There is Cheap Yarn, and there is Crap Yarn...

And for those of us who are not 'Yarn Snobs', we must learn to differentiate between the two, for often Cheap Yarn does not equal Crap Yarn, and usually Crap Yarn is a variety of Cheap Yarn...

Take this yarn, for example: a Wool/Acrylic blend yarn-75% Acrylis, 25% Wool, "Wendy Chunky", made in England. Decent hand-feel...For knitting Dashing Mitts-(btw, did I tell you that the finished Dashings in STR "Shadow" were the second attempt...)-portion of "Wendy" Dashings shown below..bad idea!
So in this case, this yarn is Crap Yarn! Though it would maybe be good for a sturdy bag, though you really would not want to knit anything that would be cabled or tightly knit with this. But why am I saying this is "crap"? Well, if you can imagine knitting a pair of Dashings with dpns at a somewhat tighter gauge than recommended and getting this 'squeeking' sensation, that would be one reason. Now imagine coming to the cable portion of said mitts...you cleverly do your cable needle-less cabling, only this stuff is like iron and you need to really tug to make sure those stitches cross on over to the other side. Every stitch was an effort to knit. Seriously.

And now, I present you with some Cheap Yarn. Not the finest, but guess what? It is Red Heart (which people love to hate) and it is labeled 'craft' yarn! It is bulky, it is inexpensive, it is 100% acrylic! And the color is kinda cool for a kid. Especially a kid who has decided wool products that have previously been knit for him are 'too scratchy'. So guess what? I knit him a "smarf" (his term for a single fingerless mitt) and am now making him an Unoriginal Hat from this! It feels decent and has much more give than the Wendy Chunky-and this is even a thicker yarn! No crunchy noise coming from my knitting, either! Cheap Yarn?-yes. Crap Yarn?-NO!


And now, in addition to inspiration in seeing Carrie's Unoriginal Hat, I present to you my Unoriginal Hat (A YarnHarlot-Stephanie Pearl-McPhee- pattern):


I started this last night, finished this afternoon-2 sittings of a couple of hours, at most! 45 or less rows!

So sadly, despite being off from work sick (I got Lil' Emperor's cold!-we all did!), I have not touched my Secret of the Stole II! I completed the above hat (being sick is motivation to add to the head warmer pile) and instead spent my awake time (dare I admit this?!) playing Super Mario Galaxy with Lil' Emp on his Wii. Yes, LE's favorite state of being: too sick to go to school, but not too sick to play Wii! I really mostly was his 'assist' in capturing star bits and freezing enemies that he could then stomp. So when not playing Wii, I was too tired to knit or do much of anything else-amazing how these stupid games can tire you out so much, but they do!

So no blogging until now, and the only other thing to show since the last post?...

Does this look familiar?...


It's the replacement gift purse! So I started this last weekend and am now to the top. Another last-year's Christmas gift still in the works! It went very quickly and if I had worked on it instead of my had, it would certainly be done. But I didn't. And it's not. And that's just the way I get sometimes! OK, maybe tomorrow...and maybe I'll even finish the first Serendipity sock I started! I'll try to post the progress tomorrow!

Is it WIP Wednesday?!

I usually don't acknowledge WIP Wednesday, and wouldn't you know it-I'm posting on a Wednesday and even remember it is WIP Wednesday, but instead, I show you this...


I guess this is technically a "WIP", since the ends aren't woven in yet! Both finished last night: Dashing Mitts, v 2.2 for my bro. I felt so smart because when Purlescence didn't have BMFA Twisted in "Shadow", I realized that-DUH!-I could purchase a skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in "Shadow" and use it doubled! Oh, what a Brain Child am I!-lol!

I modified it to make it a bit larger by casting on an additional 4 stitches and adding a P3 rib (vs. P1 or P2 between K4 P1 K4 ribbing, as per pattern) This was such a great knit and so much better than the crap wool/acrylic yarn I had originally started with! But let me tell you, I used every inch of yardage! The tail on one was a bit long (like maybe 14"), but I shortened the thumbs to 8 vs. 9 rows before BO; worked one thumb, bound off, then (in case there wasn't enough yarn), I worked the other thumb from the other end of the tiny ball of yarn. In the end, I had maybe 3" of yarn running between the 2 thumbs! Needless to say, I will be weaving in ridiculously short (and not recommended) ends into the thumbs. The other tails are long enough and also need to be woven in before I can officially call these finished!

