Stash Enhancements

I was going to be a good, healthy, responsible adult today. I was going to come home, work out, get groceries, balance my checkbook, and go to bed early. Instead, I came home, worked out, got groceries, opened the box from my mom that I knew had yarn in it, ordered more yarn/patterns/Dale patches, and stayed up late to blog.

The take:
Top: 4 balls of Inca Silk (80% alpaca, 20% silk) by Ram Wools, color 1900. I don't know what it will become, possibly a scarf.
Middle: 4 balls Patons Kroy Socks in Norfolk Blue. Part of this is going to become Bayerische socks. I don't know about the rest.
Bottom: 2 skeins of Hand Maiden Sea Silk in a fantastic purpley color. I don't know what this will become either, but I'm thinking something worn close to the skin, because of the fantastic way it feels. Plus, I love the way it smells. The seacell smell reminds me of a day at the beach or some really good sushi, I can't quite decide which. But I love the yarn. Maybe I'll just keep it on my desk and occasionally fondle/smell it until I decide what to make with it.

I leave you with another confession. A few days ago, I promised a picture of the grey Lopi sweater. I couldn't find a way to make it interesting, but here it is - the body and one sleeve:
The confession is this: This grey Lopi sweater is my Olympic knitting. I've learned a few things from this. Clearly, planning to do a whole sweater was a bit overambitious for someone who was a full-time student with mandatory extracurricular activities and a massive senior design project. Second, I don't like Lopi quite as well as I thought I would. It's kind of a rough wool and knitting with it for too long makes my hands hurt (this happens much sooner with Lopi than anything else I've knit). Third, trust but verify. This includes the size labels on knitting needles. I had swatched on some 6s and 7s borrowed from my mom, decided on 7s and went to buy my own. Except the package that claimed to be a 32-inch, size 7 circular contained a 32-inch, size 6 circular. I didn't realize this until I had finished the body. I'd put it on waste yarn, pulled it on, and was puzzled that it seemed tighter than it ought to have been. At that point, I finally checked the needle size. The stitch count in the sleeves has been adjusted (increased) to account for using 6s, so I'm hoping it'll turn out OK. And if not, there are lots of people smaller than me who could use a good, warm wool sweater, so I'll donate it.

And now, it's past my bedtime. I'm off to dream about Sea Silk and nifty socks and dying self-striping yarn. :)