Yarn: The shop hop pRon

So you want to see my yarn do ya? Well, as promised, photo'd and flickr'd.



They are from left to right, top to bottom...
1. Dream In Color, Prism, Schaefer, Handspun Alpaca
2. Koigu, Pagewood Farms, Kollage, Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets
3. First 2 Araucania, and last 2 Hazel Knits (part of my sock club that arrived while I was away)

As you can see, I'm still drawn to all those greens and blues with a smattering of purples and pinks thrown in. I can't wait to get some stuff finished so I can cast on with some of these lovelies!

Knitting: Back to Camp

I have been away again at the annual Knit Cam0, held at the lovely Camp Kon-O-Kwee. Sister Sarah and I shared a room with another lady named Linda (she was a newbie this year). As this has become an annual trip, I leave a day before and we shop till we drop. This year was no different.

Left on Thursday and arrived around 1:30 PM. Met up at Eat 'n Park, had some lunch and Sarah drove from there. We headed into town (east side) and hit up Knit One first. Now before I get into the yarny story, let me tell ya 'bout the snow and the parking. Knit One is located in an artsy district similar to Short North for you Columbus folks. However unlike our very FLAT high street it is on a hill, narrow street with parking on both sides and only one lane of traffic each way and NO turning lanes (unlike our High St.). Moving on to the SNOW.... Pburgh received about 2-3 feet more than we did a coupla weeks ago. Consequently, the normal street parking was not really available on the main drag. There were a few people that slightly dug out a few spots in front of their houses, but the shops didn't do that. So there was another big hill that we went up and then came back down. Found a dug out spot that was unoccupied, sorta kind dug out that is. Sarah backed into it, backing UP HILL and then tried to correct and got herself a little stuck.

She promised NOT to run me over, so I got in front of the car (PS, was in the front seat, had to crawl to the back seat to exit the driver side) and I pushed, she backed, I slipped and down to my knees in the wet slushy snow I went. Was ok, not hurt too bad, no biggie but wet jeans (ew) and hit the bad knee - small bruise.

Finally made it to shop, looked around a bit and I ended up with Koigu a lovely color that LOOKS like Starry Night (to me). I also found a lovely yarn by Shaefer Co which is the color I have coveted for YEARS. It's called Gertrude Ederle. It's fabulous shades of purple, blue, grean and dark pink. I LOVE it... and so happy I found. It's a merino/silk blend fingering weight, so not sure if it will be socks, gloves or some other fabulousness.

Oh and I grabbed a few skeins of a novelty type yarn to make a scarf for Joy. She pointed one out to me a couple of weeks ago in Toledo, but I can't find that yarn, so I think this one will do.
Here is the yarn (wrong color) and the scarf (color she wants)



After that purchase, for which I received 10% from the kind owner, even though I forgot my coupon, we headed to Natural Stitches. LOVE this place. They have such a huge selection of fabulous yarn and a bunch was on sale!

I bought a lot, including the newer wire sock blockers. I picked up a hand dyed sock blank, some Pagewood Farms Denali in a pretty impressionist style color way, I think it's called Lavender fields. I picked up a skein of this brand last year and LOVE it... so I added more. They had the Arucania on sale 40% off, picked up 2 skeins, one green and one pink. And then in the super bargain sale, a cotton/nylon blend of fingering weight for $3/skein, bought 2 for future socks. I think that was all... but Sarah and I combo'd our order because if you hit a $100 you get a nice canvas bag... and you all know how I love bags... so now I have another bag...yay! And I also have some customer rewards points, so I get 10% off my next purchase and it expires in May, so now I have an excuse to go back. LOL.

After that we hit up Trader Joe's because it's in the same plaza for camp snacks and goodies. While there I noticed they had a selection of hand made enchiladas, that I'm hoping our local stores carry. Really want to try.

Then to dinner and back to Sarah's. Finally got a little bit of knitting time in and then to bed. Next morning, we headed to Sewickley, PA for Yarns Unlimited. Picked up a couple of skeins (can't remember now), Audra gave me her coupon because she wasn't buying anything so I received 10% there, too. WOOT!

Finally we were headed towards Camp.... that's all I have time for now, so details and photos to come. Hopefully later today or tomorrow if I'm ambitious!

Knitting: An olympian is born

This year I decided on several projects to knit while the Olympics were on. This year, they started on my birthday which ended up being a bad thing. As knitters everywhere were gearing up to cast on with the ceremonies and lighting of the torch, I had other plans. Good plans, but plans, none the less. So I did cast on a little later and as it was late and I had several glasses of birthday wine... I didn't knit too much. Simple 2x2 ribbing.

Then the majority of the weekend that followed was BUSY. I had a long drive back home, plans with a friend (Rodeo) and a bit of shopping. So I didn't get much knitting time in, or Olympic time. By Sunday evening, I did get settled in though and worked more on my project and even got to watch some great athletes, finally!

