Carin's yarn

Before the holidays my friend Carin asked me to overdye some yarn for her. I said sure and she gave me 1400 yards of a beautiful 50/50 wool alpaca dk weight and some green and blue dye. I looked at her Raverly page to see what shade of blue/green she already had so I could give her something different from what she has already knit but she would love. You can see what she thinks of it of her webcast Round the Twist. She in turn gave me this:

Socks That Rock lightweight colorway Mustang Sally. I so love it! Below is the other yarn I got from The Loopy Ewe. Lornas Laces sport Amy's Vintage Office. I just knit myself a pair of socks this color so I this may be MiL socks. not sure yet as I love it so much.

Trade

Over the summer I dyed some yarn for my friend Kara. In return she spun this for me. I had dyed the merino roving. It is lovely and soft. Now that I see it I don't think I want to knit what I had planned this for.

I love Loopy!

So I had a little birthday money to spend so I ordered this little tote bag and a skein of yarn from The Loopy Ewe. Sheri also sent a Loopy post card and a cute little stitch marker. I have a thing for red bags. It will be the perfect bag for car knitting this summer. The yarn is Treeking I think color 62. I really like it. I am going to make socks for Hubby with it.

The Loopy Ewe has the best service I have ever found online. If you like pretty yarn check it out. Oh and if you ever want to know what to get me. I like gift certificates and you can see my wish list.
They have a contest where you pose your Loopy card in different places and send them in. Loopy is going to Colorado.

Lookie what I got!

The Lovely MS.B of Bockstark Knits was kind enough to pick me up some Wollmeise sock yarn. It arrived today from Germany. Isn't it pretty? I had been trying to order some every since SP11 when Ms. B gifted me some. It sells out very fast so I never had any luck. Then Ms. B said she would pick it up for me. I love it! Thank you so much!

Update

I got the sock pal socks done! No pictures as that would ruin the surprise.

So now I am trying to decide what socks to knit next. This is always my problem... I just can't decide on a pattern because there are so many great ones out there now. Too many choices !

I think it will either be Monkey or maybe RPM. I am sure to be the last knitter in blogland to knit Monkey...

Then there is the question of what to knit with the 2 Skeins of Dream in Color Classy that Hubby got me for V-day. Isn't it pretty? The colorway is Good Luck Jade. It is much better than the photo. I have 500 yards so maybe a hat/scarf/mitts combo... I am temped to order enough of this for a sweater as The Loopy Ewe is having a sale on Classy to go along with a sweater KAL they are doing. It is tempting but... Maybe after the taxes come in.

I guess I'd better get those taxes done!

Oh and in case you are wondering MG raised $100.00 for the AHA! I will find out later today if she is the top $ raiser in her class. She is very excited. She will be writing her Thank You notes this weekend.

I will post the winners of my little contest tommrow.

Oh and blogger still won't spell check.

Dream in Color

How much does this rock? My Sock It To Me Twice pal has sent me another package. Yes the yarn is Dream in Color! Smooshy Int color is Vino Variates. I love it! It is a deep rich wine color. And soft!

There is also some goodies from Woolgirl.com.

A very cute tape measure that just makes me smile. Some yummy lip balm, (I needed some of this!) some fun note cards, and a Thomas Joseph calendar. I love the sheep. There is also a bar of dark mint yumminess. I have hidden the rest. Mine Mine!

Thank You Sock Pal! I love it all! Dream in Color! I have wanted some of this for a long time! You Rock my stash!

Sock it to me!

My sock pal sent me a Christmas gift yesterday. I would show you but blogger hates me just now so pictures will have to come later. Sock Pal sent a sock blocker key chain with a pattern for a little sock for it, super cute. Some yummy smelling candles. A bar of Blacks Chocolate Mint. I have never tried Blacks before but I love it! Very yummy. Lucky for me the MK's don't like mint so it is all mine! There is also a dpn holder that is just so darn clever and yarn. Oh the yarn Claudia Hand Painted in the Lipstick colorway. It is so bright and fun. I am going to save it and knit it up some dark winter weekend when I need some color. Thank you sock pal! Happy Christmas!

The Secret is out!

