I am enjoying going on archaeological digs through my knitting/yarn stashes. I am always surprised at what I find, things that I started knitting years ago that got shoved back progressively farther and farther until they virtually disappeared.
In a recent fit of "tubbing" (in which you take the giant piles and bags of yarn that have built up under a table or desk, and sort it into new plastic tubs that were on sale at Home Depot) I discovered, among other things, some socks I had started who knows how many years ago. Several years ago I went on a yarn shop investigation trip in New Hampshire with my mother in law and my sister in law, and in a sweet little combination yarn shop/bridal shop in some small New Hampshire town, I found in the sale bin some lovely 100% wool, sport weight variegated orange/fuchsia/green/brown yarn from Unger, called "Slalom". Unger yarn hadn't been sold for years....it was a collectible! And it was marked way down, so I bought all 4 balls that they had. Months later I started a pair of socks, and got halfway down the foot on the first sock, and then it started to get pushed back by some other projects, and finally it disappeared altogether. I am thinking I probably started those socks as early as 2004, or as late as 2006. So, they've been hibernating for at least two years.
I pulled them out on Monday and finished the pair on Wednesday night... now I feel bad that they lay so long, neglected, when I could have finished them in only 3 or 4 days. Oh well :) I am wearing them now and they are among my favorite socks, they are so warm and so pretty:
I guess you can see why the yarn is called "Slalom", the colors go back and forth so nicely :)
Yesterday I finally blocked my utterly luscious red cashmere scarf! Yayyy! I love this scarf. It was too long to block in one piece on the pressing table in the office at Unique One, so I blocked half at a time:
Here is the first half. It's kind of interesting to see the unblocked half too, as lace looks so different when it is unblocked:
Here is a close up of one of the ends:
And here is the final scarf all blocked:
I love this very beautiful scarf, and I am sure I will wear it happily for many years. Yes, it is for ME. :) I got the cashmere from Springtide Farm, at the 2009 NETA Spa Knit & Spin. I am really looking forward to the Spa this year, February 26 -28. It will be fun! Hopefully, if everything comes in as planned, I will have some great new yarns to bring to the show.
Finally, I did spin a little yesterday on my BFL "Galaxy" fiber. I have been spinning it as a lace weight. Back when I was spinning a little every day, I was pretty good at it, and it was easy. However, I haven't been spinning for weeks, and I have gotten quite out of practice! That is a bad thing. I dropped the spindle about 4 times yesterday, and I haven't done that in a long time. So the lesson learned is, keep spinning and don't stop, because you will suck at it if you stop. Keep in practice!
