Remnants...

So Cupcakefaerie said that in my last post, I was like the "Miss Marianne... of Knitting"!-lol! Hmmmm...I guess it was kinda like "Romper Room"! Actually, I felt more like I was being Dorothy waking up from being in the land of Oz, "And you were there, and you were there..."!

But, like Miss Mary Ann who would never seem to see *me*, I don't want to be like her and not name my work knitting buddies and have them feel left out!-lol! So, pardon me for a second:

"Romper, bomper, stomper, boo.
Tell me, tell me, tell me do.
Magic mirror, tell me today.
Did all my friends have fun at play?"

...I see Calafia, Neri and Yarnkabobs, cuz they were there, too!

And why not share a bit of yarny goodness while I'm at it?...How about some Stitches West acquisitions...?

PurlescenceYarns had an after-SW "Show off your purchases" gathering at their shop on Saturday; I got the lovely shawl pattern shown in the background of this photo. The large skein is a laceweight merino/silk from A Verb for Keeping Warm. Below is the bit of spun and plyed G-Rocks and on the needles is my second Count Cluckula Leyburn! Yes, I'm still working on them!

As I posted last time, I stopped by Miss Babs. I couldn't resist this pattern and these mini-skeins to use to make my new baby-cousin-in-process a hat. She is due to arrive in June!

Addictive, this G-Rocks colorway is! I started a second spindle-full!

And just finished plying it this afternoon!

So far, I'm sure the purchases look fairly harmless, huh? Well, they would've been but I for my big BMFA purchase at the end! A few other Miss Babs made it home with me, too, along with miscellaneous accessories-mostly shawl clasps/pins. Yeah, I'm bad. Very bad...

Color Ponderance

Iwas playing a bit with my spinning the morning and realized how spinning serves a constant reminder to me that color is not finite. We think we see one color, but is it really? It can really be so many more colors that combine into one and we don't realize that there are other hues within.

Take for instance, the Pigeon Roof Studios roving I bought (in a moment of weakness) the other week:

I love this roving! I loved the flash of aqua and plum mixed with the gold, brown and dark chocolate against the natural background. But I never imagined that this...


Would end up looking like this...
The aqua/blue blended in with a very subtle showing. The plum probably wasn't heavily present in the small bit I spun, but there is little to no evidence of it ever being part of the beginning colors.


I guess this was kind of a 'blending colors' moment in my week, since I was also knitting a square to contribute for a blanket for Alison Hyde (ETA: Nartian told me about Nathania's post, I thought I'd participate in participating in contributing a block or two, Tina blogged about Alison...and after reading her blog, especially this entry, I confirmed she is exactly as wonderful as all say she is...not that I doubted...) I used the Spunky Ecclectic Route 66 together with the Miss Babs Waterfall to result in this...

Apparently, she likes blues. The Route 66, though yellowish/cream to the eye, blended quite nicely with the Waterfalls resulting in a square that reads pretty 'blue' for the most part.

And speaking of color blending and blues, I will now share with you my first Rockin' Sock Club colorway of 2009...



This is our first shipment that included a Syvia Harding beaded sock pattern, so it came with beads, too.

No, as Tina points out in her Dyer's Notes, this is NOT a semi-solid, nor is it a 'watercolor' colorway. It is MULTICOLORED. Some members in the past had incorrectly referred to past shipments as "semi-solids" and whined at how tired they were of getting all semi-solids from BMFA as club yarn.

Well, I guess I'm just one of her "rabbid fans" because I loved all of them! I didn't see the first four shipments as 'semi-soid' at all; Nartian, being the more cranial of us two (I'm the 'feely', she's the 'thinky' ;) ), was able to break it all down and make the observation and correctly classify them into Watercolors, Multi and Semi-solid on Ravelry, but some people just don't get it...But I think Tina tried her best to explain this particular colorway in this shipment's Dyer's Notes and pointed out there are FIVE different colors in this skein.

And it is so...


...I counted!

One hour...and a half!

