Entry tags:
Picspam of various hauls, mostly yarn
Some pictures of loot I've hauled home from June through to August. Some are long overdue. Most involve yarn *g*
All of them were taken using a phone camera, so please excuse the quality!
I managed to drop by a yarn store while I was in Australia, and bought these from Morris & Sons:
Not sure how obvious it is, but in the two balls of yarn where the gradient goes from vivid aqua to light gray, the gradation is really long and gradual. I ended up making a beret with a bit less than a ball of this; unfortunately it was too small for my head. Will need to figure out what to do with the other one.
The two pink glossy ones are silk, and so soft and shiny (*coo*) that I cannot decide what to make with them. I don't want to waste them after all! Maybe some day an idea will hit me...
The cute aqua one with white flecks feels really cool and soft in my hands. I have the feeling they'll make good gloves :D
Not pictured: I raided![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rb's stash of unwanted yarn before I came home, so I actually came home with a bunch more yarn from Australia than is obvious *G*
I dropped by three (!) yarn stores while I was in the USA, and bought a LOT of yarn which filled up my already full yarn bin. I had to get a second one to handle the overflow; neither yarn bin closes right now *G*
Not pictured: two balls of Noro Silk Garden from Nine Rubies in San Francisco (which was the first yarn store I went to in the US) because I've already made them into a scarf. Scarf is also not pictured because I am too lazy to weave in the ends *g*
Next was Knit Purl in Portland, where I spent a couple of hours with![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png)
denise and sarah, wandering around, touching stuff, choosing which yarn to bring home (PLEASURE), and then trimming down the selection so that it would all fit my budget and my suitcase (AGONY).
There's a lot of yarn in this picture -- eleven different kinds, totaling up to some twenty skeins/balls. Even just focusing on the yarn that I just would not be able to get here back home, there was still an amazing lot of yarn to choose from.
From left to right:
That big skein of fluffy looking dark brown and white yarn is alpaca, and undyed. I am so much in love with how strong and masculine it looks. My first thought was something big, but D suggested socks; totally not my first thought but it sounds like it might turn unbelievably soft and smooshy, and I am so going to try it *g* (after I learn how to do socks, that is!)
Then there is the skein of laceweight green (alfalfa) yarn. And I hate green, but somehow I had to have this. It looks like it would be perfect for a small lacy shawl :D
The deep blue yarn beside it is shibui something. Laceweight as well; very fine with a big halo. It shall be a scarf! I even have a pattern booklet, which I got along with the yarn :D The yarn looks big in that picture, but I think that's just because a.) it's lying on top of some other yarn and b.) the deep strong blue draws attention to it.
Next, the turquoise blue stuff is two skeins of laceweight yarn, long enough for a small shawl. It was, alas, the last two in stock, otherwise I would have gotten a third just to be safe. I think I've found a perfect pattern for it though: one Nautilus Chambered or something like that from mmario@ravelry. The most perfect part about the pattern is that it's a growing pattern. That is: you can just keep going until you run out of yarn, so there's no risk that I'll have too little yarn to finish the shawl. Whee!
Next one is also laceweight, in subtle blues and whites. It looks and feels like a cloud in a softly-lit morning. No plans for this yet, but it cannot be hard to find a lacy pattern which will show this off to perfection!
There was a sale on laceweight, so I spent a lot of time in that corner :D Also, my LYS rarely stocks anything below worsted, so I definitely took advantage of the sale.
And then sock yarns *_* I ended up with four different colors of Shibui.
(me: Hey D, I was just looking at this section. Is Shibui any good?
D: *ENTHUSIASTIC YES*)
The leftmost one is called sea breeze and I am all a-♥ at its blues and greens. The pink-and-blue candy/Barbie like combination is much girlier than I personally like, but I have a friend who it would be perfect for, and they were on sale! So I grabbed them. That blue one came out wrong. It should be more purple, not actually blue :( And finally the deep maroon, which is the only one of the sock yarns that isn't variegated. It should be good for a fancy pattern!