Now, as for all you fellow STR fans: I was over at Cockeyed's blog and lookie what I saw...
Go ahead, click on the pic and blow it up bigger! I DARE you! Yeah, made me salivate...a LOT! Torture, I tell you! All that STR in one place! Better than those "Blue Moon Fiber Arts Order-In!" posts that we live for! If this is an indication of what Stitches West is going to be like, I am soooo in trouble!

So I finally frogged the Secret of the Stole II back to the end of Clue 1 and am now around 10 rows into Clue 2. No picture because it really won't look much different than what I've previously posted!

I'm plugging along on Dashings, v. 3.0 out of KnitPicks "Shamrock" which, BTW, has a wonderfully soft feel to it! I also picked up my lovely Serendipity and worked a bit on that today. Still on the cuff portion. I took today off to chaperone Lil Emp's class on a field trip to the SF Ballet. They will be having ballet classes through the SF Ballet, so there was a ballet lecture/demo and performance for the kids. I knit a bit on the Dashings; the lighting made it a bit difficult to know how many rows I had knit before needing to cable again, so once I got to the point where I thought a cable should go, I stopped and put it away.

So for WIP Wednesday, I gave you an update on some of the WIPs at the forefront of my 'to knit' list! The Secret Project is underway, but no details to share at this time.

Yeah, I get the 'blankie over babies' thing, but what I wasn't getting was-why over their faces?

So I didn't buy any Funky Carolina fibers-probably because they all flew out the door before I could even view them! I think that I cannot ever try and buy any. Ever. The difficulty in getting it would make me want some that much more! So no Funky Carolina and no new yarn purchases! And no knitting-related purchases! And absolutely NOT getting this!

Now to plot out Stitches West: spindle? yarn? both? how much? what should be the limit?...I just found a Christmas check from the parental units...save it for camp where I'll really need it, or portion part of it for SW? Decisions, decisions!

Sometimes I've gotta wonder...

What the heck was going through Lil' Emperor's head when he set this scene up on his bed? Yes, tissues over his four stuffed animals-what's that about?!


And here's something kinda fun to look at...

Two 1/2 skeins of STR medium weight! ... Anyways, these are being knit into something quite secret. What, I cannot reveal. Yet. Yeah, Nartian knows. She knows everything. But it's secret-secret and I cannot share what it is. Rest assured, you will know when the time is right! And no, Nartian, you cannot tell! You are sworn to secrecy! So don't anyone try and bribe her or anything, ya hear?

Evil, I tell you!

Some of you come and visit my blog, while you are 'blog-free'. So instead of posting stuff on your blog to tempt me, you come here and tell me all about places like Crown Mountain Farms (thanks alot, Maria!)...or Wooly Wonka and Funky Carolina (thanks to Terry!)...but guess what?!-I have resisted thusfar! Trust me, I put Atlantis and San Francisco colorways of this fiber from Crown Mountain Farms; happily, it the cart it remains! So far, so good. I am getting the satisfaction of 'pretending' to buy! HA! But don't think that eventually I won't cave! Ya'll are evil!

Another Yarn Wench update!

The Yarn Wench just did another update to her offerings!

And I'm not buying any! And especially not this, this, nor this!

And not even this...

Oooooh, I don't know...I really do like THIS...!

My God, she's even gone through the effort of ripping off Yarn Wench's phot o to post on the blog!

Don't be surprised if this one makes me cave...you may see it ending up on my blog in person! MUST-RESIST...!

OK, lemme go wipe the drool from my lips and relinquish computer rights to Lil' Emperor. That ought to keep me out of trouble for a bit and maybe they'll be gone by the time I think of buying them again!

A lovely picture for you to look at, really hard...

before I rip this puppy back!

I got cocky and wasn't paying attention the second half of the stole. I was just kinda using what was already there as a guide. It looks like the area to the left, about 2/3 up from the bottom got messed up. I'm 2 stitches off and I it seems like it will be too difficult to figure out. So it appears that what progress I made with 'Clue 1' is as far as I am, since my frogging will proably go back to the begining of Clue 2.

So...I'm not quite ready to frog yet, but will do it soon so I don't fall futher behind!

