Thinking aloud

I’ve joined a new swap on Ravelry, the UKarmaTravelling Scarf Swap (Rav link).
It’s a really simple idea. There’s a group of people, lets say 10. Each of these 10 people knits the first few inches (length to be agreed) of a scarf. So, person 1 then sends their scarf to person 2, 2 sends to 3…and person 10 sends theirs to 1. After that, each person knits another few inches, hopefully in line with the requests of the original owner of the scarf (they might say “No fun fur, nothing with wool as I’m allergic" or perhaps “I hate yellow, please don’t use it" or “only 4ply please!") and once they’ve done, they send the scarf on as before. The sending on should occur every two weeks. Then, in the case of a 10 person group, in around 5 months a completed scarf will arrive in the post for each of the 10 people, with 10 different segments knit by other knitters. A hand made piece of art which has been all over the country! Amazing, huh?

I’m probably going to request no more than 50% acrylic, though I can’t decide what weight of yarn I’d like to use. I might ask that people stick to roughly that weight too – so I’ll probably go for DK/Aran approx. (knits up faster too!)
I think this is a really cool way of using up some leftovers lying in my stash. I have two small balls of Cascade 220 (pink and green, from the slippers) which I can’t think of a use for. I’ve got lots of single balls of things (red wool, brown wool, cream wool – that sort of thing, even cotton!) so unless someone specifies mohair (I’ve just given away ALL of my mohair) then I should have something to suit.

I finished the body of the baby sweater last night at knit-night, so I have only the interchangeable panels to go! I plan to make a visit to Duttons for Buttons, for buttons for the jacket, at the weekend. I also should decide what to spend my birthday/Christmas money on. Of course part of me says “yarn yarn yarn nom nom nom", but I’m actually considering buying some of the books from my wish list. As OH already bought me Victorian Lace Today (LOVE) then I am tempted by Retro Knits (Amazon Link) or possibly Vintage Knitwear for Modern Knitters (Also Amazon). Neither have much in the way of patterns on Ravelry, so I don’t know if they’re any good for me or not. I’ve heard good things about Knitted Lace of Estonia (Guess where? Amazon) although I might be over-laced then! Haha. Ah there’s plenty for me to choose from anyway! I’ll let you know what I decide.

Anyone have any recommendations? I like books with some history/information in them, but don't need to be taught the knit stitch again (I hope)