The problem with furious knitting and no solid plan is that eventually you’ll run up against a wall. Like I did yesterday. I’m at the point in my shawl that I need to start the border. And I only have a vague idea of what to do next. Facing this, I did what I should have done more than a week ago. I started a new swatch. This swatch will have one of my border ideas knit in. I hope this first attempt works. I want to get this shawl done so I can start on the next one.

Yes, I’m knitting more bees. Bee placement is vital to this particular border idea. Besides. Knitting bees is rather fun. It’s the clover flowers I’m getting tired of knitting. They are rather satisfying, though. Speaking of bees, here’s a closeup of the three rows. And this is what the bee edge of the shawl looks like this morning.

This is going to be a pathetic blogging week for me. Just Monday’s post and today’s. Tomorrow I head north to Santa Clara and Stitches West. I’ll be back next week with new yarn in tow. This year I’ll be concentrating on getting my hands on lace weight yarns for the year’s designs. I have a short list of specific yarns to look for, which includes but is not limited to Skacel Merino Lace and Alpaca with a Twist Fino. I need a button for my West Coast Swing cardigan, a yarn yardage guide, a WPI tool, and some other little stuff. We’ll see how much I end up with.

I wish I had more for you this morning, but I just don’t. Sad but true. Oh, wait! I have a hank of luscious yarn I picked up recently at the Purl Soho warehouse in Tustin. Hold on a sec while I take a picture of it.

This lovely hank of yarn is pure kid mohair from Wagtail Yarns down in Australia. I had a very nice chat with the breeder at TNNA in January. He’s been specifically breeding his goats for softness for the last 30 years. This particular yarn is 100% kid mohair, and softer than you can believe. Then there’s the color. I wasn’t going to buy this yarn. I made the mistake of carrying it around for a little while, but it’s not cheap. I put it back. Somehow the yarn jumped into my arms again just before I left the store. This 100g hank has 410 yards. Okay. So it’s not lace weight. It’s a little heavier. It’ll make a glorious lace scarf, though, don’t you think?