But now to show something fun...look what I got in the mail yesterday!
Stitch markers I ordered at-where else?-Etsy!!! I got this from Knitaholic's shop. I couldn't pass up the crocheted bead stitch markers nor the girlie-motifed markers for my friend KnitBling. It is so her! (Kinda meant to be a surprise, but maybe she won't get to reading this before she gets them!) And yes, that is yarn you see pictured with the markers. Yes, it came in the package. NO, I did NOT buy nor order it! Knitaholic felt bad for forgetting to send the markers out immediately (they still got here pretty quick!), so she included it with my order! THANK YOU KNITAHOLIC!!! Too cool! Awesome handspun, no? Don't be hatin'!

I had a bunch of very ripe bananas and decided to make some banana chocolate chip cake. LE dictated "no chips". I split the recipe and put chips in 1/2 the batter, so now I must be off to find out how many offensive WW points the 1/32 of the recipe will cost me! Either that or rip back a row of the stole and see what it looks like. Or knit a few rows of my Serendipity. Or maybe I should really get to sleep, huh? Knitting lace is a veeerrrry bad idea this late at night and the knitting projects I want to work on right now is exactly that-lace! Uh, yeah...why does such inspiration strike at the most inopportune times!

PS-This, dear readers, is my good college buddy's new little one...I'm in love with this child! She is so absolutely adorable! So of course, some Cat baby socks for her with a matching hat-IF I ever get to them!

OK, I give up!

I have often mentioned how lame I am at getting a freakin' button on this blog! Don't ask me how I managed the first RSC button. I think Blogger was less 'user friendly' then, with the premade templates. But guess what? This dummy can cut and paste and it worked out just fine! Now I can't figure out HOW to get the freakin' graphics to show! The link is there, though...,just click on the weird 'white space' at the sidebar!

OK...on to knit blogging, cuz I prefer to spend my time talking about knitting and yarn, not wasting my precious time trying to get this stupid button issue solved! Please, Blog-fixing Fairy, come to my rescue!!!

So onto the fun! Like yarn pRony goodness!

I had already confessed to these purchases made at ImagiKnit on Saturday:

And actually, this is Claudia Handpainted Chunky, not worsted, as I had first reported. And then there was the new shipment of Shibui Sock-how could I pass up this colorway? (OK, I maybe could've, but I really couldn't!) But let me remind you, I put back the Noro Sock in a lovely olive/purple/lavendar colorway, as well as Shibui alpaca/wool in the Pagoda colorway! Both lovely, but putting them back meant I cut my final shopping spree cost in half!

I don't remember if I told you all that I actually finished Clue 1 of Secret of the Stole II, since I had refused to leave ImagiKnit until it was completed! So here it is, up to Clue 1. I have started Clue 2, but am only around 10 rows further along...

I seem to think that I already confessed to casting on for the Serendipity socks! Sorry, Cat, your design had to take a back-seat because my brain was just not ready to tackle Salish Seas-yet! Besides, I had to celebrate the Lunar New Year in my own, knitterly way by knitting on these socks! The color is perfect, and once I started on the lace pattern and got past the first 26 rows, I could see how cleverly the lace pattern formed little flame-like shapes! Too cool for a Dragon colorway!


And I am happy to report that after much agony, I have finished my Baby Boo present! It is amazing that I finally got it done! A "Munchkin" hat and matching booties. I improvised on the hat, starting with ribbing and severely increasing about 5 stitches every other round, then knit straight and decreased, leaving an i-cord stem sticking up from the top. I was going to make it into a knob on the top, but liked how it was stiff enough to stick up, so I decided a crocheted flower on top would be in order-very Munchkin-esque, no? I later added a reverse crochet edging around the bottom. The booties are based on a pattern I found via Ravelry (gotta love them!) I think the pattern is Ruth's Best Baby Booties (I'll check on that later...)

I'm just so happy it's done! I had looked for some yarn in my stash that: 1) had pink in it, 2) no wool, just in case of allergies, 3) would knit up fairly quickly since I have serious finishing problems!

So I got out some K1C2 "PJs", which I loved-narrow strips of flannel! But then I wouldn't have enough for matching booties, and how lame to not do hat and booties, right? Well, it seemed the yarn that would coordinate well would be some Berocco Suede, so I went out and got a ball of it at a later Stash Enhancement EXcursion. Yeah, gals, it was GOOD!-lol! But the whole bi--h of the matter is that neither yarn is very stretchy and thus, were a pain to knit with! Every-stitch-of-the-way... So now, here they are:
I'm happy with how they came out, but I just hope Baby Elinor will be able to wear the hat at least once or twice. The hat came out a bit smaller than I had expected. But I figure this baby's probably got knit hats up the gazoo, so maybe a future dolly can wear it!

