good-natured ribbing

Yes. Even when there is no time for actual knitting, I can always squeeze in a little yarn shopping. That is still considered being productive, right? I went to visit my Dad in Windsor yesterday and made sure to stop at a recently relocated yarn store. It had been located in a part of Windsor that I never, ever got to. Now, it is much closer to where my Dad lives and could even be on the way. It is called Knit One Purl One. They have quite a nice selection (a little too much novelty yarn for my tastes though).

This is Araucania Ranco Multi sock yarn. I really can’t decide if I like it or not, but I was really intrigued by the coloring. We’ll see!

This is Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK – destined to become fingerless mitts.

And this is some simple pink sock yarn that Ava picked out for herself. It is Fortissima Socka.

They also have a giant cheesy mural on the outside of the building – a comfy chair with lots of yarn, a cat tangled in the yarn, a spinning wheel in the background… I’ll have my camera with me next time I go!

I forgot to mention that I went to the first ever Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor on last Sunday. It was pretty small compared to the Michigan Fiber Festival, but it was really nice. I’d guess that there were about 100 vendors. There were also several classes which I did not attend. There was lots of yarn, spinning fibers, and wool-related products. I did get a couple skeins of handpainted yarn.

I got these at the Artisan Knitworks booth. They have a shop in Gross Point Park and carry hand spun and hand dyed yarns produced by designers around the country. The multi-color is Butternut Woolens Superwash Sock and the orange is Dicentra Design Superwash Sock. Both very lovely.

Ava went to the Expo with me and it was strange how many people asked her if she know how to knit. She always replied in the affirmative and everyone chuckled. Once, I prompted her to talk about other things she knows how to do and spinning came up. The woman looked at me with a “Yeah, right!” expression on her face but she played along. She asked Ava if she did the treadle and Ava showed her how. Then she asked if Ava drafted the wool and Ava showed her the hand motions, in perfect form. The woman was blown away!

Oh, and speaking of that darling child of mine, I have to share this:

These pictures were taken at work where she did some early candy collection. It was just warm up for the evening’s festivities. We have too much candy!

So, I decided to place another Wollmeise order. This time, I narrowed it down to four colors (for my first order, I managed to get it down to 2).

I love this stuff! Can’t wait to start knitting it.

Christina and I went to the Michigan Fiber Fest yesterday (2.5 hr ride in the pouring rain with a bored 3 yr old). Although the weather was pretty bad, the rain held off while we were at the festival – pretty much. And although that much yarn is pretty boring for a kid, she behaved herself pretty well (and was mesmerized by the shearing demonstration).

The pictures I took didn’t really turn out but you can look at last year’s. It looked the same. As you could guess, I did bring home some yarn. I decided to stay away from the roving since I have so much stocked up.

This lovely, kettle dyed, semi-solid, superwash sock yarn is from Knitting Notions. They had so many beautiful colors it was hard to pick just one. They also had some organic cotton that was so very soft. I didn’t get any, but I might have to order some for my next baby gift.

Next is… more sock yarn! I couldn’t help myself – it is so soft and the colors are awesome. I’ll have to use a pretty plain sock pattern, I think, but they will be pretty fun socks! This is called Soft Touch Ultra by Shelridge Farm (from Canada!). They have lots and lots of beautiful colors. This would be great yarn for stranded knitting!

I kept feeling like I needed one more thing – something that wasn’t sock yarn. Then I clapped my eyes on this baby and I was done. This hank is 1200 yards of 60% merino/40% bamboo yarn. It doesn’t have gauge info on the tag, but if my estimate is right, this is the right gauge and enough yarn to make the Minimalist Cardigan from IK. I’ll work up a swatch soon to see if I’m right. This lovely yarn is Celebration from Briar Rose Fibers.

And if all that wasn’t enough, Ava had her first Elephant Ear. Mmmmmmmm…. fried dough.

