tangled up in lilac

I've been untangling for hours.

I think I need a swift.

I give up

Well we had lovely sunny weather in Benediktbeuern, and then one sunny day thereafter, but I had too much else to do that day, so I didn't grab the opportunity to photograph my haul. Since then I've been waiting for the sun to come back so I can have some light to work with, but I have accepted that that's not going to happen.

So here's one blurry daylight photo of what I brought back (note fabulous little project bag made by the incredibly talented Ms.B - I will definitely buy one for my Secret Pal, but I love these so much I may decide that I need two for myself), and you can see closer-up shots of the stuff on my Flickr page (click the photo to get there). Oh, and the fabulous fbz posted all 76 (!) of her photos, and said I could link to them, so here - have a ball. We sure did.

I've cast on the gray silk for Henry, but I'm waiting for needles before I can continue (on order at the LYS). Still dithering about light purple silk or dark blue wool for the MIL's shawl. Ooo! But I finished the Seagrass socks today! I can't post a pic, though, because I'm thinking of submitting them to Knitty or somewhere. Will I actually do it? Probably not, but just in case, I'll hold off on blogging the details for now. Still slogging away on the Billy Reid socks - remind me not to make any more socks for guys with um, large... shoes.

Benediktbeuern

Oh. My. God, that was SO. MUCH. FUN! We met in Munich and took the train and there was a delay so we missed our connection and had to sit at the station café in Tutzing for awhile before we got the train to Benediktbeuern but we didn't mind the delay because we were all knitting and chattering away and we got there and checked in to our (fabulous! cheap! so pretty!) hostel and then went to harrass the Wollmeise and Yarnissima (not only a designer of mind-bendingly beautiful socks, but also a really great roommate!) and meet the Schneeschaf, and ooh and ahh over an unbelievable number of pretty fibrous things, felted flowers and woven stuff and insane colors of rovings and silk yarn dyed with plant-dyes and is this still all one sentence? Sorry. I'm still a bit light-headed. I had a great time. I met some wonderful people. I saw some really beautiful yarn (and I think I bought most of it), and I nabbed cards from a bunch of the artisans there, I'll put up links when I find them. I didn't take photos, but I'll ask for copies from the people who did. There were a few Northerners in the group, and it was such a hoot to see them reacting to all the Bavarian-ness around us - stuff I'd been taking for granted, that I'm now seeing with new eyes.

I now have: gray silk to make a Henry scarf for DrBob; lilac Marisilk to make a Flower Basket Shawl for my MIL; still more Wollmeise sock yarn; indigo laceweight for the Secret of the Stole. Ye gods and little fishes, what to cast on first?

Whew. What a weekend. And I didn't even tell you about the booze!

eta: and I got new needles from these people; the site's still under construction, but you can see a picture - I got the ebony ones, and let me just say: swooooon!

Yay! Oh no! Part Two!

Right, well, there I was wondering what to do for mindless knitting now that Arwen was done, and it occurred to me to bring the helmet liner out of retirement. Problem solved! Then I finished it, so here I am again.

Sigh.

I'll be looking at Benediktbeuern for laceweight yarn and beads for Secret of the Stole, and my next project (like everyone else's, I'm thinking) will probably be Henry.

Oh, and? No pics of Arwen yet because I haven't blocked her. I'm waiting for decent weather so that she'll dry, but duh, hello, it's September! I should probably just get over that.

Yay! Oh no!

The only reason for putting a hood on Arwen was that otherwise I'd have to re-write the neckline. But look, this neckline is okay, so I think I'll save the leftover yarn to make hats for chemo patients. I've already done some moss stitch and bound off, now I need the time to listen to the latest Knitters Uncensored (I know! But I really haven't had a whole hour and 20 minutes all together yet! Probably tomorrow...) while I tuck in all the ends, and then it'll really really be done! Which is fabulous! Except that that was my mindless back-and-forth knitting while I read project, and now that it's done I don't have one of those anymore - even worse, it's the Rugby World Cup and I really need something simple to work on while I watch those games - well, the few games that are on TV here - well, the parts of those few games that stupid DSF lets me see. Ten minutes into the second half of Wales v. Australia, the announcer says "we're going to stop showing this and show Germany playing basketball with Slovenia instead, but we'll let you know how this game turned out at halftime." WTF?

But I digress. Arwen! Almost done! Yay! Now what do I do?

limbo

Well Corsica was actually pretty good for knitting. It's hard to knit on the beach, but I got heat rash after two days and had to stay out of the sun anyway, and the breeze off the sea keeps the heat bearable. In September, anyway.

So! Significant progress on the Seagrass Socks. Billy Reid is a bit more troublesome, since they're biggish socks and I'm using 80cm circs, so those are on hold until I can get into Munich tomorrow and get some 100cm Addis. I whipped up a hat for Kelly's daughter on the ferry from Bastia to Livorno, washed it and the Baby Bolero yesterday, they're drying in the basement. And the weather here is quite yucky for September, but it means it's not too hot to have a lapful of wool, so Arwen is seeing some progress. All good, but I can't start anything new, which is bumming me out.

I signed up for Secret of the Stole (and my yahoo inbox had nearly 800 messages in it when I got back from holiday - wow, these yahoo groups are fierce!) (also, I should get that button up on this blog...) and have seen the swatch and am conflicted. I was hoping it would turn out to be a good Christmas present for my mother-in-law, which would necessitate purple yarn, but the swatch - although I have seen many excellent versions in terrific colors - tells me that in my hands, it wants to be a sort of dull turquoise, medium greeny-blue sort of color. Moot point anyway, since

1. Sabi at Sheepaints is not making purple (or greeny-blue) in sufficient quantities for this project...
2. Even if she did, I can't afford 1200 yards of it.
3. The Wollmeise doesn't have anything that grabs me either. I want greenish blue, not green and blue. Also, the designer says variegated is not a great idea for this one, it should be all one color to show off the lace pattern.
4. So I'm still thinking about it, because I can't turn my fussy-brain off, but the plan right now is to look for something suitable at Benediktbeuern.
5. If I opt for greeny-blue, then I still have to find purple yarn for a Flower Basket Shawl for my MIL. Yay, holiday knitting!

Um, I think I should have stopped using numbers earlier. Oh well, whatever. I should stop typing, go back to knitting, get some of the projects over and done with.