Anyway, my stash diet goes like my food diets. I go on one, and then I want to eat, or knit, everything I see. Kim Chi cabbage and Swedish meatballs, Starmore sweaters and Cookie A socks. Thankfully, my current lack of funds is restricting my stash accumulation, especially since I saw the perfect colour of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed at Effiloché. A rust base, with flecks of gold and deep fuchsia, perfect for a rustic-looking raglan or a simple cardigan with dark wood buttons. The few days of wear I got out of the 1.50$ cardigan before winter gave way to... summer showed me what I was missing out on with my "No Cardi" rule, and now that's all I want to knit. Particularly since I found a button source by accident the other day, while walking home from Jean Talon Market. I was sure that there was a button store some place on the Plateau/Mile End area- it just seemed like the right place. And there is! It's on the corner of St. Hubert and Gilford, and I believe it's called Ric-Rac or something like that. And when I call it a button store, I mean it- it's not a fabric store with a dusty wall of buttons at the back. It sells buttons, ribbons and trim, and that's it. I'll have to go there next year.
After finishing my cardigan, I worked on the Koigu baby blanket a little more, to the point where it's about two feet each way. Then, I lost one of my balls of the blue green mix. I blame Oliver. The solid purple disappeared for a few days a few weeks ago, and reappeared in the middle of the living room carpet, looking as if someone had tried to unravel it. Someone with sharp pointy claws. And pretty green eyes. If and when I finish the other ball, I'll try and get it finished by the end of the month. Until that happens, though, I'm working on a little experiment: seeing what happens when you combine the most gorgeous yarn in the world, Fleece Artist Kid Silk in a rich green colour that shades into chartreuse, with my complete ignorance of how to knit a sweater from the top down. So far, I've made it to the armholes. Things look good, so far. I have a small, scratching feeling in the back of my mind that the neck is too small, but I'll try it on again and see. It goes over my head with ease, for now, but will it when I pick up the ribbing for the neck? Oh well. I can always try and knit it in pieces again. It can make friends with Poppy in the frog pond.
However, not even the loveliest of yarn can hold my attention for long, and already I'm thinking of what I'll knit next, both from stash yarn and the forbidden world of new yarn. First up, something from the Manos Cardigan I'm currently frogging. Oh, it was a beautiful cardigan, knit in Bramble with contrast striping at the cuffs and edging with Loden, but hubris (and laziness!) brought me down. It was all seamed, and then my mom pointed out that one of the sleeves was wonky. Frustrated, I took scissors to it, cutting into the back instead of into the yarn that held the seam together. Now, I don't know whether to use the long ends for a vest, or some sort of cropped number, and then the rest for something small and felted, or the whole damn thing for a cat bed. For the foster cat who will probably soon leave me. Whatever, frog first, knit later. Then, I'll break out the Minnesota Cascade 220 (Shade 2426) for an effeminate Shaw from Rowan 41. Do something with the poor, abandoned Flora of many years ago, and rip and re-knit Poppy. And then? Guelph stash over the summer, baby, where there's some Manos and a lot of tweed waiting for me. And, when I've finally machate-d my way through, I can finally think of buying new yarn. And, I have to say, I'm liking the fair isle. I want a challenge. I want this.
Dale of Norway #13809
But on the other hand, simple sweaters in solid or tweedy yarns have also become suddenly appealing. I want tunics with split-necks in tweed, or cabled vests in grey, and I want to find the perfect, solid deep red for the perfect sweater. Speaking of simple patterns, I've managed to look past the hairsprayed wonders of the models for Penny Straker to see that she has some pretty cute designs, like Cuttyhunk here, once you get over that it's modeled by Tom Selleck-lite in criminally tight pants:
... because I think it would be nice just to throw this on on a cool, lazy day. Or maybe it's my secret shawl collar fixation talking. Well, the Fleece Artist calls me, with a dropped stitch.
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