Thanks for the tip. I worked in a quick visit to the new store this morning, and it’s nice! I’ve got a new bag of goodies, including size 4 circulars and bobbins. What’s even better is, I can stop in on my way home from work!
CJ
I just finished the two aforementioned scarves, which can be seen here if anyone’s curious.
Next up? Winding my alpaca hanks so I can start the lace shawl.
You know, I would NEVER name my alpaca Hank…
You evil, devious man. Here I go and buy myself a shake as a treat for being a financially good girl today, and you say this so I snarf it up my nose.
Ouch.
My pleasure.
You know, I realized just now that I’ve never used alpaca. Is camelid fiber actually wool or does it act more like non-ovine animal fiber?
Right now I’m working on a crocheted afghan for my roommate from college. I swear I’ll finish it eventually.
I’m also in the process of making Christmass presents. Scarves, to be exact, for my boyfriend’s female relations. I’m on my last one, a drop stitch scarf that may or may not be adapted from Stitch and Bitch, I copied down the pattern from a sample at work (I work part time in a yarn store). It’s out of Sari, which I think is just gorgeous. I’ve contemplated making one for myself, but I know I’ll never wear it.
I’m going to be making a baby hat that looks like a strawberry, but I told myself that I wasn’t going to buy anything for it until after school starts. Plus I’m hedging on whether to spend the 15 or 20 bucks and buy a set of addi-turbos to make it, or if I should hit a craft store in search of cheap metal needles, as I really don’t like bamboo.
I have no idea what alpaca wool is called, other than “alpaca fiber” (;)), but it behaves like wool - you can felt it, for example, and I assume it can be dyed.
I love it because it’s light and lofty and warm, and doesn’t set off my mother’s nasty wool allergy, so I can give her nice soft things. 
Oh, and make nice soft things for myself.
I never, ever, thought I would hear myself say this (or see myself type this), but save up the money and get the Addis. Seriously.
You can FELT alpaca?
Happy day! I can make felted slippers that won’t make my feet itch. This is wonderous news!
Pity it’s not exactly bargain basement stuff.
Incidentally, I just got my Amazon shipment of wonderful Zimmermanny goodness today! Knitting Without Tears and Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac. I may get The Opinionated Knitter next…
You’ll have to let me know if you recommend them, though the heavens know I don’t need MORE patterns…
So I am told, having asked about that myself. Also, you may want to look at Knit Picks; their yarns are pretty reasonable, and they have a handful of alpaca and alpaca blend options. (NAYY)
I have been drooling over the Elizabeth I lace scarf booklet and the alpaca laceweight yarn to go with it at knitpicks. Pity my project list is already so very, very full right now. But ooh… felty alpaca slippers for winter… oooohhh…
I bought some of the alpaca laceweight, and will be starting my first lace-with-laceweight project sometime this week; I’ll keep you posted.
And, yeah, when they posted the bulky alpaca I posted something in my livejournal to the effect of “ooh, felted alpaca slippers [homer]droooooooooooool[/homer].”
Mrs. Bricker asks me to recommend AC Moore, if you have one nearby, for a wider selection of colors and weights…
I came down with a rotten cold on Friday afternoon, so I spent the whoooole weekend sitting on my sofa knitting the Silk Garden sweater. I finished the body, up to the yoke divide, and started a sleeve this evening. Woohoo!
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! Elizabeth Zimmerman books are not a bunch of patterns, they are a way of life. She talks you through the design process, explaining why she made various choices, and giving encouragement and hints to modify things to suit yourself. There is also a lot of advice on technique. I used to think that the only way for me to knit things would be to recieve precise, stitch-by-stitch directions from Designers on High and follow it exactly, but the Knitter’s Almanac and Knitting Without Tears have really opened my eyes and given me tremendous courage to experiment and try things on my own.
I made a sweater for one of my friends following a recipe in a top-down raglan book. It wasn’t really very exciting work, but it gave me something to do with my hands, and came out okay and I was pretty proud of it, and she was thrilled. Then I knit myself a seamless sweater from Knitting Without Tears. Now, the basic idea is the same: a big straight tube for the body, a tapered tube for each sleeve, and shoulder shaping. The people who wrote the raglan sweater book did all the math and just listed it out as a recipe, which I followed diligently. But for the KWoT sweater I measured myself and my gauge with my chosen yarn and needles, and worked out the math for myself, and overall was about 100 times more rewarding than the raglan sweater because I really feel like it is my sweater; so much more of myself went into it. It was a whole different knitting experience. Not to mention that it fits me! Even when I move my arms the cuffs hit me right at the wris,t not only because the sleeve is exactly the right length, but because the underarm and shoulder were made to my exact measurements. As a woman with broad shoulders and long arms, I have never experienced a sweater that actually fits, until now! It is fantastic.
I cannot recommend Elizabeth Zimmerman’s books strongly enough.
What she said. Elizabeth Zimmermann is the Goddess of Knitting for a reason. And the books are a fun read, too. Stories of knitting by the fishing hole on their place in Wisconsin, stories about falling asleep in the car at the ski jump competition The Old Man wanted to go watch, stories about knitting on an island on a lake in Ontario and running out of yarn and making do with odd balls and how great the piece turned out because of it…it’s incredibly entertaining even if you don’t knit.
Cool; I’ll check them out, then.
Thank you Miss Purl McKnittington What do you think of the Ella shawl? I’m waiting on an order from HipKnits (one of the silk packs) to start another one. Swapping the shawl for a couple pairs of socks. Can’t stand doing socks, I have cough issues but don’t mind whipping up a wrap to exchange for 'em.
On the Man issue, there were only 5 submissions from men and only a couple of those suitable for publication. I liked it, for what it was (I knit up the model for the Lucky sweater so of course I am biased) and hope we do see more men’s patts in the future. While on the subject, can’t remember if it was already mentioned but a new men’s patterns mag will be online any day now - MenKnit.net.
chattywine, I do like Ella. The stitch pattern’s the funkiest (in a good way) lace I’ve ever seen. If I made it, I’d make it with a different yarn, since HandMaiden yarns are way out of my budget. They’re gorgeous, though, and when I win the lottery . . . a billion Ellas for me.
Yay for MenKnit! Hopefully I won’t forget about it.