Well, the weekend before last was the annual Knitters’ Fair, so of course more unnecessary yarn acquisition was made:

Although in my defense, each and every year there is some stash padding done at the fair. But this year was a little different since my usual enabler shopping companion, Miss Vee, wasn’t in attendance, being overdue with baby Sadie (yay!). Happily though, I did have a date, as another great enabler my friend Joanna was in the area, visiting from out west, and together we managed to leave with several beautiful future projects a piece. Although I didn’t get a picture of Joanna’s haul, I assure you she was more subdued in her yarnage than Miss Vee last year- as this picture adequately captures:

Last year’s yarnage.
I’d like to point out that a mere 1/4 of it (to the left of the white boxes) was mine. Heh.

That’s a lot of yarn, folks.

Here’s my haul from this year’s fair:

Mmm… yarnage!

I’ll break it down into smaller bits to discuss:

Fleece Artist yarns~ (left to right) Scotian Silk in Midnight, BFL Aran in Ebony, 2 skeins of Cashlana in Ebony (or maybe Earth? I’m not sure…)

The Scotian Silk and BFL are kits. The first is for a new little wrap sweater, called Lu, quick and cute and easy – three of my favourite things. The BFL is for fingerless mitts, Hans. They will match one of my coats nicely, I hope to have them to wear THIS winter.

Some yarns from a local company:

Knitwerx Colourworx handpainted originals~ (left to right) in Falling Leaves, Autumn Woods, and Raspberry Mousse (2 skeins)

Then lastly, two other bundles of handpainted goodness:

Left: Yarntini varigated sock in Home; Right: Marisol Hacho in Northern Lights (307)

I also picked up a cute little project bag from MamaE:

I wanted more than one but in that regard I did manage to exercise a teeny bit of restraint. They are very cute though, and thought it would be great for my silk knitting from keeping the ball nice and tidy and away from pointy sticks and other such things in my knitting bag.

In other knitting-related news, I finished the Iro Scarf:

Yarn: Noro Iro, #47, 2 skeins
Pattern: You’re My Iro Scarf, from brooklyntweed
Needles: 8mm Brittany Straights

It is really pretty and warm, and wraps a couple of times around M’s neck with lots left to jauntily hang, it’s a good look, and I thank brooklyntweed for the great idea. A very gratifying quick knit indeed.

I also frogged the Lacy Bonnet- I had made a fair amount of progress when I noticed I’d made a mistake in the lace pattern, and ripped it back, when I noticed a really stupid mistake I had made very early on… I don’t think anyone but another knitter would have noticed, but it was bothering me (Type A anyone?) so I just frogged the whole thing and will start over. It’s quick and fun to knit, not to mention small, so I don’t mind too much starting again.

I have a few knitting-related goals over the next couple of months that I don’t know if I can achieve given the rarity of time/brainspace I have available to actually knit, but I have a couple of baby items for baby O to crank out, one being the Tulip Sweater that I wanted to cast on for over the weekend, but that was thwarted due to having to take her to emerge to get her eye checked out. (Everything is okay, but she has a nasty infection.) Anyway, I still hope to cast on this week for that one, as she should be able to wear it as soon as I can finish! I also have a couple of gift baby presents to get cracking on, and a couple of Christmas-y knitting projects I’d like to finish. Before Christmas. Ha. Again, unsure if that’s even do-able, but at least if I write it down I’ve committed to the idea of trying, right?

With all of these time-sensitive projects in mind, I am trying to resist the urge to work on shawls for me. I still have only knit the setup rows for the Forest Canopy shawl, and have been trying to ignore the temptation to cast on for a Shoalwater shawl in some of the Cashlana I have in stash- simply to see how it looks and feels. Must remain strong.

I did cheat and start a Montego Bay scarf, in Bronze Sea Silk.

I am so weak.

At least it’s quick and simple, and let’s face it, I need that right now!