Of yarn and knitting while travelling

I started to write 'I didn't buy much yarn while I was away'...but you know what it's like with yarn...there's always more of it than you think there is. So, I'll revise my statement - I was very restrained in the yarn I bought while I was away.

There was a little from Maschenkunst in Cologne:



A skein of Opal sock yarn (in reality a wool/cotton/polyamid mix) in a light marl grey - I hope this is the same or similar to some yarn MissFee recently used for socks; a skein of Finnish Wetterhoff Silvia (a silk/wool laceweight whose dull greyish aqua colour was irresistible) and a fun Crazy Zauberball in grey, black and rust.

At La Droguerie in Paris I bought enough grey linen for a jacket - I think about dk weight:



And this was (mostly) my purchase from Loop in London:



Two skeins of Canadian Hand Maiden Casbah (mainly merino, with some cashmere and nylon) in colour-ways Paris and in Pewter and some beautiful alpaca and silk mixture from Scottish Old Maiden Aunt Yarns - one skein in cinnamon and one in blackbird (I'm very impressed by these). The soft dull grey yarn at the top of this last photo was an unexpected and lovely gift from Jane - a fine baby alpaca/merino/ cashmere mix from The Yarn Yard

I didn't get much knitting done (and I don't need to revise this assessment on reflection). I finished the short socks I was knitting - the pattern is Sensu by Judy Sumner from 'Knitted Socks east and West'. Straight-forward pattern with a great result - though heaven knows how or where I'll wear them:



And I started the Citron shawl pattern in a very fine laceweight yarn in bright red.



As everyone who knits this viral pattern comments, the rows become interminably long as the shawl grows. I bought the Adriafil yarn at the Wollongong Knitting Camp last year and discovered only after I'd started knitting that it's a particularly fine laceweight - Ravelry describes it as 'cobweb'. So, to make it large enough I'm going to add a couple of additional repeats to the pattern - I'm not brave enough to even imagine the number of stitches I'll have in each row.

I did also knit a hat for the friend with whom I was travelling - a simple pattern I invented and that was very warm and looked good - unfortunately I have no photos. It's knitted from Cocoon - a beautifully soft Rowan 12 ply merino and mohair mix in a slatey deep mauve colour. But like many soft yarns it pilled almost as soon as it was knitted. I don't think I'd use Cocoon again.

And finally - the hat I've fallen in love with:



I finished this hat just before I left for my trip, and hardly had it off my head all the time I was away. It's Jared Flood's pattern 'Quincy' knitted from Bendigo Rustic and it's truly elegant - not in the sense of high fashion, but in the sense of finding a perfect solution to a design problem. I also love its slightly daggy cloche-like effect, and it's so warm and so comfortable. I want to knit more of them in a range of colours - though I'd probably have to visit somewhere colder than Sydney to wear them.