I just love my friends...!

Aren't knitting friends the greatest? I'm so lucky to have friends (like Nartian who can go to Stitches West and shop for me-and I just know she has a feel for my tastes!)...and my bud, Paula who gifted me with some Claudia Handpainted!!! The colorway is called "Eat your veggies" and is such a fun color--green with hues of lavendar! Reminds me of asparagus or better yet-ARTICHOKES!!! (MY FAV...)!

I think I'm going to knit the Claudia's using Evelyn's pattern, "Creeping Vines"...

Think I'll get it spun?

Look what arrived in today's mail!!!

MORE Spinderella Thrums! This is their "Alderman" colorway which appeared more purplish to me in their pictures. You can see alot of the blue in one bump, but it really spins up more grey flannel-ish with all sorts of fun lil' bits.

How do I know this? HA! I already started spinning a bit!-LOL!

I didn't say 'mohair' in the description and this batch didn't have labels, so I have no idea if there is any mohair in it. The last batch of "Breeze" thrums I purchased hadn't mentioned the "M" word, but when I got it, the tag had it checked off. I am suspicious there is some in this colorway, too...I guess I can email them and ask, but it's not as if I'm sending it back or anything! It spins up quickly, but I'm not trying to keep it even or slubby; it just has so much pieces of bits in it that it is doing slubs. Very fluffy (yes, I fear mohair...)...As far as my lungs giving it away, it is hard to tell since my asthma has been aggravated by a lingering cold or infection.

I ordered two bumps...this is ALOT of fleece for this drop-spindling newbie!

Really...I don't just buy yarn...

I have others buy it for me!-LOL! Many, many thanks to my bud, Stilaholic Nartian ! Thanks to her, my stash now includes another Cookie A. pattern and Cookie A. yarn!!! --sorry, pic is the third down, despite my desire to have it first!

So...instead, I have this pic of the Pomegranate Roving from Scout's Swag that I had just posted about. Everyone has such lovely outdoor, scenic pics on their blogs, so I decided to throw my yarn on the Rosemary bush and see if it made my picture prettier. Well...maybe not, but here is a lovely Rosemary bush in the urban San Francisco backyard...See? I got some spinning in!--and even a bit of knitting!

I FINALLY finished one of the Koigu socks I started (probably over a year ago) for my sister. She's in town right now, so the timing was perfect to have her try it on for a fit. And I'll have a whole year to finish the next! (Well, unless I end up going to visit her in Italy first!...or if she comes back in the summer...) One thing for sure, I will most likely NOT mail them to her, since the Italian government gets funky about knitted items coming into the country. Yeah, like I'm gonna steal Gucci's or Benneton's handknit market or something like that! Anyways, they prohibit stuff like yarn, knit items, etc...from being shipped in. When I fill out the duty slip, I have to get creative--like when I sent her the "Pooch" scarf I knit for her..."novelty gift"...

Oh! And the red sock I started a bit ago...Mountain Colors Bearfoot in "Rosehips"! Knitting their "Fritzy's Sock" pattern with it. Now, if I can only finish an item to post! ...

Yarn P0rn Friday!--in an hour!

So I might as well post now, don'tcha think? Because I just got my order from SCOUT'S SWAG!!! Name anything "Pomegranate" and I'm there! Must be a holdover from my childhood. My grandfather was a fruit farmer; on his ranch were many an apricot, pear, peach, plum tree, and on the side of his lawn was a single pomegranate tree. The rare fruit. What few pomegranates that tree bore, we all had to share. I just love pomegranates-the look, the flavor, the colors!

That said, I was so bummed to see her tease of a pomegranate roving-no sooner posted as 'new' to her site, labeled as "SOLD OUT". Waaah! I wanted some!

Well, stupid me, I could *order* some custom dyed for me, now couldn't I? The nice thing, too, is that my most awesome friend in Nebraska (who, btw, I met through the stamping world...) gave me a gift certificate for Scout's Swag, so i could order the stuff guilt-free! HOO-RAY! So here's my order--oh--sans the knit soak samplers I got cuz well, I forgot to put them in the pic! (Yeah, too lazy to take the pic again, too!...)

So I got the Pomegranate merino roving, merino sock yarn dyed in 'Bibioteque', the soaks, and a Chic Knits pattern. I know, the pic's kinda dark, but I think you can get the idea. Don't worry, not even thinking of quitting the day job to be a photographer...

I have to post these goodies cuz I'm not going to Stitches West. I think I've said that already. I need to convince myself and truly understand that it would be far more torture to attend and expect myself to curb the purchases than to just skip it altogether. So far, I'm not so sure I'm convinced. I waivered and thought, "it's not just about the stash enhancement opportunities-it's about knitting fellowship! I can reunite with my knitting buddies! I can hook up with my old co-worker who I hadn't seen in years and who is now living far away and retired but who I saw there last year. I can see Sylvia--maybe she needs a ride home (or at least to the City) again, like she did last year...or what about my old daycamp trainer who is now knitting up a storm, who I hadn't seen for over 20 years but ran into only two Stitches ago...? And what about rubbing elbows with the high-rising star, Cookie--you know? Cookie-author of the most fa-bu sock and other lace pattern wonders! And the opportunities to try out more spindles and spinning wheels?..." Oh yeah...then I'd HAVE to buy yet *another * spindle and lament over my desire for a spinning wheel!

