Going Against the Flow

While most knitters on the blogosphere seem to be making resolutions to de-stash, I seem to have gone the complete opposite route. I've been making lots of yarn purchases lately. Not that I've had, or will have, all that much time to knit it all. Not that I have a tonne of space to store it. But I just haven't been able to resist!

First, it was visiting The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn with Moocow and our brother. Yes, our brother actually agreed to accompany us to a yarn shop! He was very patient while I enthused over the Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino sock yarn. It was so soft and resilient, the colours so beautiful, I couldn't resist, despite the price. Does anyone need a $24 pair of socks? Not I! Do I deserve such a pair of socks? Probably not. But I couldn't resist the allure of the yarn, and so I picked out two complementary colourways and bought a skein of each. Linda, the owner, offered to wind them into centre-pull balls for me, but I wanted to leave them on the skein to appreciate their sheen and prettiness.

The sport weight Frog Tree Alpaca is to swatch for a sweater in the Japanese knitting magazine, Keitodama. The pale green, silk and alpaca blend yarn was a steal. Enough for a scarf, and half-price.

That seemed to be the end of my stocking-up, until I learned about the yarn crawl that three LYSs in my area were holding. You get 10$ off your purchase at each of the three shops, and a stamp. When you have all three stamps, you can enter into a raffle for a $25 coupon at any of the three stores. There were things I'd been wanting to get, so I used it as my excuse to get them. But a visit to Eastside Weavers, especially, usually means that I can't help getting other things that catch my eye. There was a pink, lavender, yellow and silvery 100% linen that would be great for a summery scarf or shawl. I also picked up some creamy white roving to practice my spinning on.
And, it's hard to control yourself when your sister is encouraging you! Moocow loved the sock yarn that she got from Pat last time, when we went for our spinning lesson. Now that I've shown her how to knit a sock on two circular knitting needles, I think she's hooked. She sent me to buy some sock yarn to knit a pair for her BF.
She said she trusted my judgement, and so I chose this luxuriously coloured blend of spruce green, grey-brown, deep maroon and orange. The colours look pretty true to the real thing on my monitor, but if the real thing doesn't please Moocow, I'm perfectly happy to keep it myself. I also got two other colourways. I signed up for Sockapalooza 4, but my sock partner hasn't been decided yet. If possible, though, I think I'd like to use one of Pat's yarns, because they're so beautiful.
The next day, I went to Beauknits in Cohoes. They may be the only shop in the area that carries Brown Sheep Yarn's Wildfoote sock yarn, which I've always wanted to try. I got these two hanks for a great price. I also like the mix of forest greens and greys.
At The Yarn Depot, I bought some half-price baby yarn to knit something for my landlady, who is expecting again. They don't know if it will be a boy, or a girl, yet, so I had to choose some neutral colours. I also bought two pairs of KA bamboo circulars for more sock knitting. I really liked the other pair (in a larger size) that I'd bought before.

And, I'm afraid, that hasn't been all of my yarn purchasing this month. There's also the Cascade 220 I bought (and will eventually post a picture of) for a Cardigan for Arwen. Yes, I've been a very bad girl. But, if I knit it all, I think I'll feel better.