Can it really have been a month ago?

Hard to believe that it has only been a month since Sock Summit! The past 4 weeks has felt like 4 months!

We returned from our family vacation the end of July with SassyMan not feeling well. A week later, he still didn't feel well and I worried: a) that he had a flu and I might catch it before SS09 or b) it was worst than a flu in which case that would not be good, either!

I loaded myself up with Emergen-C and Airborne and the following week headed on up to Sock Summit anyway, convinced he would be better when I returned.

Unfortunately, I learned he in fact hadn't been getting better-this after learning it would be an additional day before I could fly home due to a mishap with my flight reservations!

At any rate, here we are, weeks later-SassyMan having just gotten out of a nice 2 1/2 week hospital stay! All is better and here I am, ready to contine the SS09 reporting! But first, speaking of SassyMan and the hospital visit, here is the up side of hospital 'watch' (whereby you are not the hospitalized, but keep vigil by said 'hospitalized' side and thus are well enough and have the time to...KNIT!) The completed ULMUS that I, at one time, questioned whether I would ever finish one!

Ta-dah! A completed (albeit not blocked)
ULMUS! I used lightweight STR in Footsey Foo and Jabberwocky!

The rest of the hospital knitting was mostly the Cat Bordhi sock bookmarks, perfect little gifts for the docs and nurses!

So on to the Market and goodies!

Of course, there was YARN and LOTS of it...especially of the sock variety.
But there were also lots of fun sock-related, non-yarn items! I'm sad I missed the Dansko shoes, but here are some cute DPN protectors and stitch markers...


Jenkins Spindles...so many beautiful woods! And see the silk hankie they wrapped mine in?
Project bags, fibers, rubber stamps, shawl pins, darning eggs...
And the Travelocity Gnomes? Almost! Actually, these are Snicklefritz's traveling Gnomes adorning her booth!
Lantern Moon was well represented. Look how adorable the Lantern Moon Gals are with their Lantern Moon tatoos and raw silk (wait-maybe it was organza!) pants...

And some goodies for the hands! Lo-Lo Bars by BarMaids!
And look how cute "Painty" (Laura from The Unique Sheep) looked in her stockings knit from her "Gradience" dyed yarns! I got a chance to snatch up a Hobbiton sock kit and several mini-skeins of various sock yarns. I must say that the "Sushi Sock" feels wonderfully soft and smooshy, has beautiful sheen and was so nice to work with! I knit a mini-sweater out of it while in the ER...

I did have to snag up a bit of Curious Creek fiber from Carolina Homespun, too! I broke tradition and didn't buy a spindle from Carolina Homespun this time around, though I did get a couple of rubberstamps from them on top of this bit of fiber!


And as if the Jenkins Turkish spindle weren't enough, I fell in love with this one at Sanguine Gryphon's booth, some home it came wth me! The wood is beautiful, the spiral and lines are so elegant. It spins nicely, but in truth, the longer shaft means I have to wind on more frequently and end up bumping it on the ground often!
I have to say that the market was absolutely amazing! So many vendors, so many creative, wonderful indie dyers, so many clever notions and goodies to be had! I barely was able to get through the complete market, was absolutely overwhelmed and never really got to go back to many of the earlier booths I had skimmed in the beginning. I really am not good at markets because I am so detail oriented that I tend to get sucked into everything and anything!

It seemed like a lot of the vendors were really into the spirit of making it a fun, exciting event! Sanguine Gryphon's booth was gorgeous! Very Renaissance Fair-costumes, face painting and all! I'm sad I missed the Handknit Heros booth; I'd been interested in seeing their comic books and I understand they had Super Hero photos they were taking! I may have to knit a mask for Halloween so I can feel like a KnitHero anyway! There were so very many lovely yarns and items! Jennie the Potter had the ceramic mugs and jewelry. Speaking of jewelry, there were also recycled kniting needle jewelry and a vintage knitting supplies booth (hence, my darning egg purchases!)...And, of course, my most-revered Blue Moon Fiber Arts had a wonderful representation and I had the opportunity to snag up a skein of ST-1 and some mill ends for Nartian!

And then, of course, it was fun to see all the knit friends, too! Purls Beyond Price (Nathania) was there, since her store, Purlescence had a booth and was launching their new "Purl up and Dye" line of hand-dyed yarns. Her hubby and baby girl Ellie arrived for the weekend, too!
I think I will have to cover the Ravelry party in another post. Sadly, I have nothing to report about the Sock Hop, since I didn't attend. I heard there were hoola-hoops, poodle skirts and Pink Ladies. As for me, I spent the time with a good friend eating out in Portland and scouting out VooDoo Donuts! Made some new friends, too! What more could I want for that evening? It was perfect for me!