So that is my knitting story for the week-and I'm sticking to it!

Three things...

I didn't buy...

http://www.yarnwench.com/php/ItemShow1.php?InvNum=2651
Shabui Alpaca/Wool in Pagoda (LOVE that color!)
Noro Sock yarn

But I have to confess that I couldn't pass up some Claudia Handpainted worsted weight that was on sale and some Shabui Sock! I'll post pics later...

I love it when this happens!

When everything just comes together perfectly and harmoniously, it is often refered to as "Serendipity". Well...that is the name of the new sock pattern I just got for the first Rockin' Sock Club shipment! YAY! And this kit really does ROCK!

Ta-dah! Here it is!


So Nartian had just told me about the kit today and that Adrienne wrote the first pattern! YAY! I love her patterns! She won a contest for Opal a way back called "Gecko Eyes", which is just gorgeous. She also has some sock designs over at the Crystal Palace site, as well as one featured for sale over at Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

And while I am talking her up, you may want to pop over to her blog for her "Blogiversary" contest because I will get extra brownie points for sending you her way!-lol! But then again, some of you (like Nartian) already have been over and know about it! But besides that, she has links posted in her sidebar for four of her patterns-free, nonetheless!

So anyways, I just didn't even think I'd be seeing this kit in person but lo and behold, it made it to me today! I didn't get home til late since Lil' Emp and I went over to his friend's to play and have dinner. M&P had the package, so I didn't get it until I went into their place and saw it sitting in their entryway!

And in it, even a note from Cockeyed, herself-one of the BMFA Sockateers! So everything came together for me today, because I am just about knit back to the place I was at on SSII when I discovered The Mistake, my package arrived today, the pattern is by Adrienne, I LOVE this package, I got a lil' note from Cockeyed, and all is well in this knitting world!

The Big Froggin' Dilemma

So I think I shared the beginnings of my Secret of the Stole II-all 12 rows or so...Well here is "Clue 1" (54 rows total), knit to row 44. Lovely, so I thought...Not the most consistent yarn overs, not the most even stitching, but I was still pretty happy to have gotten that far without incident.
Nartian had been tied up working on her Twist and is seaming it. Me? I still hadn't started it and decided to abandon the immediate intention of a Twist until a later time. How much later, I'm not sure, but I knew I needed to get my A** in gear if I wanted to keep up with this SSII endeavor!

Well, I finally see that Nartian has started her Clue 1. She takes a look at my progress and helps me to realize that-in her subtle and most diplomatic way so as not to make me feel I was being a dumb-a**-I misread the pattern! Now how the heck did THAT happen? So she and I discuss how this looks and I decide (and she agrees) that I could probably leave it as it, but just have to remember to do the same thing at the other end. Yeah! Good plan! That's what I'll do-it's cool...

I call her later in the day-what led me to conclude that the row labled '1' on the chart was the row 7 we were to start with after doing our 6 knit rows? I assure her I'm over it, but I can't stop obsessing over how I could have been nutsey enough to have figured out this re-design! I go to Ravelry and find...someone else made the same, exact mistake! And guess what? At least I felt better and not so alone in my 'unique' interpretation of the instructions!

Perhaps you can see a bit better here:
See the stockinette portion following the garter stitch foundation? Yeah-shouldn't be there! It's now or never with the froggin', ya know? I think I decided that I will start knitting Clue 1 again and see how far I get before the 2nd clue is posted. Not like I don't have other items to devote my knitting time to! But you know what? It may end up bugging me, so I need to know if I can live with this or not!

Admitedly, I must confess that the true turning point came for me when my newbie knitter friend looked at the error and proceeded to ask, "So is that why it's turning up like that, there?" (looking at the flopped over edge. the edge which folded right where the Stockinette portion lay. Which then got me thinking and pondering..."will this stay in place after it is blocked or will it forever be flipping in and needing adjusting?" Someone on my list assured me that it will block out, yet I have my reservations. I believe it truly will flatten after it is blocked, but will it STAY flat? Will it easily flap back in?

OK, if you made it this far in my post, LMK what you think!

A little more evidence of completed projects...slippers that I finished in the Summer-took forever to put the second button on and still haven't mailed it out yet!

