Thank Youuuuu!

To my new friend Cheriwan (real name Jillian - rechristened "Jennifer" don't ask) who vvv generously sent me the following in the recent Ravelry swap:

Don'tcha love opening mystery boxes with wee individually wrapped presents inside?? Some lovely yarn (have always loved working with Crystal Palace yarns!) in pink (looks more red in pic), v. handy looking stitch markers, skull yarn notions bag (love.it.) funky bubblegum girlie card and bookmark - candy! And 2 patterns!! Yay She even went to the trouble of ordering me things from etsy - have included the links.

Thanks again Jillian!

What's new with you?

Wintry weather setting in here...worked at home last Friday and enjoyed this - this - and this - And wore my new socks!

Made them way too big though. They are practically slippers - I always do this, none of my knit socks are fine enough to actually wear with normal shoes. For once I actually used the whole ball of yarn though, have maybe 2 yards left, instead of the usual small ball that you hate to throw away (the thought!) but can't think of anything creative to do with. Though there's always these.

Right now am back working on the Babette, crochet blanket. Hit All About Yarn on Saturday to get in more pink n green yarn supplies. Am on the home stretch, in terms of making the squares. The sewing and weaving-in-of-ends awaits...New pics coming.

Yarn as art

Look at this site:


I want every single thing she makes, especially this:

This is how it's described:

"DOLLHOUSE UPSET - This yarn is split into two skeins (because it was hard to fit on the bobbin with those doll heads). It is spun from various colours and fibers, a thick and thin single. There are hard plastic doll vintage doll heads throughout. Their hair is spun right into the yarn. "

I could never knit with any of it though - it's too pretty and magnificent to disrupt from the skein...so while it's the most impractical yarn purchase I may ever make it just might have to happen...will let you know...

Neat things

I have all kinds of neat things I'd like to show you - and have finally uploaded pictures.
The blue&green flat feet socks are blocked and ready, hopefully my friend's legs are as slim as I think they are...and if time permits this weekend I may even break out the bead stash and make her earrings to match. Sure all the best-dressed folks have socks that match their earrings nowadays.

The pink/red lacy scarf for a friends birthday (already a week overdue, and she lives in Europe) s done done done, scarves are so boring to make, even when pretty. But for this one, one skein made a nice-length scarf (about 5 ft). I read somewhere the optimum scarf length is approximately equal to the height of the wearer...so if she hunches over a bit while wearing 'twill be perfect.

A couple of Friday's ago I got that serious burning-wallet feeling and ordered myself some yarn from Little Knits and from Webs. Little Knits should be arriving today (I should have paid for expedited shipping, I have nowhere near the amount of patience required for online shopping) and (most of) the Webs order arrived last week. Lovely lovely sock yarn, including the Opal Harry Potter yarn in Tonks, that are on their way to becoming the Grandiflora socks as we sit here. yay!

I think my knitting blah period is well and truly over for the year. I love the Autumn.
So what are you working on? Don't send me to Ravelry - comments please!

Stash acquirement...

So, this week finds me in Fort Collins CO, visiting some coworkers, and loving it here.

There are mountains...
trees...wildlife...

(the Colorado Boston Terrier contingent)...

and yarn stores...

First place I stopped was The Stitchin' Den in Estes Park

Picked up some Lamb's Pride worsted and Mango Moon Chakra for Talia.

That evening hit Lambspun, like a yarny candy store...
Buttons and yarn balls andneedles and weaving supplies...

and this is all I got...some pretty yarn for a scarf (maybe this?) and buttons for Talia.

Finally, visited My Sister Knits (like Lambspun, not someplace you'd stumble across, but well worth finding). No pictures...all I bought was more Lamb's Pride Worsted, for another Hey Teach :)

Anyhoo - the upside of business trips, in addition to guilt-free yarn shopping (it's a souvenir) there is time to knit on cross-country flights and nights in the hotel room. What could be cuter than an eggplant baby cap?