I even found the perfect donut to bring back to Lil' Emp who had asked if I thought they would have a "*really* chocolatey one"? I forget the name of this one, but it is a chocolate cake donut with chocolate icing and cocoa puffs on top!

I'm ready...

to be through with gift knitting, that is!

Unfortunately, that is not the case! Instead of ticking items off my list, it seems I have continually added on: the failed cowl that prompted a second, mitts that I should have added on earlier, mitts promised and not completed, socks so badly begged for and I know I can get away without doing for a while...but I have lingering guilt over...

But the do-over cowl is complete:Caera Cowl knit with Claudia Handpainted Worsted Merino
(look familiar IrishGirlie?
This is from one of the first destash skeins I ever purchased from you!)

Then this conversation:

Mom: "so...do you have that hat dad gave to LE to use for Halloween?"
Me: "Yeah, it's around here. I'll find it and give it back."
Mom: "...or you can maybe just knit him one!"
Me: "ok...lemme see what yarn he might like a hat from..."

later that same day after dad has looked through the yarn and made his hat yarn choice...

Mom: "And you can use THIS one for a scarf for ME."
Me: "No, I'm not making you a scarf with that yarn. That's one of my 'men's' colors and I don't have many 'men's colros'."
Mom: "...just a short scarf to go around my neck-but not like the ones that are a loop that you pull over your head..."
Me: "I'll show you what other yarns I have that will be better colors for you..."

And so, my mom who very well knows how to knit got me to commit to making her a neck muffler, too! The hat? Only about 1.5" into it. And another cowl I started for my bro's GF is almost completed. ACK! What am I thinking? Will I ever start on my Leyburn socks for the KAL?

And lookie at some of my Christmas goodies (knitting related ones!):

Shibui alpaca/merino and...my first STR spirit! Thanks Nartian! love (1000)!

And from Little Shit Disturber (LSD), my bud at work, I got this!


And thought I'd treat myself to this for the BMFA sale! I FINALLY have sock blockers!
And STR Jabberwocky lightweight!

And since I had most of my BMFA stash out, I decided to take a What Color is Your STR Stash palette:alot of the kit yarns were not included in this pic and I have a few other stray skeins around that didn't make it in, but it was interesting to see most of it. It would be more interesting to take individual pics and mosaic them for an overall look, but I just didn't have that kind of time tonight! I also left out the 2 Silkie STR and the two Merino/Tencel skeins...

BTW...cake is back! And my Completely Pointless and Arbitarary Group CAKE shirt is on its way!

Stinkin' Cute!

These have got to be the cutest little things! If you go to the Rav page, the ones shown are even CUTER! And now, onto the meat of this post...

OK, I realized there were a few pics I'd taken and never shared. I'd like to share with you now...

The other week (specifically, the first Saturday of this month) it was raining. And I mean raining. Heavy rain. Big drops of water rain.

Of course, this meant that this was the day my friend HAD to go to Cotati (a 45 minute drive or so from the City...). So, being the good friend that I am, I accompanied her.

See the puddle of water? and you can't tell, but it is still RAINING in this picture...

What is this place? Oh...we entered through the wrong door?


And here, is the front of the building!

And inside, a freezer with a sign reading, "We trust you...please take what you need and leave the money on the table". GEEZ! No way! Dorothy, we're not in San Francisco anymore!

By the way, the lasagne is ok. The ravioli pretty stinking good! But the real reason we were there?

To claim her 1/4 cow that had just been freshly slaughtered! (sorry, Vegetarians...) Yeah, we were there to pick up, oh...100 pounds or so of organic beef!


And to prove I am not a yarn snob, look what I had caved and bought when I saw it on sale at Joann's the other week?
I'm a total sucker for the Vanna White yarn colors! And, as always, was inspired to buy an afghans worth of it! Gotta love crochet-I crocheted up one of the popcorn squares quite quickly. But alas, it is not a gift for this year and I need to keep the gift knitting priority, so this now sits.

But look what else I kinda had to add to the stash?
But allow me to clarify: the center red color is some Malabrigo Worsted in Pagoda and came out from my stash. I used these for a Capitan hat (picture later...). You see, that same rainy day was the same day I lost a favorite crocheted (not by me) hat and was sad. I decided that this capitan hat could justifiably jump ahead of the gifties so I could make myself a new hat.

