Back among the living...

Yes, I am back among the (relatively...) living today after my week-long battle with what turned out to be strep throat. My body kept fighting it off, it kept coming back, wearing my immune system down a bit more each time till the REAL sore throat and ice-pick-in-the-ear pain started late Monday night. Thank goodness for antibiotics and ibuprofen...I'm pretty comfortable and a lot more energetic (read - LESS brain dead!) today!

Before I launch into my promised tale of how the Easter Bunny barfed in my knitting basket, I want to announce that I received my autographed (YAY!) copy of "Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece" yesterday. Thanks again, Gail and Kristin!!! And stay tuned for my dyeing (mis)adventures in weeks to come!

A little background: I don't like pastels. I don't even usually knit baby clothes in pastels. Every year about this time I look at the new spring clothes in the store and think "WTF???? I don't want to look like I fell face-down in a vat of rainbow sherbet!!!" I'm an earthtone, jeweltone, primary colors kind of gal. And I'm pale...really pale...put me in some lovely pastel outfit and I'll become completely invisible. I need bright colors so you know I'm there!

So...remember this lovely Inca Sport yarn I picked up at Tuesday Morning last week?


Whoda thunk (c'mon, really, could you have predicted this???) that when I got the skeins wound, they would look like a psychedelic orgy of Jordan almonds? It still looked relatively normal, nice mid-tone, clear colors, when I put the first skein on my office chair/swift (Am I handy, or what?):

Yes, this really does a good job...most of the time...


As I started winding, chaos ensued. I think the yarn realized I was going to hate it as soon as it was wound into balls, so it resisted. It didn't knot but it...stuck together in some strange way...and it didn't wind neatly. I'm used to winding very neat little balls of yarn...like this:



or this...


The Inca Sport wound into loose floppy balls, it wound itself under and around my yarnwinder in maddening patterns...but it never, ever knotted. Amazing...naughty, but not knotty, if you will.

It took an hour to wind the first skein, and it looked like this:



And that's when I said to myself, "This will look like the Easter Bunny threw up in my knitting basket."



For some reason, the second skein wound much more easily than the first, though the yarn still liked to stick together and before long, I had a whole basket of psychedelic, Jordan-almond bunnybarf. And I sat there and stared at it and pondered...

I had plans for this yarn. I wanted to make the gorgeous Brandywine Shawl. I purchased it almost a month ago, and that pdf is sitting on my desktop teasing me every time I turn on my computer, "C'mon...knit me...knit me...you know you wanna..." Now I had to decide...would I be doing this shawl a grave disservice by knitting it in the bunnybarf yarn? I still can't decide, but here are some pics of my progress thus far:







What do you think? It's still not too late for me to frog it and use a more dignified yarn. I'm more than happy to do it.

As you ponder. I'll leave you with a picture of Wilbur, enjoying his after breakfast nap. Please don't notice the filthy carpet - remember, I've been sick!