Well Worth the wait - Year of Lace Spoiler!!!!!

Don't proceed if you don't want to be spoiled as to the March Year of Lace project.

OK - now for everyone else. I signed up for, paid and patiently waited for the Year of Lace since last fall.

First of all, you have to understand how much I love laceweight yarn. My first love was sock yarn. And my stash is evidence of this. I still like sock yarn a lot, but I'm sort of maxed out until I work through my stash.

But then I discovered lace yarn. Which, by the way, was hard for me to discover. Many LYS in my area do not care it or carry a very limited amount. But then I discovered buying Lace yarn online. And oh - the possibilities are endess:

- Yarnplace
- Webs
- Knitpicks (which has new colors and a new lace line - Gloss)
- Schoolhouse Press
- HandpaintedYarns.Com
- ColorSong
- Fearless Yarns on Etsy
- Others on Etsy and Ebay I have forgotten.


Are all some of my favorites. And I know I haven't found all of the great places. Then slowly - I started begging at the LYSs I visited, and they started carrying them too.

So - I have a bit of a stash in Laceweight now and need to slow down because you can knit forever with lace weight yarn. That's why I love it. You can get 1800 yarnds for $16!! And such pretty colors and fiber. Ahhhhhhhh.....

So - when the Year of Lace signup was announced too much temptation. And I wanted to be challenged to try something new. I couldn't wait for the first package and it was finally announced to ship from Canada on Monday - March 24.

I received it today - and it was worth the wait.

1100 yards of 100% silk in a unique colorway just for the Year of Lace participants. It's a brick red color - chosen by Sivia Harding who wrote the pattern. The yarn is made by Claudia Handpaints.



The picture makes it look a bit more orange than it is.

The pattern is lovely - a triange shawl with beads - a first for me.



I have so many WIPs, I need to hold off on starting this but it is oh so pretty. And well worth the wait. I can't wait for the June installment - a non-triangle project. Yeah - I'm sort of at my fill of triangle shawls at the moment so this is coming just in time!

Handspun

I'm slowly getting better, emphasis on the slowly. This isn't a craft for those who like instant gratification. I'm working on my patience.

Green Merino - I was aiming for a sport weight. I need to check the WPI, it looks to be more like DK to me.



And this is a mix of lots of different fiber samples I have - including a 1/4 silk hankie. Also a wool, angora silk blend - yummm. Not much fiber of any sample so I spun it thin, and then just did a simple 2-ply. I liked spinning silk :) And softness and feel of this hank is so different than the wool handspun, even the merino. It is soooooo soft and it feels very fine. Begs for lace IMHO.



I also bought some superwash wool on Ebay from Brown Sheep. It is very silky and soft, no grip to the yarn at all b/c it's superwash - duh - didn't expect that one but it makes sense. I'm still learning how to spin it because without the little grip on the yarn my small spindle keeps flying off into space. Maybe I'm spinning it too thin, but I'm just not a fan of thick yarn.

I'm now really wanting a wheel. Must resist.

On another note - this is my year for fearlessness remember!!

I've signed up for 1) the Year of Lace 2) Mystery Shawl and 3) Sock Knitting Pentathlon 2008 on Ravelry. Let's see how this goes - it may not be Fearless Knitting, but Foolish Hoping. Let's hope it doesn't turn into the latter! I've also joined Stash Burning on Ravelry - I've got to knit all above from the stash! Bust the stash in 2008 :)