Admittedly, the two plain yarns on the left were grabbed up at Dharma Trading Co. for future dying. And I'll again point out that I am a big sucker for the garish (some call it 'clear') colors of some of the Malabrigo Privada collection. I decided I needed to again go beyond my comfort zone of colors and get two more from the ImagiKnit sale wall. So I did. And while at it, I threw in a Malabrigo Worsted Tartuga to round out the purchase!

I have a great project in mind for the Privada and am excited to eventually knit it up!

I'm feeling a bit spoiled...

Rav love and Knitterly love abound and I reap the rewards many times over...

Cupcakefaerie was able to procure this and sent it to me...

Wollmeise, Poison Nr. 5-and it's mine, all MINE!!!

It was packaged up all lovely with gummi bears, even, as if I had place a Woolgirl order! And she is my kinda gal with her wonderful taste in cards it leads me to suspect that she is as much of a stationery fiend as I am. I also suspect that she enjoys the lost art of written corraspondence as much as I do. I don't consider myself to be a very literary person, but I have always enjoyed written correspondence. You are an absolute doll, Cupcakefaerie!!! I so heart you!

And remember how I had whined around about being just yards short for my Mystic Light Shawl? I was a bit reluctant to purchase a skein on-line since I had seen such wide variations of shading with this colorway.

I got the bright idea of looking up the yarn on Ravelry and found it in someone's stash-and it was 1/2 a skein! I pm'd her and asked if she would be willing to part with it in trade or sell it to me. Guess what? She sends it to me-from Sweeden! And doesn't want a thing for it!
Of course, this calls for a DAK to go out her way in the future (I don't dare say near, as I am a bit slow in getting things out...), but I will definitely have to send something wonderful her way! Wanna know something funny? Turns out she is in IrishGirlieKnits' "friends" list on Rav-sandikins, you ROCK!

I'll confess that I was impatient and since I was able to see the skeins at Purlescence, I purchased one last weekend while I was there! This is truly a gorgeous yarn and I am sure I will be able to make a scarf or some other lovely item with the yarn.

So I also get THIS package in the mail from a member on my Rav Monthly Adventures group...

We are celebrating our one year anniversary and my name was picked for a prize! I feel unworthy since I've not been very active on that list since the first swap, but I will be donating a prize so I can pay it forward and again be a participating member!

And I know this blog is mostly knitting, but I have to share this...
My latest wine club shipment from Benziger/Imagery wineries! I long-ago signed up as a charter wine club member and (though I drink much less these days...), have not had the heart to give up this club! But the big thrill was this recent shipment: Oonapais (a red wind blend of Cab, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot)--I had tried this one a year or two ago when I was last out to the winery and LOVED it! I'm so glad that this recent 2006 release was part of the shipment! And the other bottle is a Petite Sirah Port! Me loveses me ports!!!

I usually enjoy the wines I get from the club, but since I am familiar with these two varietals and favor them, I am especially thrilled about this shipment!

Holiday projects are chugging along; cast-off, cast-on...

I'll show you where I'm at next time...

BIG THRILL!!!

Though not yet blocked, I am happy to report that the Mystic Light Shawl is DONE!!! Nartian witnessed the cast-off on Monday afternoon. I thought I would not be able to resist and would block it soon after but alas, it still is in a lump, unblocked.

This was a KAL I had started back in March and am quite proud to have plugged through this. See guys? I finish things...eventually! It's kinda my first "Big Girl Knitter" lace! I mean, I did do the Forsest Canapy, but that was maybe 1/2-1/3 the yardage, smaller, and done with heavier yarn.

I made one of my work buds model this for me.
She's waaaaay tinier than me in size, but maybe a tad taller than me.

I wasn't happy showing just ONE pic, but I realize you can't see much from this!
So what was the point, really...?

And look what arrived at Purlescence last week and is now a part of my stash?!

STR lightweight: Potomac, Jubilation, The Cookie Next Door,
Muckity Muck (much more of a rich, deep reddish-tinged orange
than what is shown at the BMFA site-me LOVESES this!)

And more gifties on the needles...all are quick-to-knit projects for yarn-rich, cash-po' me!

A second Capitan hat! (Oh...these are so quick that I don't think
I even posted the one I made for me which is nearly finished!
Next time...maybe even modeled!)

And a Silky Malabrigo "Ivy" cowl knit in the "Mint Frappe" colorway...
funny, too...not a hint of green in this yarn!

Yarn Pr0n Friday filled with PRIDE!

