Treasure - of the Knitterly Persuasion

I have recently been gifted with some knitterly treasure - books and yarn. {Gleeful happy-dance!}

Books:
Last week I visited a few of our local Bookman's to see if they'd like to take some of my old books and videos for trade credit. Whilst they reviewed the items I'd brought for trade, I .... uh.... well, instead of sitting down to knit, I looked around a bit. I found 3 books that I couldn't resist so my trade credit was reduced some before I left the store.

Confessions of a Knitting Heretic by Annie Modesitt.
Excellent title and filled with all sorts of intriguing bits of history, techniques (knitting with wire!), projects and essays. I also think it will be a good read.

And it's autographed - although technically not to me.

Knitting on Top of the World by Nicky Epstein.
I couldn't resist this book.
Ms. Epstein includes this book in the "High Fashion" section of her website. I would agree. The pieces in this book are such as I would expect to see on a catwalk - clever, Avant-garde, colorful, and a little mind-bending.

{This "hat" is also a baby sweater}

{This tam inspired a capelet.}

Some patterns appealed to me as-is {bet you're not surprised}:

Irresistible!

Why yes - another bag!

There be dragons!!

Another reality of this book would be that my body type would not show off most of these fashions to their best advantage.

But this is so very Clever!!

However, this book did set my mind a'roaming and I kept thinking of alternative approaches to these patterns. Such as the Tam Capelet pictured above...I love the tam across the back but I'd tone down the front - possibly incorporating the front of this cardigan:

I love the cables but I'm not as tickled with the sleeves. 

This strikes me as an excellent base for a cardigan.

More reality...I haven't knit many sweaters. Ok...I've knit 1...and there was that shell knit under supervision in a class. However, I do have 3 others on the needles...?
I do suspect I'm over-reaching my abilities, but it feels like a good stretch. ;-)

Knitting Color - Design Inspiration from Around the World by Brandon Mably
Yep, it's allll about the color. Ok, and some of the shapes. And the color theory, inspiration, and travel stories. {happy sigh}

I'd like to do this in
Black, Grey & Purple.

 

 


Yaaaaarrrrnnn:
I inherited a lovely box of elderly Angora. Soooooo soft.
{Sometimes you Don't just inherit Acrylic when you're the only knitter a person knows!}

 

And apparently it is also somewhat tasty to the critters that left behind sluffed shells and separated strands. {sigh}

 

There's not a lot of it but I was wondering if I could use it in a Fair Isle Yoke. We'll see. It's currently relegated to the Freezer and it might spend sometime out in the sun in a black trash bag in a day or two.

Oh - I got some excellent advice from Donna Druchunas via Twitter! I'd asked her if this yarn was worth using after it had been munched upon and that I was considering trying to use it in a fair isle yoke.
She suggested, after I'm sure it's clean, to re-wind the yarn to make sure it's "not all broken into pieces".
Further she suggested "Bohus" with this link. That is exactly the yoke style I'd been thinking of but Bohus is a new term/technique for me. Thank you!

The last Tucson Handweavers and Spinner's Guild meeting of the year includes a stash sale. I did succumb to these two purchases {LOVE the colors!!}:

A cone of Chenille

Blue is my weakness.

I dropped off/donated more yarn than I purchased so that eases some of the guilt...
Um, but then I was also able to adopt some other yarn from a donated stash at another Guild meeting so I think I actually enhanced more than I de-stashed.

A cone of cotton and a cone of pretty blue stuff
(we suspect it's acrylic). Possible weaving option?

Left - You are correct, I didn't read the label and thought it was all cotton. {"Duh"... it's Red Heart.}
Right - The primary colors called to me. We shall see what becomes of the primary colors!

 

Lastly - I was shocked no one had picked up this wee package. So either this isn't what I think it is or the natural stuff was hidden by the bushels of acrylic.
I'm inclined to think it's treasure.