Not so fast... sneers the Tromfast

I have been dreaming of a dedicated yarn containment unit for a good long time.  Yesterday as I prepared for an epic IKEA run I decided that this would be the day.  Along with several Billy bookshelves and a giant bag of carefully planned items for the kitchen and bathroom, I selected the Tromfast.  I opted for assembly of this piece first, it was the smallest item.  After several hours worth of questing for the damned allan wrench I was able to proceed.  I laughed demonically in the face of Tromfast and declared myself the champion.  But, as you can see from the picture, Tromfast had the last laugh when it was revealed that I had purchased shockingly too few bins/drawers.  Damn you Tromfast!

Citron in Purple

My evil plan to increase handmade accessories for work continues to progress.  I'm currently slogging through Citron from Knitty WI 09.  I needed something with very little stitch detail in order to showcase this lovely hand paint baby alpaca laceweight.  Unfortunately, stockinette stitch with tiny yarn for gillions of stitches gets boring.  How did I forget?

Possum Peddler's Shawl

A good friend of mine brought me this yarn back from her post-doc in glamorous New Zealand.  It's a delightful Possum/Merino blend in vivid cranberry.  This yarn was so coveted and so prized, it took me well over a year and several attempts to find the perfect project.

I recently got my sticky mitts on Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle and found the perfect project.  The Wool Peddler's Shawl  looked like a simple lace I could easily accomplish without too much frogging and frustration, with the added bonus of a historical fun fact I can tell anybody who notices my shawl.  During the reign of good old Queen Victoria, wool peddlers would wear to market bright red shawls so they stood out from the crowd and were easily identifiable.  Cool.

Thanks Dr. Katie! 

Dying Cotton

It's a huge pain in the buttockal region if one tries to do it properly.  It involves more chemistry than microzapping some wool steeped in kool-aid.  I'm not doing it again for a long long time.