Catch Up Time

How horribly cruel of me to keep the Contest Monkeys waiting for the big announcement. However, last night WAS Valentine's so of course I had to go to my crochet meeting. So, without further ado, the winner of "Victorian Lace Today" is ...

BELLS!!!

Yes, my little Contest Monkeys, I'm mailing a thousand pound book to Australia. Congratulations, Bells! Hey! Who's that crying in the back? Fear not, there WILL be more random drawings. Pinky swear promise.

And now for the second reason anyone read this blog today ...

It's The Sock Yarn Of Three Days!

Here we have, from left to right, Lion Brand "Magic Stripes" (pfft, what you thought it was going to be Lorna's Laces every day?), Fearless Fibers sportweight yarn in Chocolate Pink Cherry and finally Knit Picks "Essentials." Please note what a lovely job I did of coordinating the colors today. I'm getting somewhat weary of typing out yarn statistics so suffice to say all of this will make three pairs of socks.

Now for some actual knitting content. Perhaps one or two of you have noticed I have a slight obsession with Cabin Cove Mercantile yarn. This is true. And now there's an actual KAL which celebrates this glorious yarn. It's the Shut Up And Knit Your Cabin Cove! KAL. What a wonderful idea and what a smart person Cookie is for thinking this up. Yes, of course I've joined. It's a never ending KAL that simply celebrates Dave's yarn. Because something this beautiful should be celebrated.

You may remember this as the "Dainty Bess" scarf from the three Elizabeth The First patterns. I started it in January, before the KAL began, got bored with it and put it aside. The pattern itself is pretty simple but not simple enough that you can watch TV and work it at the same time. But now, thanks to Cookie, I am INSPIRED! The picture above shows the actual color of the yarn ...

... while this is a better shot of the stitch detail. Now I ask you, how often do you knit up lace and have it look this good pre-blocking? Not very friggin' often. Yet one more reason why Dave creates magical yarn. This is a fingering weight 50% merino, 50% silk in the colorway "Orchid." This yarn was made for lace. I'm ever so glad that I have more. And well, some more after that. And maybe a bit more.