So my SP11 is Kris from Bockstark Knits. I have been reading her blog since I started knitting socks this past summer. Have you seen her socks? Really go look. Pretty cool eh? She also does the Knitters Uncensored Podcast and she has been to SnB with me spoilee Simone. Small world. Well let me tell ya she did a great job here with the package. The candy and treats have already been broken into. I love the Leibniz Minis yummy! She also sent a little travel office, a wool comb and some cute magnets. It does not stop there though. I got a great project bag she made herself. I took it to knit night last night in fact. and 2 skeins of Wollmeise sock yarn. The yarn is so beautiful and soft. I love it.

The one above you can only get from the artist in her shop. The color is Rosenrot. The color is pretty close in the pic.

The 2nd one is superwash sock yarn in Brombeere (dark). I can not tell you how much I love this colorway. Whatever I make with this will be for me! I love it! The dark red and almost black play so nice together. It is not easy to get this yarn here so I was even more excited to pull it from the bag. The gals a knit night all got a chance to pet it before I got it back in my bag and Miss V pulled out her collection of Wollmeise. Her colorway are so vivid and rich.

Thank You Kris for such a great treat. I hope to one day make socks as pretty as yours! You made my day.

Knit night at the junkyard

So knit night was super cool. I found the place OK(no easy feet in the dark) and was greeted by 4 of the most lovable dogs I have ever met. I explained I was looking for knitters and hoping this was the right place. Miss V's hubby just laughed and sent me upstairs with Minnie to join the fun. She host Knit Night in her studio. After making sure I did not drool on the fiber (which is everywhere) I sat down and finished my Kaffe sock and did a few rows on the Cobblestone. I seem to fit right in with these ladies. We talked about people we both knew (turns out Miss V and I know some of the same folks). One gals Hubby used to work for the company I just left. V is so funny and the rest of the ladies so nice. I am sure to go back. I told her about you Simone. She says Hi. I will try to get a picture next time.

I traded a skein of sock yarn from my stash With Miss V. for a skein of L&V sock yarn. It is so pretty. She let me pick it right off the wall! I wanted something unlike the yarns in my stash and I got this beautiful skein. I tell ya it was all I could do not to stuff a few down my shirt, but I want to go back so I restrained myself. This is Lime & Violet Sasquatch Sock. 75% wool 25 % Nylon. 425 Yards colorway:Pillywiggan. It is so purtty!

V did not want to give up any of her stash. (which is impressive to say the least) but I I am happy. I know just who these socks will be for, buts for after Christmas knitting.

I must say I never thought I would go out to meet someone I had met on line but this was a good time. Knitters are good people everywhere you go. Thanks Miss V for inviting a total stranger into your home. You Rock! I'll bring yummies next time.

Look What I got!

The postman brought me 2 boxes today. The first was GAL knit picks order and the 2nd was from Simone. She said she wanted to send me something to thank me for send her her Knit Picks stuff. The box was a total mess when it got here but all was well within.

She sent some candy for the kiddos (which I am hiding for now) a very nice postcard and yarn. First is 1 ball of Regia Galaxy. This colorway is very soothing. I really like it. It is called Jupiter Syil. The next is 2 balls of the Regia Kaffe Fassett. I love it, and it stripes! Thank You so much! I love them. The colors are so different from anything else I have. Yea! btw I have your last box here but I think I will send it when I get back from the weekend. I want to find one little thing...

Stash Addition

No I didn't go buy any yarn, I did win some however on one of my new favorite blogs, The Mobtown Review. Each week she posts yarn from new indie hand dyers and we all get to leave comments. I have seen some really pretty yarn there so far. I hope to submit some myself soon. If you like to look at(drool over) pretty yarn check this blog out. ooo did I tell you the part where there are 3 winners each week? Yeah! new yarns every Wednesday.


So on to the yarn: From Woolbearers
1 Hank of Superwash Sock Yarn, Color: Don't Leave. Feels really nice. the color in the photo is pretty good. I love it. It is a different colorway for me. I always go for red or earthy colors but this is just gorgeous. I can't wait to knit it up. Myra and Suzie do beautiful work. Go check them out. Thank You ladies. It is lovely and when I get around to knitting it up I'll send you a photo.




In knitting news. I am working in the gift knitting along with Cobblestone. I really need to get going on that so it is done in time. Don't want to leave the only sweater I'm knitting for Christmas undone.
I have my last SP11 box almost ready to send out. I am just waiting for something to dry before I can pack it up and ship it. It took 2 weeks to get to her last time so I want to get it off in the next week or so.




