What's on the Needles Wednesday

Last weekend was the Los Angeles Yarn Crawl.  I made it to 25 stores all together and found some yarn I couldn't resist.  On the first day I bought this brown baby cashmarino from Debbie Bliss.  This yarn is super soft and squishy.  I wish you could feel it and play with it.  Go visit your LYS and give it a feel.

I always hand wind my yarn into balls.  Why, you may ask?  Because I inevitably find knots.  I do not want to be surprised by a knot in the middle of a garment.  I don't want to have to add a new ball of yarn in the middle of a row.  I find it much better to sew in the ends if they are on the edge.  And if you are lucky it is a regular knot and not a knot to tie a small ball to the larger ball and hidden from you.

A regular knot can be untied and you can continue to work your ball.  A knot tying two balls together sucks.  This particular baby cashmarino had that kind of knot.

Do you see the knot?  It was in the middle of the ball.  So I ended up with a tiny ball of yarn and a medium ball of yarn.  

The second skein of this yarn was great.  No knots.  

I decided to knit a hat with this yarn.  It's a basic slouchy beanie.  No pattern.  Just winged it.

I love the top of this hat!

I also cast on another pair of socks.  These are self stripping socks.

I'm still working on the Gemini T-Shirt and the Sampler Square blanket.