Knitting projects update: a trip to the sheep festival

It’s been a while since I posted anything about knitting, so, for the handful of people who come for the knitting posts (and, I hope, stay for the poetry/opera/librarianship/academia/randomness mishmash that I usually post about): My vest project is patiently waiting to be unblocked, seamed, embellished around the edges and armholes, and finished off with a set of buttons. I’m working on a cabled scarf of my own design, and various other projects are sitting around in various stages of completion (I never finish anyth).

I also spent last Saturday at the Connecticut Sheep, Wool, and Fiber Festival with a bunch of fellow knitters (hi, guys!), admiring various fluffy animals,* flirting with the idea of learning to spin, and heroically restraining myself from making more than a couple of yarn purchases. Even so, I wound up with about 1300 yards of dark gray, sport-weight alpaca yarn, and a 459-yard ball of sock yarn in a blue-green colorway. Like so:

Sportweight alpaca yarn from Times Remembered Mocha's Pro Natura handpainted sock yarn

The question is, what to do with them? I bought the alpaca yarn with a sweater in mind. I may modify the Durrow pattern I’ve had my eye on for ages, but it calls for a heavier yarn, so some experimentation is in order. The sock yarn, I think, could be something I can wear around my neck: not a full-on scarf, but some sort of capelet or neckwarmer or collar or cowl. I can probably improvise a sweater design for the first yarn if the Durrow doesn’t work out, but I’ve never designed a neck-thing that wasn’t a plain rectangle, and I want the project with the second yarn to be a tad more elaborate. I’m thinking something a bit like this or these or this, only with lighter yarn and perhaps a bit of lace. Any ideas, Knitting Blogosphere?

* And when I say fluffy, I mean fluffy. The sheep and llamas and alpacas were all quite woolly, but the cuteness prize of the day went to an angora rabbit. Here, have some totally gratuitous bunny pictures:

Angora rabbit Angora rabbit or Tribble?

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