Tweed Heaven

The best thing about my graduate school (or perhaps the most dangerous thing, from the point of view of my bank account) is its proximity to School Products, one of the best yarn stores in New York City, and a great place to score a sweet deal on mill ends or cones in addition to the vast selection of Karabella products -- Berta Karapetyan, the store's owner, is also the founder of Karabella Yarns.

Recently, after taking a French test, I decided I had reason enough to visit School Products -- after all, taking the test had been stressful, right? And after that stress, I deserved a calm yarn shopping trip, right?

So I ended up walking out of there with this cone of yarn, a little less than 4 pounds of aran/bulky weight wool blend tweed for a little more than $75:


I'm not sure of the fiber content; after a little research on the School Products site, I think that it is a wool/silk/cotton blend, with about 66% wool. It was oiled for spinning, so after finding it just a little too tough to manipulate unwashed, I wound off a big skein and washed it pretty thoroughly with dish soap. Here's the ball of washed yarn:


Looks pretty normal, right? But here's my coffee cup for comparison:


The difference between the washed and unwashed yarn is pretty significant:


I think I'll have enough to make a gift for a friend and a sweater for myself, and perhaps I'll even have some left over for mittens or a hat or something. I've already swatched up for a vest using the cables from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Saddle-Shoulder Aran sweater:

It's a Halloween Miracle!

I only had enough yarn for the neck ribbing and part of one armhole, but somehow... the yarn lasted for eight vests and eight socks!

... no, seriously, I ran out of yarn halfway through an armhole ribbing, and I had to unravel the vest (which was already on the short side) from the bottom and reknit it shorter to conserve yarn. But -- through the miracle of blocking, I was able to stretch this baby to be more than long enough!

I guess my pumpkin patch was the most sincere one this year...


How's that for a sweater girl pose? The Hermione costume was a hit. Here's a photo of the whole thing, with the cape and wand (recognize it? It's a bamboo knitting needle -- size 8 clover, to be exact).


By the way: knee socks? So comfortable. Why can't adults wear them? I got a lot of weird looks for them walking down the street yesterday (and a few leers, which, eew).

Mr. Pottah!

Imagine that title being spoken in a sinister (yet sexy) British accent.

Iteration 2 of my Gryffindor vest is on the needles and has taken priority over other knitting in the weeks before Halloween. Knitting worsted weight wool with circular needles is so fast, man! I worked for a few hours on this , and I'm already a few inches from the armholes.

After this vest is done, I must force myself to return to the fair isle yoke sweater. All of that fingering-weight stockinette... but I want to wear it! I have to keep reminding myself of that fact!