OK, remember, I'm going to Sock Camp...going to Sock Camp...going to Sock Camp...Sock Camp will more than make up for the large void that skipping SW is creating...yes, sock camp GOOOOOD...

Well, the wonderful thing is that though I'm NOT going, my partner is yarn shopping crime *will* be going, and I have sent her on a special errand for me: to seek out and grab some of Cookie's hand-dyed yarn that I understand will be there. Thank heaven for the Nartian Knitter! She will save me. She will help me to go to SW vicariously through her!!!

Damn! i wanna go...

More ramblings...

So I realize that the only good thing my blog has going for it is all the sock yarn pics! I don't have anything clever to say, nor do I have any sage knitting advice, since many of my projects remain in the UFO state so I can't offer wonderful knitterly advice based on what I've done... But when all is said and done, my blog serves the following purpose:

1) lots of wonderful sock yarn to view
2) proof that there is at least one person (me) who is worse than you with their yarn stash! (See? my whole existence is based on making others feel better about themselves knowing there is someone out there far worse than they...)

Yeah, I'm a bit addicted...

Well, I meant to start this post out with my addictive Stash enhancements, but Blogger decided I would start out with this...my completed "skein" (I don't know what real spindlers call them) of the Spinderella Thrums! I can't believe I got all (was it four ounces?) spindled!!! And here it all is...

And now, on to the addition to my forever growing number of socks-in-waiting...

This, just in from One Planet. I saw their ad on Knitter's Review; unfortunately, I didn't see their KR discount code!-Pisser! I could've saved shipping! But isn't this just gorgeous? HAD to try this stuff out, too...

So...above are two skeins of SereKnity Sock Options: 100% merino in Blackforest Fudge; the other is a merino/tencel blend in the One Planet colorway! Too awesome!

HEY...now that I think of it, does the One Planet count towards my Project Spectrum blue study???

The things we do for kids...

Here's what I was doing this evening, per the Emperor's request.

Chocolate cake, white icing and--"hey, Mommy, why don't you make white icing and pink icing?" And of course, you can't send a cake to a First grade classroom without sprinkles, right?

I'm tired! Treat boxes done and cake iced. I'm going to bed!

Project Spectrum is focusing on blue right now, but it seems like the only colors I"ve been working in these days are pinks and reds!

testing!

Here is a pic of a STR med weight (Rolling Stone) I frogged! No more!-haaaaaaahaaaahaaa!

Random thoughts run through my head!

So here I am recovering from a cold/flu yucky thing, knowing I have to go to work tomorrow and yet am compelled to stay up and blog! And let me tell you, I was so sick that this was the first day that I was well enough to be awake for more then 2-3 hours straight and to even have the urge to knit!

The only thing I did over the three days off of work was spindle for maybe 10-15 minutes a couple of times yesterday, and after each short session I had to lay down and go back to sleep!

I've been entranced with my spindling. Maybe it is like when these people get really sick with fever and wake up with psychic abilities-only mine is a more intense attraction to my spindling! Or really maybe this just is a carryover from my visit to Carolina Homespun and the excitement of having lots more fleece and lots of spindles! Or maybe Morgaine doused me with enthusiasm when she told me of a man she knows who knits and sells *whole sweaters* from yarn he hand-spindles! I of course exclaimed that his sweaters must cost and arm and a leg-and she confirmed this. Then tonight, as I thought of this in my crazy lil' ol' head, I started to think..hmmm...now I know something like that is mucho, mucho work and would have to command a high price, but I wonder...is there more of a novelty that this was all done by a *male*? Like somehow, society would be more "charmed" by the novelty of a hand made sweater made from handmade yarn by a male, somehow likening to "Designer" class? Could a woman doing the same thing get as much for her sweaters made in the same way? I wonder...Now I know that historically, knitting has not always belonged to women, but that doesn't change the frame of mind that many have of knitting being a female thing.

OK, I got that off my chest! Also, let me add that I must be feeling better since instead of going to bed early (the wise choice), I instead plied some of my merino and worked on a silk swatch! Of course, none of this stuff occurred until late this evening when I should have been asleep! Earlier? No knitting or spinning, but I did flip though a knitting catalog, so I was well enough to think about knitting! Actually, I even had stamping on my mind! Like how I purchased a kid's tracing/art lightboard for my 6yo just so that I had an excuse to purchase it for the light table enclosed so I could use it for my embossing! I'm sure there are knitting supplies I've purchased for my kid, as well...like the knitting spool...and the kids' 'knitting machine'...sickness, I tell ya!