Saturday, August 30, 2008

Avril Acquisitions

We have finally returned from our Asian excursion, although Roy and I (plus 400 other passengers and crew) haven't quite gotten over our ride home. Harry, bored to tears with the movie offerings and tired of juggling sushi appetizers, somehow squished himself under the cockpit door. Who knew that a wide-bodied jet could execute an Immelman, a barrel roll, and a high yo-yo, all within the space of a minute?

The pilot apologized for the momentary "turbulence," while Harry sauntered back into the cabin with a self-satisfied smirk. I am certain that the other passengers had no idea why a flight attendant spent the remainder of the flight running up and down the aisle with a rolled-up Wall Street Journal.

Several people were anxious to see what I acquired in Japan, so I carefully took photos of the items purchased at Avril. During the past year, I've been buying most of my yarn undyed, so I am afraid the following photos are a bit bland.

This yarn is a new offering from Avril, and so should appear at Habu soon. It's a cabled 30% silk, 70% wool worsted weight. I have no idea what I will do with it, but it was irresistibly soft and squooshy.


This lovely 9/1 laceweight is also 30% silk, 70% wool. Nice for a heavy-ish shawl.


I purchased 6000 yards of this luscious stuff--60% wool, 20% cashmere, 20% silk. It's a 52/2 weight and just begs to become a complex Shetland. Perhaps I will finally knit the Unst shawl with it.


Several readers wrote and asked me where to buy the Hamanaka Parfait with which I knit the Hyrna shawl. Alas, it is not sold outside of Japan, however, Avril carries the undyed equivalent: 60% mohair, 40% silk. It's well worth seeking out and dying yourself, as it is much softer and silkier than Kidsilk Haze and clones thereof.


And as long as I am boring you to tears with white lace yarn, here's a mystery skein of soft Chinese wool obtained via trade with Natural State Knitter. The skein is enormous, but I won't know how huge until it's weighed and measured. The label is colorful, but gives me no clue about meterage or weight.


I wasn't wowed with this year's Japanese knitting books, which seemed to feature simple, bulky knits and really weird crocheted thingies. The Fall, 2008 Keito Dama, however, contained several lovely patterns, so I scooped it up.



Alas, there is no pattern for this sweet bear, but it may inspire some of you to create your own variation.


Although the knitting books were bland, I did find several exciting off-knitting-topic books that will feature in another blog post. Stay tuned!

21 comments:

Janice in GA said...

Welcome back to the states! I hope you're recovering nicely.

And I would TOTALLY knit that sweater. Gorgeous. And it has trees on it. I love lace trees.

Batty said...

Wow, you're so lucky you don't get airsick!

All that yarn you brought back... it's beautiful! And I'm looking at that sweater and wondering if it would look good in black... it's gorgeous.

MeowGirl said...

yum yum yum!
250 grams in the mystery wool.

BadCatDesigns said...

welcome home!

Judith said...

I see that foreign travel hasn't caused Harry to lose his chops! Drooling over the yummilicious yarn collection you brought home. BTW, www.sarahsyarns.com has that wonderful 60 silk/40 mohair blend undyed and I agree that it's much nicer than KSH.

Sounds like you're back to your old self! Hmmmm, off to google Avril yarns.

fleegle said...

Yes, the Avril and Sarah's yarns seem very similar. I bought a whopping cone of that last year. I think Sarah's is probably cheaper too, and comes in five gorgeous colors the last time I looked.

Monika said...

Oh my god, how I LOVE that Teddy Bear!

Anonymous said...

The more I see of Japanese knitting books and magazines, the more I wish I had access to them here. I suspect that if and when I take a trip to Japan, I'm going to have to allow myself a larger budget than normal, to stock up on knitting supplies while I'm there!

Laritza said...

Lovely whites!
Glad to know you are back and doing well.

Soo said...

Wow! What a great haul!! The yarn all looks lovely. Will you be dyeing it or using it as is?

I love the sweater from the Japanese magazine. Beautiful.

Smitten Knitten said...

Beautiful yarn and pattern book! I'll be checking our Japanese book store for that one.

Welcome home!

Lacefreak said...

Welcome back to the States! I hope your shopping indicates you are feeling better. I'm very impressed with the yarns you scored and undyed yarn in your hands is never dull! I suppose Harry had to do something impressive on the way home to compete with the the whole "washing a tiger" thing. Lucky there was no sky marshal :-)

Kay said...

Ooooooo! You do know how to cause a major case of yarn lust. The teddy is too precious. I am anxious to hear which one you are going to knit with first and what you are going to knit with it.

z's momma said...

Welcome back!

Absolutely love all the yarn. They look absolultely scruptious. And their potential...can't wait to see them dyed up and knitted up.

Carol said...

It's gorgeous yarn. The sheen on the silk is captivating. The teddy bear is adorable. Want one. Not sure what to do with one if I had one, but there ya go.

LittleBerry said...

nice to have you back... and despite being 'bland' in terms of colours it was interesting reading about the different yarns :o)

Opal said...

Welcome back! I cannot wait to see what you do with all the yarn you brought back.

OLGAJAZZY said...

Omg, Omg , Omg, that Avril yarn looks fantastic and I love the first one.. I am so glad to hear you are recovered and better and back and turbulence recovery should be coming over soon!

GJabouri said...

Hi Fleegle, I'm passing along the "I love your blog" award to you. Please see my blog from Sep 3 and pick up your ribbon there. Thanks for many inspiring posts!

Renna said...

Your whimsical style of writing cracks me up! I'm terribly curious to know what medical procedure you had done, though I guess that's rudely nosy of me. I'm just trying to think outside the box of what I can afford here in the US with no insurance.

Janey said...

I have to say that I really like the sound and look of the laceweight one. I'm actually learning some new lace knitting patterns right now, and this yarn just might work for it. I'm jealous that you got to experience so much in China, and that you got to bring back some great stuff! Thanks for sharing it with us :)