Yarn Goodies

 

Last night at knit night I was gifted with 4 lovely skeins of yarn from my two friends Charity and Ialiuxh. I met both of them late last year, a month or so after I moved to Seattle. Since then we've been going on fiber related adventures including a trip down to Oregon for a Blue Moon Arts De-stashing sale, a trip to Westport, the Portland Yarn train, and the LYS Yarn tour.

We also get together to knit and check out yarn stores. I've learned a lot from both of them about yarn, knitting, and fiber. They have been especially important to me during this last year since my break up. I feel very lucky to have them in my life.

Charity has taken up spinning with even greater enthusiasm since she got her spinning wheel for her birthday last month. She had been spinning the most beautiful yarn! And last night she gifted me with 2 lovely skeins of wool/silk yarn. They are so beautiful!! I plan on making wrist warmers out of them so I can admire the yarn when I'm in office typing with cold hands.

 

Ialiuxh has started an hand-dyed yarn company, Lollipop Cabin. She lives in a little cabin in the forest where she uses rain water to dye her yarn. I especially like the skein of yarn she gifted me for my birthday:

 

Of course, it is in my favorite colors! Hmmm.... I wonder how she knew?

Ialiuxh also gifted me with some incredibly soft baby llama yarn by Mirasol. It is like buttah!

 

My life is full with friends and yarn. Who could ask for more?!?

Ravelympics Finisher!

Sing it with me: "We are the Champions, we are the champions, no time for losers, cause we are the Champions!"





Yipee! I finished my project for Ravelympics with only a few hours to spare. The knitting was done on Thursday but I still had to get the buttons sewn on. Which I did today.

My stats:
Team: Team Japanese
Pattern: Cushion Cover
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: size 7
Start time: 8/8/08 7pm PDT
Finish time: 8/23/08 1:30pm PDT

A Swell Yarn Shop Kinda Day

**** SPOILER ALERT FOR LUCKY LURKERS --- AUGUST 2008 WELCOME PACKAGE PICTURE BELOW ****

 

Yesterday, I cast on for 2-at-a-time socks using the Opps yarn I got a couple of weeks ago from A Swell Yarn Shop which is owned by my friend Angi from my Renton Knitters group. She is an awesome yarn dyer and has the best sense of color I've seen. Her coordinating sock yarn, Duets, have the best colors!

So far the socks are coming along pretty well. I'm kinda improvising these socks as I go. But so far I've cast on 14 stitches using the brown coordinating socks yarn with size US 1 DPNs. The yarn is a deep chocolate brown. I increased every other round until I had 24 stitches. I then changed to a size US 0 circular needle and increased every other round until I got to 28 stitches. I knit a couple more rounds and then switched to the main yarn which is a combination of deep red, pink, and the chocolate brown. I knit the coordinating yarn for one round and then on the top of the sock I started knitting in K2P2.

As I was knitting these socks, I kept thinking that they look like chocolate sundae colors. Since I don't eat sugar, these socks will be the closest I'll get to a chocolate sundae, so I'm really appreciating them!

My plan is to decrease a couple stitches on each side on both the front and back of each sock now that I'm at the instep. Also, I'm going to do an afterthought heel with the coordinating yarn. I may increase back when I get to the leg, but I'll try as I go to see what I need to do.

**** SPOILER ALERT FOR LUCKY LURKERS --- AUGUST 2008 WELCOME PACKAGE PICTURE BELOW ****
















Also, yesterday, I received my welcome package from the September-October-November Lucky Lurker Yarn Club hosted by A Swell Yarn Shop. Usually, Angi doesn't send yarn in the welcome package, but this time she sent a sample 1/2 skein each of coordinating and main color yarn in her new line of sock yarn called DeKAY in a lovely colorway called Mystic Calm. It also came with a pattern called Save Your Sole Footy Pattern by Tori Barnhart.

**** SPOILER ALERT FOR LUCKY LURKERS --- AUGUST 2008 WELCOME PACKAGE PICTURE BELOW ****

 

Aren't the colors just lovely and calming looking!?! And the yarn feels fantastic. I think the twist is a bit more tight then the original DK Duet yarn. Now I need to finish up my current sock pattern so I can work wit this yarn!

Los Monos Locos Finished

 

I finished my Los Monos Locos socks this morning. I know, I know. I should be working on my Ravelmpics Japanese Cable Cushion Cover, but it was hot and I have no AC, and the thought of a pile of Alpaca yarn in my lap did not appeal to me!

I finished the knitting last night and the weaving in ends this morning. I knit each separately and once again one is bigger then the other. It is longer and wider because the stitches are larger. Ugh! I'm really going to have to try knitting 2 socks at the same time again. When I tried it back in February and March I was just going through the beginning of my break up when I couldn't eat, sleep, or hardly concentrate. Maybe now that I'm a bit better, I can do it.

 

I do like the Los Monos Locos pattern better then the original Monkey. The original has a lot of purling, where as Los Monos Locos does not.

I'm not too thrilled with the color of the yarn of these Blue Moon STR yarn. However, I did buy them at their seconds sale last year, so maybe they weren't up to snuff for them either. All my other skeins had wonderful colors though.

I think these socks will be my at home or in boots shoes. I don't think I'll be showing them off by wearing clogs.

But I am glad I'm done, because now I can start on another pair of socks. I think I'm going to start a pair with either my Duet sock yarn or my Noro sock yarn. The colors in both are beautiful. And I'm going to try knitting both at the same time. Please wish me luck on that!

Stitch and Pitch Picture Slide Show

Stitch 'n Pitch

Just got home from my first Stitch 'n Pitch at Safeco Field watching (well kinda, there was knitting and yarn shopping going on after all!) the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays. It went all the way to the end of the 9th inning and we won with a home run.

 

I did get a few rows knitted on my Los Monos Locos socks. Here's the proof they got out of the knitting bag:

 

Here's the group of gals from my Renton Knitters group that I went with. We had a great time!

 

Me, A Nerd? Who Would Have Thunk It?

Joanne posted the results of the THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST. So I thought I'd play along.

Pure Nerd
52 % Nerd, 13% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

What are you? The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test

F is Fiber (and Forty Something)

Friday was my birthday which I spent working which was followed by a lovely dinner with my family at Chinook's. I've been in Seattle for 11 months now and I had yet to have been to a seafood resturaunt other then Spuds on Alki. So I decided that was what I wanted to have dinner. My brother was a sport and payed for the whole meal even though for his birthday we went to some cheap hole in the wall place. He picked it though! The food at Chinook's was great and it was nice seeing the boats docked at Fishermen's Terminal and the ducks floating around. Plus I scored a couple of gift cards, one from Barnes and Nobles. Can you say "knitting books"?!? Mom got me a Kohl's card so I'll be getting some much needed new clothes!

Saturday, I met up with Charity and Ialuixh for a yarn store trip to Hilltop East in Bellevue. We had a great time. I didn't end up buying anything because Charity gave me a wonderful birthday present of Cascade 220 in blue, enough for a sweater. She wrapped it up in some lovely blue plaid fabric that has a silver thread running through it that you can't see in the pictures. It is very pretty and I'm already thinking of ways to use it.

 

 

 

Today was another day at the beach at Alki and lunch with friends. Overall, a great birthday weekend.