I love yarn sales!

The Melon shawl is done, but needs some blocking and modeling. I'm pretty sure I can accomplish this tomorrow when I visit the 'rents for the weekend in NJ. But in the meantime, I scored some yarny goodness this week without even thinking about it.

The other day, I walked into String, on the Upper East Side. I had errands to run and thought I'd check out the store while I was in the neighborhood. I'm sooooo glad I did. They had a bunch of stuff on sale, but I've set aside a stockpile of wool for sweater knitting and so I skipped over those. But Colinette Lasso was on sale for 75% off. That's right, not a typo. 75. I bought four hanks of it for the price of one. The pattern in mind? Clapotis!

Clapotis and I have some history. It was the first full-scale project I finished when I returned to knitting after a lengthy hiatus. I knit Clapotis I with Rowan Tapestry, finished last September and I only wore it a few times before surrendering it to my mom, who liked it better than the Swallowtail Shawl I knit for her. She hasn't returned the Swallowtail, though. And whenever I knit something that I tell her is not for her, she says I never knit her anything. Hmmm.

The Colinette Lasso is interesting. It's remarkably soft for something that's listed as 100% polyamide...which is essentially nylon. The yarn is cushy and feels a bit like velvet. I started on bamboo needles, but had to switch over to Addis because the yarn was sticking too much to the wood. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the color, but I like it well enough and might like it even more once the stitches start droppin'. If not, I'll finish it up for a very lucky friend for Christmas.

I also stopped by Purl Soho. I swear, I did not mean to purchase more yarn. I only meant to get one hank of the Kidlin in order to complete the Melon. However, the MerLin Tristan was on sale for 40% off. I've had my eye on the Euroflax for months because I want to knit the Linen Kilt from Knit 2 Together. But Tristan is the same weight but in a 50% wool/50% linen blend. I think I'll prefer that to 100% linen. And of course, they had four hanks of the gorgeously docile Sandalwood colorway.

And finally, this does not count as a "purchase." I had to return some surplus yarn from the Daisy cardi and got some sock yarn (Claudia's Hand Painted in Pink Cloud) in exchange. After I wound it up, though, I noticed something. Take a good look:

Same yarn, same dye lot, same store...different size yarn cakes? I'm really hoping that maybe this has to do with the sproingy nature of the yarn and not getting gypped by the manufacturer. I did notice that one hank seemed squishier than the other when I purchased them. I'll knit the first sock out of the smaller cake. If that covers the toe, I know I'll be safe. I'm not usually a pink person (especially such a delicate pastel pink) but I think the charcoal cuts through it just enough to give it an edgier, less dainty demeanor.