...just to hand-ply this much skinny two-ply yarn!
and then, to wind it into its puny little skein...
The good news: I see progress! Below is all the handspun put together, compared to the roving that is left. Looks like it is almost finished! Well, maybe in this pic it only looks a little past 1/2 way, but remember, the stuff on the left is spun and denser; the stuff on the right has more air! I think I am at least 3/4 way there!
Why my little diversion this afternoon to spin, rather than knit?

Must be because I just got this from Nartian for my birthday!!! Thanks so much, Nartian!

It's a Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Sheep 2 Shoe" kit! And guess what the colorway is...?

PUCK'S MISCHIEF!!!

Biased as it may sound, I LOVE this colorway! If you just look at it, you can see why, so no, it is NOT because it happens to have been assigned the name suggestion I made long ago in a contest!

(NOTE: the above was started as an entry for Sunday, August 3; alas, Lil' Emp called me away to help him figure out how to find a "Lumineon" pokemon...yeah, duty called!)

Speaking of contests...

I have to say I'm kind of embarassed to admit to having won two more...

one, being the one over at Tina's Blog at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website! I received my Rare Gems the other day! It is very dark-almost a Ravenesque black, but extremely dark teal with streaks of natural color.


And look-a very slight hint of yellow!

The other contest was one that Raquel had at her blog, Rockinknit. And can you believe what she sent me for a prize?!

A tin of chocolate (dark! my fav!!!), a notepad, and yes-you are seeing this correctly--A $25 gift certificate to the LOOPY EWE!!!!!! I have heard many wonderful things about this on-line shop and haven't had a chance to order there yet, so now that I am on my yarn shopping hiatus, I can keep this for a guilt-free splurge into wonderful yarniness! The hard part will be deciding what to use it for! There are so many awesome indie yarns and gorgeous patterns at the site!

Thanks for a fun contest, Rocky! (I had guessed what she was knitting in the middle of the night on her lit knitting needles! She was making a knitted 'tag' for a tree in front of her house-too fun!-in honor of a group in Texas called "The Knittas". Yeah, in the middle of the night. Really. Using her light-up knitting needles! No one can say we knitters aren't motivated individuals now, can they?)

As an addage, Raquel and I were in Scout's dying workshop together and met through Marisol. Raquel has only been knitting since December and has been participating in Sock Wars, knitting fine lace scarves, socks...I swear, she's amazing--one of the 'naturals' at this craft!

So if you are still with me, a couple more things I've been working on...(yes, this long post is just for IrishGirlie!)...

I started a gift for a friend! Nicholas' Gloves using lightweight STR doubled. Colorway: Valkyrie.

Incredible as this may seem, I'm working on a second sock! These are the Central Air socks I started back in February using Spunky Eclectic's Super Sport in Route 66-the colorway is so NOT me, but I absolutely love it!

And look what I resurrected! It's the Mystic Light KAL shawl-I actually pulled this puppy out, finished Clue 1 and am 1/2 way through Clue 2! YAY ME!

Favorite details: the braid running down the center ...

and the cabled edging!

So I must admit that I had started this entry before my rant about crazy Shawl KALs that I am thinking I am actually going to participate in! Actually, I am going to attempt to KAL, just don't know if I can truly keep up!

And now, here are the lace yarns I'm planning on using...
for the Secret of the Stole III:

Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Laci" in the Motley Hue colorway. Like the Mystery Stole 4, this one is to be knit with beads, so I 'auditioned' a couple of coulors on the skein. One is kind of a champagne color (slight pink tinge and silvery center). The second is a irridescent sheened topaz. I think the lighter champagne color wins out, but I'll have to see what I actually find in a store!

And here is the second skein from The Knittery. It is 1040 yards; the pattern calls for 1100 yards which includes a 'fudge factor'. I am thinking I shall take the risk with this one. What do you think? The colorway is "Moonlight" and it is merino lace.

The above shows the darker beads on the Moonlight colorway; below are the lighter beads. I gave up trying to get a better pic-that was the best I could do!

PHEW! Yeah, this was a long one for me, too, folks! If you got this far, congratulations! If you had to come back and re-visit (or perhaps skim through), I totally get that!