LnV swap thingy :-D

Got my stuff from my LnV swap buddy today.  I love all of it… especially the candy since I ran out of sweet things yesterday.    Included in the package was: candy (obviously), sparkly orangy yellowy stuff.  It’s pretty… and some purple/blue/white/pinkish type yarn… appears to be a sock yarn weight but I don’t see any label that goes with it so I’m not sure.  There was also a set of catnip toys….

As you can imagine the catnip was a HUGE success.  We had a fight about 5 minutes ago over a toy… don’t know why they were fighting because there were enough for everyone.    Silly cats.

I love socks.

I love socks… I really, really love socks.

These are the ones that have been living in my purse for the past month or so.  They go to school, knitting groups, and wherever else I end up.

It’s a Regia yarn, and I’m starting to find I favor superwash sock yarns because they just feel like they’ll hold up better.  My other Regia socks…still look brand new.  I haven’t worn them much for fear they’ll explode when worn, but I think I just need to live in my socks so I can find out which yarns work best and hold up to wear.  I love the knitpicks cause it’s soo cheap, but my sisters socks (that were really my moms) have felted like no other so I’m starting to consider other stuff.  I’ve got some trekking that I’m wanting to use, I’ve heard so many great things about opal lately too.  I think I’m starting to get addicted to the German sock yarns.  lol.  The yarn may not be the softest in the world… but when I knit socks with it I feel like it would hold up very well.  I need to knit through my stash so I can get new exciting sock yarns.  My never ending list of yarn is growing.  lol.

Alpca alpaca alpaca!

I finally finished that last ounce of alpaca.  No more alpaca in the stash unless you count the alpaca that’s mixed in with the buffalo.  mmm… I really need to spin that up soon.

There’s 3 oz total, 156yds total.  It’s navajo plied and is around a DK weight.  I bought it at the Great Lakes Fiber Festival last year off Moonlight Alpacas.  The last ounce of fiber I spun had some felty parts but that happens sometimes when dying.

 No idea what I’ll make out of it.  It’s going into the stash until I can figure something out. 

SP10 has started.

at least it has for me.  The hostess who was pairing up my group got really sick so I didn’t get my person to spoil until last night.  Now I’m just awaiting someone to contact me that way I can feel better about SP.  I always get nervous that the person who got my name is just going to drop me.  SP8 went well though so I’m not going to worry. 

I’ve been stalking my persons blog… learning about them.  Now I just have to come up with some ideas of stuff to send… right now I’ve got none.

More Acrylic!

Went to JoAnns… I’m going to be making another one of these purses for the previous recipient’s sister.  This one will use the dark blue purchased today and the lighter blue red heart yarn that I have allergy issues with.  This should be fun!  The first purse was hell… hopefully this one will go smoother.

Also purchased was some dishcloth cotton.  I’d been talking to the sisters I tutor about facecloths and how would could add those to our little list of stuff I could make them for getting their work done in a timely matter.  They are obsessed with the pink/brown colors.  I’m quite attracted to them myself, so when I saw pink/brown dishcloth cotton I purchased three of them.  I didn’t think brown dishcloth cotton existed but told them when I found it I’d grab some for facecloths.  Trying to find a home for the new yarn is another problem.  I just have too much right now.  I need to get knitting… and spinning to turn the fiber that’s taking over the house into yarn which can be knit or sold.  The spinning guild said I could sell my handspun at their table that they have at a little craft thing every year around Christmas, so I’m going to spin up some yarn and if I don’t use it for myself or for gifts, I’ll tag it up and see if it sells.  If not, fine, I like all the yarn anyways.  If it sells, great.    I can always put it up on etsy or something if I feel like it later.

Also purchased today, a set of sock DPNs in sizes 000, 00, 0, and 1US.  I had ones but not any of the 0s so it’s nice to have some more.  I’m thinking these will be useful for the lace doilies I really want to make too.  Can’t beat the price $10 for all 4 sets of 5 needles. 

New Spindle

Got my spindle in the mail yesterday.  ::happy dance::

It’s a Bosworth Purpleheart midi spindle.  Weighs 36gm/1.28oz (i’m putting that there so I remember).

I love it… I’m trying to figure out what I want to spin next so I can get started.

I got my butt kicked in Sock Madness.  I got to the first heel and they already had the 16 done in my division.  Oh well… I knew joining wasn’t my brightest idea.  Now I can spin without guilt! 

