Convolutions

Oogy has sent my cortex!  It turns out to be a tea cozy, which is so very awesome.  It's about 100 degrees out, but I'm going to make some tea, anyway.

She also sent a blank canvas--sock yarn ready and waiting to be dyed.  There's about 450 g here, so that's about 4 pairs of socks.  Good timing, because my order from Knit Picks of Bare lace- and fingering-weight yarn arrived on the same day.  Definitely time to fire up the dye studio!

Yarn in DC

A few days away gives one a renewed appreciation for home. Going away, however, gives one an opportunity to discover new yarn shops! During a recent trip to DC (grant review meeting: lots of interesting work, great fun, hung out with a grad school mentor who was on the same review panel) I found Looped Yarn Works. After 2 days of reviewing grants in a windowless conference room, I was sprung loose on DC and went immediately, well, after a nice lunch with my mentor friend, to the yarn store. I was greeted warmly by the owners, Janie and Susan, and got a tour of the place from Janie. I'm a frequent yarn store visitor, so there isn't much that can be new for me, but Janie enthusiastically showed me some yarn that was indeed unique. It's created by Elisabeth Drumm and is also sold on her Etsy shop. It was difficult to choose which colors to get, and I now see on her shop that there is a vast range to choose from. The gradual color variation is achieved by changing the number of plies of each color, starting with all the same, then substituting 1, then 2, then 3, and finally changing the color all together. It's explained better by the artist on her shop site. Now for what to do with them...

Annual Fawn Visit

It seems every year at this time we are introduced to a new family in the back yard. This photo was taken from inside the house today. As I write this the family is walking down our street!

Nature and Girasole Spin-off

Our year of lace is half over! I still have quite a lot of lace weight yarn left...

In the process of working on what is now the massive Girasole, I found myself liking Chart E. It's simple enough that I don't have to consult the chart anymore, and I like the fabric it makes: lacy but not too frilly. I decided to make a sweater with that pattern as a prominent feature. I'm calling it Girasole Spin-off, Chart E. I'm making it up as I go along, with the idea that it will be something I can wear when it's warm out (short sleeved, open in the front). This is what's been knit in the past week. One of my favorite things about lace is that it can be very fast to knit.

This picture shows it folded in half, with the left front on the left side of the photo. I'm using Rowan Purelife naturally dyed organic cotton in "rhubarb". I thought rhubarb had a pinkish hue, but this yarn is ever-so-slightly green, with subtle variations in intensity, plus the tiny area that I hand dyed with a bit of shiraz. That part looks more like what I imagined rhubarb to be.