Two Birds, One Stone

I have been a member of Yarn of the Month Club since October, and so I have received a few packets in the mail full of yarn snippets but have not done a thing with them until a few nights ago. I have been toying with the idea of making Rogue using some Irish tweed my parents bought me on their summer trip to the British Isles, but I fear that I don't have enough yarn to complete the project. I'd hate to get halfway through the hood and then run out. Happily, one of my yarn samples is of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran, which seems to be a popular choice for Roguers all around. I got out my sample and started knitting... it is so wonderful! I will need to wash the sample to see if it stays the same or changes with washing; one never knows. But the verdict is in: Silkroad for Rogue, and the Irish tweed (a soft alpaca blend, grey with red and yellow flecks) will have to be some other cabley phenomenon.

I was listening to This American Life over the internet (which is my version of TV since my antenna only picks up two stations) and figured I may as well knit up some other samples while the episode finishes up. And it occurred to me: now is as good a time as ever to practice knitting backwards. I'll want to know such a skill for making the Ruffles scarf from Interweave Press's newish book Scarf Style, and I've been putting it off for long enough. So in addition to knitting up some luminous, luscious Lang Venezia, I am trying to wrap my fingers around this whole backwards thing. It feels exactly like learning to knit for the first time: it's awkward and frustrating, but each row gets exponentially easier. I think by the end of the swatch I'll have it down. Apparently my gauge isn't much different, which was something I was worried about. Now, to find some yarn for the Ruffles scarf. I heard that Lion Brand Microspun is a nice choice (hush up, I like the Microspun's feel, if not the color palette) but A.C. Moore, which has everything else under the sun, does not have Microspun. Oh well. I search on... I don't know if I want to keep on looking for the Microspun (which means entering a Michaels store) or if I should consider some other little yarn. Hell, it's a scarf, does it matter? While at the ACM, I did pick up some navy blue yarn for Teva Durham turtleneck shrug/scarf featured in that same book, because I know about the usefulness of a shrug. And navy blue means it's not too dressy to go with jeans, which is the intention: I'm trying to extend my traditional wardrobe of rock-band tshirts and ratty old jeans.

Enough talk of the blue shrug. I think I'll go cast on now.