Fiber and Library Additions

I finally got a chance to take a picture of what I picked up in San Francisco. I didn't go hog wild, but made sure that these would be unique items. The book, "Seven Things that can "Make or Break" a Sweater", is more of a technique book, although there are some pattern in the back. She covers cast-ons, the fact that increasing and decreasing stitches have left or right directions that can be very noticeable, blocking, and so forth. Some of the facts are very eye-opening, illustrated with photos accenting her points.

I picked this book up at Imagiknits, I also picked up a nice skein of Prism Yarn lace wool. I haven't decided what shawl pattern to use with this skein. To round out the purchase, I picked up a mall cone of Habu wool stainless steel yarn in laceweight. Yes, you read that correctly. It's an interesting yarn, and you can bend the strand every which way. Perhap a little doily pattern for this cone.

Of course, being in San Francisco, I just had to visit Britex Fabrics. This is a fabulous fabric store, with luxury fabric, heirloom lace, and even a little bit of yarn. See that scrap of fabric in the middle? I found this really nice 3-yard remnant of this 56" cotton bolt on the 4th floor, where they have remnants. I was looking for tapestry fabric, but couldn't find anything of that kind, s I settled for this one. I should be able to get some nice bags and accessories out of this. I also picked up two grab bags of buttons.

I'e heard quite a bit about Artfibers Yarn, so naturally, since it was downtown near the cable turnaround (well, within 4 or 5 blocks), I had to check them out. I'm not too fond of novelty yarn, but there was some interesting yarn there, so I picked up two yarntasting samplers. And I added to my growing stitch marker collection.

This is what I've been spinning up. A lovely coopworth/alpaca blend. I have two skeins plied up so far, and I have some more on the bobbin that I've got to ply up. i don't think it's going to be quite enough for a good-sized shawl, so I'm going to have to spin up another batch of coopworth/alpaca blend that is dark gray in color. Hopefully I can free up the bobbins this weekend so I can get started on another batch.