Friday, November 25, 2011

Not Black Friday - Fee-Fi(ber)-F.O. Friday!

Gorgeous Wonder Why handspun alpaca
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I must admit, it's my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it  - the cooking, the eating, the parade, the dog show (go Bernese Mountain dog! It won it's group, but didn't win best in show, drat), everything - except those darn Black Friday commercials. Everyone, skip Black Friday and go directly to Small Business Saturday. Just one person's opinion.

In the meantime, I'm working on several projects which are slated to be completed by the end of next week, including a shrug and a stole. I'm also working on a new sweater (ha!) - it's a testy knit for Shannon Okey (of knitgrrl fame) during NaKniSweMo (November is National Knit a Sweater Month). It's sideways constructed, and here's a shot of my swatch (yup, people, I actually did the swatchy thing):


That's a Louisa Harding yarn - Thalia. I love the color and the slight bling, and am really disappointed that it's discontinued. I've got a bunch of it in my stash ... but once's it's gone, it's gone.

I must also share some wonderful handspun that Andrea sent to me. It's a thank you for the shawl I made her earlier in the year. This is just an amazing skein of worsted weight alpaca handspun:



The colorway? Sticks and stones. Aptly named. And it's soft and oh-so-squoishy. I'm marinating on what it wants to become - but I'm thinking of using it together with a skein of cream-colored worsted from France and working up a scarf. I'm open to suggestions on pattern. Between the two skeins, I've probably got about 475 yards.

And, finally, get a load of my latest swap gift - this colorway is entitled Orion's Nebula - I love that!


The two skeinlets on the left are also great colorways. Nic, my swappy partner, said they were for hexi puffs, but I've got other ideas. Don't I always?

Thanks so much, Andrea and Nicole - I love my skein of handspun and the Orion's Nebula! There's a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day weekend, so definitely check back with Andrea's blog to see what's on everyone else's thanks-giving list.

11 comments:

  1. Nothing better than handspun alpaca. I can feel the softness right through the computer. Ahhh. I am working on a Louisa Harding Sweater pattern at the moment...and I didn't even know about NaKniSweMo!

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  2. oooh, that yarn would be lovely with a cream. I wish I had more yardage on that one but it just didn't want to be a lighter weight.

    I love the beginning of the sweater. The yarn is sassy.

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  3. The Orion's Nebula looks particularly yummy!

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  4. I could not agree with you more - NBF. :) I started SMS a couple of days early and bought myself a gift from a cafe post seller. Such cute crochet items. And I'll be keeping up with the Small Business purchasing right through the holidays and making my gifts for others.

    WOW those yarns look amazing. Lovely stuff there.

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  5. I agree. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday.

    I was totally pulling for the Berner as well. She was pretty and happy. :-) I did notice there were no Tibetan Mastiffs in the show tho, gonna have to figure out why. :-/

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  6. Ooo, lovely yarn and a nice start to your sweater. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend, blessings!

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  7. Awesome scores in those skeins of yarn!

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  8. The yarn for your sideways sweater is very interesting, can't wait to see how it works up. I do a lot of pattern searches on Ravelry. You can search by yardage, yarn weight, etc. best part is you can see other people's finished projects and notes, so you have a better idea if it'd work for you. I've also entered most of my books and magazines in my "library", so the pattern search shows me what patterns I already have and what I need to buy. 475 yards of worsted weight is enough for a medium size shawl, a scarf and hat set,a vest, or open work top. Lots of options!

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  9. Awesome stuff. I like that Louisa Harding yarn, very interesting. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  10. I really like the look of that Louisa Harding yarn. Can't wait to see the finished sweater! I spent the last couple of nights tink tink tinking and would really like to start going forward again, LOL.

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  11. Happy Thanksgiving! That's some seriously beautiful yarn!

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