rose Yarns and (be still my beating heart) these two skeins of Sexy from The Buffalo Wool Co.

bisonstart 2014-04-03The colours were beautiful, but the natural knew my name. It’s 50% bison down, and 50% silk, and it’s just the right mix of soft and shiny, light but drapey – when I’m done with it the bison should bloom beautifully, making a little halo that will make the beads even more subtle and beautiful…

beads 2014-04-03Oh, didn’t I mention the beads? Whatever this ends up being, it’s going to be beaded. Last night I started Lilac Wish,  which is lovely – and might totally end up being what I make (despite the lack of beads in the pattern – I’ll slam them in as I go) but this morning I’m possessed of the idea that this pattern is too curved, too crescent-ish (which was predictable, it’s a crescent shawl) and I think I’d like something a lot like it, but more like a stole, but still worked side to side, not end to end. I imagine this going on over a strapless dress (clearly, it will not be me wearing it) and I think it needs to be something else.

skeinbisonbeads 2014-04-03

Ideas? I have 730metres or 800 yards, and it’s a laceweight – and I’d like to use up most of the yarn. It’s too lovely to have leftovers.

The perfect pattern is out there somewhere.

(PS. It turned out that all they yarns I bought were from Texas. How about that.)