Brain In High Gear

Yesterday I waxed poetic on all things alchemy.   Today, another shameless advertisement for a superb yarn that I discovered about two years ago

Get thee over to Artfibers in San Francisco!  Or at least check out the offerings here on the web.   Rox rocks via this great yarn and fabulous store.  I first discovered Artfibers yarns at a yarn tasting and very recently told you about my current project via this post.    It is sad, but true, that the current tunic on the hook is using up the very last of the Artfibers in my stash.   Oh - - the horror.    Luckily for moi, I managed to tag along on a trip to the foggy golden bay with the single purpose of riding that elevator up to the light filled third floor space that is Artfibers.   No stranger has ever entered the store.  There is always time for a calm and unrushed visit.  

This is not your typical LYS.  This is a focused airy display of only the yarns produced for one label.  And get this!  You may purchase your yarn undyed or dyed.  And, even more of a miracle all yarns are available to the yard (meter)!  Can you believe it.   Give it a try.  Go to the store, place an order online or call up and ask.   If you want 514 yards of Brie, that is what you pay for and that is what you get.  Not sure how much you need.  Well, the website has a handy dandy calculator for figuring out the yardage needed for your planned project.  (use the link for Brie and play with the calculator)    If you are at the store, they will figure it out for you and even custom design a pattern for your measurements while you wait!   Life just does not get any easier than Artfibers customer service.

Witness this.  I walked in hoping that Ming in this fantabulous Color #8 was available and that there was enough to make another FLS, which I once made and sold right off of my back.  Score!  Three cones were in the bin.  Cone #1 had 594 yards which is not quite enough.  No worries as Rox immediately wound off 156 yards which adds up to exactly 700 yards.  How is that for service? 

What else caught my fancy?  What has put my brain in high gear?

Casanova.  50% Tussah Silk, 30% Mulberry Silk & 12% Superkid Mohair in a colorway that looks like it was designed solely for my pleasure.  This is something that will definitely be tucked away whilst my brain works up the courage to design a lacy shell for wearing with a suit.  I'm thinking beads and glitz and champagne!

Check out this.  Undyed 100% Yak.  You absolutely must read about Yaqui on this page.

Right now I have no idea what this will become.  It is going to take some brain power for sure.  I want to use every inch of the 619 yards that I purchased.   Because this felts so wonderfully, that might enter into the equation. 

Thoughts?  Suggestions?   I am open to your input.

Same Thing, Different Result

Last year several posts were devoted to the quick, fabulous South Bay Shawlette from Lion Brand.  I made several and delighted in each.  That same stitch pattern is also used to crochet the New Lace Tunic from the same source.  

I'm making the tunic with the yarn from yesterday's post.  Having made the stitches before, it is almost too easy to create a rectangle.  The tunic, as it turns out, is just two rectangles seamed appropriately to create the effect.   The rows are churning out quickly and one hour of work produces as much lace as does twice that time spent on a new pattern.  

There just might be something to this whole repetition thing.  The brain is in balance and all cylinders are firing!

Art + Fiber = Artfibers

For quite some time, this cone of yarn was the first thing that greeted me when I opened the door to the yarn stash closet.  I absolutely adore the stuff.

This was purchased at a yarn tasting party and the color way is more muted than normal for me.  But each of the tones is so "me" that I had to have it.  I waited and waited and lost patience.  So much so that I started talking to the cone and stopped waiting for it to speak to me.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?'

"What are your strengths?"

"What thrills your soul?"

"When you envision happiness, what does it look like?"

"Speak!  

Now!  

Or forever hold your peace!"

Finally, we were able to communicate, this yarn and I.   We have decided to join forces and become a lacy tunic.  Such a shock.  Imagine it, please.  Fingering yarn wanting to be a bit of open air patterning about the body.  Hey, at least we are now communicating on the same wave length and united in a common goal.

This is from Artfibers and as I recall, it is Carezza.  Feels fabulous to work, now that the ding dang cone of yarn has come out from its resting place and decided to play nice with me! 

I digress with repressed aggression and beg your pardon, dear reader.

We are actually getting along fine, this yarn and I.  We meet by the window in the afternoon light and play happily while sweet jungle screams punctuate the air.

Bert says 'Ello!