My god...it's full of yarn!

So I posted to my personal journal about this, but not here. I went to Stitches East on Saturday! This was my first time at a knitting con. (Is "con" the right word? I speak geek.) My dear friend the Knitting Kumquat and I went as a day trip, with the sole purpose of Shopping in mind. We didn't even sign up for any classes or workshops or anything. We got there around 11:30, and shopped until the place closed at 6, stopping only to eat, pee, and care for Kumquat's baby.

I have never seen that much yarn in one place before. I'm not sure I realized that much yarn EXISTED. WOW. Seriously, after we left, I kept seeing yarn and knitted stuff in my mind every time I closed my eyes. It was a surfeit of knitterly delights. The colors...the patterns...the textures...it was blissfully overwhelming to the senses. I can't believe I managed to keep my spending as low as I did. My saving grace was my extreme reluctance to purchase yarn for which I didn't have a project in mind already. My haul was modest, but made me very happy.

* 1 big ol' bunch of a very lightweight (light fingering/sock? maybe even lace? It's only 2-ply) superwash merino in a blend of various greens with a little brown mixed in. No name. 1600 yards for $25. HELLS to the yes. I want it to be a big leafy lacy shawl, but I might have a good bit leftover afterwards!

* 2 skeins of Dream In Color Stardust. It's a sock-weight superwash merino with a few subtle sparkly bits. The two colorways I got are both dark. One is called "dark woods" and the other is "twilight falls." One will be a lacy shawl. It may even be this: (the shoulderette version, like the purple one). Yeah, you know what? The con made me feel ambitious! I'm a little scared of the shawl, but...ooooooooh. The other skein may end up as some fingerless mitts.

* This tee-shirt. ADORABLE!

* A button with a skull and crossed needles like a Jolly Roger.

Now, as to my WIP: I'm close to done with the first thrummed mitten. It's a difficult project to travel with because of the thrums, because it's a bit of a pain to thrum on the subway. Also, I had to unravel back to the top of the cuff because I forgot to increase 8 stitches after the cuff. Oops. As a result, it's taking me a while. But the mitten is coming out quite nicely, and I'm pleased with it. It's going to be soooo warm!

I have stopped being so gung-ho about my sweater that I want to design. I think I am getting a little discouraged about yarn. I want a really prettily variegated superwash merino in a worsted weight that's not too expensive. This seems to be difficult to find. Meh. Also, I'm afraid of being afraid. I'm afraid of letting my fears about complicating the design prevent me from making it interesting, is what I mean. We'll see. Maybe I'll make that shawl and be so full of myself that I'll feel I can fly through anything. :)

WIP it!

I haven't really knit anything REAL since I finished my Intolerable Cruelty skirt. I've done a bit of playing around with stitch patterns, but not even much of that. I've been reading design books and stuff instead. Now, though, I've decided that with the cold weather starting to set in (jeez, it's not even 40 yet here in Cambridge!), it's time for me to knit those thrummed mittens that I've been talking about. I'm using the Yarn Forward pattern. I have some pretty merino-silk top in purple, aqua, green, and orange that a friend gave me. Unfortunately, it's only one ounce. I need two. So, I'm also going to use an ounce of the red merino top she gave me. I wanted to use that whole thing for spinning, but frankly, I can't imagine that I'll be good enough at spinning any time soon to really do justice to it. So. These things will be for the thrums. For the mittens themselves, I got some lovely black Ultra Alpaca from Berocco. The blend of alpaca and wool should be beautifully warm. It was also quite reasonably priced at $10 per skein. That was less than I thought it would be, and the same price as the Cascade 220 tweed I'd been looking at before I picked it up. I only got one skein. They say 100 grams is enough (seriously, what kind of pattern doesn't give yardage?), so...we'll see. If it's not, I'll get another skein.

I'm so excited about these mittens! I have bad circulation in my hands, and I tend to walk a lot and stand at bus stops and stuff. On cold days in the winter, my hands get cold enough to hurt terribly. Last winter was so incredibly cold that this was a frequent occurrence. I'm hoping that the thrummed mittens will really keep my hands warm. They're going to be super cute, too, with alternating rows of red and rainbow thrums showing through the black! It'll be like a Lite-Brite. Remember those? I loved them. I cast on last night, and I've done the cuff and three repeats of the thrum pattern so far (two rows of red and one of rainbow). Here's a shot of the progress.