An eggplant baby cap and a strawberry baby cap!

Sounds like my kind of outing...

Look what I found posted in a couple of places: an official yarn crawl of eight lys on the Eastern Shore - with discounts and everything! Just last week I was over on there and visited two of the great stores mentioned. Surely by September I'll have all that yarn wound, knitted, blocked and happily gifted, and will be ready to buy some more...
Who's with me?

So good to myself...

Finished the Olympic scarf a few days early at Wednesday's Sip n Knit: blocking now. I folded it over to block (didn't have enough spare space that I could guarantee would remain unvisited by dogs). I really like it, and the pattern is easy to memorize and it looks so good :)
(Note: helper at top left)

So what next? Well, I discovered a partially made sock in the knitting bag: even though the colorway is a little '1970's living room' I decided it was too pretty for a sock:

Love these! Great way to show off sock yarn, esp when all bundled up in dark winter colours (I'm ready!).


Haven't I been good at using my stash yarn? Of course, this leaves quite a void...

On Friday took the day off and we went across the Bay and visited a couple of little towns. So pretty and peaceful over there. And guess what - found two yarn stores!

One was a teeny tiny place, Fibre Cafe run by Bonnie and Fiberetta, where I picked up 3 skeins of bright red cotton (on sale) for the Red Scarf yarn project. And, Bonnie gave me a couple of her own knitting mags she was done with, including the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits (yay!) It is a very small store, so restraint wasn't too difficult.

But then...in the next town ran across Frivolous Fibers...where I couldn't resist these:
which I am planning to use for what will be a vay vibrant (and soft) scarf;

this:

which will make a gorgeous shawl (assuming I ever get it wind it up...)
and this:

which is already half knit - more later.


So the stash is well and truly plumped up again. And all is well...

Fun weekend

Ah summer weekends. This last was a fun one. Spent Saturday morning/afternoon knitting/chatting/shopping/eating - doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Visited an LYS I hadn't been to before and bought the supplies for this lovely thing, thanks to Lyn for helping me find just what I needed - a bright red cotton blend yarn. I'm not sure whether I'll make this for my(ever-expanding)self, or for Mum (birthday in 2 months). Hmm...

Am on the last skein of yarn for the lace ribbon scarf - of course, I am thinking that the "lace ribbon" in the name suggests I should have used something finer, but the colours are pretty. And heck I'm 6 skeins into it - some people might have the patience and sensibility to rip and do over but that's something I could never face :)

On Saturday night myself and Himself went to a restaurant in Baltimore to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. I bought him a wedding ring to replace the one he lost last year doing yard work, and he bought me a pretty new ring just because. Aww.
I think I'll keep him.

Ta dah!

A momentous day.
The purple cardi is done! And the birthday Jaywalkers are ready too (top right).
Blocking away on the dining room table (I won't need it again till Thanksgiving so no rush)
Of course, I am still adding to the stash. I was in Bryan, Texas this week, at The Hook and Needle ( lovely wee store) and got some "Flat Feet." Basically a piece of knitted fabric that you knit from, without ever rolling into a ball. Colours are great, and I'm planning to go to Goodwill to pick up an old knitted wool sweater next time I need some sock yarn ;)

My Sheep and Wool haul

I went along to the Sheep n Wool festival last Saturday, as did every other fiber enthusiast within a 500 mile radius (and some from waaay further afield by the sounds of things). It's just such a treat, quite the nicest thing I've done for myself all year. It was held at the Howard County Fairgrounds, only about 17 miles from home, and was set to open at 9am. I left home a little before 8, thinking I could amuse myself (by knitting maybe) before the gates opened. To my surprise, when I got there (missing all the traffic yay) the parking lot (i.e. surrounding field) was about 1/4 full, and the gates were open, and the majority of the stalls were already doing a steady trade.

Second stall in I met Helene and Karen from Sip N Knit, and we talked about how we were going to be good and pace ourselves...then another friend came and joined them, her shopping bag already happily bulging.

