baaaaack!

rW and i came home on monday night, and i have been busy busy ever since. garden is still alive i knit in ohio. i made banana jam, and i have a new project....

an etsy shop!
i am selling vintage, antique, and handmade items. i don't have any up yet, but soon i will list some jams.



i wish i still had use of my desktop computer. it had photoshop and i could make myself a nice banner for my shop. boo.

too much to share

i have so much to share after my holiday trip to ohio that i cannot put it all into one post. well, i could, but it would be very long and tedious to download for some folks because this kitty likes to take pictures to share with the audience at home. this blog being primarily about yarny arts, i will start with the serious stash enhancement this holiday season brought to me.

i am well fortified against boredom during my upcoming yarn diet thanks to my generous friends and family! thanks, guys!


first we have a skein of Dream in Color Classy in the "Spring Tickle" colorway. (yes, i know i am obsessed with this green) this baby came from my pal madhatternalice by way of a gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe. smart man that guy.

i saw this over on wendy's blog, and i decided i needed to give it a try. it is labeled as worsted, but she has been able to knit it to a sport gauge for socks. on the hank, the yarn looks like a light worsted. very similar in thickness to our next friend....

this is a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock DK in the Fall Foliage colorway, also from my gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe. i bet you are noticing that i have ordered a lot of heavy weight sock yarns. well, yes. i currently have yarn for 11 pair of socks i will be knitting in 2008, and only 3 of those are not fingering weight.

i need something to change it up! a little instant gratification can be good for the knitter's soul.

this came from my dad. it is a skein of Plymouth Happy Feet i picked up at work when i bought his presents to my mum for him. call it a "finder's fee". only one skein because i am going to knit it up into the Purl Beret, not socks.

i am interested to see how this stuff is. it is very inexpensive (retails between $6-$7) and the colors are fun. i may have a new cheap sock yarn crack!


from santa in my stocking via my mum. this is a skein of RubySapphire Ruby Sock in the "Tamber" colorway. hand painted delight! it is wondrously soft and the color is one of my obvious favourites--pink and green combo. yum.



my mum and i went to her two LYS, and while out she bought me three skeins of Noro Kureyon. we don't carry Noro at the shop, so this is a little treat. i am going to use it in the Lizard Ridge afghan. i have a goal to knit one up for myself by the time i turn 30. gives me a couple of years to buy and knit all that yarn into squares.

from both of my parents--knitting books! we like to give each other books in my family. i got one for each of my parents this year, and they went a little crazy making sure my shelf got fuller too! i am very excited. i flip through them when i can't sleep. you know, the way people flip through the j crew catalogue.

kitty = big geek.


finally, a little gift to me from me. this is a skein of The Alpaca Yarn Co.'s Paca Peds in the "Harvest Time" colorway. my mum also got herself a skein of this yarn in their "Fireside" colorway. it was hard not to get that one for myself too, but i can live vicariously through her!

up next... the knitting i did while i was away! wheeee!

swoon!

so i thought the little skull ring i posted about a few days ago was cool....

(and it still is!)

and then the same jeweler posted The Big Skull Ring. you need to click the picture of the person wearing it to really "get" the scale. they say they make it any size.... i think they don't mean for 5.5, however.

but i can dream.

i can also dream of one day being as awesome as wendy. not only does she have an adorable cat, knits like a genius, and is a good knitwear designer to boot.... now she is freaking making challah! and that makes me want to cry a little.

i have an extreme weakness for challah.
and it makes no sense! i didn't grow up with it. no one in my family makes it (that i can recall) and i honestly cannot say when i first had it, but boy hoo! i was hooked.

i can eat an entire loaf.

by myself.

in one sitting.

and if it has been around for a day or so and gets turned into french toast, hold on to your hat. i will eat the french toast until i am full. and then i will have one more piece. and if it is a small "one more" piece, i might have to go back again. then i feel sick, but i don't mind because it is that freaking good.

chet baker and me

i love skull-a-day.

i hate skull-a-day.

it is a website devoted to one person's year long quest to make a skull image every day. you know, in the name of art. every week they do something called "Braincase" which is a round up of skully things readers have spotted.

braincase always has something i want. like deliriously expensive skull chocolates. or the fantastic ring you see above.

see, i thought i was safe because i won't buy expensive chocolates for myself and the ring only comes in a size 7. (i wear the much smaller 5 1/2) but nooooo.

the metal artists who make that ring have another very cool ring that comes custom sized. and earrings that are no size at all. it is a good thing i don't wear enough earrings to justify it. but the ring. oh the temptation! i cannot be tempted. not the same day i had a serious discussion of my finances. sigh! maybe Santa will bring me some skulls.

i fall in love too easily.

things i love, and not so much....

we'll start with the love.

1. 101 Designer One Skein Wonders.
not to be confused with the lame book One Skein Wonders. i am talking about the sequel. i love it. first book... meh. this one, yeah! i am already 1/3 of the way through the first project i am making from it, and let me say that it is an excellent use of my frogged Blue Sky Alpaca.

my only negative remark on this book is that the art direction makes me sad. it is designed to be very cutesy, which limits the audience, i think. it looks like a teenybopper book, but in reality it has good projects for many tastes.... even if the colors are garish. use your imagination and you too will love.

both of these one skein-ers are by Judith Durant, who also put together Never Knit Your Man a Sweater... maybe she is my hero of the week. well, my sorta hero. maybe.