From the dyepot. I took a hank of Lime green Koigu out of the stash today and threw it in the dye pot. I love the new color so much more than the lime green. Pictures when it is dry.






Oh yeah, MG had her friend sleep over and stay all day today. It was a loooooong day in which I got nothing constructive done.Poor MB. He had 2 sisters for the day. They would call him in to play and then yell for him to leave. Monster Friend does not have a little brother so she had to tell me everything he did. She just doesn't understand about little brothers. I tried to tell her that it was MB's birthright to give his big sis a hard time. Thats what little brothers do right? They both pouted when it was time for Monster Friend to go home. There were repeated asking of " Can she sleep over tomorrow night too?"
"Not this weekend Honey." I reply in a tired voice
"Next Weekend?" She is jumping up and down
"We will see little one, she just left." I say in my nicest Mommy voice. She stops jumping, folds puts her hands on her hips and says
"You mean she never gets to to sleep over again!!??!!"
Pass the Advil.

eta:blogger is doing something to my post so it all runs together. sorry

What a day!

Look what I got today! After the 2nd day of the public warehouse sale I came home to find a parcel from Germany! My SP11 sent me a great package. The little bag is a great size for a small project and inside were all types of goodies. There was Chocolate (the MK's got the little umbrella shaped ones before I could get the picture) a cute little note pad, a sock blocker key chain, a very nice smelling sachet from Scouts Swag, and a little pot of jam ( I think it is jam I can't read German) but the best part was the yarn and the scarf!. She knit me My So Called Scarf in Wollmeise Lammdoehwolle in Koralle im Meer. I love it!!! The colors are great. I don't have anything like it. I have it on right now. I love to wear a scarf in the chilly weather. The yarn is beautiful sock yarn. I can't read the label because of the not speaking German thing but I think its cool to have a yarn I clearly can not get here in the Heartland. The label reads:

Tausendschon

Handgefarbte Sockenwolle ( I am pretty sure this means Hand Dyed Sock Wool)

The color is just gorgeous! I love it love it love it! It is a 60/20/20 blend and I can not wait to knit with it! Thank you so much SP11 You made my day! could you help me out with the translation?

Right after opening the goodies I went to check my email and I got my Ravelry invite! I am sandyknits. I just had time to poke around a little I can feel myself getting sucked in already! I need to set up a flicka account and get started.

The public warehouse sale has been a festival of weirdness. Every junk collector in town has been in and gone a little nuts. People are pretty overwellmed by the things I have, Most of the stuff there you won't see anywhere else. I sold $4000.00 worth of stuff today alone. I wonder what tomorrow holds... VP#2 is handling things tomorrow and I have the day off. He said he did not want help and I am to stay home as I have worked 3 weekends this month already. I got one of the other managers to "drop by" and help him out anyway. He is going to need it cuz all the folks that came the last 2 days will be back looking for a deal. Yeah he'll need help. I expect my phone to ring many times.

As for work, my co workers are coming to terms with the fact that I am leaving and the Boss now think they may need to hire 2 people to do all the things they had me doing.( I could have told them this and have in fact many times) When the boss asked me to list all the things I do he was shocked. He then asked me how much they were paying me (boss does not keep track of that stuff VP#1 does) He said he was sorry. Gee I should have told them I was going to quit a lot sooner! Oh well I am at peace with my choice. I will miss some of the people there but I will not miss the grind or 50 hour work weeks.

and now I am off to find the perfect pattern for my new Sockenwolle in Ravelry land

