Alpaca, a knock-off and a great big pile. . .

In an effort to find some balance, I have been trying to relax a little more and this involved a bit of weekend crafting.  First of all, I spun up a bit of some lovely alpaca that I had sitting around for ages.  After the CVM fiasco, this stuff was like buttah'!  I'm going for a lace weight and hoping to make a shawl with the resulting yarn.  It's a gorgeous soft cocoa brown, which may be difficult to discern from my crummy picture.

And I've even been knitting!  Shocking, isn't it?  This is two pictures of the same thing.  On the left with flash on the office floor and on the right with no flash on the radiator below the sunny window.  The color is probably somewhere between the two but leans toward the darker picture.

What is this strange balled up mass of yarn?  Why it's Morehouse Merino laceweight yarn in some unknown colorway which I purchased at MS&W last year.  Now I bought this because of the color, but I didn't like the pattern that came with it.  So I thought and thought and cast on and tinked and thought and thought some more.  Then I decided I would make Melody.

Now I didn't have the pattern for Melody and I knew I didn't have enough yarn, but I just cast on a bunch of stitches and started knitting and I haven't looked back.  This is just how I do things.  Sometimes it works (& we don't talk about the other times -- ha ha.)

Speaking of Morehouse Merino, did you know that they have a book coming out?  I'm eagerly awaiting it's release!  And I'm eagerly awaiting another visit to their booth at this year's MS&W.  (Why, yes!  I plan on being there again this year.  How about you?)  Yes, right, back to the book. . .

Looks like it's going to have 40 designs.  And I have to tell you that from what I've seen of their patterns, they are just nice simple things that you want and need to knit.  Very much looking forward to this one!

And speaking of books. . .

Many have been arriving at the house (some as the unlikely result of a power outage -- may that poor squirrel rest in peace).  I need to find time this week to tell you more about them!

Comments

[jillian]

Glad to hear you got some good relaxation time in! many of the Morehouse shawl and scarf patterns are so pretty, including Melody, of course:)

[Chris]

PseudoMelody (Unsung Melody? Unchained Melody? Sorry...) looks very intriguing - it'll be interesting to see what it looks like. Hmm, I bet that Morehouse Merino book will be good *makes mental note*. Yes, do tell about the books!

[Katy]

That Morehouse colorway is gorgeous! I actually bought a Melody kit at Rhinebeck last October but haven't even looked at the pattern yet. I think it will be my "traveling" knitting project for the summer, when we do lots of drives.

[Sharon]

Oh you have some of my favorites in that stack. You've got some great reading time ahead, Julie.

[Kelly]

I can't wait for the Merino Morehouse book to come out too! I love there yarn and patterns. Since the patterns are pretty simple they're very relaxing to knit.

[Kim]

How cool....I didn't realize that Morehouse was putting a book out. Yes, I plan on being at their open house again this year too ;-)

[Imbrium]

I admire your chutzpah/bravery/craziness for casting on with no pattern and insufficient yarn. I'm sure it will turn out swimmingly.

[Kim]

I recommended "Wicked" and "The Bread Bible". I am waiting for Son of Wicked right now.

[Lynn]

Aaaaah...Peace Like a River is my FAVORITE book of the last four years or so. It's stuck with me like little else has, and I've given many copies as a gift. I hope you like it.

-Lynn in Tucson

[Kristi aka Fiber Fool]

Oooo, I've read the top two on your pile there and *loved* them! Happy reading!

[Gwen]

Plainsong is one of my three favorite books to give people, along with Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer and The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett. I can't exactly tell you why, but man, I love it. Have fun :)