Yarn on a Plane

I'm worried.  We're going to be flying to Texas this week to visit family, and I have no idea what I'm really going to be able to take on the plane.  I know that the official TSA rules are readily available online, but the fact of the matter is, any overzealous gate agent can decide that those rules don't apply today, and sorry you are not allowed to have that thank you very much.  On the other hand, it's a freaking long flight.  Plus waiting in the airport.

So, I have a plan.  Sorta.  Basically, I figure that a crochet hook, as long as it's not too small, looks less threatening than knitting needles... in addition, it's cheaper to replace if it ends up in the garbage at the gate.  We'll see how well it works.

So, I was knitting this sock...

A lovely sock.  A blue sock.  A sock for ME.  The thing with designing is that it really cuts into my selfish crafting time, so this was special.  It was nearly done when suddenly I realized I had an appointment in ten minutes.  No problem -- I tucked it away in it's bag, put it on the bed, and off I went.

I realized that something was slightly off when the bag was under my desk and not on the bed when I got home, but didn't think too much about it... I often put my project bags under my desk, maybe I just mis-remembered where I put it.  After dinner when I went to work on it again, though, I realized I had a problem.  The needles were gone.

Not just "pulled out of the stitches" gone.  "I can't find them anywhere" gone.  Initial inspection reveals one nearby on the floor.  Now I'm starting to panic.  I dig around under the desk and find what I'd feared -- a broken DPN.  Careful questioning however reveals that that one has been broken for some time.  Elspeth gets a chat (again) about not touching mommy's knitting stuff without permission.  This is the point where I basically gave up.  I could not find these needles ANYWHERE.

Which of course means my husband found them an hour later.  In the bath tub.  Why were they in the bath tub?  I don't even care.  I got my needles back, and the sock was saved.

Hand-dyed cashmere, even

Also, red is my FAVORITE color.

The second review in my cashmere series is a real treat... Sumptuosity Lace by All For Love of Yarn.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  It is 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere, and hoo nelly, do I love this yarn.  It is a very fine lace weight - there are 1300 yards in 3 oz - and so you need to be careful not to work it at too loose a gauge.  That being said, most lace patterns it's not overwhelmingly important exactly how big the finished object is, so that's easy to work around.  It is a two ply, but I haven't been having issues with splittiness like I do with a lot of two ply lace.

As for texture... I cannot stop patting this yarn.  It is beautifully soft and smooth.  It is also, however, extremely slippery.  One of my attempted swatches, I did on nickle plated needles (it was the only US4 I had!), and let me just say that it was a good thing the kids were already in bed.  My husband now jokes that I only swear when I'm in labor, and when I'm knitting lace.  It behaved itself quite well on my Harmony wood needles, however, so it's just an issue of the right needle for the right yarn.  On the note of swatches, this yarn really doesn't like to be frogged.  That fine baby alpaca halo just grabs.  That's a good thing tho if you happen to drop a stitch - if you catch it right away, it doesn't seem to run too far, which makes for much easier fixes.

Angela's yarns all have fabulous color.  The high silk content of this yarn in particular means it just DRINKS dye... the color is rich and saturated and glossy.  The kettle dye is very subtle, just enough to add some depth to the color, without distracting from the pretty stitch work at all.  It does have some halo to it, but not much.  A suggestion of a halo, perhaps.  In short?  I very much recommend this yarn.  It's absolutely delightful.

Do you have something you want me to review? Needles? Yarn? Notions? Drop me a line! marusempai at gmail dot com Put "Maru reviews" in the subject line.

Getting organized, I am doing it

Behold my new organizational device!  It's not a file cabinet, but a Sterlite seven drawer tower.  The bottom drawer is reserved for WIPs that I want to keep at my desk, the top drawer is for tools (hooks, needles and so on), and the rest is for design work!  I am however having a hard time deciding how to subdivide it.  Finished/unfinished?  Large projects/small projects?  I just don't know!  But my desk is looking a lot better than it was before.  I'm actually going to have space for some books, which I've sorely missed since our big move this summer.  Also with luck the big sort will mean getting rid of a few things.  I do tend to be a packrat.

And now, a review.

Nothing remotely design related today (nothing interesting, anyway), so I thought I'd do a review.  Anybody who knows me in person knows how into metal knitting needles I am.  They are fast.  They do not cause my hands to cramp.  They are shiny, and everybody likes shiny things.  But then I started to do lace.  Yeah, metal needles were NOT cutting it.  So I found these:

 These are the Knitpicks interchangeable Harmony tips.  Now, I did learn to use DPNs on bamboo, and quickly switched to Harmony DPNs.  But they were really more of a stepping stone to metal DPNs, which are now the love of my sock knitting life.  Lace, however, is a different beast entirely.  These needles are nice and smooth, but not so slickery that the teeny, tiny little lace stitches pop off.  And they are pointy.  My favorite part of them, however, is how very light they are.  The difference is quite minimal when using something as tiny as DPNs, but with a circular, it is definitely noticeable.  With these, I feel like I could knit for days, they are so light.

Downside?  There is a bit of a catch to them, right where the metal and wood come together.  I don't find it particularly problematic, but it might drive some knitters round the bend.  I like them.  Will I be buying a set?  No.  I am still a plated nickel girl, really.  But for lace, this is my new go to.

(And yeah that's a swatch under those needles.  No, I'm not telling you what it is.  You'll find out soon enough.)

Do you have something you want me to review?  Needles?  Yarn?  Notions?  Drop me a line!  marusempai at gmail dot com.  Put "Maru reviews" in the subject line.