Some yarn I handspun, knit into a tiny stocking with a little note of inspiration for a WW pal. I hope it encourages her...This is actually one of my very first completed project knit from my own homespun yarn! (The other being a slightly larger mini-sock that I gave to a buddy to adorn her tree...)

Really, I can explain!

This arrived in the mail today...
Another order, you ask? You may also wonder how I can possibly think I'm cutting down on the yarn purchasing, but this order is one of the justified ones! You see, this is the order I had made with WoolGirl for some Miss Babs 100% Merino Superwash for my Ribby Pulli Scoop. Yes, THE order of lovely hand-dyed Miss Babs worsted for my next RibbyPulli variation. I actually ordered this before the holidays and (in my warped mind), this was classified as a 'justified" purchase for the fact that it was a planned project. A seriously planned project that I am very committed to seeing through. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Jenn (the Wool Girl, herself) was great and special ordered this for me from Miss Babs in her Rose Garden colorway. I figured that while I was getting the yarn for the Ribby Pulli, why not order some sock yarn to go with it?

So I now get to go to Purlescence to find some contrasting color for the bands! Right now, I'm leaning towards the greens. I think pink will make it more pink than I prefer, though a purple may be ok. And I think brown might actually blend into the whole thing too much.

I think I should at least swatch it to give a better idea how the overall percentage of colors ends up looking. We'll see...

And surprise, surprise! Look what I actually started?!
The FIRST CLUE of my Secret of the Stole II! Yowza! I'm on row 10. There are 53 rows. I'm just thrilled I actually started!

So now I'm going to start posting things that I am NOT buying!-lol! Here, another fiber I resisted (Yarn Wench "Ming" Merino Silk roving)! Of course, I found this Whimsy color to be pretty sweet, too! But NO roving purchase for me! (Well, at least not today!) I also didn't buy these wonderfully pretty 2oz. fibers (at $6 each) for ME from WoolyWonka, one of the fab fiber sources Terry had to go and point me to! Luckily, alot of her favorites were low in stock when I checked them out-it makes for a much easier 'browsing' experience!

I hope to have the Baby Boo present finished and posted very soon!

"Everyone's wearing their scarves like this in France!"

...so says my friend...Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but I thought it would be nice to show those of you who aren't familiar with this method, how to tie this 'scarf knot'. (Just for kicks, I thought it worth mentioning that one of my co-workers said she watches international poker and that this one champion from France who is always on the broadcasting, always wears a scarf and has it tied just like this. See? Perhaps it IS true?!)

I'm going to attempt to walk you through this; I wish I were better at drawing arrows onto pics and all that, but I'm not.

This looks best with a plain, solid scarf, but you have to admit that Nartian's Chevron looks pretty good like this! This also works best with a long scarf.

1) Take your long scarf and put it around your neck, leaving a short end ("end A").


2) Taking the long end ("end B"), wrap the scarf once (completely) around your neck. See how the first short end ("end A") is the bottom-most layer, then the loop that comes around the front then forms a second scarf layer on top? Then the free end ("end B") is hanging (in this example, it is shown on the right as we look a the picture.


3) Take this end ("end B") and bring it (crossing) under the first short end ("end A") and up through the loop (second scarf layer).

4)Voila! A nice braided knot that will stay in place! The French are doing it, why not you?!


Phew! Hope you were able to follow this! You wouldn't know this, but that took alot of time! Long story, but all of a sudden I couldn't get my pics rotated properly without having to go in and edit and save them individually! UGH! I wish I had more time to get more computer-saavy!

So since this has taken so long, I might as well show off the latest stash enhancement for YPF!

Look what arrived in the mail?!

I had already ratted myself out on having caved and ordered from Woolmeise, and here is the lovely package I received! If you look closely, you will see the mini skein sample I got-it's Rosen Rot, so the color blends in with the bag, but it is tucked right under the flap.

And here, the yarns I couldn't resist...