The Men's Moguls was an exciting event. And the figure skaters were good and bad and I'm really wondering what the heck the judges are smoking because they gave some people too high of marks and others too low. It's really random and odd.

Anyway, my Winter Twilight Mitts are coming along nicely although I'd hoped to be done with at least ONE by now because I still have to make a second one. Anyway for your viewing pleasure here is the MIP (mitt in progress) from the inside and outside. Normally I wouldn't show inside pics, but stranded colorwork is so pretty on the inside.

Book Review: Joy of Sox

A few weeks ago, I happened upon this book at Cath's house. I think I might have seen it online, but didn't pay attention to it. Anyway, after a quick perusal (is that a word?)... I thought it would be a good purchase.

So, with the book sale at KP, I decided to get it last week. I REALLY like a lot of the patterns in it. And there are tons of tips and of course different techniques, dpns, 2 circs, magic loop etc.

Another great thing about this book is; it's not just one persons design, it's a collection of different designers. So, you get a really great variety and many styles of patterns. Lace, cable, colorwork, thigh-his (REALLY!) and knee socks, anklets, even a pair of pedi socks. There are great photos, showing many angles of the socks, etc.

Now, I have not yet knit anything from the book, so I don't know how the patterns are written. Although, they do give both written and charted instructions. They also feature different toes and heels as well as doing toe up and cuff down depending on the pattern. Did I mention the tips??? Well yes, there are a ton, from different designers, knitters and fiber junkies. There are also a bunch of percentages, like X% of sock knitters do xxxx. Type of thing, so it's a fun read as well.

For me, the BIGGEST drawback to this book is some of the photos. I think they are meant to be sexy or intimate photos and many are of a man and woman. The woman is wearing the socks and the man is bare foot. Well there is nothing I like less than a freakin' bare foot....ewww!!! So it's really a distraction and a bit annoying. But so far that is the biggest drawback for me. One thing to mention though; he isn't in EVERY photo, but many.

All in all, if you like socks and books, I totally recommend the Joy of Sox.

ETA: oh and one more thing... it's a hard cove, but spiral bound book. LOVE that!!! So much easier to knit and fold and work from!

Knitting: It's a wrap x 2

That title will make more sense in a moment, I promise.

I had a bad week yesterday, it was pretty much all work, so by Tuesday morning... I decided it would be a GOOD thing to take off Thursday, then have my usual Friday off as well. Wednesday was actually not bad and I thought, maybe just maybe I'll go in to work... ahhahahaaaa. I didn't.

I did do some errands which included a quick run to Yarn Market. I had a much more pleasant time this time around. I was actually left alone to look around and mill about the warehouse. There was a fantastic gal that chatted with me while she was "picking" other orders and she was really helpful. Anyway, my main point in going was to get some kollage square DPN's. Which I did get. And... I also picked up a skein of really pretty indie dyed yarn.

After getting home, I started a new project. A Wrap called Twin Leaves. I did finish that on Friday. I blocked and put one heck of a long seam in it.



And onto the 2nd wrap (see I promised)... I decided on a pattern to use yarn from the Hazel Knits Sock yarn club. The colorway is called "It's a Wrap" and it is a multicolored blue, red, green colorway. Wendee based it off of a piece of vintage christmas wrap. It's a pretty yarn, but I just always wondered what I would make with it... so I found a sock pattern called "Paisley Socks" and that is what I cast on for on Sunday. It's also part of the SKA February challenge.

As for this week, just gearing up for Ravelympics to start on Friday and I can finally get to work on those darn Winter Twilight mitts!

Knitting: Why yes, it IS another new project

I decided to take a BOM class in hopes of actually being on point to finish an afghan. It's hosted/taught by Michelle at Temptations. It's sort of a beginner type of class, kind of going over the basics, pattern reading, guague, etc. My main reason for taking the "class" is because I thought it might force me to actually work on a block once a month and in a year, I'll have a fantastic afghan.

I've learned over the past few years, I don't always have the sticktoitiveness to get things done. I've started several blocks through different KALs and guess what, none of them are finished. So I'm hoping this will be my fresh start. Anyway, the pattern is pretty simple, just comination knit and purls to make a nice texture pattern. Each block will have a seed stitch border and we are also doing a crochet cast on and a specific bind off for each block for consistancy.

I did a total of 2 repeats last night and have about 10 more to do, depending on measurments. Shouldn't take long and it's definitely a relaxing knit.



The picture isn't great because I have it squished on to DPN's, but I couldn't find my 10" US7 and that being said, I may opt to go down to a 6 anyway. We'll see. Need to find more of my needles at home, perhaps that is the project I will work on tonight.