Buying yarn is one of my favorite things.

Two trips to the yarn store netted me some yummy yarn.

Two weekends ago, I bought three skeins of Silky Alpaca Lace by Classic Elite Yarn in Pixie Pink. I have already picked out the pattern to knit with it. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I bought the book Wendy Knits Lace, by Wendy D. Johnson and I have decided to knit the True Love Stole. I can't wait to get started. This yarn is really soft and smooth with a 30% silk / 70% alpaca blend.

Lucky for me, when I bought the Silky Alpaca Lace, I crossed the points threshold necessary at my LYS, Wool and Company, to get a gift certificate worth $15.00! Of course, almost immediately, this small piece of paper began burning a whole in my wallet. So when my knitting sister came for the weekend (see previous post), we HAD to run by the LYS to spend it.

Look what I got!!! YUM! Cascade Yarns Alpaca Lace in colorway Garnet. It is 100% baby alpaca. I got two hanks with 437 yards each, so that should be plenty for an average shawl or stole. I haven't got a project picked out for this yarn yet, so it will go in my stash for future use.

Knitting Sister bought some yarn, too. It isn't what I would have picked out, but I took pictures so you could see how bright it is. She plans to use it to make a long shawl made with a wrap stitch pattern. The yarn is called Peace Fleece and is a worsted weight 70% Merino / 30% Mohair blend from Casa de Karma Yarns.

Buttons for her almost finished sweater was the last purchase of the day.

Happy Knitting (and yarn shopping!)

Buying books . . . again.

I did some on line shopping! Since I am currently into lace projects, I did a little shopping and found this excellent book, Wendy Knits Lace, by Wendy D. Johnson. Some books that you look at (buy) may only have one pattern that you would be interested in doing. Out of the 20 patterns in this book, I can honestly say that I could see myself knitting at least 12 of them.

The patterns range from the very simple "Light as a Feather Smoke Ring" Cowl which looks like a fast knitter could do this easily in an after noon, to a pair of lace knee-high socks, "Vintage Kneesocks". One of my favorite patterns is the "True Love (Scarf or) Stole". I think that this will definitely be on my to do list. However, I have to say that this is not a beginner project. This beautiful stole combines lace and short rows to make mitered corners. It took 4 reads of the directions before I started to grasp the way this pattern works. This project can be worked as a narrower scarf or a wider stole.

There are a total of 8 lace neckware items to be made. With my new found love of knitting lace, I'm going to be a very busy girl.

Stay tuned for information on the other two books I bought. (Who can read just one?)

Happy knitting!!!