Oh, What Yarns!!

This is going to be a BIG post, with lots of new yarns (ahem, shuffle, blush) . There were quite a few sales on sock yarns in April, and I sort of fell into a lot of them. My credit card is being ouchy, and I am going to be really, really good again in May. Especially since I rather spent both April and May yarn 'budgets' in April. I could tell you a 'yarn' about how it was my Evil Twin who made these purchases, but I'm more of the 'I cannot tell a lie' persuasion, so yep, I have to 'fess up that 'Me did it!'

There are a good few new needles in the stock here Chez CBM, most of them being the KnitPicks Options. I didn't buy the kit, but I got tips in sizes 4-9, some cables and 2 each of the sock-sized circulars. I don't often use sizes larger than 9, and for those I already have a good selection of needles, besides my beloved Denise set. I am finding that the KP needles are not replacing all of my other needles. Like the Addi Turbos, they just don't work with all yarns, being too slick. And I still reach for my Denise needles for all sorts of things, especially those which are 2-sizes larger for binding off. I'm storing the KP in a couple of their 2-item pouches, in a nice 3-ring binder that wasn't doing anything else. The KP holes are the same as most compact planners, but the pouches are wider.

OK, to the new yarns. First are two special treats, gifts from generous friends. First is a skein of gorgeous Sundara yarn, in the Cherry Blossom colorway that she created for her first anniversary. I received a gift certificate, and I spent part of it on this special yarn.


Then a skein of the wonderful new Fleece Artist Sea Wool, in the Marine colorway. I tried to get a good photo, but perhaps the link will give you a better view of the lovely greens, blues, blue-greens and lavender/purples. In the variegated colors, scroll about halfway across. This was a most unexpected gift, and believe me, I went "SQUEEE!!" all over the place, with a few happy dance bits thrown in.


The green you see, 6 skeins (1200yds) of Classic Elite's lovely Provence cotton, I bought while trying to find the 'right' yarn for the Wren-a-long many of my Elann friends held. The Berocco pattern was done in Berocco Zodiac tape yarn, and I didn't like any of the colorways, even at the huge Elann discount. So after many auditions, I gave the vote to Provence, and, if it was the nice subdued spring color you see here, all would have been happy. But it is considerably brighter, just enough that I don't feel comfortable with it. The color is Basil, a new color for 2007, and neither the color on WEBS (where I bought it) or on the Classic Elite website(bottom of the page) shows the brightness and the little bit of too-much-yellow (IMO) that makes me unhappy with it. The yarn itself is top-grade plied cotton, with a lovely sheen. If anyone wants to give this yarn a new home, please LMK. After this disappointment, I relieved a lot of stress when I decided that the omens were not in favor of a Wren in my wardrobe.

I have to confess that Little Knits is a real problem for me. Sue Little has so many lovely closeouts and bargains that I have to stay away from the website. During April she had a huge sale on sock yarns from Opal, OnLine, Cherry Tree Hill and others, many at nearly 50% off. So, since sock yarn "doesn't count" against Knitting from the Stash (KFTS) resolutions, I crumbled. I got 2 skeins of OnLine's Not-so-Winter and 2 of their Sierra yarns. Each skein is enough for a pair. Then the Cherry Tree Hill solids came up, and I bought some of the lovely deep red for a small shawl and some of a nice walnut-y color for DH. He gets the Sierra sock yarn, too.



Last but not least, Chez Casuelle had a sale on Lorna's Laces, nearly all of their yarns, whatever she had in stock. There wasn't much of a discount, but any new stock of yarns from Lorna's Laces are going to be at a significant price increase. She had quite a few colorways I haven't seen before. So I gave in to the temptations. Two of the yarns I wanted disappeared from my order as she filled orders (grr!), but I got the pretty Buck's Bar for socks, and the really lovely Baltic Sea in enough for a good-sized shawl.