Time Warp

Well, I'm officially back to work. Classes started last Monday and I feel like I haven't taken a breath since. Is it less than 24 hours to February already??

When not spinning in a tornado of paperwork I've actually managed to get some knitting done -- finished the lace border on F's baby blanket on the subway this morning (just have to graft the two ends together and it's done, done, done!!) and even started paging my way through Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls (HIGHLY recommend the book for Shetland lace patterns and shawl making tips) looking for a pattern to make my mom a small stole.

Kinda cool story there. I was in Beacon (home of the aforementioned Dia) with DH and friends over the weekend when we stopped into a small artsy-type shop. Lo and behold, the entire back of the store was filled with fiber works (woven, mostly) and hand-dyed skeins of yarn. I came across a real treat: a 4 1/2 ounce skein of 100% silk in the most wonderful silver-grey with just a few deep violet streaks. Wow! That thing just shouted to be made into something for my mom. But silk don't come cheap, and that's where DH once again earned his D ("dear") status.
"Is it a good price for that kind of yarn?" he asked as I waffled.
"Well, I've paid about the same per ounce for hand-dyed silk top to spin myself," I replied.
"So, buy it," he said, and even offered me the money to do so. Is that a sweetie or what?

So now I have just shy of 850 yards of the most wonderful silk two-ply, probably something like a fingering weight. The stole will be small and I'm picking the most open lace stitch I can find just to stretch it as much as possible. I think I might even try to do a teeny-tiny bead-accented pointed edging on the short ends. Now to sharpen my bamboo size 10s into needle points (for those killer p3togs in the Madeira Mesh) and start sampling!