Well, as I said yesterday, I'm here to tell you about my little spending spree while we were away.
I didn't actually buy as much as I wanted because really I wanted to buy nearly everything and that doesn't really fit with having no job and no money, so I just stood, gazed at fabrics and fondled lots of balls of beautiful yarn until I thought the shop assistant was going to throw me out.
I had actually intended to buy lots of fabric; last year there was lots of broderie anglaise that I lusted after and stupidly didn't buy, but this year there was nothing that waved at me at all. Perhaps it was just as well though, as we had so much to cram into our suitcases on the way home that large amounts of fabric wouldn't have fitted at all. At least with yarn you can squish the air out and make it take up less room.
So, what did I get? This little lot, that's what:
It's all by Schoeller and Stahl, who seem to be a pretty big yarn manufacturer in Germany. It's a shame they haven't made it to the UK (or perhaps they have, I'd love to know if anyone has found a UK/Irish stockist*) because their yarn is really beautiful, especially the more classic 4plys and DKs. I got completely mesmerised by some gorgeous silver grey wool and a really dark purple 4ply cotton, and it was really hard to tear myself away. Perhaps those will be a Christmas purchase...
So, the Big Ball Soft really is a big ball - about 8" in diameter! It's 200g of an acrylic/wool/polyester/mohair mix which is really soft to the touch and would, I imagine, make a really warm jumper. The colours range from a silvery grey to a chocolaty brown - there were other colourways with oranges, purples and greens but those sorts of random dyes never do it for me. The ball band claims that one ball is enough for a women's long sleeved top (on 8-9mm needles) but I was a bit dubious and got a second ball just in case (well, it was in the sale so I didn't feel too terrible about that!). At the moment, I feel a long cardigan coming out of this but we shall see what happens when I get it on some needles.
The Elfin is an acrylic/mohair mix which is also lovely and soft to the touch, and I thought would be very nice for baby jumpers and the like. It was in the sale too but I just got the 3 balls (for the moment at least).
And the Ronda (and blast! now I have the Beach Boys going round in my head) is a wool/viscose mix with a fantastic sheen - I have to say the photo doesn't do it any justice as all. I was really glad to find this as I got about 6 balls at Christmas and then found I didn't have enough to make a jumper, and ended up spending ages on Ravelry and Ebay trying to find more. And even more luckily, it is the same dye lot, so there will be no need to juggle different balls or create far-too-subtle stripes. My motto with this, and the Big Ball yarn, is more is safer than less!
But these will all have to wait as I really need to sort out the pre-holiday wrap - decide how long I want it to be and finish it off. And then perhaps there will be for some soft German fluffy-ness!
Happy Wednesday!
*but you might find someone has some for sale on Ravelry or Ebay
