I love my packages! It's like xmas over and over!

Look what was waiting for me when I got home yesterday! The 3rd shipment of Blue Moon Fiber arts Rockin Sock Club:



The skein is more purple then blue but for some reason I can't capture that purple color with my camera. I tried natural sunlight, flash, no flash and ott light but they turn out looking blue. Very odd!

I love this shipment! I love Yarnissima's patterns so this is definitely a must-do but I told myself I wouldn't start until I finish Leafling! And I am also out of extra US 1 needles so I have no choice but to finish some wip's to free up a US 1.

The shipment consisted of:
1 Pattern by Yarnissima - Cleopatra Socks
1 STR Lightweight in The Incredible Shrinking Violet
1 Luggage Tag and holder
1 mini-skein

Yesterday was definitely a good day in terms of packages. I also received a shipment from GudonyaToo. I had requested a special order of SmOOchy skin bars in Spa Fusion, Be Delicious, Tahitian Vanilla and Island Coconut! I really loved the vanilla and coconut so I order some of the whipped clean in both. I am so glad Loopy Ewe talked about them in her blog! That SmOOchy skin bars are amazing! I'm not too sure about the exfoliating properties (it is a little rough) but boy o boy....it sure does leave my skin very soft and I don't have to put on body lotion after I shower!! The thing I always hated about body lotion is that it seemed to take forever to completely dry but now my skin is soft and completely dry so I can get dressed right away!

And now I'm off to go check out Amazon's friday sale. Sometimes they have to some really amazing deals like last week's Martini glasses for $20!

Diamonds & Pearls...Oh my!!

I finished blocking my diamonds & pearl shawl on saturday night and I took some quick pictures before I wrapped it up and gave it to my mom on Sunday for a belated mom's day present.

Excuse the mess in my mom's bathroom. I took a picture after she unwrapped it but she didn't want to be my model so I had to the do the bathroom mirror shot. The shawl was a nice shoulder shawl size. Perfect for summer when you need a light wrap around your shoulders.


Here's a few shots on the blocking board:




I definitely will be knitting another one for myself! This was a super fast knit that can be completed in one weekend!

Drowning in WIPs!!

I went a little crazy during the month of May and I blame Ravelry!! Too many KAL and too many people posting pics of their gorgeous socks and shawls! Last night, I was trying to decide which project to work on and I realized that I was pulling too many wips out of my knitting bin!! Here is the list:

Leafling in STR mediumweight Lucky:

I wanted to finish before I received the next sock club shipment but I don't think there is any chance of that! But I do have to say that I am enjoying knitting with the mediumweight yarn! I always thought lightweight was the way to go but now I'm not too sure!

Cedar Creek in STR lightweight Knitters without Borders:

I frogged this yarn so many times since I couldn't decide on the pattern. I loved the striping look as seen in JustJen's socks and weebug's socks so I was doing just a simple ribbed socks but it looked too plain so I frogged that. Then I was going to do Cat's Master Coriolis but I guess I measured my foot wrong and it was huge so I frogged that a couple of times and then I saw the STR KAL for Cedar Creeks and started that. Then it started pooling but I kinda like it so I am chugging on.

Another Django on Mama E's C*eye*ber Saffron for my friend's Jeong's upcoming b-day:

I do enjoy this pattern! It does go fast and it looks so nice! I just wish I could do this 2 on 1 circ but I have no idea how to move the stitches from needle to needle without having to take one sock off the needles.

Diamond and Pearls shawl in The Plucky Knitter sportweight MCN in Josephine as a belated mother's day gift:

This is done and it is one definitely fast knit. It just looks so much smaller then I had pictured. I still have to block it so I probably will try to really stretch it out!!

Eunny's Print O' The Wave in Malabrigo Lace Bobby Blue:
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I picked this one back up since I was in a lace mood and now I just want to finish it so bad since I only have 3 more pattern repeats and the edging to do.

