Soft, soft, soft......

Over the long holiday weekend I decided to finish up a number of knitting projects before I started any new ones. I've had several thing languishing for quite some time now and I spent several hours doing the hand stitching I needed to do in order to make use of these new beauties. All of them are unimaginably soft.
The first one (left) is a vest I knit out of alpaca from KnitPicks. This is their Twirl in Fog and it is so warm!!!. It is just a plain, straight vest with a shawl collar that comes down to my hips and has two pockets in it. I just knit it in stockinette stitch with the collar, armholes and bottom in garter stitch. Since the temps her went down below freezing this week I have had it on ever since I made it and I don't plan to take it off until April. Warm and soft is my idea of joy.

I also finally finished the black cocoon at right that I started ages ago and finally finished. I knit it holding one strand of sportweight cashmere and one strand of fingerweight silk together. It is soft, warm and has a gorgeous drape to it. I knit it in one long piece and then folded the ends up and crocheted around the edges and the cuffs. It is absolutely beautiful with a white, long-sleeved tee and black silk trousers and I am planning on wearing it a lot over the holidays. The back (left) gives a better idea of the pattern.

Otherwise I am mostly working on Christmas presents. I made the scarf at right from Knit Pick's Crayon in Pink. I had five balls left from a bed jacket I made last summer and I just knit it up in a 3x3 rib pattern and gathered up the ends. Because it is Pima Cotton it is as soft as cashmere or alpaca and it is a nice light weight. I have no idea who will get it but I'm sure whoever does will love wearing it. Pima Cotton is my new favorite yarn to knit with. I bought a ton of Knit Pick's Shine Sport in the most gorgeous colors --- Sky, Hydrangea, Aquamarine, Crocus! I have an idea that it might be fun to knit some lacy camisoles out of it to wear in the summer but first I have to get Christmas out of the way. I am hard at work on the Gryffindor Scarves for the nephews and they are coming along. I also want to make some gloves for my sister Lisa. I bought some Gloss in A deep green from Knit Picks for those.

As I was rummaging in my stash I found some leftover Ambrosia and Elegance from knit Picks so I knit up a pair of ear-warmers (left) out of those. Good presents for girlfriends. I worked with two strands of yarn and knit on small needles --- No. 5 --- so they are nice and snug. Since they are alpaca and cashmere (the lilac) and alpaca and silk (the rose) they are deliciously soft also. I realize these days i am big on yarn that is warm and soft. Mostly soft.

Like all serious knitters I am in an on-going battle with my stash --- mainly trying to get a grip on it and convince myself that I don't need anything new. I am losing that battle. After the success of my snuggly warm alpaca vest I am now lusting after another one and I have my eye on the yarn called Quarry from Knit Picks. But I need to get the present inventory down a bit first. As I was rummaging I came across a half a cone of lace-weight cashmere in a deep purple from ColourMart and a ball of leftover laceweight wool from Handpainted Yarns --- they have the softest wool I've ever touched. I decided to wind them together and see what I came up with. I also had a small ball of KnitPick's Gossamer, a silk-alpaca blend in Stained Glass leftover so I added that. The thing is there is a ton of the cashmere so I keep adding another strand and then another and then another --- I'm up to 8 now and think I can actually get 2 more out of the leftovers. So I am making a ball of a really gorgeous yarn. Right now it is 8 strands of cashmere, one of wool and one of alpaca-silk. I think it will make a great hat! I'm going to keep adding strands until I run out of cashmere and then see how it looks (above right). Who knows?

So that's it from Gloucester where the ocean is cold and the winds are bitter but the knitting is keeping me warm. Thanks for reading.

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