Is It Spring Yet?

I just checked the weather and it's supposed to hit 60 on Saturday! 60! That's twice as warm as it is right now.

I don't know about you, but this warming of the weather makes me think about summer knitting. Tank tops, lacy edgings, openwork, feminine and frilly. And FAST! With some tops taking less than half that of a winter sweater, I can have twice as many WIPs! Twice the WIPs, twice the output - right?

Well, maybe not. But you get the idea. I've been looking at some warm weather yarn lately and thought I'd share with you two yarns that I really like so far:

• Manos Stria: I've loved their wool and this year they've come out with a cotton. I saw swatches knit up this weekend and it's as gorgeously variegated as their wools. It comes in a nice variety of summer brights as well as black and natural. 4.5 spi on 116 yard hanks. The best price I've found so far is at Rosie's Yarn Cellar.
• Rowan Summer Tweed: A beautiful variety of colors in a 70% silk 30% cotton blend (handwash only). It has a lovely, light hand to it. I've been eyeing Chamomile from the Rowan Summer Tweed Collection in Sunset, Smoulder, or maybe even Brilliant. Best price I've found is at Richesse Online. I've never ordered from them but I've heard they have great service.

What I'd still like to find are a couple of nice cotton or cotton blends that are inexpensively priced. What summer-weight yarns have you all used and been happy with?

House News

Thank you to everyone who posted such nice comments about the house so far. It's very encouraging to hear all those comments. And even moreso to hear that other people are in the same boat as I am. There are days when I love it and days when I think I'll never buy another old house in my life. I'm sure you all have experienced this as well.

Weekend progress - I haven't made a ton of progress yet. Saturday was PhillyKnitters' SnB. Sunday we bought most of the light fixtures. We did pull some more cable and hook up new phone service. Yes, phone line that actually comes thru the wall - as opposed to miles and miles of it tacked to molding and around doorways. What a concept! Today is the electrical upgrade and since the house will be without power for most of the day I've decided to do some work on the outside of the house.

Cabling Question

Louise is thinking of making the Kureyon scarf pattern in a heavier gauge yarn and asked about changing the cabling. She asked about making the cables every 6th or 8th row as opposed to every 10th. I think that's a great idea. Since your yarn is heavier, if you do every 10th row you may have 3 or 4 inches between cable twists.