2. etsy.who doesn't love etsy?
i am in such yarn lust right now. sock yarns from etsy will be my undoing. because i am a hopeless romantic. and i love pink flamingos.

3. the crocheted cupcake pattern pictured above. it is by lionbrand. the pattern is adorable. the yarn it is associated with directly....

now the "not so much".

1. Cupcake. this is the latest yarn coming out of The House That Fun Fur Built. i have come to know my yarns and my good substitutes in the last few months. this one is clearly a knock off of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton and Sweaterkits CottonLicious

2. seaming. none of us like it, and we all have to do it. tonight i seamed my Manos Project. well, 1/2 to 3/4 of it. it is blocking out right now, and the rest gets seamed maybe tomorrow night if the wool is dry.

wells fargo wagon is a comin'...

clearly i decided to be very good to myself (and my feet) for my birthday because two more skeins of sock yarn arrived yesterday. they were tucked into my mailbox along with a note saying i need to pick up my bridesmaid dress at the post office. the verdict is still out on how the dress will fit, but i have made my mind up about the yarn.

amazing!
first we have.... 437 yards of 100% Superwash Merino Wool in the "Vintage Rose" colorway courtesy the Skein Queen. she is in Berkshire, UK, and the package took about a week from when i clicked "order" to it arriving snuggly in my mailbox. when i opened it, i discovered a great bit of cuteness--the package was sealed with a tiny sticker photo of my yarn! so sweet!

i love this yarn. seriously. it is so soft--i can't stop rubbing it on my face. yum. and the pretty hot pink, candy pink, and grey (with a tiny sneak of purple) is beautiful. she dyed this one from an inspiration--a vintage print of a rose design.

the next skein is 460 yards of 75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon in the "Red Sunflower" colorway from Thank Ewe. the seller threw in some candies and rolled my skein into a center pull ball! nice!

go check out their stuff--the prices are fantastic.

i can't wait to knit with one of my new yarns. i am going to have such a hard time choosing which one of these to work with next! eeeeeh!

mailbag

today i received another wonderful package of sock yarn in the mail from another delightful Etsy seller. isn't it pretty? this time we have...

475 yards of 100% British Blue Faced Leicester Superwash Wool in the "Alice's Garden" colorway. purchased from White Willow.

go buy from her! her prices are similar to what you would pay at you LYS for hand painted sock yarn, and the service was excellent. the package was well wrapped, and when i opened it she had included a personal note on pretty stationary and packed the yarn with a lavender sachet so it would smell delightful after the long journey from Tennessee. just lovely!

as if you needed another reason to buy from this fine gal, she is a work-at-home mom who funds her opportunity to chase around her toddler by selling her handmade goodies. support the self-employed! we need all the help we can get.


look what else she included....

a pretty matching glass stitch marker tied to the handmade skein label!

eeeeeeh!
i just can't stop looking at the colors. they make me want a basket to put my pretty new yarn in beside my desk so i can just stare at it all the time. that is saying something. i am not a basket person. all of my furniture is dark wood finish from Ikea, and i have an animal print bedspread.

no baskets here.

i will need to find a very special sock pattern for this stuff, and until then, i will use it as a centerpiece!

this is getting self-indulgent

meet Baby Panda. he and i go way back. he always has a smile on his face, which is something i like about him. i also like that he in an excellent yarn model.

i was out shopping for a show today when i popped into one of my favourite this'n'that boutiques. lookie what i got! show them, Baby Panda! it was so pretty and inexpensive that i could not resist. Baby Panda is holding 470 yards of kettle dyed lace weight 100% baby merino wool. it is from Malabrigo, and the colorway is #237, cuarenta.

you'll have to forgive the poor photo. i got home late and indoors was all i could do. the color is a pretty magenta, teal and navy with purple accents. i am trying to wrap my mind around the name which means the number "40" in spanish. but the color is 237... apparently "cuarenta" is also a card game popular in Ecuador.

hm. anyway, pretty yarn. this isn't entirely "stash", per se. i plan to make knitty.com's Branching Out with it. i have been pondering that project for awhile, and i think this yarn will be swell.

next up on the yarn porn block is some sock yarn i bought on Etsy. this is 440 yards of hand dyed 100% merino wool in the "Halloween" colorway. purchased from Jules over at Jules Fiber Jewels. she's really nice. the yarn is pretty + soft, and it is way affordable. go buy her stuff!

i don't know what sock pattern i will use, but i need to knit these in the next few months because miss jules has asked i send her a picture of whatever i make. can't refuse a request like that!

ahem. another stupid photo with my hand in because it was raining today and i couldn't sit anything down. but the colors look amazing because it was so overcast. just look at that green leafy goodness in the background!

last we have something silly. where i got the lace yarn, i saw this super fun "double worsted" kitchen cotton. more like kitchen rope. i like to make dish cloths as a quick little stress reliever so i thought this stuff would be neat to try.

2 50 yard skeins of 100% cotton goodness in #177 "aztec" colorway.

i'm going to keep myself out of trouble. clearly. especially since i have some more sock yarns coming this week. stop looking at me like that. traditionally i get myself a birthday present every year. this year is is just arriving a little early. i promise i won't use any of it until after the big day.

southwest sock has the hiccups. i keep making stupid lace mistakes because people think it is okay to talk to me when i am counting. boo. update soon. promise!