Crossing my fingers....

With a little gulp and some crossed fingers, I dropped off a little sweater today at the LYS to go to the finisher to be seamed. I feel so decadent and a bit guilty "letting" someone else finish my work. But really - I'm all about the knitting. I feel like I earned my chops by learning how to seam and putting together that tank top for my daughter. Now that I have proven I can do it, I don't really feel the need to spend my precious knitting time doing all of that tedious work. I had to do the blocking myself so at least I'm still halfway involved with the finishing. (Lol) It will be interesting to see what comes back to me though............ I did see some examples of sweaters which had been to the finisher (doesn't that sound like some sort of a mobster title?? Seriously, you do not want to mess with "the finisher".) and they looked great. But this sweater was the little one I did for my daughter out of that ladder tape type yarn. No fun to work with so I've passed it one to someone else! Not my problem anymore! :)

In other knitting news, my Mom is in town and she actually suggested that we take a trip to the yarn store. So you know what happens next. We spent an UNGODLY ammount of money there. Mom got hooked up with materials for a Manos throw and I got some of that new Rowan Harris Yarn - you know - the new stuff that has Alice Starmore's panties all in a bunch. (Now she will probably try to sue me too!) Anyhow, the yarn is so gorgeous. And expensive! - at $16 a ball for 18 balls... well you get the idea. Thanks Mom!! The yarn is the chunky weight and the color is a beautiful flecked teal. It's SH020 if you want to look it up somewhere - it's too late & I'm too lazy to link to it right now. :) I got the yarn to make the ribbed coat from the Debbie Bliss Book Six. It's the one in the dark yarn that they photographed from far away with the model standing in a dark doorway. So I actually have very little idea of what the coat is supposed to look like. :) Anyhow - obviously the original yarn that was used is Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky - which just as obviously was discontinued. :( WHY?? WHY??

Oh well.... so I got the Harris Chunky, went home and swatched. After two swatches I realized that this yarn just does not want to become a ribbed coat. It's a four by four rib but it looks completely flat! No definition at all. I think this yarn wants to become a cabled jacket, maybe with some seed stitch, something that will force more texture into the yarn. But I love the yarn, don't want to give it back! So onto the internet to do some research. Found out that Rowan Yorkshire Chunky Tweed is the same gauge. There is a beautiful jacket called "Willow" in the Rowan Yorkshire Fable book. So back to the yarn store to pick up the book. Will be swatching for that this weekend. Cross your fingers for me!

What about the ribbed coat? I found some awesome chunky Cascade that will be arriving mid-September. Ahhh - how I love winter knitting!