Friday, May 25, 2007

Webs Tent Sale stash

OK - a quick report on the Webs tent sale!

I went, it was fun, and I spent more money than I meant to.
Doesn't that sound familiar?

I bought:
1 bag of Lavold Angora in black to go with 9 skeins of vared colors in some scarves.
and
2 bags of Debbie Bliss Cathay to make myself a lacey summer sweater.

I've been looking for the Perfect Lacey Summer Cardigan for several years now.
I'm thinking that eventually (soon) I should give up looking and just design it.
Since I know what I want better than anyone else...

I also bought:
1 skein of Orangey yarn for a tiger hat for Miss Hannah
1 skein of a new Kureyon color and 1 skein Cascade 200 in dark grey to make a hat
and
a really cool Lexie Barnes bag to hold a small project.
Nice Day of the Dead type design, Lexie!
We met Lexie at Stitches East because her young son made frequent visits to our Peace Weavers booth to see the puppets...

And I also bought LOTS of Kureyon for my Lizard Ridge...
I didn't take a photo of all of it, just one of each skein:

Miss H got a pattern book and yarn to knit a cardigan in dark blue merino.
I hope the dark color won't make her crazy.
This would be her second started sweater and potentially her first completed sweater!

And now I will STOP BUYING YARN for a while.

I'll let you know how that works out...

Lizard Ridging!


I have been lured into the Lizard Ridge project... and now that all the hulabaloo for MS&W is over, I have started knitting squares.


I haven't knit with Kureyon before. I knitted a bias scarf with Silk Garden a few years ago, and I have some Kureyon garments on my wish list, but this is my first Kureyon project.
Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a before and after blocking square:Knitting these squares is a little like eating popcorn - I want to knit one more ridge, one more square - just to see how the colors come out.

This last square came out orange and green and ugly on it's first incarnation, so I frogged it and chose the colors on the next try, avoiding the orangey-green parts altogether. And the second try is so prismatic!


So I'm viewing this as an exercise in trying to use colors I wouldn't normally choose, and in learning how to use a ball of Kureyon effectively. There is a good amount of yarn left after knitting one square and I'm tempted to weigh my leftovers and remove this amount before starting the next square, because it would give more contrast, especially at the beginning.

I'm sure you'll be seeing more of these later!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

True Confessions

We had a great weekend at Maryland Sheep & Wool! We sold more yarn & puppets on Saturday than we've sold in an entire weekend before. We were really busy and very tired at the end of the day.

I was so busy I didn't take any pictures! And I only bought a few things. I wanted to get two skeins of Brooks Farm Duet to knit a Wool Peddler's Shawl from the Folk Shawls book. Last year I went to look at their yarns for the first time, but I was so tired I just couldn't decide on a colorway. It was still a challenge to choose just one, but I plunged in and got the job done. It's hard to go wrong with blue in my wardrobe!



I also got a new spindle from Bill Hardy, whose wife Celeste I know from the Waterford Weavers Guild. It's just lovely. I haven't had a chance to spin on it yet, but I will soon.
And I bought a wee skein of Claudia Handpaint from our booth neighbors at Cloverhill Yarns. I just love the colorway, and I went back to my booth and picked out a coordinating color of Fleece Artist Sea Wool to go with it. And, OK, I ordered some Tye-Dye yarn to make the cute little top that is in the ads this spring & summer. But that will come later.

Here are the real confessions: I did a little online shopping last week, on the strength of our successful show. I felt like I deserved a few rewards... so I ordered some black & off-white sock yarn to complete the stash for my Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks. (These are going to be for me!)



Then I went over to Two Swans and ordered the last ball of Kidsilk Haze that I needed for another project. I've been eyeing the Glade sweater in Rowan #40 since last September. There's something about the color and the stitch pattern - I just love this sweater. But it's a hefty investment in Rowan yarn, and upon further consideration, I realized that it wouldn't really fit into my wardrobe - I probably wouldn't really wear it. So I decided to knit a scarf using those yarns and that stitch pattern. I managed to collect 5 of the yarns from my spring travels - some from Yarntiques in Johnson City, TN and the rest from Ewe Knit Kits in Virginia Beach, but there was one more color of KSH.

I remembered that Two Swans was a Rowan stockist (that sounds so posh!) so I went to her website and found what I needed... and I found some Sakatieli that I didn't need but that I suddenly really wanted. I was going to buy two skeins until I had a look at the Ilga's sock pattern (Nancy Bush, Favorite Socks)and decided, what the heck, I just made some money - and I bought 7 skeins. It is just gorgeous. I love it. It is going to make some wonderful, special socks. Isn't it beautiful?

And then I ordered some Lanaset dye from ProChem. We used this dye at the guild dye day a few weeks ago and I lurve it. Especially how well it takes up and how little rinsing is required. So there is a project for the summer... I have a bag full of undyed yarns, longing for some color...

And that's all. No more yarn purchases until I get some FO action and unload some more old stash! Although my trip to Northampton this weekend just happens to coincide with the WEBS tent sale...