sophy's knits, notes, etc.

earlier this week, i finished my ishbel beret—okay, it's more of a beanie. the project used up my last full skein of rowan yorkshire tweed 4ply, so i went through my bag of leftovers and fished out the other odds and ends of yorkshire tweed left over from other projects:

#269 blessed (pink, purple); #277 explode (black, white); #286 graze (green, yellow)

:: reminiscing

i bought the yorkshire tweed 4ply when i discovered it in a bin of discontinued yarn on clearance at Rosie's Yarn Cellar sometime in 2003 (maybe 2004). i don't know why, but tweed yarns have always called out to me; and this was a cry i could not ignore. it started as 4 skeins of the blessed and 4 skeins of the explode. before i'd even thought of what to do with those eight skeins, i bought 8 more in graze and 4 more in explode. i'm pretty sure i bought out Rosie's clearance stock of the yarn, actually.

:: the tweedy project list

i had the vague notion of using all this yarn to make a long cardigan with colourwork. but, since that never happened, i just wanted to go through my projects i actually did make with this yarn over the years. the more recent projects (and even some old ones) are unblogged; for those, i'll just point you to ravelry:

tweed and kidsilk haze striped vest
this was probably my first sweater vest, based loosely off a short-sleeved striped pullover from Sarah Dallas's Vintage Knits. this was well before i started blogging and i didn't take pictures of it before i sent it to a friend. though, i do mention it in another post, here.

endpaper mitts
by now, you probably know the story of how hilary and i met: she was knitting her endpaper mitts on caltrain and i asked if she used the "italian tubular caston" as instructed in Eunny Jang's pattern. she convinced me that it was a very simple project and before long, i made my own. [ravelry]

herringbone tweed hat
the realization of a herringbone project dream. i even wrote the pattern for this hat and a few knitters have actually queued and completed it! [ravelry]

lace leaf scarf
this project combined my two obsessions: tweed yarn and lace leaf pattern. i can't believe i never blogged about this, actually. perhaps i will do so soon, if only to update the photos for this scarf. [ravelry]

stripey baby vest
a simple striped vest for my baby cousin who was born a couple of months ago. pretty much used what i had learned from knitting the striped tweed and kidsilk haze vest to make this little project. [ravelry]

ishbel shawl
i finished this lovely shawl last week and after washing the yarn, it's soo soft. i think i've worn it every single day since. more about this soon! [ravelry]

ishbel beanie
i barely let this hat dry completely before i pulled it over my ears and wore it to work. since it was a cold day, i didn't take it off at all. (yes, i know; it's supposed to be a beret.) more about this soon![ravelry]

tiny shoes
i used leftover yarn from the stripey baby vest to make a pair of these adorable tiny shoes designed by ysolda teague. i love them. i love them. i love them. and one day soon i'll blog about them. [ravelry]

:: using every last bit

that's right, i'm holding out to the very end. these last bits i think will soon become two more pairs of tiny shoes, in two colors like Ingvild's version; i'm thinking, graze-explode and blessed-explode. (afterwards, i'll finally blog about all these finished tiny shoes....)

i can't believe i'll soon say goodbye to my yorkshire tweed 4ply stash. i don't think any other rowan tweed yarn since has compared to the quality of this; though, felted tweed has come close. at least i prefer it over scottish tweed...

update 04/20/2009: hilary asked whether i would be sad or relieved when i do use up the very last bits... my answer: a little bit of both, really. saddened that i won't be able to find this yarn again. relieved that i finally used up all of it. (yay stash busting!) but also satisfied that i made a number of accessories that i have already worn many times and will continue to wear many more times.

:: and the winner is...

beki! i sent you an email. thank you everyone for leaving a comment and participating in my malabrigo lace yarn giveaway.

happy Friday—knitting!