That brown/white/tan in the middle isn't Shibui. I think it's a local hand-dyed job, and it's called Parchment which. I mean. I couldn't resist buying it after I found out the name (I was barely holding on, just from the color XD)
And finally! That one on the right is a silk/steel combination yarn. NOVELTY YARN. I'm pretty sure it is conductive, so I am trying to figure out whether I can somehow knit it into the fingers of a glove for use with touchscreens. My first idea was to have something that just looked geeky, by knitting it double-stranded with a haloed yarn into a scarf or something for an interesting effect. But now I also want it to be useful! Oh this yarn, it and I shall have some fun times together.
I can't remember the name of this last store, because it was totally unplanned. (chemicallace informs me that this is Tricoter). I was walking from foxfirefey's place to the Arboretum, and I got slightly lost and ended up in front of a yarn store :D I only meant to have a look, but, well!
This is a silk/cotton (60/40) blend. This yarn store chose to arrange its yarns by color, rather than by type, so I was wandering all around, picking up yarn. One touch of this (it is very soft and shiny) and I started to lust after it, but I resisted because I could only find it in white. Then the nice lady took me to the back room and showed me all other colors it came in and my resistance crumbled.
That's five balls of the red, then two each of the white, aqua, and gray. I am hoping the red is enough for a sleeveless top; need to do my research first, though. Worst comes to worst, I can use the gray for trim, but I'd rather not have it come to that.
Bonus, everything was 15% off *G* So I spent a lot, but at least it was only 85% of a lot!
Here's a closeup of the yarn, so you can see how glossy and soft-looking it is.
Siyempre hindi patatalo ang 'pinas. Dreams Yarnshoppe is our local yarn store. I have spent many fun hours in there choosing yarn :D The yarn selection is sourced primarily from Hong Kong, I believe, and varies depending on available stock from the store owner's last trip to HK.
The one big weakness it has, for me, is that most of the yarns are worsted weight. I have only rarely seen sock yarns, and never any laceweight on the racks. I guess the demand just isn't that high! (Or else the demand is so high, they can't keep any on the shelves :p)
I went to Dreams once in June and once in July. I could have sworn that I was there one more time, recently, but I guess I misremembered, because I can't find any yarn to prove that I was there. (I somehow always end up with more yarn. Oops)
Pickings from my June trip:
So, the red furry stuff is for a scarf for my sister. She lost a scarf made of somewhat similar material while we were in Australia, and when I saw this, I decided that it wouldn't take long to make a scarf for her. First time I've tried a yarn with so much obscuring halo. It was surprisingly easier to work with than I thought it would be, but I much prefer regular yarns. Red Fluffy Scarf for my sister, over on Ravelry
The blurry black yarns up top are paper yarns, which I bought out of curiosity. I wanted to buy other colors to leaven the black, but nothing matched. So. (Is paper yarn really yarn? And will it die if it gets wet?)
The light lavender-grey lends itself to soft drapey fabric when knitted, though the actual yarn is kinda rough. It's some kind of mohair/alpaca blend I think. I... spent quite a while pulling out the black hairs whenever I noticed one in the yarn, puzzled as to how my hairs were getting mixed in so frequently. (Did it get tangled in my hair brush?) And then suddenly, I realized that maybe it was actually part of the yarn. Eheheh.
