Meeting the Alpacas & A Special Stash Enhancement

This afternoon I went with two women with whom I knit on Saturday mornings to the Six Paca Farm in Bozrah (http://www.sixpaca.com/) to meet alpacas up close and personal. Even though it was a very rainy day, there were quite a number of them in the field and over a half dozen in a smaller enclave which we could enter. The little guys were about two weeks old and there were several older ones as well. I couldn't leave without getting something; so I bought 6 skeins of a gorgeous natural grey DK weight alpaca. The fleece from which it was spun was Nuthatch's, one of the 45+ herd at the farm. I am going to make the Stonington shawl and two pair of socks from this yarn, which is very soft and wonderful.

I Think I've Got It, Finally!

I was having a number of difficulties when I first started the Faroese shawl. The first was a major error by the designer on row 5. However, I fixed that by going on the forum site and found corrected instructions. Then, I was a bit confused about the use of the two separate charts and how they went together. Re-reading the instructions was the most important thing I did, finally ("duh" moment of course). Even though I am still very much at the beginning, things are making sense at last. When I finish section 1 I'll take a photo and post it here.

Lace Knitting

Well, I have placed the sweater in my KIP pile and am turning to my new fascination: lace knitting! I am casting the Goddess Knits MS9 shawl which will be a Faroese design. The yarn I am using is Yarn Chef's merino lace weight (Buttercream) in a colourway called Turning Leaf (it looks like a maple leaf, soft yellow and red, probably an over-dye). She does not repeat colourways; however, over time there are always a few that do look similar. As always, I buy more than enough for any project because I can always use the extra for other projects. I think I will also make her a pair of fingerless mitts to go with the shawl. (Yarn Chef has a shop on ETSY, please see my list of yarn artisans on the right for the link.) This is going to be a gift for my best friend, who happens to live in NE Ohio (Yarn Chef is in Columbus). I am also going to do the same shawl for me. Right now I am torn between several lace weight yarns that I have in my stash for this one.