Yep! That would be my latest Seven Deadly S(p)ins shipment-PRIDE! And look how gorgeous this kit is! FOUR gradated skeins of Unique Sheep "Luxe" (75/25 superwash merino/silk light fingering weight) : Pride 1, 2, 3 and 4! The pattern is a shawl designed by Merike Saarniit called "Syncopated Lace". Not just a pattern, but also included are the lace charts and color changing instructions. Looks pretty intimidating to me...

I also received a plastic pouch, a retractable brush, stitch markers, candies, and a 15% off Unique Sheep coupon from WoolGirl Jen!

So I am still on spending hiatus, but that doesn't stop any of my pre-0rdered kits! I also received a late birthday gift from a friend-another LYS gift certificate! YAY! (Yes, a BMFA gift certificate would have been even more coveted, but hey, I can't ask for the world! I'm just appreciative of her thoughtfulness and well...I can't expect a knitting neophyte to know about BMFA, now can I?)

So...yet another project to add to the cue. Dying to do that cute Sloth hat from last shipment, but with all my other projects I have going...well...you know...I probably have to start posting "what I didn't cast on" photos akin to my past 'what I didn't buy' photos!

Must be I'm focused!

Phew! With my parents' surprise 75th Birthdays Lunch behind me, I am wiped out! During a time of brief moderate sanity (moderate, I say, as I actually contemplated participating in the Ravelympics and brief because shortly thereafter came the insanity of the thinking I'm doing both shawl KALs...), I had decided I would NOT be participating in the Ravelympics on Team Blue Moon when I realized the planning of and this actual event fell at the same time. Probably a very wise idea...

But I am happy to report that the Central Air socks are now a pair!

And I have now finished Clue #3 of the Mystic Light Shawl. There are still 2 more clues to complete, and Secret of the Stole iii the begun! And I've not finished swatching with the Habu-possibly because I am realizing the error of my way in thinking that this was a good idea to knit something so big out of yarn so absolutely thin! But I need to figure this out soon!

I stretched out one half of the shawl on the clothesline. As always, not the best pic, but: 1) I live in the City; it is overcast today, 2) it has grown much bigger where the width exceeds the circ length, 3) I'm trying to give you an idea; I am not a photographer!, 4) You all loveses me anyways, right?! ;)

In the meantime, I got this out of hock at Article Pract!
They were able to look up my past gift certificate and I was able to use it to pay for this lovely skein of Yarn Place Gentle. The color is Wet Stone and it is a very dark, olivey-tealy green with a grey tone to it. I LOVE this and it seems to have a nice, tight twist to it. $20.25 for this 100g ball of 1380 yards! Not bad, huh? And I have $7.38 worth of credit remaining on my gift certificate! YAY, ME!!!

Now, off to go play me some BRAIN AGE cuz it taught me, "...knitting can activate your prefrontal cortex...Using both hands to create something can be a stimulating brain activity." Or maybe I should just go and...KNIT! ;)

Got me some lace!

Well, not exactly lace, but lace weight yarn! And at NO COST. In fact, I got back $1.78 in change! I made it over to Article Pract and found that they do, indeed, carry Cashwool. And I was able to find a beautiful cranberry red color. In addition, I was able to snag 2 cones of Habu in a gorgeous sage green color!

I loved the color of the Habu, but it is REALLY thin. I mean REALLY. THIN...Nartian suggested I swap out the BMFA Laci for the Habu; use the Habu for the SSiii since DK is using a fairly thin yarn for hers. I agree with that, so long as the Habu swatches up ok. It may drive me nuts to knit with in which case I can always carry it along with some other Habu for a lacey scarf or something if it doesn't work out. But I will swatch and see...

But for now, the results of the ssiii swatching:

Size 2 needles with Colonial Grey-lined crystal beads (I stupidly didn't realize I was supposed to add the beads as I went, so only ended up beading 2 of the 3 beaded rows...):
Then I realized I needed to go up a few sizes on the needles. I went up to a size 5 and tried out the Orchid-Lined crystal 6/0 beads:
I haven't completed this swatch, since I am now starting to swatch the green Habu so I can decide whether I need to switch this yarn out to use on the MS4. If not, I can use the Cashwool for the MS4 or (if I can find my other gift certificate for Article Pract) purchase this other lace yarn I found today--a gorgeous heathered greenish-teal color. It's on hold as I write! Keep your fingers crossed that I find that gift certificate!

Green, Green, My Stash is GREEN!

