Whoo!

If the yarns shown here ever actually hit store shelves, I will forgive Lion Brand for having all those silly novelty yarns and dropping things like Monet and Cotton Ease...there's a Lion Wool, and a cashmere blend (!!!! I don't quite believe it) and something that's apparently called "Mystery".

I just hope the craft stores here decide to carry them, and don't do the "oh, wool is TOO HOT for people who live in Oklahoma and Texas to knit with." Or the "But people won't paaaaaaay the higher prices for natural fibers" thing.

Because, you know, it's really nice to be able to walk into a store and buy something on a whim - not having to hunt it down in a catalog or online, and then order it, and then wait a week or more for it to come.

That said, I don't know about Hobby Lobby's future with Lion yarns. See, they've got their own brand now - called Yarn Bee or summat like. I was there yesterday looking around. They have one that momentarily excited me - the label said "Icelandic Jewels" so I thought - hey, it's a Real Wool yarn. Then I picked it off the shelf and looked at it - it's 100% synthetic, and not the nicest feeling synthetic either.

And the colors they have in of their new yarns are kind of unappealing to me - sort of a limey green, and a slightly blued-up grey, and all the baby colors.

I also went to the JoAnn's -- they have some of the new Moda Dea yarns, including a new, 100% wool thick-and-thin yarn called Cartwheel. It's not cheap, but I did buy a couple balls in a color called "Bronzeberry" (sort of a brown and purple mix; I want it for a hat). I like to "reward" stores for having usable yarn. (And I'm thinking: dare we hope? Has the knitting Renaissance got to the point where we may once again see good basic worsted-weight wool yarn on the shelves of the chain craft stores, and even, perhaps, the "department" stores of today [i.e., Wal-Mart. That's really what the oldtime department store has evolved into. Not really recognizable, kind of like the idea that birds are really the evolutionary descendents of dinosaurs]?)

I really hope so; I'm burning out on the various "novelty" permutations. Not to mention which, some really aren't that fun to knit with (see: JoAnn's "Whisper").

I also bought a book, using a 40% off coupon. So here's a mini review: yes, it's yet another scarf book. Yes, it's called "Knit Ponchos, Wraps, and Scarves" by Jane Davis. Don't let the P-word scare you off - most of the projects are honest to God scarves, and most of them are wearable. Some of them, are, in fact, quite amazingly neat. Early on in the book there are the expected novelty-yarn-garter-stitch things, and that almost made me put the book down, but I kept going - there's a section on knit-purl patterns, and a section on cables, and a section on lace (smaller than I would have liked, but then again, most people are not lace nuts like I am) and a section on beading and embroidery. And the last section - which really contains the ingenious designs, the ones that made me go, wow, I didn't realize you could do that, involve I-cord.

Now, understand - I-cord is something I HATE to knit. Hate it. But some of these designs are enough to make me overcome my "you're asking me to knit the same three stitches for HOW many feet?" feeling about it - because this is I-cord like I never saw it before. There's one where the I-cord is used to make a series of graduated loops on the ends of the scarf- it's an interesting technique and the finished scarf is quite attractive. There's another one, called Celtic Braid, where you make loops of i-cord at the end of the scarf, and then braid them - again, it's tricky looking to do and cool in the finished product.

There are also a couple more scarves where she has interesting "end" treatments - not simply fringes or beaded edges but ruffles, or a slightly flared end with a stitch pattern, things like that.

There's also a cape. Yeah, I'm thinking of making a cape. I'd never know where to wear it. BUT - it takes three skeins of Paton's "Divine" - I HAVE three skeins of Paton's "Divine" in my stash that I bought for a scarf that never materialized. It also takes a pewter clasp - I HAVE a pewter clasp tucked away that my mom bought me at a Scandinavian Shop somewhere and I never used. And it looks - well, the cape looks kind of Hobbity, and that makes me smile. So, even if I only ever wear it at home, in the evening, over my shoulders while I read, I want to make that cape. (And heck - maybe after it's done I'll decide it's not too costumey and will work in the winter over a dress for church or for a concert or a party).

So anyway - the book is not one I've seen widely advertised ANYWHERE (it's from kp books, so I guess it doesn't have the advertising behemoth behind it like books from Interweave or XRX). But it's definitely worth a look - at the very least, if your library gets a copy, take a look at it. It's a cool book. I don't like every last scarf in it (I don't think there's any book I own where I love all the projects) but there's a pretty high percentage of designs that I either said "Oh, that's COOL" or "I want that" or "I want to make that".