head-over-heels for handspun

Do you have a hankering for some handspun yarn? Have you seen Stacie's shop yet? No? Go there. Now. You will love it. Stacie spins some amazing stuff, and dude, she is a prolific spinner. She has spun tons of fiber (gorgeous stuff, too, like Hello Yarn & Spunky Eclectic & Southern Cross Fibre) and has decided to make it available for us non-spinners to buy and to have and to hold and to love and to cherish and to use for knitting awesome stuff. The yarn in the photo above is some fantastic Hello Yarn Corriedale that she spun in a sport weight in a colorway called Thrive, and it is all mine.

taste the rainbow!™

See this? I cannot wait to dive into this. Oh yes, it will be mighty.

yet one more reason

Remember those socks I recently knit out of Koigu that went from a lush shade of raspberry to a dull, faded-into-oblivion pink after the first wash? Well, when I posted about them on Flickr, someone from Koigu was kind enough to contact me ASAP with an explanation and an apology. He even offered me some yarn to make up for this unpleasantness. I was beyond surprised by their awesome response and excellent customer service. Hell, I was shocked, actually! Not because I imagined them horrible people or anything like that, but because I just would have never imagined that a Koigu rep would ever come across my photos, much less reach out to me. Well, when I got home Saturday night, there was a happy package awaiting me - four skeins of Koigu, fresh from Canada. Koigu is one of my favorite yarns, and now, after this wonderful customer service experience, I love them even more. Huge thanks to Rhichard and the good folks at Koigu!

I can't wait to try the Mori! It's got such a lovely sheen and texture. And the KPPPM is perfect for a pair of socks I have planned for my mom. Speaking of KPPPM, while in NYC last weekend, I may have nipped into my old LYS and picked up a birthday present for myself:

Because I am now convinced that you can never have too much Koigu in your stash! And because I adore them!

oh no(ro)

How's your summer coming along? Things are pretty darn good over here. I forgot I had this blog here for a moment. Let me tell you, people, I've got nothing but socks for you. It's all socks in the summer for me (which ties into the poll I took, but more on that tomorrow, when I will actually have finished socks to share with you). Let's start with these. Actually, I started this pair of Jaywalkers in April or May. I'm not sure, and I didn't bother listing a start date on my project page on ravelry. Why did I not do this? Furthermore, why would I abandon this seemingly decent sock? Honestly, I am not crazy about knitting with this yarn. In fact, I kinda hate it a little. The yarn itself is so pretty, with all its little flecks and its single-ply rustic charm, and the colors are lovely. Knitting with it, however, is a whole other experience, at least for me. It feels like I'm knitting with twine, and it keeps twisting on me as I knit. I have a friend who is interested in buying it off of me, but I am still debating whether I want to frog this (or stop right here and sell the leftover yarn) or forge ahead with it. I'm totally on the fence. I'm thinking I may forge ahead because I do enjoy the color changes as I knit. Oh, Noro! You're so darn pretty, but so darn stringy and harsh.

you can't feel guilty about it if it's a gift, right?

I meant to write this post last week, but I was buried under a mountain of softie bats (and a few other creatures I cannot speak of here - not until they become finished objects) so here it is now. Not that it's particularly exciting, just another exhibitionist flash-o'-the-stash, or rather the latest additions which were gifts and therefore guilt-free. Well, the Koigu in the top photo is guilt-free; it was a birthday present from Matt. (Seriously, he is so wonderful.) The STR in the bottom photo was a gift to myself. I swore I wouldn't get any more STR after wrestling with a skein of Fire On the Mountain for month and still losing - I could not get it to not pool. The plan is actually to use the Downpour to make a scarf with the FOtM, since it's better to make a frigging scarf out of it than hurling it out the window as I wanted to do the other night. (I didn't because I was sure that if I had done so, the squirrels would have hurled it back at me with a note attached reading, "We don't want this either. It pools horribly. Take it back, effer!" For a second, I entertained the possibility of making another Chevron Scarf, but you know, been there, done that... next! I was thinking of maybe making that ribbed Noro scarf that I have seen here and there and fallen in love with over and over again. Okay, so far, one skein has been assigned a purpose. Now to get knitting!

P.S. - It is official. I am not buying any more yarn until the stash is half of what it is now. For reals. I mean it. Not kidding. I swear.

look at my pretty!

Tired, busy, distracted, but buzzing about whipping up stuff for the shop and all. Hence, no cowlie goodness to share right now; even cutting and pasting my ravelry info about them seems like work right now. So here! Look at the pretty-pretty that I managed to get my hands on while at Rosie's Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia over the weekend. They have baskets full of leftover bits of Koigu (from miter blankets that they knit up for the shop, it appears) that they have re-skeined and sell priced by the ounce. And I'm not the only one who walked away with a buttload of these. check out Julie's lovely little collection! Love it! Cowl details tomorrow. Until then.... Look at my pretty!

post NESW - the haul

top: Still River Mill laceweight 100% cashmere, 200 yards, I have no idea what the colorway is called - Matt calls it "JJ Gray" because it's the same shade of gray as our kitty)

bottom: Ball and Skein single ply merino/silk blend, 3 skeins @ 160 yards each, I lost the colorway info, but it is my favorite shade of green EVER!

