Yarn as therapy

So I started feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and I'm now taking those Cold-Eeze zinc lozenges in hopes of combating this thing before it gets out of hand. Lounging around the house, taking it easy, I started looking around for something that would make me feel better. And what else makes a knitter feel better than yarn accompanied by a hot cup of tea?

I brewed myself a nice cup of jasmine tea in my "Shiitake Happens" mug. It still manages to make me smile everytime I see it.



I decided it was time to examine the yarns I recently acquired. Over the weekend, we went to the yarn sale at my favorite LYS, Knitting Arts in Saratoga. The place was totally packed, but I managed to pick up a few things I'd been dying to try out. I got 2 balls of Crystal Palace Merino Frappe, 80% merino wool/20% polyamide in New Sage, a lovely light green color. I have no idea what I plan on doing with this, but after seeing the "Spiderweb Capelet" in Stitch 'N Bitch Nation, I knew that 2 balls would be enough to do something. Perhaps it's time to crack open the stitch pattern books and try out something new for a scarf? Suggestions are welcome...



The big happy of the day was finally getting my hands on a ball of Rowan's Plaid. I've been admiring this yarn for quite a while now, so I grabbed a ball in shade 160 - Crushed Shell. I looked through several pattern books trying to find inspiration, but I finally decided to try the stitch pattern that I came across on another blog: http://www.sheepinthecity.prettyposies.com/archives/000079.html I thought it'd be interesting to see how the Plaid looked when knitted in this pattern. I first started out using US #11 needles, the suggested size for this yarn. But I quickly realized that this pattern creates a very dense fabric, so I'm now in the middle of testing it on US #13s instead. Here's how it looks thus far:



Man, I need to learn how to take better pictures. The color is way off. In actuality, this yarn is light tan and baby blue. Eh, it's not my camera so what can I say?

In addition to these wonderful treasures, I also received in the mail my monthly samples from the Yarn-Of-The-Month club. I absolutely love being introduced to new yarns, ones that I would not have necessary noticed in a store or sought after online. For instance, the yarn called "Phoenix" by Southwest Trading Co. is 100% soy silk. I'm amazed at how versatile the soy plant is - you can wear it or eat it! The other yarns included were: "Cantina" by Manetto Hill, "Cotton Denim" by Debbie Bliss, and "Two.Two" by Classic Elite (wonderful stuff).