Oh. My. Yarn-ness!

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of traveling with a friend (sans kiddies and hubbies!) to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (totally worth any quantity of traveling if you've got the free time).  I bought three lovely yarns on that trip:

 A big hank of Peruvian Tweed

2 skeins of Still River Mill's Yakaboo

and this beauty....

... Brooks Farm Yarn's Riata, which is a whopping 8 ounces and 375 yards of worsted weight yarn made of mohair, silk and fine wool. Oh. My. Yarn-ness. I wish you could all reach into the picture and feel the wonderfulness of this hank.

 I cannot tell you how many times I pulled this baby out of my stash to pet the soft fibers and ponder all the things I could make with it. I even wound it last fall to make this cowl:

I don't know why, but for some bizarre reason I thought the color variegation would look beautiful in this pattern-- not the case, AT ALL.

So this week, I finally pulled out the Riata monster ball and cast on to make some leg warmers for myself. I used a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's wonderful book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I have made many many items from this book, so I knew it would be a sure thing.

 The Super Easy Leg Warmers live up to their name. They are, indeed, super easy. They are, however, super long.

So instead of knitting the suggested 26 inches (cause who needs 26 inches of leg warmers?) I knit them to a more reasonable 17 inches - leaving me with 158 yards of yarn to play with.

These super simple leg warmers are so incredibly cozy, I wouldn't be surprised if they could be seen on my legs every day this winter!