This yarn went to my first knitted beret. It also taught me that rougher yarns could be fun to knit with. Before then, I'd always chosen smooth very procesed yarns. It was kind of like the revelation I had once I finally tasted good dark chocolate, instead of sticking with milk chocolate. Just an idea that the bitterness could enhance the experience and make it richer. (Or, well, roughness in this case)
Then sock yarns! It's not very clear from here because the picture is so blurry, but those are two balls each of two colors of Paton's sock yarn. Two of those are balls of dark blue/gray/light blue, and the other two are um. Kinda pink and green and violet and white. The blue ones are conservative looking and tame. I'm not sure what the other one looks like :p
Now here's my loot from July:
I was so happy with the rough yarn from the other time, that I bought it in two more colors, one a bluish-gray, and the other in shades of brown. That's suitable for one hat per ball :D
The two balls of dusky pink and the two balls of turquoise I'm not sure what I'll do with just yet. I know I had something in mind for them, but now. Um. More hats, maybe? And the aqua ones off to the right are meant for a top, which was one of the first projects I started, but which has now been held up indefinitely because I'm not sure how to go about shaping it for the bosom. Someone at the LYS gave me stitch counts for the first half, but she no longer lives here, so I can't ask her for the second half of the measurements :x
And now this one here isn't from the local yarn store, but it came in the mail! It was a Christmas bonus:
sock yarn in shades of dark blue. I am saving this up for one of my later sock projects ^_^
Here are books that I got from two book store trips while in the US. One withpeoppenheimer, and the other was to Powell's.
Presented without comment, since I haven't had the chance to read most of them:
Ethad of Athos by Bujold, The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault, The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner, Whiskey and Water/Ink and Steel by Elizabeth Bear, Young Miles by Bujold, The Numbers Game, Lirael / Abhorsen by Garth Nix, The Hunger Games, Stiff by Mary Roach, Sabriel by Garth Nix
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin, The Zombie Survival Guide, Freakonomics, Mistakes Were Made, Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle, Swordspoint by Kushner, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon, Sword of the Rightful King by Jane Yolen, Cordelia's Honor by Bujold
Getting Started with Arduino Kit (not a book), System Administrator's Pocket Reference, Perl Debugger Pocket Reference, Make: Electronics, Designing Web Interfaces, jQuery in Action, SQL Antipatterns.
Half seen at the bottom of the stack is Perl Best Practices, but I've had that for a while!
Not pictured: an iPad, which is my work bonus and has been serving as an awesome combination toy/tool which deserves an entry all on its own at some point *g*
So all in all, I have enough to keep me busy for the next six months or more. *purrs*
All of them were taken using a phone camera, so please excuse the quality!
I managed to drop by a yarn store while I was in Australia, and bought these from Morris & Sons:
Not sure how obvious it is, but in the two balls of yarn where the gradient goes from vivid aqua to light gray, the gradation is really long and gradual. I ended up making a beret with a bit less than a ball of this; unfortunately it was too small for my head. Will need to figure out what to do with the other one.
The two pink glossy ones are silk, and so soft and shiny (*coo*) that I cannot decide what to make with them. I don't want to waste them after all! Maybe some day an idea will hit me...
The cute aqua one with white flecks feels really cool and soft in my hands. I have the feeling they'll make good gloves :D
Not pictured: I raided
rb's stash of unwanted yarn before I came home, so I actually came home with a bunch more yarn from Australia than is obvious *G*I dropped by three (!) yarn stores while I was in the USA, and bought a LOT of yarn which filled up my already full yarn bin. I had to get a second one to handle the overflow; neither yarn bin closes right now *G*
Not pictured: two balls of Noro Silk Garden from Nine Rubies in San Francisco (which was the first yarn store I went to in the US) because I've already made them into a scarf. Scarf is also not pictured because I am too lazy to weave in the ends *g*
Next was Knit Purl in Portland, where I spent a couple of hours with
denise and sarah, wandering around, touching stuff, choosing which yarn to bring home (PLEASURE), and then trimming down the selection so that it would all fit my budget and my suitcase (AGONY).There's a lot of yarn in this picture -- eleven different kinds, totaling up to some twenty skeins/balls. Even just focusing on the yarn that I just would not be able to get here back home, there was still an amazing lot of yarn to choose from.
From left to right:
That big skein of fluffy looking dark brown and white yarn is alpaca, and undyed. I am so much in love with how strong and masculine it looks. My first thought was something big, but D suggested socks; totally not my first thought but it sounds like it might turn unbelievably soft and smooshy, and I am so going to try it *g* (after I learn how to do socks, that is!)