Later on I met up with Lyn and Knitty McKnitknit and we walked around fondling yarn, cooing at alpacas, marveling at the skills of Textillian and others who fared well in the various competitions, and wondering if the small of roasting lamb flesh had anything to do with the apparent consternation of some of the sheep...

And my haul: I got these, from "The Fibre company", 4 skeins of about 100 yards each of...something...in my rush to avail of these ($2.50 each) I managed to snag 2 skeins with no label, and the other two have labels but no yarn name. It's an alpaca/ingeo/merino/silk mix. Anybody know what it is??

Then, in a fit of madness, I bought 400 yards of boucle (mohair/wool/nylon)- I could not resist - look at these colours, all natural dyes, from, appropriately enough a company called Natural Dyed Yarns, who do not seem to have a website...
I say madness, becuase I have 400 yds of undyed boucle from last years S&W, which has been wound into a ball but lain untouched for about 9 months...maybe the two will come together some day in something wonderful. Maybe?
After I left Lyn & Debbi to go home (to bring DS to a birthday party) and was heading for the gate, I was called, drawn I was, to Tess' Designer Yarn, where I bought the pattern for the traveling cable top, and 2 skeins of microfibre ribbon. Soooo silky and pretty. I think I might make this into a waistcoat/vest rather than a shell as pictures...will see. And finally - couldn't make it all the way out without getting some sock yarn.
Lovely lovely soft hopefully non-itchy sock yarn. I felt kind of bad for the bloke running the stall though - his wife and daughter were keeping up a constant stream of moaning at the old guy.

But I left with a song in my heart, ten skeins of yarn in my bag, a sack of kettle korn in my hot little hand. Ahhhh life is good.

Is it Monday yet?

Cable guy didn't come till Saturday. You all knew that would happen - I was just deludin' myself, sitting there, ears perked till way after 6PM - anyway look what I got accomplished:
One stretchy super-skinny sock!* Am now nearly at the heel of #2.

After I finally abandoned all hope of Cable Guy I stopped off at AAY en route to daycare:

Yep, more sock yarn, pretty...and replacement Brittanys :) There was only one ball of the Maizy (which I have used before and really love), not enough for one pair of socks tho, so I got the Panda Silk (also used before) as an accent colour.

But I knew that wouldn't work. Saturday morning I went off gallivantin' again, (hairdresser**/handbag shopping) and ended up at another LYS:

Some Pace yarn for heel/toe/cuff accents, Collinette Jitterbug, and size 1 needles.

I also got a hold of Cat Bordhi's book on new ways to knit socks: New Pathways for Sock Knitters.***

Pretty time to be in Maryland. Obligatory cherry blossom pictures coming soon - here's some springtime shots of the neighbourhood...

And my next project...
Spent Sunday afternoon prepping the garden for seed planting.**** Here's my co-gardener. She got a wee bit dirty in the process.

What are you all at this week?

*I do look like I've serious cankles though...
**She's taking knitting lessons!
***I need to go on a serious yarn/book diet
****Guilted into it by Michael Pollan, I've decided to grow some produce...

Sheila & Staceys' yarn party

Saturday dawned windy and bright - the perfect day to think about knitting socks had anyone asked me. After a false start the night of the ice-storm, Stacey rescheduled Sheila Rovelstad’s Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn party for 1PM Saturday.

Here's Sheila, with her pretty stitch markers, magnets and sock pattern:

And here...pretty pettable yarn...

the swift doing its thing...our wonderful hostess...
I got 2 skeins of sock yarn, one in a teal green and the other in various hues of purple. Matching stitch markers and a sock pattern were included. And if all that wasn't enough -
Yummy snacks too.

I made a start on the cuff of the teal coloured sock while I hung out eating strawberries and chatting, after my yarn was swifted into a cute little cake. Not sure how I'll proceed - I want to find a lacey pattern to show it off. But first, the Hogwarts socks beckon...