Knitting in the Lone Star state

During my quick trip to Texas I managed to find my way to Hill Country Weavers on Congress Avenue in Austin. Hard to believe the oppressive 97 degree heat wasn't keeping anyone else from searching for fiber on that day either. The store is a delightful shop in an older house - lots of separate rooms to explore with treasures to find in each one. The welcome porch entry shares space with verdant plants. Inside there was a mild mannered "shop dog", an extensive selection of yarn and fiber, glass buttons, a wide selection of books and patterns from national and international designers. The staff was friendly and helpful and not intrusive. I discovered some Dale of Norway baby design pattern books - Number 8101 which is a compilation of favorites from other publications. Number 191 which has several fair isle sweaters (one is decorated with a crocheted penguin), textured sweaters, and even some crocheted garments. Very interesting that crochet seems to be confronting me at almost every turn or perhaps I am just more "aware" of it as I am the midst of a crochet project for Nihon Vogue. Garment Number 7. It is more complex than I would have thought and I humbly apologize for my past denigration of crochet. More on my foibles with crocheting later....

Dale of Norway Pattern book Number 175 has a variety aran and multi colored nordic designs. I doubt I will make many of the sweaters as there are not many babies in my life anymore but I do find inspiration in the designs and color combinations in the Dale of Norway books. I also found a sock pattern leaflet from Schachenmayr called Kreative Strickideen. Wonderful socks with cables, texture and as little or as much color as you want to add. More projects than I have time for! More yarn than time. Speaking of yarn. .. Yes, yes I did. I smuggled home some yarn from Texas. I chose a silk yarn from Italy in a beautiful pale shell pink color. Yes, just what I need - more yarn! It was a tad pricey, however, I talked myself into the purchase by making note of the fact that since the sales tax rate is less in Austin than in Seattle I was getting "something" of a bargain. There should be a 12 step program for obsessed yarn buyers! I have my sights set on making Evelyn Clark's Leaf Lace Shawl out of the lovely silk yarn. Naomi's steady influence has now got me excited about starting to work on some lace projects. She claims lace is easy to knit because all one has to know is "k2tog" and "yarn over." Easy for her to say since she is an extraordinary knitter! I purchased 5000 plus "several hundred to spare' beads for the Arabian Nights shawl and will be ready to go on that endeavor with Naomi's expert guidance right after Year 1 Nihon Vogue concludes. The Arabian Nights shawl may prove to be overly ambitious for a novice lace knitter such as myself but unfortunately, I have never been one to keep my craft desires in check! I have not had any "contraband" projects as they are called within the class, other than a small baby sweater (that I must, must, must complete by mid August!) so it will be fun to do some projects that are new for me but completely different (no drafting, no shaping, no short rows, no invisible bind off) from what I have been working on for Nihon Vogue this past year.