Idle Hands...

I feel like I've had a good run of matching patterns to the yarn lately. Even when I worked on something that DIDN'T work out, I could accept it, rip it, and move on. So, once I finished Gail, I wanted to start another shawl. There are a few patterns that I've wanted to make for awhile, and always new patterns showing up. Trying to match up patterns with a suitable yarn (and my lace yarn stash is not very abundant) has been a challenge. What a yarn looks like when you knit it, is sometimes nothing like what you imagine from the ball!

To start the process, I laid out all the lace yarns and took a picture.

Clockwise rom top left--Wellington Fibers, SweetSheep BFL, Merino Lace, GrandRiverYarns, Elann Baby Merino Lace (?), SeaSilk (that I used for Gail), Headwaters Wool, KnitPicks Shadow (?).
For some reason, the SweetSheep BFL won. I bought this at the K-W Knitter's Fair last September, for $20, because it had some dark purple dye spots that shouldn't have been there. As I wound it up, I also found some flubs, some tiny knots, and then the yarn broke. There might have been a loose knot that came apart as the swift spun and I pulled. After winding the second half, I decided that the two balls were small enough for my electric ball winder.

Well, the first one was a little too big :(

Without flash, above, and with flash, below. There was still a lot of the yarn to handwind onto the ball, spoiling the pretty ballwinder look.

This yarn looks SO different wound up then in the skein!! Much more subtle! I have started a swatch, and even blocked it, sort of, LOL. I'm looking forward to the shawl, although I'm still not sure what I'll do when I get to the purple bits. I'm not sure they'll even show up!

For more pictures of this yarn, go back to last September when I posted about it. I don't seem to have those pictures anymore.