We finally got an air conditioner! Doesn't this little guy just look like he's fearing for his life? That's kind of how I feel about our ConEd bill.

I've got so many things on the burners right now! Should I space them out and make many blog posts? I think I shall.

For now I will share this with you. Some really amazing yarn that I swiped from The Point for August's Pattern/Yarn of the Month.

It's alpaca. And merino. And silk. 'Nuf said.

It's going to become this:

This is just a mock up that I did at work (Of course during my lunch hour! Um, yeah.) and of course the finished product will be a hand-knit. My favorite thing about the design? It's one knitted piece. Well, two, if you count the belt.

Stay tuned!!!

Back in March, when I posted my survey on what projects to take on my trip to Paris, the Alpaca Super Cowl was one of the chosen. I actually knit quite a bit on the flight over. (The way back was devoted to reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union.) I finished ASC just about a week after we got back. I've only just now been able to photograph it.



Of all the sweaters that I've improvied, this has to be the best fitting and maybe, just maybe, my favorite. I learned a lot about negative ease on this project. Something that's easy to play with when you are knitting from the top down and able to try the garment on as you go. I'm not sure how I would work this into something that I knit in pieces. Or how many knitting pattterns out there account for it. I mean, sweaters stretch, right?! How come I only just realized this?

The cowl is not as super as I envisioned it. This is mostly due to running out of yarn. Aparently Alpaca with a Twist was backordered "forever" on this particular color. I used 1,100 yards of sport-weight (they call it worsted, but it's not) alpaca. Knit on #4 needles for a nice tight fabric with lots of stretch without sagging. For the cowl I just doubled the yarn and used, I think, a #15 needle. More details on ravelry.



Master P has gotten really good at photographing me now. He basically just lets me stand against the wall and fuss around without telling me when he's taking the picture. The result is the natural kind of shot that I like.