Baseball and yarn

I posted yesterday that the Cubs were in first place, so they lost last night, of course they did! They are still tied for first though. No more posts about the Cubs till their season is over!!!
Hubby has been watching Barry Bonds try to catch Hank Aaron, I wish he would just hit the damn home run so we can watch something else! Maybe today is the day. All of this Baseball watching has given me some good knitting time though. I am working on a stealth project as well as a new pair of socks. I have pics to post but can't from work! I will post them this weekend. I am knitting Jaywalkers. I know I am the last knitter in blog land to knit these but I just started this sock knitting thing so I don't feel too behind. I like the way it looks I just wish I could do those double decreases a little faster. I have solved my SSK problem so I can knit all the socks I want!
Which leads me to the stash building I have been doing. I went to my LYS yesterday and got some great stuff. I need to take pictures outside to show the colors best. Those will post this weekend as well. Lets just say it was so much fun to walk in and buy whatever I wanted! I am a bad shopper, I always feel like I am spending too much but not this time! The 7 hanks of Koigu and 2 balls of Debbie Bliss cashmerino are happily getting to know the rest of the stash in my closet. The Koigu is just beautiful and the DB is so soft I want to just pet it all day.
one more thing: Mom will be here 2 weeks from today! GAL comes 4 weeks from today! Mom and I are just going to enjoy being together for a week. She will be here for the first day of school. MG wants to take her and her guide dog for show and tell. GAL will be learning to knit socks when she is here. I got her some dpn's and dyed her some sock yarn. Yes I know she reads this but I told her about it already so its all good. I can't wait to see them, one advantage to being so far apart is that the time together is truly special and we treasure every minute. I have some good friends here but there is just nothing quite like having my Mom and Aunt close to me. I am lucky to have them both.

HSKS Owl Post

I got an owl today from Mary in WY. She sent me a great kit! She made the bag in a felting class she was taking in Estes Park Colorado. It is made from Alpaca and Llama fiber. I love it. MG wants it too. There was a deck of cards with horses on them for MG she loves horses and Mary's family rides in the rodeo. There was also a postcard of a cowboy who happens to be Mary's Hubby, a little notebook, a gauge guide, some stitch markers, a very nice bar of choc late and a Fiber Trends pattern. There is also a set of Brittany Birch needles size 1( my 1st Brittanys!) and the yarn! It is from Wind Dance Ranch, Granite Canon, WY. It is 85 percent adult mohair and 15 corndale wool. The colors are "Sun & Sand" and "Tartan"(top) The label reads: "The Mohair in this yarn was grown by: Angoras Peanut, Tinker, and Olive" I really love the Tartan. The color is just perfect. I am not sure about mohair socks... Would they wear well? anybody know? Mary got this yarn from her friend who is Mom to Peanut, Tinker and Olive.
The pattern is really 3 patterns called Walking Away Socks. I want to make all of them!
A really lovely treat to come home to. Thanks Mary!

Thank You Beth!

My SP10 spoiler has been Beth at knitsmitten.blogspot.com




She sent another great box of goodies!

We have 365 Knitting Stitches, which is something I wanted. I get tons of ideas just flipping through. There is also stitch markers, point protectors(I needed these!), cute little buttons, A new size 8 circ 24".( I was going to buy one of these this week for the body of Tubey). There is also a very pretty silver charm and books for MB and MG. the books are not in the photo because I could not pry them out of little hands. The yarn is very soft and squishy. It is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in color 135 Merlot. I love it! It is a wool/silk/cashmere blend.

Thank you Beth! This whole SP10 has been so much fun. I was glad to see you were so well spoiled.

A New York Yarn

Here is the yarn I got in NYC. It is Artyarns Ultra Merino wool. I love the blue and brown colorway. I have frogged this sock due to the fact that it was too big. The yarn is so pretty I want them to be perfect.

There will be more blogging later today when the MK'S are not using me as a jungle gym.

Some body really likes me...

Look what I got in the mail today!My Secret Pal sent me a box. I was a little worried when I saw it because it look like the FedEx guy sat on it but all was well within. Check it out.

I got a cute little Easter Basket with an egg that will grow into flowers. MG will love this, there are some Dove eggs. um some may have not made the pic. a set of size one bamboo DPN's, the little curly things to keep my DPN's together and the must beautiful sock yarn I have ever owned. I left it upstairs but I believe it is Artyarn in shades of red. My fave! I was stunned by its beauty! I am in love! The color in the group shot is closest but let me tell ya it is gorgeous. I spent a few minutes just petting it.I am going to knit one pair of practice socks and then these babies will become socks for me. I am not sure what kind yet but I want them to be perfect. Selfish I know but the yarn was given to me so...

Thank You so much to my SP10! I hope you are being well spoiled by someone.

I have also sent a box to my spoliee. I do hope she likes it. This exchange has been fun. I really tried to pick things I think she will like. And I loved everything I sent. What fun! I am always stunned by just how wonderful people can be to people they have never met. I can not wait to "meet" my pal. I hope she gets as good as she gave...