• Versuchskaninchen 2 (medium intensity), Dani (dark intensity) and Salamander (medium intensity)! The Dani has a nice swath of that royal blue Nartian loves so well. She and I figured out that the Versuchskaninchen is a "Guinea Pig", which she explained (doh!) is one of Claudia's "experiments". This thrilled me and made me even happier that I'd chosen it! Yes, folks, the thrill is in the capture of rare bounty-not only known as Woolmeise, but in an experimental colorway, nonetheless! SCORE! BTW, I hadn't even checked the content of any of them! The Salamander and Versuchskaninchen 2 are 100% Merino Superwash and the Dani colorway is the 80/20. As always, I'm lame and haven't even knit with either of the other two skeins I purchased earlier, but I have had the priviledge of touching Nartian's Firestarters and KNOW this stuff is going to knit up incredibly awesome! Soft, strong, springy fabric! But I also know that the Salish Sea socks will be first, and I can't start those until...well...among many things, I still have a few outstanding small projects and-golly-gee-wow! Secret of the Stole II starts tomorrow!-Wowweee Wow Wow! (Yes, it was a Junie B. story reading night tonight...!) So as always, this Tapmouse is tapped! The usual lament: so many projects...so little time!

You're not really seeing new yarn!

OTOH, it IS YPF and I *did* mention this minor lapse in my budgetary judgement! So here it is, *the* WoolGirl order! (And I forgot to use my coupon for this, though I'm not sure if it would have applied for this sale...so-oh darn!-I'll have to place another order in the future!

I had been eyeing (how the heck do you spell this?) the Wool/Ramie sock yarn by Das Schneeschnaff, as well as the Incante colorway from Dasching Dachs, so when I saw they were on sale, it was difficult to resist. And the Spunky Ecclectic (Sport Weight, Autumn) was priced so well, and the colorway so gorgeous, well...you know how I am!

So far, the Dasching Dachs seems nice and sturdy. The Dasching Dachs is their wool/mohair and has an uneven spin-not what I expected, but I will live and I am sure I'll love it once it is knit into socks! I suspect it will soften with washing, too. As for the Spunky Ecclectic, I think I was expecting a tighter twist, but this is fine. I love the colors, too!

Oh! And the pattern-too lovely to pass up when it is on sale! Cherry Blossom socks by Sivia Harding! I love her patterns! At least, many that I've seen...

and I must mention that as always, WoolGirl did a fantastic job wrapping my order, adding the gorgeous extras (a stitch marker with a Murano Flower motif heart bead and green crystal accents and a Soak packet), and getting it to me quick! THANK YOU, WOOLGIRL!!!

And if you can believe it or not (well, if not, here's the proof!) I have finished my Secret of the Stole II swatch! I am using the Knitpicks "Shadow" in the Redwood Forest Heather that is on clearance. I was neutral on this color-it looked like it would be lighter than my preferred palette, but just look at it in my pics:

Wet and pinned.

Dry and nicely bloomed! I think I will stick with the Addi Lace 2's!

This colorway was right up my alley! So much richer and darker than the picture appeared on all the computers I viewed if from! Such a 'me' color! I loveses it!!! OK, so my swatch is a bit ucky, with the uneven stitches and all, but I will just need to be more diligent in my knitting!

Yessireee, sometimes I do knit! Sometimes. I did finish the Dashings...And I have this to prove it...

OK, I didn't have my tripod or other alternate way of taking this pic, but I did want to show how good it looks on the hand-you can see the cable much better. I knit this with Jo Sharp Aran, using size 5 Suzanne ebony DPNs. To compensate for the larger gauge, I knit 12 rows prior to knitting the first cable round instead of the 18 rows stated in the pattern. Everything else remained as written in the pattern until the top portion (rows past the thumb). I knit 14 more rows, then bound off.

So the Twist is still not happening, but I at least washed the swatch and can show why I've not progressed on it much!

BTW...look what I'm NOT buying! (Waaah...I love this!)

A no-pics post...

So I'll share this first, for your entertainment-it's an update my sister sent on the progress of her husband and her Bed and Breakfast that is underway in Cortona, Italy. They are naming it "Casa Chilenne"-I think it is after the gentleman my sister's husband inherited the building from.

I guess I might as well rat myself out on the fact that I have no self-control and majorly slipped, buying 3 skeins of Woolmeise this evening! I know I'm sick! But in a twisted way, I'm sure you like knowing I'm worst than you and are dying to see the yarn once it arrives!-lol!

As far a knitting progress goes, I did wash the finished Twist swatch, only to find that the growing gauge phenomenon only occurred on the first swatch knit at 19 stitches over 4". The new swatch that was knit at 20 stitches over 4", in hopes of getting gauge after washing is still at 20 stitches over 4". Go figure! Will I ever get this right? I think I may have to just knit it at 19 and hope that it doesn't end up ginormous. The good thing is that it is a cardi which I am only allowing 1/2" ease based on the size I've chosen; also, Nathania mentioned that they are coming out a bit on the small side, so if I stick with the 19st/4" gauge, it may be fine even if it does grow a tad larger. We'll see...

