Well begun is half done!

Buffy, you didn't! 
I saw that kit on eBay. Wowzer. There's a long thread on Ravelry about the Juliet Coat and that kit: Big beautiful long red coat.  Such a fling (and I won't call it frivolous). Must have been a real thrill for you. Can't wait to see the pictures.


I've gathered all the yarn stashed here and there about the house for Kaffe's Blue-and-White China Jug Coat.

 It's a lot of needlepoint yarn, some crewel yarn, leftovers from decades of Christmas sweaters, even new projects that were planned and just never executed, though I hate to admit it. And a few eBay bargins. I save everything. You should see my ball of string ;-).


I've sorted out the colors I want for my coat. Kaffe's directions are a bit sketchy:  a pound of lights for china background, a pound of darks (blues) for china pattern, 5 pounds of mediums for the marbled squares. That's it. So I looked at the pictures in Glorious Colors and decided that I really like that colorway. Except for the greens and tans. I'll use medium reds, pinks, blues, lavenders, blue-greens and greys--maybe rusts. I bet the secret of blending all into a workable whole is in the use of greys. (For a split second, when I squinted, all the leftover yarns looked like Kaffe's fabulous green and orange long leaf coat, and I thought I might be doing the wrong project. But that went away.) Here's my "coat cupboard" now, and it looks like I've enough yarn for two coats.

I'm in a rush here getting ready to drive to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I can't imagine 50,000 woolly shoppers all in one place. I'll be staying in the loft of an Amish barn -- how appropriate! Did you really buy a whole fleece and take it home on the plane last year? How are you going to top that this year? You won't have any money to spend at the show now that you've bought that kit!  See you there soon.