Then there is the skein of laceweight green (alfalfa) yarn. And I hate green, but somehow I had to have this. It looks like it would be perfect for a small lacy shawl :D
The deep blue yarn beside it is shibui something. Laceweight as well; very fine with a big halo. It shall be a scarf! I even have a pattern booklet, which I got along with the yarn :D The yarn looks big in that picture, but I think that's just because a.) it's lying on top of some other yarn and b.) the deep strong blue draws attention to it.
Next, the turquoise blue stuff is two skeins of laceweight yarn, long enough for a small shawl. It was, alas, the last two in stock, otherwise I would have gotten a third just to be safe. I think I've found a perfect pattern for it though: one Nautilus Chambered or something like that from mmario@ravelry. The most perfect part about the pattern is that it's a growing pattern. That is: you can just keep going until you run out of yarn, so there's no risk that I'll have too little yarn to finish the shawl. Whee!
Next one is also laceweight, in subtle blues and whites. It looks and feels like a cloud in a softly-lit morning. No plans for this yet, but it cannot be hard to find a lacy pattern which will show this off to perfection!
There was a sale on laceweight, so I spent a lot of time in that corner :D Also, my LYS rarely stocks anything below worsted, so I definitely took advantage of the sale.
And then sock yarns *_* I ended up with four different colors of Shibui.
(me: Hey D, I was just looking at this section. Is Shibui any good?
D: *ENTHUSIASTIC YES*)
The leftmost one is called sea breeze and I am all a-♥ at its blues and greens. The pink-and-blue candy/Barbie like combination is much girlier than I personally like, but I have a friend who it would be perfect for, and they were on sale! So I grabbed them. That blue one came out wrong. It should be more purple, not actually blue :( And finally the deep maroon, which is the only one of the sock yarns that isn't variegated. It should be good for a fancy pattern!
That brown/white/tan in the middle isn't Shibui. I think it's a local hand-dyed job, and it's called Parchment which. I mean. I couldn't resist buying it after I found out the name (I was barely holding on, just from the color XD)
And finally! That one on the right is a silk/steel combination yarn. NOVELTY YARN. I'm pretty sure it is conductive, so I am trying to figure out whether I can somehow knit it into the fingers of a glove for use with touchscreens. My first idea was to have something that just looked geeky, by knitting it double-stranded with a haloed yarn into a scarf or something for an interesting effect. But now I also want it to be useful! Oh this yarn, it and I shall have some fun times together.
I can't remember the name of this last store, because it was totally unplanned. (
chemicallace informs me that this is Tricoter). I was walking from foxfirefey's place to the Arboretum, and I got slightly lost and ended up in front of a yarn store :D I only meant to have a look, but, well!This is a silk/cotton (60/40) blend. This yarn store chose to arrange its yarns by color, rather than by type, so I was wandering all around, picking up yarn. One touch of this (it is very soft and shiny) and I started to lust after it, but I resisted because I could only find it in white. Then the nice lady took me to the back room and showed me all other colors it came in and my resistance crumbled.
That's five balls of the red, then two each of the white, aqua, and gray. I am hoping the red is enough for a sleeveless top; need to do my research first, though. Worst comes to worst, I can use the gray for trim, but I'd rather not have it come to that.
Bonus, everything was 15% off *G* So I spent a lot, but at least it was only 85% of a lot!
Here's a closeup of the yarn, so you can see how glossy and soft-looking it is.
Siyempre hindi patatalo ang 'pinas. Dreams Yarnshoppe is our local yarn store. I have spent many fun hours in there choosing yarn :D The yarn selection is sourced primarily from Hong Kong, I believe, and varies depending on available stock from the store owner's last trip to HK.