Sock Madness

Well sock madness started yesterday morning… I found the e-mail with the pattern in my mailbox at 8:30am ish and proceeded with winding my yarn into a ball.  Then I had to run errands and didn’t get around to working on it until much later.  I was distracted by my spinning wheel during this time as well.  So I logged onto the flickr group and saw that there were people already done with the first sock!  I only had half of a toe.  I worked on it at my friends house last night… got a stripe done… realized it was way to small… ripped back…  increased… and started on the foot again.

I’m making decent progress.  At the end of day two I’m almost to the heel.  There are already several people completely done, so I need to get working.  Unfortunatley for me I’m a student and school/homework/work will most likely get in the way.  I will try my best though.

Went to the Cuyahoga Falls knitting group last wednesday at panera.  Had a lot of fun.  My drive last Monday up the the knitting store located in the same city was okay.  They had a lot of yarn but I didn’t really get a chance to look at it since I didn’t have all the time in the world to kill.  Not much as far as spinning fiber goes, but no one around here has much variety in spinning fiber.

Sock Madness yarn

I’ve got all my sock yarn for Sock Madness collected.

This is the new stuff I ordered because I didn’t have any sport weight varigated in my stash (that wasn’t acrylic) and because I didn’t have any solids and varigateds that went together.  Left to right is Knitpicks Palette in Mist, Memories in Redwood Forest, Essential in Black, Memories in Smores, and Lisa Souza Super Sport (it’s superwash merino!) in Mars Quake.  I’m using some of my solids and varigateds from the stash but I’ll figure out what I want to use when I get the patterns. 

Went to talk to the surgeon this morning…. I’m getting my wisdom teeth out the morning after my last exam.  I’m leaving in a few minutes to go get a shot too!  What a fun morning!  Then I’m going to lunch with grandma and we’re going to go explore the yarn store in Cuyahoga Falls.  I’m LnV swap shopping.  I’ve never been there before so I’ll let you know how that goes.

It was decided last weekend that I CANNOT buy any more yarn/fiber because I have to much.  I told myself I needed to get all the stuff I owned into my bins… nothing can be purchased unless it will fit into a bin.  Of course I said that I can’t buy, but I can still go get things for other people since I did sign up for some swaps.  And people who ended up with my name for a swap are more than welcome to send fiber things my way.    This includes fiber fests… I won’t be allowed to go unless there is room for stuff to be brought home… because I know I can’t just go to look.

Sock Yarn hat.

Pattern:  cast on a lot!  I think my total was somewhere around 136.  Do some ribbing, knit straight until piece measures 4.5 inches, decrease for another 3 inches.  ta da!  HAT!

Yarn:  I used the Palette from knitpicks in colors Red, Blush, Petal, and White.  Basically any fingering weight sock yarn would work.  I used the Knitpicks size 2 circular needles.

LnV swap survey

1. What kind of fibers do you prefer?
Prefer the wools. I won’t turn down any natural fibers though.

2. What kind of weight do you prefer (sock, worsted, bulky)?
Sock and lace weight are the favorites right now.

3. Do you spin?
Obsessively. Now I knit to take breaks from spinning.

4. Do you crochet?
Yes, but I only really crochet afghans and doilies.

5. Are there any books, patterns, magazines would you like to own that you don’t?
Loads. They’re all on my kaboodle list so you can check there.

6. Are you participating in any themed a-longs like the Project Spectrum?
Nope

7. Do you have a wishlist on Amazon.com or Half.com? (provide a link)
I have 3 wishlists on kaboodle… I had to make more than one cause the knitting stuff one got too long. http://www.kaboodle.com/kraftie That link takes you to my profile! I like to randomly add yarn and other things when I get bored.

8. Any Etsy stores that you would love to get something from?
pigeonroofstudios has amazing fiber… but everyone knows that.

9. What other crafty things are you involved in (quilting, drawing, painting)?
Nothing… just fiber arts obsessed.

10. What is your favorite sort of scent?
I like lots of different stuff. I’m not a big fan of flowery scents though.

11. Do you have a sweet tooth and what kind of sweets do you like best?
Sugar is good. I like all things with sugar.

12. What kind of music do you like?
Country mostly.

13. What do you like to knit? And for whom?
I’m sock obsessed… I try not to do much for others anymore though.

14. What sort of things do you like to collect?
I don’t really collect anything but yarn. Lol.

15. Do you want needles? And what kind do you prefer?
I’m a bit obsessed with KnitPicks needles lately. I have no real need for needles at the moment though.