Stash and Geekery

Okay, only three pieces of it are actually stash, since the rest of it is earmarked for specific projects. My HUGE BOX from KnitPicks (which cost less than my Clapotis) included:

- 18 balls of Merino Style in Vanilla for Zig Zag

- 1 ball of Merino Style in tidepool, for hefty swatching in preparation for a design project (I already have a batch of this for the sweater proper, but got nervous about the amount needed for prep)

- 2 hanks of sock weight Color Your Own, for my first try at hand-dyeing

- 9 balls of Pallete in: black, blue, pool, and sky for Snowflakes and Arrows (which is very stinkfully photographed, both flat and on the model, to imply shaping, but actually has none. I'll take that as a challenge.)

- a bottle of Eucalan

- The pattern for Snowflakes and Arrows

- The book Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy, which totally rocks. It's all about understanding construction, rather than following patterns.


That reminds me. I've been meaning to start an Amazon book list, and maybe a series of articlettes called Knitting for Engineers. The more I think about it, the geekier knitting seems to me. Yes, it's about beauty and drape and the way the fiber feels in your hands. But if you think about it, there's so much more to each of those things. What makes a design beautiful? Why does one swatch drape differently than another? Why does one fiber feel different? These can all be understood, at least to some degree, and that adds another layer of pleasure to seeing a beautiful design, admiring how it drapes, and enjoying the feel of Alpaca in your hands. Plus, the process of coming to understand them is incredibly fun.