There is a yarn store in Windsor that I’ve mentioned before – The Yarn and Bead Gallery. It used to just be The Bead Gallery and is soon to be just The Bead Gallery again. Apparently, beads are much more lucrative than yarn in that area. They have been clearing out their entire yarn stock at 40% off! Being the busy lady that I am, I wasn’t going to be able to make it over there for quite some time so I enlisted the help of my cousin (a non-knitter but expert shopper).

I just picked up the goods from her yesterday. Here’s what was in the bag:

Three single skeins of Sweet Georgia Superwash Sock yarn in colors: Afterglow, Kissed, and Elf. I could mix and match a pair of sock or use them for baby things (there are babies popping up all over the place).

Two skeins of Sweet Georgia Superwash Sock yarn in Life Aquatic. These were already wound into balls.

I asked for yarn to make a sweater and gave no hints as to color, texture, etc. She picked something I definitely would have picked for myself: Needful Yarns London Tweed in a sort of burnt orange/rust color with tweed of many colors.

With that, I think I may be set for a while. Since the inception of Expand Your Stash, I’ve sort of felt obligated to participate. However, I now have a closet packed with very lovely yarn waiting to be knit. So maybe I’ll knock off the yarn shopping for a little while. Well, except for the Michigan Fiber Festival coming up in August. And I might be able to make it to the “going out of yarn” sale before the yarn is completely gone. We’ll see.

I’m not promising anything.

I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow, so am posting about everything I can think of today. We’re going to Washington DC to be tourists, but I imagine I’ll have time to knit on the way and at night. I’ve got a lot of knitting to do! Like Beth, I’ve got several socks going. [BTW, I didn't know she had a "one pair at a time rule" - how silly is that? :-) ]

My socks are distributed among various locations and I pick them up when I’m there. Thus, you can tell by their progress where I spend most of my knitting time.

1. Knitting in the car on the way to and from work. I knit simple socks during my commute (Nigel drives). These are usually basic socks from Vogue Knitting’s Socks Two. I’m using Online yarn for this pair, and have finished one, am working on the other. I wanted to make these with extra long cuffs, but got nervous about being able to finish them with one skein, so am finishing off with black toes, just in case.

   

2. Knitting in bed at night listening to podcasts. This activity only lasts until I fall asleep, so I’m not making as much progress. Currently, my bedtime socks are my Socks that Rock Inside Out socks. I need to finish this pair soon, since the next package comes at the end of the month.

   

3. Knitting in the basement while watching TiVo’ed episodes of Knitty Gritty, The Daily Show, and the Colbert Report. I only have time to do this on Sundays. I started these socks last Sunday after getting “More Sensational Knitted Socks!” and deciding I wanted to try some colorwork. These are for Emily, who has been asking for pink and black socks. However, even though they are turning out swell, I have come to realize that I need to make them bigger, and so will probably start again with more stitches.

   

4. Knitting in my living room. These socks, made of Fixation, just aren’t doing it for me, but I feel like I need to finish them. I bought metal knitting needles to see if that helped. I’ll let you know.

   

5. Gettng ready to knit. Well, these aren’t technically in progress yet, but I’m preparing for the next pair of Knitting on the Road socks — “Canada” being the chosen pattern. I’m going to make mine Serengeti and Burgundy, because those are the colors of the Knit Picks Gloss yarn that came on Friday (this is my “Expand Your Stash” contribution). I haven’t tried Gloss before (merino wool + silk), and am looking forward to it.

   

That’s it for socks. Now for …

An Idea!
I saw this bagel storage suggestion recently and got an idea:

The neat thing is that when you’re knitting the skein spins (that is, if like me you knit from the outside, not the inside, of a skein). The main problem with this idea is that we don’t ever buy blank cd’s anymore, so I have exactly one case.

A Goal!
I am still one of the knitters in Runagogo! who is trying to move more than my knitting muscles. The next goal is to “Run/walk/swim/ski/MOVE 100 miles in the next three months, April 1st to July 4th.” My own goal is 880 miles this year, and as of today, I’ve logged 205 miles. I’m giving myself two icons (one for each 100, get it?):

 

And to my partners on this blog – Have fun at work next week!

Seriously.

