And because Emily writes a lot of entries for the shop's blog, I feel like we've kept in touch all this time even though that's obviously not the case (the Sheep is about a 35 minute drive from my house and if you are a regular reader you will know that I am not so very much of a driver.)
So... when I dropped by The Naked Sheep booth at the Frolic on Saturday, I was very glad to see Emily again. She always finds neat things to knit and she's just so positive and enthusiastic, you don't have to know about her good Lucky Scarf karma to feel your day is now going to be that little bit better.
I was looking really for another ball of Rowan Felted Tweed for the Carrot, but they hadn't brought any of that. What they had brought was a lot of lovely looking yarn with an even lovelier tag. Have I ever mentioned that I used to do graphic design for a living? I still consider good packaging to be part of the yarn experience, and these tags were saying Zing to me.
zing zing zing, if you must know. I couldn't look away until...
I spotted a superb little cardi with raglan sleeves - another weakness - knit, naturally, by Emily. In some of the fabulous looking yarn. In one skein of that yarn, in fact, which means you wouldn't have to go alternating between two or three skeins to avoid subtle dye lot shifts.
(If you're doing the math here you probably know how that is possible and you may even be biting your lip on my behalf.)
Well, as I looked over the gorgeous, complex colours and wondered whether it was humanly possible to choose between them, some other people came over and congratulated Emily on her yarn. At which point it dawned on me: the cute tags were Emily's, and so was the cute yarn! So I beelined it to the cardi-producing skeins and picked up the first colour that sang to me:
only to find I could not put it down again. Something to do with the fiber content, I expect.
Here is where things get owie:
I brought home my precious 1300 yard skein of 2 ply laceweight that, when sitting across the palms of both my hands feels like every single comfort bear you ever held in your life all hugging you back right now, and I loved it for two days while looking at the pattern Emily knit with it (Featherweight Cardigan) and then at Sanderling - a long, A-line vest with a tiny lace pattern - and suddenly
last night
I had to wind it into a cake.
Even though I haven't cast back on for the Baby Surprise Jacket yet and I suspect everybody else has finished the knitalong since I frogged, and I have two other pressing projects to finish ASAP as well as the Carrot I love so well.
Three words, people: Alpaca, Silk, Cashmere.
But once you wind yarn into a cake it isn't a comfort bear any more. And I have such ridiculously loose tension that after a furtive swatching session under the watchful gaze of a Very Important WIP, it seems I don't possess the needles that will give me gauge for Sanderling. Also, for reasons to be disclosed tomorrow I expect, I am not in a position to buy additional needles at this time.
So now I am thinking about how many highly luxurious giftable lace scarves one could knit with 1300 yards of gorgeousness (thereby maximizing the skin to fiber exposure ratio) and
I am seriously considering the imminent purchase of some Viola sock weight. Ahem.
(If you want some Viola of your own, you can visit here on Etsy or get hold of the nice folks at The Naked Sheep, who are happy to ship things. You can see pictures of the different weights on the Viola page at Ravelry; the skein pictured here is 'Fancy Lace' in Sea Storm.)
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