My head feels so cluttered right now with all these WIPs whining at me. Ugh...I need a flirtini! Speaking of which, I picked up some martini glasses on Amazon.com for $20 last friday and just received then. They are even better looking then pictured! An amazing deal for $20 and free shipping! Now they are back to $40.

I just need to get some vodka, etc to celebrate the start of the memorial day holiday weekend!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!!

More packages today! Yay!

YarnAddict Yarn's Lace Variety Club May shipment:

800 yards (110gr) of Luscious Lace (55% silk/ 45% cashmere). This yarn is seriously yummy! I think this is my favorite new lace yarn.
Celebrations Shawl - looks simple and lovely!
Black tote bag (you can never have too many bags!)
I am so glad that I signed up for this club! It was a great price for 3 shipments of luxury lace yarn & pattern!

The color is more pink then shown in the picture. Here is a better picture of the color.


And I also received the May shipment of Whimzy Pimzy's Cotton Sock Yarn club. Bamboo cotton yarn in colorway - Herbal Garden Reflection Pond. The color is brighter then shown. The flash washed it out a bit. Either I need a better camera or a lesson on how to accurately capture colors in my photos!


Now I need to finish up some ufo's before I can touch these! I am dying to start my silk/cashmere lace shawl. :(

Updates....updates!

Ya...been slacking a bit so here is everything that has happened in the past 2 weeks lumped into one entry!

MD Sheep and Wool festival was amazing! I went on Sunday (5/4/08) and there were so many vendors and so much to buy! Too bad I was on a yarn diet and had to limit myself....it was so hard to do! Is this guy cute or what!

I'll post a pic of my purchases when I get a chance. I finally bought some sheldrige farms sock yarn and found tilli thomas yarn at a huge discount. Voile de la Mer for $10 a skein and beaded lace for $15 a skein. They didn't have much left at those prices on Sunday. I also picked up a pretty lace scarf kit from the Unique Sheep.

Finished Django by Cookie A (Mama Blue's Sea Merino in color Sky) at the end of April but haven't posted pics until now. My favorite socks so far. They fit great! I only did 2 repeats on the cuff.


This color is a bit muted in this picture. The above picture is more accurate of the color.


Received the second shipment of the Seven Deadly S(p)ins club.

Wrath vs Peace

Contents:
1 skein of The Unique Sheep Pima Petite in color Peace
Pattern - Sheepy washcloth & soap sack by Sarah Wilson
Chocolate sheep
2 tea bags
Sheep stitch marker
Peace of Mind - milk & honey soap
Candle
3 mini sheep soaps
Mineral bath salts

Wooly Woolgirl Club!

Nice surprise from Jen of woolgirl.com. Seven purchases and you become a member of her wooly woolgirl club. What an awesome package!

Woo hoo! Camp Crows Feet!!

Yup....it happened....I got behind on my blogging. I figured I could do at least 1 post a week but its been a few weeks since my last post. :(

But.....Woo hoo! Camp Crows Feet was awesome!! (Camp Crows Feet is Blue Moon Fibers 2008 knitting retreat for the Rockin Sock Club members) I just wish I took more pictures. Like always I take my camera and never take it out to take pictures!

Of course I had to take home some souvenirs of camp and what could be better then more yarn!!


Here's a shot of the Knotorius Knitters Express bus that picked us up at the Sea-Tac airport. MJ....you are awesome!! You can see Frieda and the backside of Carla. :P


One of the views from the Rosario Resort:


Attack of the Monkeys!!


The snowy ride to the ferry. Who would have thunk it that it would snow on the way home!!


I definitely would like to go again next year but I would probably plan things a little different. I would probably fly in the weekend before and join the pre-camp yarn crawl or just fly in that weekend so that first day isn't so hectic and tiring. I woke up at 3am edt on Monday to catch my 6am flight and didn't go to bed until 11pm pst. That was a long day!!

Django - Cookie A is a genius!