An innocent trip to the yarn store resulted in all these skeins of Claudia’s. From left to right (or top to bottom, depending on the picture), the colors are:

• John B.
• Boot Camp
• Donna’s Favorite
• Black Walnut
• Boot Camp, again
• Walk in the Woods

These will come together to make a shawl that I’ve been admiring at the store for quite a while. I got the pattern with the purchase of the yarn.

OK, everyone can stop worrying now – I’m back. And I have a few things to show you. In a fit of indecision, I started several pair of socks (breaking my “one pair at a time” rule).

Embossed Leaves

Monkey (but all stockinette – no purling!)

And these, which you’ve already seen.

And of course, I’ve also acquired a bit more yarn. A little yarn in the mail sure brightens a crappy day.

This is 2 skeins of 100% cashmere, each 400 yards. I got this from an eBay store I’ve been watching for a little while. I was curious about the quality of the yarn (since it is pretty cheap). So far, so good. I think this will become some lacy shawl or wrap.

And this is approximately 1750 yards of 100% extrafine merino. I bought this to dye for socks, but it is really a lace weight yarn, too fine for socks. This is destined to become some large lacy thing, too.

I bought some more yarn. I think I’m a bit out of control, actually. Oh well, it can’t last forever. One day last week I stopped at the yarn store on my way home from work (all by myself!!) to pick up some needles. Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for, but I did manage to find some new yarn!

It is Colinette Jitterbug in Castagna. None of the stores I frequent have carried this yarn before now so I was happy to see it. I’m really taken with this colorway – just beautiful. Dark olive/brown, taupe, mauve, burgundy – sounds like a weird combo, but it works.

I picked Madder Rib from Knitting Vintage Socks and stuck to the pattern. It has a Dutch heel and pointy toe. Here is my attempt to show the heel:

The colors make it really hard to see what is going on with the heel. Anyway, I’m not sure I like the Dutch heel – but maybe it will fit a little better once the sock is blocked and worn a bit.

And I actually like the pointed toe much more than I thought I would. It fits pretty well – I guess I have a pointy foot. Hopefully the second sock will go as quickly as the first.

Yes, I’m still expanding my stash!

I came home to a lovely package of yarn waiting for me. I expected it to take longer to arrive, so it was quite a nice surprise.

This was a very special purchase, all the way from Germany. I found Rohrspatz & Wollmeise by way of this German blog which endorses Expand Your Stash. I don’t read German, but I do look at this blog regularly – she as a new pair of socks every couple of days!!! One day, her socks used Rohrspatz & Wollmeise yarn and I just had to track it down.

To obtain some of this yarn, you can contact Claudia directly (she is a one-person show). If you haven’t gone to look at the beautiful colors, go right now! In addition to picking from this enormous selection, you also get to specify shade – light, medium, or dark. I picked Brombeere and Lowenzahn – both in medium.

I’m so thrilled with this yarn. Just look at the richness of the colors. I started a new pair of socks last night but now I want to scrap those and start knitting with this. For hose of you who care about this kind of thing, the yarn smells fabulous! And the packaging was just gorgeous. I’ll definitely be purchasing this again!

This yarn is 100% wool and superwash. It is very soft and pretty fine – will require a size 0 or 1. Any suggestions for patterns… I’ll be starting one of these soon.

I’m just going to look at, feel, and smell this yarn for the rest of the evening. For those of you who will see me tomorrow, you can do the same through lunch.

So I managed to squeeze in a little shopping this weekend. My first stop was at a yarn store (big surprise!). These were the first things I picked up:

I’ve had Favorite Socks on order at Amazon since I heard about the book. It said that it wouldn’t ship until early April. But what did I see at the yarn store… Favorite Socks. I has been wondering how other knitters have been getting their hands on it if it wasn’t available for another month (shaking fist at Amazon). I’ve also been planning to get a copy of Knitting on the Road for a while, too. I see there is a Favorite Socks KAL that I might consider.

