my treat

So I never did tell you guys what I got myself at the festival! I always get myself some kind of treat, even if it's from my own shop. You know, life is short, buy more yarn!

When I was getting ready for the festival, I thought I wouldn't have nearly enough stuff to make my booth look well-stocked and inviting, so I bought a collection of Colinette Shimmer 5. You'd think that would be an easy thing to do, but acquiring this yarn actually required a lot of determination. (Luckily, I have a lot of determination!)

Anyway, the result was that I spent a lot of time thinking about this yarn before it even arrived. On top of that, it's shiny and very colorful and not what I would do. Therefore, it was the perfect festival treat for me. The more I stared at it all hanging in my booth, the more I coveted it, so I chose my favorite colorway and made it my treat.



The colorway is number 21, Turquoise. It is totally fabulous.



I wasn't even planning to crochet anything at the festival, but I had to do something after all the spindles sold, and I had my hook collection with me (as well as two projects in progress, but no need to dwell on that fact--they'll get done some day). I kept trying hooks until I was using the largest one I had with me: 11.5 mm (P). It's been a while since I've used anything quite so large, and still I might have gone up a size if I had been at home. The fabric is not as drapey as I usually like, although I'm a total freak when it comes to crochet. I usually use a hook twice the size of what's recommended. However, as I was trying it on as a skinny scarf, I realized the extra body is an asset in this application. It looks like one skein will be just enough to make a short keyhole scarf, and the fabric is just stiff enough to stand up and cover the back of my neck. It's perfect! And the stitches are so huge, I could easily finish this tonight if I wanted. Wouldn't that be a change, after the three-month scarf that was my last project! I just need to look up how to do the keyhole--I know I used to know what the trick was, but it's lost to the sands of time now, and the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Sometimes there is such a thing as thinking too much.