I started Django this past Tuesday and it is going pretty good. The pattern is easy to follow and I am loving the feel of Mama Blue's Sea Merino.

I wanted to do 2 socks via magic loop but when I looked at the pattern, there are 2 rows where you have to shift 2 stitches and then back and I can't figure out how to do that via magic loop when you have 2 socks on it. In the past, I've had to physically move one sock off the circ, move the stitches and then move the sock back on the circ.....a major pain in the butt! So I decided just to do one sock at a time on magic loop. I've done one cuff and little over 1 pattern repeat. I am very pleased so far!!

Gluttony is good to go!

Finally finished the 2nd Gluttony sock and I love them! The colors are much brighter in person....my flash washed out the color a bit. I really enjoyed knitting with the Verve yarn and ordered 3 more skeins from Woolgirl for my stash. Then I found out that The Unique Sheep sold it undyed on their website and I bought a few skeins of undyed for my next dying project.

I'm hoping that I have enough yarn left over to do bi-colored anklets next.

Rockin Sock Club

Just as an update to my blog....here are the first 2 kits for Blue Moon Fiber's Rockin' Sock Club 2008.

Kit #1 - Serendipity pattern - Dragon Dance Lightweight sock yarn:


And the finished socks:



I had enough yarn left over for little anklets:



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Kit #2 Leafling Sock pattern - Lucky Mediumweight sock yarn (hope to get these done during sock camp!)

Year of Lace - Kit #1

I received this at the end of March and my first impression was......I love it! Great orange-red color and very pretty pattern by Sivia Harding who I adore!

Then I read about the yarn issues on ravelry and I started getting worried. I wasn't ready to start the shawl yet but I went ahead and wound my skein up on Monday to see if I was having the same issue with multiple breaks and the color rubbing off.

I have 3 breaks....1 looks like it was there during the dyeing process (you can see the white of the yarn where the dye didn't touch) and 2 look like they were knotted after the dyeing process.

The 3 knots wouldn't have been a big deal but the color rubbed off on everything it touched. I was wearing a white shirt and somehow managed to rub the skein again me so I ended up have orange marks on my shirt. I wore latex gloves to do the winding since I like to use my hand to guide the yarn into the winder and that glove was a mess! I should have taken a picture before I threw it out but I was worried about more dye stuff getting on the kitchen table and table so I threw it out as soon as I was done! I ended up with orange smear marks on the kitchen hard wood floors but I was able to get it out with soap and water. The table luckily is glass and wiped clean. The white shirt is a no go....I tossed it in the washer and it still has orange marks.

Needless to say, I will not be knitting with this skein....I won't have the dye constantly rubbing off on everything it touches or I touch with my dye covered hands. I've already emailed the YOL group and requested a replacement skein.

The odd part is that I have about 10 skeins of Claudia Silk Lace and I have not had a problem with any of them. Their yarn is beautiful with a nice glossy shine and it is wonderful to knit. It appears that the YOL order of 200+ skeins probably threw off their dying process and some of the dye jobs got screwed up. I've heard that some people do have good skeins which has none of these problems.

Mondays aren't so bad after all!!

Look what I got in the mail! :) I really love the mailman when he brings me such packages.

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Yarn from Mama Blue (http://mamablue.etsy.com):

Blue faced leicester sock yarn in Ruby (I've never knit with BFL but I heard that it is the poor man's cashmere so I thought I would give it a try):


Sea merino sock yarn in Girl:


Sea merino sock yarn in Sky:


Simple merino sock yarn in Preserves:


Simple merino sock yarn in Talula:


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Miss Babs is having a sale on her website (www.missbabs.com) and I couldn't resist ordering a few:

Yummy fingering sock yarn in Pouty:


Yummy fingering sock yarn in Bluegrass:


Yummy fingering sock yarn in Evelyn:


Yummy fingering sock yarn in Lola:

Monkey is off my back!!

My monkey is done and I love it!! I definitely will do this pattern again but I will probably do the no purl monkey next time.