The one big weakness it has, for me, is that most of the yarns are worsted weight. I have only rarely seen sock yarns, and never any laceweight on the racks. I guess the demand just isn't that high! (Or else the demand is so high, they can't keep any on the shelves :p)
I went to Dreams once in June and once in July. I could have sworn that I was there one more time, recently, but I guess I misremembered, because I can't find any yarn to prove that I was there. (I somehow always end up with more yarn. Oops)
Pickings from my June trip:
So, the red furry stuff is for a scarf for my sister. She lost a scarf made of somewhat similar material while we were in Australia, and when I saw this, I decided that it wouldn't take long to make a scarf for her. First time I've tried a yarn with so much obscuring halo. It was surprisingly easier to work with than I thought it would be, but I much prefer regular yarns. Red Fluffy Scarf for my sister, over on Ravelry
The blurry black yarns up top are paper yarns, which I bought out of curiosity. I wanted to buy other colors to leaven the black, but nothing matched. So. (Is paper yarn really yarn? And will it die if it gets wet?)
The light lavender-grey lends itself to soft drapey fabric when knitted, though the actual yarn is kinda rough. It's some kind of mohair/alpaca blend I think. I... spent quite a while pulling out the black hairs whenever I noticed one in the yarn, puzzled as to how my hairs were getting mixed in so frequently. (Did it get tangled in my hair brush?) And then suddenly, I realized that maybe it was actually part of the yarn. Eheheh.
This yarn went to my first knitted beret. It also taught me that rougher yarns could be fun to knit with. Before then, I'd always chosen smooth very procesed yarns. It was kind of like the revelation I had once I finally tasted good dark chocolate, instead of sticking with milk chocolate. Just an idea that the bitterness could enhance the experience and make it richer. (Or, well, roughness in this case)
Then sock yarns! It's not very clear from here because the picture is so blurry, but those are two balls each of two colors of Paton's sock yarn. Two of those are balls of dark blue/gray/light blue, and the other two are um. Kinda pink and green and violet and white. The blue ones are conservative looking and tame. I'm not sure what the other one looks like :p
Now here's my loot from July:
I was so happy with the rough yarn from the other time, that I bought it in two more colors, one a bluish-gray, and the other in shades of brown. That's suitable for one hat per ball :D
The two balls of dusky pink and the two balls of turquoise I'm not sure what I'll do with just yet. I know I had something in mind for them, but now. Um. More hats, maybe? And the aqua ones off to the right are meant for a top, which was one of the first projects I started, but which has now been held up indefinitely because I'm not sure how to go about shaping it for the bosom. Someone at the LYS gave me stitch counts for the first half, but she no longer lives here, so I can't ask her for the second half of the measurements :x
And now this one here isn't from the local yarn store, but it came in the mail! It was a Christmas bonus:
sock yarn in shades of dark blue. I am saving this up for one of my later sock projects ^_^
Here are books that I got from two book store trips while in the US. One with
peoppenheimer, and the other was to Powell's.Presented without comment, since I haven't had the chance to read most of them:
Ethad of Athos by Bujold, The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault, The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner, Whiskey and Water/Ink and Steel by Elizabeth Bear, Young Miles by Bujold, The Numbers Game, Lirael / Abhorsen by Garth Nix, The Hunger Games, Stiff by Mary Roach, Sabriel by Garth Nix
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin, The Zombie Survival Guide, Freakonomics, Mistakes Were Made, Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle, Swordspoint by Kushner, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon, Sword of the Rightful King by Jane Yolen, Cordelia's Honor by Bujold
Getting Started with Arduino Kit (not a book), System Administrator's Pocket Reference, Perl Debugger Pocket Reference, Make: Electronics, Designing Web Interfaces, jQuery in Action, SQL Antipatterns.
Half seen at the bottom of the stack is Perl Best Practices, but I've had that for a while!
Not pictured: an iPad, which is my work bonus and has been serving as an awesome combination toy/tool which deserves an entry all on its own at some point *g*
So all in all, I have enough to keep me busy for the next six months or more. *purrs*