Starting Musing

So I thought that perhaps writing a blog might be fun, a good way to tell more people about my knitting and yarn obsessions, and cheaper than therapy. Maybe serve as a venue to show my paintings to the world as well. We'll see.

First let me tell you that I have never fancied myself as a writer. Or as I have frequently said, "Words are not my friends." I am a visual person who, while I certainly appreciate a good turn of phrase, gets really turned on by color and texture and shape. And the incredible softness of cashmere yarn, or a good merino. And socks. Yes, wool socks. Lacy wool socks.

But I digress. A couple days ago I started my next couple of knitting projects, a pair of socks of course (a new pattern, but more on that later) and a wedding shawl for my friend Amy. I have knit this pattern before, the Aeolian shawl by Elizabeth Freeman that appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of Knitty. It's lovely, one of the prettiest shawls I've come across. I made it up last year in Brown Sheep Fingering in a deep rich blue. But for Amy's shawl I wanted a really special yarn, and found the perfect lace-weight cashmere on eBay (a great source for yarn, I've learned). It's whisper-light, very fine, the color of whipped cream (that's actually how it was listed), and I'm working little pearl beads into the lace pattern.

The other evening I picked up a copy of "Knitted Lace of Estonia" — a fabulous book! — and learned that the women who created these amazing pieces used straight needles hand-made of beech or lilac wood, never metal needles. As I plunged into my new shawl project, I realized why. The stitches kept sliding off my favorite Addi Turbo Lace circular. So I switched to a bamboo needle, and ta-dah! Problem solved.

I've spent this past weekend doing two of my favorite things, knitting and watching the Olympic games (go Canada!). But now it's Monday, and a new holiday for my office, and I really must go and work on the painting that's been on my easel for a few weeks now, "A Romance With Pearls". Isn't it funny how it always comes back around to pearls?