And meanwhile, my Secret of the Stole II swatch is exactly where I last reported it being-a little over the 1/2 way mark!

So maybe some pics of the swatches next time...

YPF, so why not!

I kinda don't have any new yarn purchases to post!-lol! Well, I did post most of my new yarn last night, but since it is YPF, I will show our latest Rockin' Sock Club-yes, the last of the year...And, as earlier mentioned, I have the little bits of yarn and Yarn Wench roving I spun them from. The rovings are "Faulkland Wool", which spins up more easily than merino, yet has a bit rougher hand. I'm not as afraid of non-merino wools, since I have been able to successfully wear my Ribby Pulli close to the skin without irritation.

Here they are:

Gothic Nightfall 2-this was difficult to get a good color representation of. Alot of highlights in the yarn show up as light shades of color, when the color is a bit darker and flatter.

This is Orchid Smoke 1-yes, very typically me...

Last is the Amethyst-Topaz Variation 2 that I added on to my order. I had waffled on it, resisted, and in the long-run (yeah, after reading the description of "lilacs, golds and olives") thought-how can I NOT get this colorway?! It is actually a bit lighter than my medium tone palette preferences, but it is still gorgeous!

And last, the end of the Rockin' Sock Club 2007 club kit:
And even wound it into a cake already!!! (Can you tell I am dying to start this Cat Bordhi pattern?!)...
Final GPA?...Yeah, a 2.o-I think that's about what I got last year...!

Mail call! And all the other good stuff...

OK, I've got mitts to knit, 2 pants to hem, swatches to swatch and wash, blah, blah, blah...but-I had to take the time to share some stuff I got recently...

I didn't think to blog this order and then realized-why not? Is not Knitpicks blog-worthy? I'm not a yarn snob, but I guess it is so much easier to gush over handpainted stuff that is more "one-of-a-kind" than to gush over less expensive, massively available yarny purchases! Nonetheless, yarn is yarn and we loveses our yarn!

I think I shared that I'm participating in Secret of the Stole II? If not, well-there you have it-I am! I needed some yarn for it and didn't have enough of any one laceweight that was appropriate for this project.

Enter our good ol' standby, Knitpicks for affordability and good, basic yarn! For less than $8, I got enough of the 'clearance' color for the stole. Of course, I had to meet the minimum for free shipping, so it was really more of a $40 purchase...(Nartian threw in some circs to my order, so that saved me a bit!)

So here's what I got:

In the rear, already wound, "Shadow" in the clearance color "Redwood Forest Heather". Dang, but this color is excellent and so much nicer looking than the pic shown on-line! Glad I went 'cheap' to save the .50 per skein, cuz I really do love this colorway!

Being inspired to make more Dashings, I purchased the aran tweed yarns, not realizing that Dashing calls for DK weight! Yes, Dashings, the cousins to "Fetching" is knit with DK weight, folks, NOT aran/bulky, as is the recommended yarn for Fetchings! Go figure. Someone'd better read her patterns more carefully next time!-lol! No worries, cuz I've done one in a Jo Sharp Aran and was able to alter it to work out.


Save the best for last, yes? Look what else arrived one day...what could be in this lovely package, sent to me from British Columbia?...
Look at the wonderful goodies I got from Spinnybunt's PIF! Not only a handmade item, but YARN!!! And an awesome color that I love!

And in case you don't see what she made, it's a needlecase that she beaded! Look at all the gorgeous detail!

Sorry folks, there is no way I can hold a candle to this, so don't make this the standard for my PIF!

So while we are talking gorgeous yarns, look what Nartian gave me for Christmas? It's from The Knittery and is her merino/cashmere yarn! I love this stuff-it is so soft! And look at this color-it's the "Autumn" colorway! Nartian-you are awesome! Thanks for a wonderful gift!


So remember the Fetchings and Dashings I need to work on? Well, one more pair of Fetchings down, 1/2 a Dashing complete, and a few more to go...


Oh-and about the Knitting New Scarves book I posted about earlier, with the crappy pics--I found all the good pics from the book here, in case you want a better look-see,,, Just goes to show what a bit of sleuthing will result in! Actually, it's kinda dumb that one should have to work so hard to find pics that only promote the desire for this awesome book!

