One skein of lace weight merino ...

A lady once came into the yarn shop and hunted for laceweight merino wool. Not only is it soft and lovely, it is incredibly cost effective: you get about 1200-1600 yards for $10-20. (That yardage in worsted weight makes an adult sweater; in sock weight, it makes 3-4 pairs of socks) It is also small, so it can be a purse project to keep you busy for a really long time. For those of us with limited budgets and only little snippets of time to stitch, a hank of laceweight may be the methadone of yarn addiction (and I mean that in a good way).

So not more than 6 months ago, I started working on a small shawl project from a single hank of laceweight merino from my stash, with a size 00 hook. Suddenly, I couldn't think of any of my other projects and ideas. Finally, I finished the project. My new favorite stitch: ch-2 net stitch. Firm enough to be a subtle lace pattern, stretchy enough to make all kinds of things from afghans to socks to shawls. More on that in another post.

Looking back over previous posts:

• A neat addition to a bookmark, of course, is a paperclip at one end to attach to the book itself (a cover of a paperback or an inside page or spine of a hardcover) so the bookmark does not disappear.
• Motifs can be really fun -- fancy ones just for themselves, but I am exploring some simple ones that can be blocked into different shapes for completely different looks.
• Also, there is the idea that stuff that looks great in thread for lace can be equally useful in heavier yarn for afghans -- the mile-a-minute concept being a traditional case in point.

Now I am off to my next pair of socks. It is really nice to start a new project.