TOO MUCH C'EST TOO MUCH

It is probably unfair of me to call the stainless steel and silk yarn from Habu Textiles the yarn from hell. That, however, is what I call it. After waiting for weeks to get my hands on two cones of this stuff, I finally had a chance to try and cast on enough stitches for a simple scarf. What I had in mind was simple elagance--a silvery grey, jwel-like piece. To my surprise the yarn was as easy to handle as a handful of spiderwebs. I am relatively new to knitting, which might account for my difficulties. Possibly, Habu Textiles had a particular niche market in mind when it came up with this product--uberknitters and masochists. If so, I wish they had added a warning label to this yarn. I ama meisterknitter nor am I the sort who loves pain . That is why I gave my daughter permission to put my two cones of Habu in her Ravelry swap list. She is trading it for two skeins of Berrufa Cashwool. I am sure the Ravelry member who participated in the swap will make something gorgeous with the Habu. I wish her the best.

Along with Habu I got yarn the much ballyhooed Kauni, which seems to be highly desirable due to a combination limited availability--the laws of supply and demand also applies to yarn--high price and clever marketing. Call me a grouch, but is Kauni really all that superior to a more reasonably priced lace yarn, such as the dazzling beautiful Handpainted Yarn from Uruguay? I ordered Kauni before of became aware of the vast variety of choicesavailable to me. Sure, one knitters may choose to pay over fifty bucks for yarn spun in Ulan Bator from the eyelashes af a are fruit eating bat. That is their privilege. Somehow, this trend toward the precious and the chichi reminds me too much of the competitive shopping of the Eighties when it became imperative to outdo the Joneses in their frenzy to acquite exotic consumer goods. "Those were the times, and that was New York." We are headed towards a recession. Our country is ar war. The dollar is perilously weak. But I repeat myself. Maybe Kauni is worth its high price. Danes have a long and glorious history of knitting and I suspect they know good yarn. I hope they do. I just spent one fourth of my family's food budget on Kauni. It had better be good.

My current project is modest--a stole made from Malabrigo lace Geranio bought for $ 8.75 and Laines du Nord Kiddy Print, also bought on sale for $ 5.50. The texture of these combined yarns is that of rose petals and down, which is, in part, why I am calling the project Roses and Doves. Rosas y Palomas is a design Mathilde Poulat, of my favourite silversmiths from the Mexican Silver Renaissance used with great success. It is a fusion of Spanish Baroque and timeless Mexican styles. Poulat used mostly turquoise, coral and garnet in her work. Chilean rhodochrosite, which the colour combination in my stole approximate most closely was probably too rare in the Nineteen Twenties. But the idea is fusion. In knitting together Uruguyan and Italian yarns I bring European and Latin American cultural perspectives together. Not bad for a day's work.

Lila Downs, one of the singers whose music make up the soundtrack for the movie "Frieda" wrote a song called "Agua de Rosas" in which Old and New World traditions dovetail. I could have called the srole "Rosewater" after that song. I could also have called it "Raspberries and Vanilla" to please the man in my life. I chose Rosas y Palomas. I hope it flies.