madrona stash enhancement

yesterday i went to madrona and had lots of fun in the marketplace! i think i did pretty well - i can comfort myself with the fact that my friend spent way more money than i, and i came home with some dreamy stuff! i even spotted a yarn harlot while i was there, so i think the day was a success.

one of my new year's knitting resolutions is to try out a more complicated lace project than i've done before (which isn't saying much - orangina is about as complicated as i've gotten). so to get me started on that, i picked up some handmaiden sea silk. i loooooooove this yarn. i keep petting it. they were running low on this stuff by the time i got there, and they only had a few colors left. i almost wish i'd chosen the red now, because i'm a little scared that a lace shawl in white is going to look too bridal, but we'll see. regardless, i am in love with this yarn.



apparently i plan on making TWO lace pieces this year, because i also picked up some of this italian cashwool yarn as well. it's by zegna baruffa, which i'd never heard of before, and it actually doesn't have any cashmere in it at all - it's 100 percent extra fine merino. it is the skinniest yarn i've ever seen, and so soft. and a bargain at $13 a skein! i think i'll have to use two strands of this stuff together, but i loved the color and think it will make another pretty shawl. now i just need to pick out some good shawl patterns! the frog tree stuff shown with it is to make the beret from the winter interweave knits issue. i am such a sucker for that shade of green. other than that, i just picked up a few issues of knitscene, which i'm excited about. i was good and skipped the str table and some nature's palette sock yarn. go me!



and finally, i didn't buy this at madrona, but i bought it recently and it deserves showing off. it's some blue skies alpaca royal in the color 'spanish leather.' it's so soft, and the color is perfect. i'm not sure what to do with it yet - i was thinking some full-length arm warmers but when i shared that idea with one of my friends, they said they thought that wouldn't be very practical or wearable, so now i'm kind of undecided. i want to do something special with it. any ideas?



and here's where spike decided to join the photo shoot...



i'll have pictures of my finished socks later this week - i just have the toe left to do so they should be done very soon!