Peon Sings Praises of Budget Cashmere

Don't you just love days when your postman leaves you one of those lumpy tyvek packages? For me, those packages almost always contain yarn.

Today my kid brought such a package upstairs and dropped it at my feet as I was working on the MS3 clue #4. I had a hard time making myself finish my row before reaching for the big scissors and carefully cutting open what must be . . . yes! . . my order from Sarah's Yarns! In addition, there was a smaller package containing 3 patterns I'd ordered from Loop Yarns. It was like a mini-Christmas morning with 85-degree heat. All this and a new super-sized MS3 clue!! Let the wild rumpus begin!

So here's what was inside my Sarah's Yarn order:

Click for close-up. Really, this one is worth the wait!

In short: 2 skeins (800 yards total) of a 2-ply cashmere/silk blend I plan to dye, and "samples" of dk weight bamboo, dk weight cashmere, fingering weight merino/cashmere blend, sport weight spun silk, and 2 different lace weights.

If you haven't bought from Sarah's Yarns before, the deal is you can order free yarn samples for swatching on many of the yarns she carries. If you order just samples, you pay only postage costs. If you order additional products, the samples ship for free. (I'll post photos of the swatches as I knit them up, so you can get an idea.)

The first time I tried out samples from SY, I was shocked by how much yardage there was in each. These are truly generous dollops of yarn -- enough to knit at least a 4" X 4" square, and generally a fair amount more. It's a smart business move on the company's part, because the luxurious yarns do sell themselves.

Just in case you're wondering, no I don't work for SA, and no I haven't received a clandestine bale of cashmere (dropped on my stoop by the cover of a moonless night) in exchange for blubbering about how much I lo-oo--ove their yarn. (Not that I wouldn't accept a clandestine bale of cashmere from just about anyone.) But my orders from SA have been so universally delightful, I wanted to pass the word on. Have I mentioned that I usually receive an SA order 3 to 4 days after I place it? Or that they ship priority for what others charge for parcel post?

I love several of my local yarn stores, but it's hard for them to carry all the yarns I am interested in. Around here, it's especially hard to find a good selection of quality yarns for dyeing. (Undyed cashmere, in particular, is almost impossible find within 40 miles of where I live.) So, with the price of gasoline what it is, I yarn shop on the internet reluctantly -- It's so hard to really know a yarn based on a tiny picture and a one-paragraph description. That's where swatching samples come in handy -- the whole process (i.e. ordering samples, waiting, swatching, waiting again . . .) takes longer, but it's great ordering yarn having swatched it and knowing you will love it when it arrives.

And, finally, there is the $$$ factor. It's not the only factor, but it does rare its ugly head. I want to buy locally, but if local prices are two or three times as much as internet prices, my resolve weakens. Like almost everyone, I'm on a budget. The bottom line: 400 yards of 2-ply 55% silk/45% cashmere is $12.50 at Sarah's Yarns. Seriously. Pure cashmere is just slightly more. I don't know how she does it -- maybe her back yard is cheek-to-jowl full of cashmere goats -- but these prices allow me to knit cashmere on a merino budget.

Here's the patterns that came, which I am also quite thrilled with:

Patterns from Bad Cat Designs / Jade Sapphire

I bought these particular patterns not only because I like them, but because each calls for approximately 400 yards of 2-ply cashmere. I think these will make great gifts -- little kitten-soft handmade luxuries. And (this is a total win-win, as far as I can see) I get the gift of working with blissfully decadent (and easy-on-the-debit-card) yarn. All-in-all, I am currently one copacetic, yarn-besotted peon.

MS3 Undergoes "Renovations"

click for close-up

Well, I wasn't going to do it. The thing is, for much of this week the phones didn't work, the internet didn't work, and I got really sick of the 6-row repeat in my melon shawl (see below).

So I started casting about, wondering what I could start or finish or mess with. I kept fondly going back to my MS3. Picking it up and sighing and wishing I had more pattern to knit. Once I started looking at it (FIRST MISTAKE), I realized there were certain areas where I wished there were more beads. To be specific, the leafy looking rows, and the flowery rows.

There is one row of leaves where each leaf does not have a bead in the middle, and the more I looked at it, the more I didn't like it. And, to me, it looked like each little flower in the flowery rows near the top of clue 3 needed a bead in its center.

I made myself sit down and think about this. I went back to the chart and figured that, in order to insert the beads and -- while I'm at it -- fix my most egregious errors, I would need to rip out 45 rows.

And the moon must have been in Sagittarius with Jupiter aligning with Mars, because I just said "What the hell" and started ripping. Here are some "after" photos. Please note -- the color is completely off in some of these, I'm not sure why ---

Beads added to leaves - row 175

Flower centers added - you'll have to trust me on this one.

Here's the good news: I seem to be learning this chart, as ripping back and re-knitting 45 rows wasn't nearly the cuss-fess that knitting the same 45 rows was originally. I think I'm learning to slow down, count my stitches on the purl side, keep good track of my stitch markers -- all the low-glamour type stuff that can make a big difference with lace.

"It seems, grasshopper, that lace knitting is teaching you discipline."

( Surely, somewhere, pigs are in flight.)

The kid is going to show me how g-mail works, if the cat will let him. (He thinks the computer is his, or at least the monitor.) So ta-ta for now.

Little House in the Suburbs

Day 1: The internet guy came out to fix the internet; while he was doing so he broke the phones.

Day 2: No phones, no internet. I feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Day 3: Internet guy comes back and fixes internet and phones. Whole family breaths collective **sigh** of relief.


What did we do back in the "good old days"? We knit, of course! Well, at least some of our fore-mothers and fore-fathers did. My mom tells me that around the time of the depression her father used to knit socks for the whole family. And I can remember my Dad crocheting us kids simple booties to wear around the house. Little did these guys know they were so ahead of their time! I taught my son how to knit when he was in 5th grade, but am forbidden from mentioning it to anyone under 20. (I know you won't tell.) He's actually pretty good -- he learned the longtail cast-on in one session. Of course he knits opposite of me -- American and tight (I'm continental and loose) -- go figure.

So, while the electronics were down, I started thinking about making another needle roll, something that I could use specifically for lace knitting. I piled up some fabrics that looked promising:

A little silk, a little cotton. A dish towel I like. Design-wise, I'm thinking of doing something similar to my all-purpose crochet hook roll-up:

-- but with more different types of compartments for circulars, dps, and a zip pocket for stitch markers and whatnot. I'm still at the putting-it-on-paper stage right now, but I'll keep you posted.

Internet Connection Kaput

Just wanted to send out a brief note -- my home internet connection is apparently deceased, at least for the time being. My significant other is working on it, but I probably won't be posting again for a few days. (Insert frowny face here.) I'll keep writing -- my word processor still works, thank God for small favors -- and post a long catch-up blogzilla when I'm back up.

P.S. Thank you for the suggestion on the Kiri shawl for the variegated yarn! I think that might work!