Elena

I finished the sweater for the store. It's from an old Elena/Elenka pattern. Size medium, I used Patons Shetland Chunky, 75% acrylic, 25% wool, one skein wine, two skeins frosted rose, four skeins aran. Started on January 4/08, finished January 15! And there were three days in there that I didn't touch a stitch on it. Very quick knit in the round, only grafting under the arms to finish. I really like this yarn, too. I've knit probably two vests, six or so sweaters, and several pairs of work socks over the years from it. Directions say machine wash, dry flat, but I've always thrown them in the dryer. My sweater I have knit out of it still looks like it did when I first knit it.

Blocking. I know acrylic doesn't really block, and this is 75% acrylic, but this made sure the hem didn't curl, and it made the yoke and cuffs smoother.

Closer look at the yoke. I don't knit a lot of colorwork, but I don't think it turned out too badly at all. It was the first time I've ever knit a sweater in the round like this. If I knit this pattern again I will do seed stitch instead of garter stitch at the hem. I also changed the neck a bit and would use 4.5mm needles instead of 4mm for the neck the next time.

The new bamboo sock yarn arrived late yesterday. Is it ever soft! It really does feel like silk, and it's only $11.95/skein, 75% bamboo, 25% nylon. There's only 300m in a skein compared to 390m in their regular 4ply sock yarn. Mine is Mardi Gras Multi. We sold three other skeins of it today besides mine, too, while I was at work, and that wasn't even to any of my sock yarn junkies! (Even though I did leave them voice messages.) I left at three and don't know if any more sold or not. The next time I order from this company I plan to get more of the bamboo and try their DK weight sock yarn. I've mentioned it to some customers already, and they seem quite interested in the heavier sock yarn. One good thing with buying from this company is they'll send "variety bags", so you don't have to buy like ten of one color. (The Boss Lady prefers that a couple of variety bags be bought first so we can feel out the best selling colors before we go ahead and order a bunch of it.)

I do have another yarn order coming soon. I don't think there's anything super interesting in it except for some Handicrafter (that we are nearly out of), a couple of colors of restocked Kroy, mostly just stuff people ordered in. I also placed another order today for a bit more Handicrafter and some knitting needles that we're out of. That one won't come til probably the first of February. They called and said they have a sale starting January 28, so they'll hold it til then so we get the discount. It's not much of a discount, but the Boss Lady told them to wait to send it. I also got the go-ahead to order some other stuff before the sale ends two weeks later. I need to restock the Classic Wool. It's getting pretty picked over, and we're out of a lot of colors. (Knit Niters, let it be known that T at work even said today that the yarn is our best seller right now, and we should expand it!)

Off to Knit Nite later tonight. I don't feel 100%, but I'm going anyways. Got a headache that doesn't seem to want to go away.

Happy knitting!