And what I didn't post? The latest Rockin' Sock Club shipment! But I think most of you got that same kit, so I'll wait on it for now. Afterall, I've tortured you enough with yet another lengthy post and I need to go hem some pants!

Still not over, but a few things complete...

Phew! I got this second pair of Fetchings done for my friend by Christmas Eve! I actually finished them over the prior weekend, but still had 2 purses to make for her two girls!


Instead, I cheated. I used the one purse that was 99% completed for my other friend's daughter, since I wouldn't be seeing her right away. Just had to pick up stitches along the bottom, then cast them off. Since I ran out of the purple color, I used black, but then decided I needed to do the same at the top to balance the colors. On Sunday (yes, the day before it was to be gifted!), it went into the washer, then out to dry. I stuck it by the heat vent and crossed my fingers...

while I feverishly crocheted this...
OK, so it was another change of plans-instead of a felted bag, I did a crocheted cupcake purse. I had been naughtily procrastinating, checking out Ravelry, when I came across some crocheted cupcake purse pics. I decided that this was cute, I had the yarn in my stash, and by-golly, this couldn't take longer than a felted purse! And besides, then I wouldn't have to wash it and hope it dried in time! So in a way, I made up for the fact that I had used up valuable knitting time playing on Ravelry!

Actually, the pattern choices I found on Ravelry were both $4 patterns and I struggled over which to get. One pattern was also offered as a set of purses-all 5 patterns for $10! But I needed the pattern NOW and I wasn't sure how quickly the PDF would get sent to me! Should I wing it? It seemed simple enough...should I take the chance I'd get the pattern by the next day (folks, I think this was Saturday or at the earliest Friday night-late night-like 2-3am morning kinda late...) Besides this, where was my reason? I was supposedly doing this with very short time left and I was supposed to be justifying my enormous stash and somehow trying to make amends for all my yarny spending by saving money knitting my stash as gifts!

OK, I'm kinda proud of myself...after the "brilliant" idea of googling for a freebie pattern of this sort (hey-it was late, I was tired and it took that long to figure it out-DUH!), I found this pattern by Cynthia Gurisko! Thanks heavens for Google, Crochetville, free patterns and clever people willing to share!

I went down 2 hook sizes, knit the bottom in Cotton Fleece (Lamb's Pride) and the top with leftover Ella Rae (remember the felted slippers?...)...I severely increased the top, ( 4 evenly spaced increase per row for the first several cupcake top rows vs. the single increase per row instructed in the pattern...). And I was pretty darn pleased with it at 4am on Christmas Eve as I watched the Smurfs and then some other wannabe Smurfly type cartoon that followed...

So I still have a felted purse to make, and another pair of fetchings (for my bros GF), some Dashings for a friend who whines about how I never knit him anything, Dashings for my good friend's son who got me a Wii for Little Emperor with a two days notice (it wasn't planned, but worked out well...spoiled LE!), Fetchings for my quilt teacher who liked the first pair I was working on, so how could I not offer to make her some?, and a pair of Dashing for my bro (another thank-you for his awesome favor of drawing up some designs for LE's school to use for t-shirts and what-not...)

And when am I planning on starting Twist or swatching for my Secret of the Stole II? Yeah, I'm insane and don't know if these will ever happen! Keeping my fingers crossed and my needles moving!

And amidst the planning, wrapping, knitting for Christmas, I received my naughty, me-being-out-of-control Yarn Wench purchase of (not the original 2 I ordered, but) THREE bags of roving! If you care what colorways they are, I'll post them later. Right now I'm too lazy to go look again. I think one was amethyst something-or-other, gothic whatever, and orchid somesuch name...Beauties, aren't they? Oh-how about this...I did get around to sneaking a bit of spinning in to see how they'd look, so I'll show them with their names later...
And I also got me and Nartian's "Digetessa" kits! I'm only showing one because, well...you know, they look identical except one was wrapped in brown tissue paper and the other in green...the Digetessa and accompanying special-dyed Woolmeise yarn! And these yummy gingerbready tasting droplets attached!

And for now, I'll leave you with this...the guest of the Christmas Season! No, don't be fooled-it's not the Bob of Ravelry fame, but my canine niece, Nico! Here she is, wondering where her masters are and why she was dumped off at the Mouse Hutch!

Merry, Merry everyone! And have a wonderful 2008! Maybe I'll post again before 2007 comes to a close, and I hope everyone had a good Chanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or whatever you celebrate during this time of year!