Knititude

No, grazie.

I've never bought yarn from a Walmart.  Here we are in Italy's version of Walmart:  Bennet, where you can buy clothing, toiletries, stuff for your car, books, wine/beer/liquor, office supplies, groceries (including more varieties of pasta than you'd believe) and oh yes, yarn.  100% acrylic yarn, for a little over a dollar a ball.  NO, GRAZIE!

Missing my LYS and my OYS

The benefits of living in Como (and there are many) notwithstanding, there is a serious shortage of LYSs here.  I've found several shops that sell yarn, but they seem to follow the odd (to me, anyway) marketing formula of selling a combination of socks, underwear, and a SMALL selection of yarn--much like this store I found in Bellagio, back in May.  Word is there are several great yarn shops in Milano, but don't know when I'll get a chance to go there....  Silly me, I thought the small part of my stash I brought with me would last me until Christmas (when we return to the States for the holidays), but it's only October, and already I'm pining away for Elissa's Creative Warehouse, Putting on the Knitz, the Black Sheep Knitting Co., and of course my favorite Online Yarn Shop, WEBS.

Anyway, I had decided to make Sherwood for myself, in either a sweater or a sleeveless jumper (and yes, to write the pattern for adult sizes), but I didn't have the yarn for it.   I couldn't find an Italian online yarn shop (whether because there are none, or because my fledgling Italian is not up to the task, I don't know).  So I headed--virtually speaking--to the U.K., where in the process of deciding to try Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino Aran (from Angel Yarns, "Europe's Largest Online Yarn Store"), I also happened across a lovely cotton yarn from HipKnits, in "Seaweed" shades of green and blue.   To order from HipKnits, I had to open an Italian Paypal account, since my U.S. Paypal account wouldn't allow me to ship to a non-U.S. address.  And then I got an e-mail from Angel Yarns informing me that they would ship my Debbie Bliss when they got it back in stock.  As to when that would be....  Wonder how much WEBS charges to ship to Italy.

 

What next?

I truly am pleased with how the Chinese Lace Pullover turned out--and now, it's time to move on.  Not that I haven't done so--the projects have been lining up--but at the moment I have five (5!) non-bloggable ones hanging around:  an unacceptable situation.  If the non-bloggables all get rejected by the various editors considering them, I will suddenly have a wealth of material to blog about, but in the meantime:  Trilly, a lustrous pale celadon in silk and cashmere (a close-out from WEBS!).  Yes, I can only stand to wear any wool, cashmere included, for about four hours--about the time it takes to get dressed in my Saturday finest, go out to drinks and dinner, and return home, where I can sigh in relief as I remove the offending garment.  And yes, silk/cashmere is not the sort of stuff you make into a workhorse cardigan that you can throw over a turtleneck (thus avoiding any itching problems) and wear to your son's late-season soccer games.  Still, this is a gorgeous yarn and I MUST make something of it.

Yardage for Chinese Lace Pullover

StacyZ requested the approximate yardage for Chinese Lace, so here it is, for sizes S [M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X]:  1050 [1150, 1250, 1350, 1475, 1600] yds. 

And, since it's Friday, yet another stunning view of Lago di Como.  Ciao!