Sunday, December 11, 2005

Bigger Than A Breadbox

Friday night I met up with the Spiders for the first time – what fun! I got to check out some awesome handspun and learn how the rest of the world pronounces clapotis (um, not like clap – O – tis).

But those ladies are ENABLERS. There was much talk of yarn, of course, and yarn shops, including the fabled School Products.

By 11 am on Saturday morning I was on my way home with this beast.



Note the diet coke thrown in for scale. And here’s another shot with a standard size pen.



Yikes! That's 1600 yards of cashmere/merino blend. The helpful folks at school products instructed me to use size 10.5 needles and not to freak out if it looked and felt weird knitted up. The yarn is covered with spinning oil, and the FO must be washed in the washing machine to remove the oil and prompt the yarn to fill out. The swatch in the store felt bunny-soft.

I’m thinking I’d like to make a nice cozy sweater for myself, maybe with some cabling? Maybe not? Nothing too close fitting, and nothing with a turtleneck, because I think I’d die an itchy overheated death in about 10 minutes. Instead, maybe something akin to a big wearable blanket. Yet still flattering and not enormous. And knit on size 10.5 needles. Is that possible? Has anyone heard of such a thing? What have I gotten myself into?

10 comments:

spajonas said...

that's HUGE!! yep, the ladies at school products are right about the needle size. their cashmere yarn always fluffs up upon washing and becomes the softest yarn EVER! swatch it up before hand and then run that swatch through a warm cycle in the wash. you'll love it.

as for sweaters.. what about something from glampyre? or the new knitty?

Ashley said...

yum. Jealous. Hmm...maybe this is good Hourglass yarn? (I will continue to pimp that sweater until there is no more internet to pimp it on.)

Anonymous said...

Oh - I'm so sad I missed you on Friday... I can't wait to see what you do with that mondo cake of cashmere!

--Deb said...

Oh wow oh wow oh wow . . .

Courtney said...

I say clap-O-tis and I think that's okay. It's more fun that way.

Anonymous said...

be still my little heart.
(very. jealous.)

Anonymous said...

I've heard great things about SP cashmere (Steph is the expert)! Have fun with it.

Brooklyn Handspun said...

ohh baby, I was eyeing those giant cones last week while I was at SP ohh I might have to go back! It was great meeting you and beware we really are enablers!

=joy= said...

goodness. i don't think i've ever seen that much cashmere blend. EVER.

it was great meeting you last week! hope to see you on friday. ^_^

Katie said...

O
M
G
!
That's some serious cashmere. Nice! Gotta love School Products.