Adding to my "Green Sock Yarn" sub-sub stash, compliments of Marcy (KnittingGolfer at Rav...) ! THANKS, MARCY! This is a handpainted sock yarn from WEBS' "Kangaroo Dyer" and is a gorgeous green! I love it, it has lots of hues of green that I favor, and yet is like no other in my green sub stash!

Green with hints of teal; a gorgeous green!

And this is what I spent the majority of my free time this evening doing...

Finally winding the 3 MAMBO sized WooBu from Blue Moon Fiber Arts for the Giselle pattern!

Actually, it was all my free time and the time I should have spent doing constructive things around the house! (Like, you know...declutter and the like...) But the three skeins are wound, thanks to Ivy (Knit1,Bling2), who lent me her Royal JUMBO ball winder! The catch was that I had to figure out how to assemble it and use it!-lol!

It actually was very straight-forward except for the fact that intially, when attaching the 'wings', they seem to scrape upon the white central disk. Instinctively, I wanted to pull them futher out, but the opposite approach is correct-you make sure they are slid completely down, and upon tightening the screw all the way in, the wing pushes out and you are in business. It sets it just at the correct angle to avoid the scraping. The small screws are quite long and protrude a good 1/2" in past the wing, but when set correctly, there is no problem. You just gotta have faith!

This faith took 1/2 hour or more to gain!

This I tell all of you readers because one day, you really may be setting one of these puppies up yourself and this will all come to you, saving you a good 30-45 minutes of your life!

And still more coveted gifties...

For Lil' Emp, that other coveted birthday gift would be this...
As seen on TV, it's the PANCAKE PUFF PAN!!! Yes, he really wanted one. Yes, those TV commercials are good at sucking the kids in! (He even quoted, "it's good for breakfast, desserts, even snacks!"...) I swear, when I had mentioned it to my cousin (stating this as an odd thing...), she told me her son wanted one, too!

But look...
the pan actually works and the puffs really do look like the pics on the box!

And I owe a pic of my Little Paint Can, so let's revisit that...

The can contains two mini-skeins of Lorna's Laces, and a pattern!

I chose the colorway "Ashburn"; it actually reminds me of Nartian, IrishGirlie and Me!

And does this look familiar...? This is the activity that kept me and Lil' Emp busy for a bit on Saturday...

Yep! Soaking yarn for Round 2 Dying!

Lil' Emp thought that splattering violet over the entire painted flat would be interesting...actually, I think he wanted an excuse to fling the dye around. This was probably not the best project idea for an 8yo..

.Admittedly, the splashes made for an interesting dyed blank...

So despite the fact that I told myself I would dye yarn only from what I could dig out from my massive stash, I still somehow ended up at a LYS. And somehow ended up with this hand-dyed yarn...

This is Cleo Sock Yarn, an 80% Superwash Merino/20% Nylon yarn from Cinnamon's Dye Pot in "Potpourri"; I think she is based in Maryland if I recall correctly...

And today my JOE COOL SOCK KIT from WOOLGIRL Jen arrived! When I heard about this special kit, I had to order it, knowing what a big Snoopy/Peanuts Lil' Emp has been for at least 1/2 his life! To my surprise, he had told me he wanted red, as opposed to blue for a color choice (yes, we had the choice of "Outrageous Red" -I thought it had first been called Red Baron Red...or "Cool Blue"...


I was thrilled to see what Jen had come up with for us! How can this woman make money considering all the time, care, thought and attention she puts into the kits?!I opted for the Sport Weight and in addition to the skein of the Outrageous Red colorway of "Fat Sock" White Oak TV Yarns, I also got TWO different patterns, a paw stitch marker, hand-stamped snoopy cards (made by Jen), hot tamales, a Snoopy fabric bag, sunglasses, a bendable Joe Cool Snoopy on a keychain, and a Joe Cool pen!

Lil' Emperor was THRILLED!

And saving the best for last...
Another reason today was such an awesomely YARNY day! Nartian and I got to visit with IrishGirlie. We were (ahem!) obligated to help out a dear friend...you see, Nartian and I could not in any way allow Irish Girlie to get stuck with such an overabundance of BMFA STR so, you know...we had to offer her a 'bail out'! I helped take a few skeins off her hands!

Only a FEW skeins! The one in the rear is a HeavyWeight Rare Gems. The others are an assortment of Mill Ends, Rare Gems and a MochaBerry thrown in!

And, as always, the best part is spending time with good knitting buddies who we heart!

BTW-speaking of BMFA, Tina has started blogging over at the site! She posted a contest, so if any of you want a chance at winning some STR, hop on over and enter her contest. The peek at her awesome photo is worth the visit!