I’ve been sitting on the lovely Mineshaft Shepherd Sock from Lorna’s Laces since I got it in April. I love the yarn. It’s gorgeous. And soft! But I found that I just didn’t want socks out of it. So I changed my listing for it on Ravelry, so that I could sell it or trade it away for some other LL sock yarn. Lo and behold, the person who wanted it was my good friend Denise (sadly blogless), the originator of our Monday night knitting group. Yea! That’s easy. I took the yarn to her last night, and exchanged it for a little cash. Thank you, Denise. The Baby Surprise Jacket you’re going to make out of that yarn will be fabulous.

A little further along in our evening Anne of Handicraft Cafe came by. She doesn’t make it to knit night very often, but we always love to have her. And last night she brought yarn. Sock yarn. I had to buy some, since I suddenly found myself with a little sock yarn money. I wish you could feel this stuff. It’s Paca Peds from The Alpaca Yarn Company, and—you guessed it—it’s 20% super fine alpaca. The rest of the fiber content goes like this: 65% super wash wool, and 15% nylon. It has enough alpaca in it that there are those lovely little hairs sticking out of it. And soft. Oh. It’s so soft. I have a feeling I’ll get pretty distinct stripes out of this yarn. Don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet. We’ll see what muse gets hold of me.

I made grand progress on the stole over the weekend. Got all of the fern leaves knit, and started in on the fir cones. Yes, I’d planned to put pine cones in the middle slot, but I changed my mind. The fir cones transitioned beautifully from the ferns, and will transition well again to the faun’s eyes when I get that far.

I also ever-so-slightly changed the pattern name. It’s now In the Woods. That feels better. A little less Sondheim-ish. Not that I don’t like his play. Actually, I love that play (it’s on DVD and CD). But that’s not the feeling I want from this stole. I think the slightly modified name works well.