I have chosen to ignore the cardigan’s note. I understand its pain, but I have way too many unfinished projects to respond to threats like that. If I give in to the sweater, it will be mutiny…and I am very badly outnumbered. I did go buy it some buttons, and sweet talked it with promises of no-rinse woolwash. I think I’ve bought myself enough time to show you this.
It’s about 10 million metres of snowy white laceweight yarn. It’s a two ply, and it’s got a lovely halo from some fuzzy fibre. Fibre content is somewhat unknown, but I’ve burned it, bleached it and felted it and it’s absolutely 100% natural fibre. My best guess is wool/mohair. I knit a little swatch.
This is (appropriately) “Snowdrop Lace” (Feb 2nd from this handy dandy calendar) The picture doesn’t even begin to do it justice. It’s soft and delicate and I feel happy when I look at it. Guess where I got it. C’mon, just try, humour me. Give up? Value Village. (Insert maniacal laughter here) That’s right, a thrift store. People are always telling me that they get this good wool in thrift stores and then I go there and all they have is 17 balls of beige acrylic and a ball of red and green Christmas wool with a silver thread in it. Yeah, well…Not this time baby. I scored big time. There’s enough here for probably 2 shawls. Big ones. Maybe a cowl or a wimple too. I have never wanted a wimple, but I’m hopped up on cheap laceweight and the world’s my oyster. Do I hear somebody asking “How cheap was it?” Sit down and take a deep breath. Ready? $1.99. HA! Think maybe you read that wrong? One dollar and ninety-nine cents. CANADIAN. What kind of crazy deal is that! Wish you were me? Sure you do. If we were in a bar I’d buy you all a beer. What’s the laceweight celebration equivalent? Scarves for all my friends!
(PS, if you live in Toronto and you were thinking about e-mailing me to find out what Value Village? Forget it. I got it all)
Yarn Harlot
That halo looks like Angora to me, awfully soft and blurry for mohair. What a great find! Watch it carefully or the NoName sweater might put it in the mail to the Pacific NW US…
Maybe so Sheila, but I suspect that it’s my photography that’s “soft and blurry”. The fuzzy stuff has a staple length of about 5″, which was why I suspected mohair. I don’t know much about angora, can it have such a long fibre length? This stuff is pretty soft…
Steph, I’m so glad to see you’re blogging. I’ve always loved your posts on the lists. You are such an entertaining & witty writer. I’m linking your blog right away.
Don’t let that cardi push you around, show it who’s boss! LOL 🙂 I’m so *ENVIOUS* of your bargain find at Value Village. Wow! A $1.99CAN for all that yarn? You lucky gal, you.
That might have constituted fibre porn…. Pardon me whilst I go wipe the drool off my face.
Yep. That sounds like my Value Village – half balls of neon acrylic. I did find some very nice coloured aluminum Boye knitting needles there once though. Your lace-weight yarn looks fabulous. I’m looking for some myself but refuse to pay through the schnoz for it. Someday I’ll stumble across some too. Send me karma?
Oh thank you, thank you Stephanie- not just for the blog (which is great btw) but also giving me some ray of hope. It dawned on me this week that everytime someone mentions a great and indispensible acquisition (swift, ebony circular, gotland fleece, cute needle holder…) i feel the *need* to track one down for myself- it is like a weird quest. But, a miracle must have happened, i read your blog and (while i felt joy at your score) I didnt need to buy lace weight. I must be cured!
I’m with you, Sarah.
Steph, feuille de chou, did you not notice that besides being very nearly THREAD, your lovely woolly find is WHITE?
Oh la, the agony of watching endless miles of uncolored skinny wool knit on kinda too big needles (for laciness, dontcha know) makes me feel woozy.
Please show me the Fleece Artist sock wool again before I swoon.
Sturdy up ladies. Laceweight is a little known joy. Bring on the tiny needles, the miniscule yarn, the complex patterns. Be still my heart. Kathy, colour is a transient. I’m seriously contemplating dyeing a whole whack of this a nice green. Some will stay white though…I’m thinking about a snowdrop shawl. Ohhh..I made myself a little dizzy with happiness there.
Hey, Stephanie, that’s beautiful stuff. Kit will be so envious. 😉 That’s a lovely little piece of lace, too. Congrats on the find, and ignoring the siren call of the sweater. I’ve been successfully ignoring about 5 of them for a while now. It gets easier with time.
Look! Even that needle is drooping from the weight of all that snow! If I tell you to throw a snowball for me, will the cardigan pick up one of those balls of laceweight and hurl it?
-Alison, snow-deprived in California, having previously lived in New Hampshire’s frozen tundra
okay, so what is the lace secret? I have tried and tried, on 3 different occasions that I can remember. I have this lovely ball of laceweigh merino with which I have tortured myself. In november I bought a kit to make 3 lacey bookmarks out of kiviut, no could do. I can knit beaded bracelet and that is on DM pearl cotton so I know that I can knit on really small needles and also with tiny yarn/thread. I can even read the patterns but put laceweight yarn on bigger needles and I can’t do it, boo hoo.
Mais non-it is not the laceweight aspect of your score that is the problem- it is…(peeling another 5 fibres off my lip salve)…the mohair.
Freakily i too am an afficianado of snowdrop lace-i have a scarf/stole on the needles using that very pattern, being knitted in midnight blue cobweb weight cashmere. I found it in my yarn aladdin’s cave and paid 70p for a sample cone of 27g-is that about $1 (US) for 1oz?
Words can never express what words can never express.
prozac online Even a blind pig stumbles upon a few acorns.
prozac Words can never express what words can never express.