And I couldn’t leave the yarn store with two sock pattern books with no sock yarn, could I!? So I finally settled on this:

And by the time I got home, the mail arrived with another little surprise for me. I ordered this merino/alpaca blend from Natural Dye Studio a little while ago.

And as you can see, it is worthy of some smoochin’.

I also picked up some new fabric for a project I have in mind. I only got a yard of each to see how I like it, but there may be more to come.

What do you think?

And because I know you are all on the edge of your seats: I finished one Rusted sock and will likely start the other today AND I am just finishing the vest (collar, cuffs) but I still need to sew in the zipper, so it might take me a while. Photos of both to come when they are done!

Here is my latest stash enhancement:

It is Fearless Fibers superwash sock yarn in Brick House. It is a huge skein (550 yds!!!) and so very soft. I’m going to wait until my new book arrives before deciding what to use it for.

In other news, I’ve slowly been converting our computer/junk room to a yarn and sewing room. Today’s task was to empty all the old books and other items from the bookself to make room for knitting books and other related goods. Stick with me… this gets good! In with all the books was a stack of old greeting cards. Most were for Ava – 1st birthday, Valentine’s Day, etc. However, there was one birthday card that was either for Nick or I. Inside there was a sticky note that said “Love Gran & Gramps” and…

… a $100 bill!!!!!

I asked Nick if the card looked familiar – neither of us remember it. The extra exciting part is that the conversation ended with him saying “Don’t spend it all at one yarn store.”

Thanks to Beth I don’t have to keep my weekend yarn purchases a secret! When we went to Washington DC last week, Kristen and I visited two yarn stores. First we went to the Capitol Hill location of Stitch DC. Then, Kira took us to Vienna to visit Uniquities. (Thanks again Kira!) Here’s my resulting stash enhancement. You can see from my plans that I can make good use of them all.

Mega Boots sock yarn: For a pair of ribbed crew socks
Regia Sock Yarn: Socks for Nigel!
Schaeffer Anne Sock Yarn: Socks made out of this would make a lovely gift
Supersocke Yarn: More socks for Nigel
Kidsilk Haze: For this very simple scarf that I saw at Stitch DC
Alpaca with a Twist Fino: For a black shawl such as the ones I’ve admired in Victorian Lace Today
My favorite: Cherry Tree Hill in tangerine, maybe socks for me…

Well, here you have it – the start of the very first Expand Your Stash! The goal of this “knit along” is to give every knitter the guilt-free pleasure of adding wonderful, scrumptious yarns to his or her stash. You need not have a pattern in mind or a purpose for the yarn to make that purchase. You’ll use it one day. After all, if you are ever to participate in a “Knit from Your Stash,” you need a stash that will last you those many months!

Go forth and buy, make, or trade; beg, borrow, or steal all the yarn of your dreams!!!
All you have to do to participate is acquire yarn and blog about it!

Spread the word and let’s go shopping.

Or Screw Knitting From My Stash

Right after Christina decided to participate in Knit From Your Stash, I also decided to give it a try. In preparation, I got all my yarn out in hopes of organizing my stash for more efficient project planning. After about an hour of trying to keep the little one from swimming in the pile, it all just got stuffed back in the bins. Granted, I do have enough for a couple sweaters – but other than that, my stash isn’t that impressive. And I barely have any sock yarn.

So, I think I’ll start a new movement – Build Your Stash 2007. I bet there are lots of willing participants out there. There are no rules – buy, make, trade… what ever you can do to add to your stash. Anyone want to make a button for it!?

Here’s my progress so far:

Sweet Georgia – Rusted

Gems 100% Merino – Charcoal

Claudia Hand Painted – Butter Pecan

Twilleys Freedom Spirit Yarn – Earth

Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran – Chocolate, Pink (it was 50% off!)

A pretty good start, eh? The Gems, Claudia, and Louisa Harding are from Knit A Round in Ann Arbor and the Sweet Georgia and Twilley’s is from The Bead and Yarn Gallery in Windsor.

I also have to share this (it is too good not to):

My sister-in-law turned me on to this wonderful product – The Lip Scrub. My winter lips are nice and exfoliated. I love it!!