Presenting the Kilimanjaro Kat Shawl:



(note the artistic, Interweave Knits-like use of sundappling in the photo < /snark >)

It looks quite small in that picture, but actually it's close to four feet on an edge. It's wonderful. The kid mohair knits up into a magic fabric, it's cloudlike but pleasingly 'scrunchy'. It's sort of like non-sticky cotton candy. It's very light and yet very warm. Sunday afternoon, after I unpinned it from where it was blocked, I had to spent about fifteen minutes just playing with it - trying it on in different ways, tossing it up in the air and catching it as it floated down, looking through it like a lace curtain.

Knitting lace is addictive. I'm already contemplating casting on for the Song of Hiawatha shawl.

That said, it'll be a while before I work with kid mohair again, it is very fine. And it sheds about as much as a Maine Coon Cat in midsummer.

I do have about three and one-quarter balls of the stuff left: Mondial Prestigio, 80% super kid mohair, 20% nylon. Color is called "taupe" but it's more of an offwhite/pale tan. 245 meters per ball. Not quite enough for an adult sized shawl. I paid $5.50 per ball for it a couple years ago. If someone's dying to try this out and would want to trade for something worth $15 to $20(say, for example, a 100 g ball of some kind of nice wool sockyarn like Opal or two skeins of Lorna's, or if you have a skein and a half of Eros lying around...), e-mail me with "Mondial Mohair" in the subject line (I get a lot of weird spams and I tend to delete things from people whose name I don't immediately recognize). Don't just leave it as a comment, Blogger doesn't let us e-mail our commenters back. And let me know what you'd like to swap.

I reserve the right to politely refuse trades. For example, I wouldn't be interested in $15 worth of Wool-Ease (simply because I have TONS of it, not that I am dissing Wool-Ease). I'd consider knitting needles or other tools or even quilt fabric as a valid swap...or books, if they're ones I don't have already. Or old (pre-1998) issues of Knitter's or Interweave.

If no one wants it, that's fine, I won't feel insulted. It'll go back to the stash for the someday when I feel up to making lace scarves.

And while I'm in a generous (or sort of generous) mood, I also have two little bendies to give away. One is Simba from the Lion King, the other is Timon from the Lion King. One of the cereals I eat was giving these away and I find I have two of each of those. If you have a child who simply MUST have a Simba (or who would be very happy to have a Simba or a Timon) or if you would like one (computer mascot?) send me an e-mail with either "Simba" or "Timon" in the subject line. This is just a giftie, I'm not soliciting trades here (but I could be bribed I suppose, if you have a child who has Puumba and Nala and Simba but is dying for a Timon). If more than one person requests them I'll draw and let you know - if you're not comfortable giving out your mailing address in the initial e-mail I can mail you back if you "win" it. These will be sent out "cheap mail" so it might take a while for them to reach you, but hey, they're free. (You can request both but if I get more than one request I'm going to send them to two different people, if that makes sense...)