The haul was small this year, and that's a very good thing as I have enough stash to burn through for the next year or two (or more). There was SO MUCH insanely gorgeous stuff and so many wonderful vendors there. It was hard to be so hyper-selective. I kept picking stuff up, thinking about it, and putting it back because I couldn't think of a project for it already in my queue. I find that yarn with a purpose gets used much quicker than that which gets stashed with no intended project. The gray cashmere from Still River Mill will soon become these, and the gorgeous green merino/silk blend from BallandSkein will become a Shetland Triangle. Lest you think, "Dude, what the hell? You just got some silk/merino blend from Malabrigo that looks just like that!" this is the difference between the two:

The BallandSkein is on the left and the Malabrigo is on the right. See? It's definitely a touch more blue/less green. This further proves the case that the Malabrigo is definitely turquoise, which means that tomorrow morning I am casting on for the cowl for my friend. And then, I am knitting like the wind!

i said i wouldn't but i did

Mama Blue Knitting Goods
top: Sea Merino in Aquae
bottom: Troika in Pistachio

Okay, I know I said my plan was to knit through my stash and not buy any more yarn for another year or two. I am weak. I couldn't help but add these beauties to the stash. I swear this is such beautiful stuff, I have been oohing and ahhing since I got it a few days ago. I cannot stop petting it and hugging it and squishing it (yeah, it's really bringing out the Lenny in me). My goodness, it even smells good. For reals! I'm in awe. What lovely stuff this is! Okay, I'm off to finish a couple more projects so that I can cast on for something in these ASAP.

yay for yarn!

Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop handspun sock yarn
top: "Sunshine of Your Love"
bottom: "Light My Fire"

Okay, so I know I said that I would not be adding any more yarn to the already pretty plentiful stash of sock yarn that I have. (I don't stash other yarn - I buy it on a per project basis because if not it will just sit in a container for months.) What can I say? How could I pass these up? To assuage the feelings of guilt I'm having over here, I am winding these tonight and casting on for socks some time during the week. It's part of my "No Yarn Left Behind" plan. (Insert tongue in cheek, please.) This goes beyond stashbusting, although I do plan to knit through the stash for the rest of year. This is implementing a system where I use the yarn as soon as I get it in my hot little hands, and if I don't use it within a month of purchase, I will give it away. Let's see how that works. Perhaps it will motivate me to knit more, or perhaps it will just make me extremely generous in the coming month or two.

P.S. - Regardless of this vow I have made to myself, if any of you fabulous dyers and spinners out should come out with a line of yarns/colors based on Led Zeppelin songs, I just might have to break down and get one of everything. Seriously, just envision Kashmir or Dancing Days as colorways. Mmmmmmmm, I'm just dreaming of it....

just a brief flash o' the stash

yarns and their intended projects are as follows (as seen in top photo) from left to right (and kinda clockwise):

Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop in Lucy in the Skies: ribbed socks
Pear Tree Light Worsted Merino in Moss: hat (pattern to be determined)
Sundara Silk Lace in Peacock: Shetland Triangle
Sundara Sock Yarn in Orchid: Mingus Socks by Cookie A.

What is more exciting (or conversely, what is less boring) - showing you all my varied WIPs or flashing a bit of stash? Mmmmmmm, let's go with the stash-flashing. I actually have immediate plans for all these yarns, and hopefully I can get to it all sooner rather than later because right now I am dying to get started on these projects (ahem, once I finish up a few things on the needles, that is).

handspun goodness - pt.2

When I was a young'n, my mother used to say about me, "Si fuera muda, explota," meaning that if I were mute, I'd explode because I cannot keep anything to myself. I am terrible like that. When I like something, I sing its praises from every mountain. I cannot shut up about it. Well, not until someone kindly asks me to stop it, then I realize I've been blathering on, and finally I. shut. up. As I was casting on for the first time with handspun yarn and falling head over heels in love with it, I noticed that the date was soon approaching when Crown Mountain Farms would be having a sale of its much-coveted Sock Hop yarn. Don't you love serendipity? I always try to get some, but I'm always too late. That's me - always tardy to the party. It's the story of my life! No biggie. Well, the stars must have aligned on this particular day (or maybe I just happened to show up on time for once) because I was able to snag some. Woohoo! More handspun goodness! And boy is this stuff ever so lovely. Oh the colors! The squishiness! I can't stop fondling it. Uhhhhhh, okay, it's not like that.... Anyhoo, I think I know what my next project will be. SOCKS! Yeah, I'll bet that came as a real surprise. Based on this friend's review of the yarn, I can't wait to get started.

P.S. - I am seriously telling myself that I do not need another hobby/ interest/ whathaveyou because I am soooooooooooooo curious about taking a spin class now, and I don't mean the kind that involves stationary bikes. (Although I have tried that and liked it, strangely enough.) If I start spinning, things could get all sorts of scary. Really scary. Someone, please, keep me away from the wheel....

the joy of swaps

Julia rocks! We had arranged a swap like a month or so ago, before the holidays and all that. I made this little fella here for her. In exchange, she blew me away with this hand-dyed, hand-spun gorgeosity. Having never knit with hand-spun before, but long coveting all the folks I see knitting with it, I cannot tell you how freaking excited I am about this. I am seriously overjoyed. Thank you so much, Julia, for such a super-awesome excellent swap!

P.S. - Those little "knit" buttons that came with the yarn are so cool. Love love LOVE!