A Yarn Day

Today a friend of mine and I headed out the to DC Knit Out & Crochet. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it would have been if I took the time to read the brochure they gave us. It turnes out we could have spent several more hours there (instead of the 45 minutes that we did) and have gotten more goodies if we read the brochure. We both know how to knit and crochet, but if we did "learn to..." lessons for either we would have gotten a goody. I was very upset that there was a scarf contest that they completely failed to mention online, so I didn't take one. Then we tried to find a nearby yarn store with no such luck. Apparently the lady at the event had no idea how to get to her own store. So on the way back to where we started after we made a giant circle we stopped to have a potty break, and I got a nosebleed. so I had to walk around DC holding a tissue to my nose, while squeezing to try and stop it. With yarn shopping already in mine we headed to AC Moore. As we walked in there was a sign advertising that they need seasonal help. So as we shopped I filled one out.

Well as she paid for her new yarn, the lack of a job has run out my yarn funding so I didn't get anything, I turned in the application and asked to meet the manager. He saw I was willing to work full time and .....



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Hired me as the new full-time (and not just seasonal) Wedding & Candle Department Merchandiser!!! From what he said apparently I will kinda be like the department manager. I will stock, order inventory, help customers, and more. The schedule is perfect! The pay is perfect! The discount will be amazing!!! I start tomorrow. I have to be in at 9 to fill out paperwork and such. On the way I have to stop and buy a lock for my locker, and some nasal spray for allergies. I'm nervous. I feel like I will be expected to know something I don't, or they will just expect me to know and walk off and leave me to "my" department. I know it's stupid. But if I wasn't nervous I'd be like unhuman, so I have to nervous about something!


On a different note I got another wonderful package from my secret pal! It arrived yesterday, I think it was yesterday this whole allergy/sinus/cold? thing has me to out of it to really tell. Here's a picture:
It had a great book on freeform crochet, with pattern for the motifs, and a few patterns for finished items. I can't wait to try it!!!! I have been wanting to try freeform.

A pattern for felted slippers. It's one of the great fiber trend patterns she sends, in a plastic sleeve, with a full color picture (a real picture) of the finished project

Some Harry Potter Acid Pops. Lollipops that are kinda sizzly at first in an apple flavor. They are great!

A Brittany crochet hook! it's so beautiful I was comtemplating framing it to hang on the wall instead of actually using it

3 skiens of Alpaca Cloud from Knit picks in Tidepool, and!! It managed to be the same dyelot as the ones I bought! I was worried I might run out when I start my shawl, but I know 8 skiens will be enough! I had a bit of a balling party last night, so while I was at it I balled these too.

2 skiens of Knitpick Sock Garden yarn in Pansy, a great combo of yellow, purple, black, and fuschia.

And 2 skiens of Moda Dea "Ricochet" yarn in a great reds/oranges combo.

I think that's everything. I had scattered the package a bit through the house, but I think I regathered everything for the photo. (added later-) I just realized that I also got a pair of circular bamboo takumi knitting needles that didn't make it in the picture! Thanks pal!


Oh and just for kicks here's a picture of my yarn cabinet. I have outgrown this one, I think I'll be putting a bigger cabinet on the shopping list now that I'm working again. There was a great cabinet with fold down doors at Bj's for $100. It came with 12 fancy scrapbooks that I wouldn't use, but man the cabinet was nice! I have all this, plus boxes and boxes that my Mom gave me (picture still to come) and ton of balls I wound laying all over the downstairs bookcase, and a few more scattered in various bags from the store lol. Can you tell looking at it that I love blue and greens?

While I was on vaction my mom loaned me her large assortment of knitting needles. Their nothing fancy, just regular metal needles ( and a small few of plasic ones) we figured right now I'm working with yarn and she's quilting instead. There's no point in me paying $4+ for needles when she has a ton she isn't using. If she ever needs them then I'll give them back, because by then I'll probably have a good stash of fancier ones. I also got a stack of various fiber arts books. Crochet, knitting, weaving, etc. Nothing like shopping at Mom's lol.


Well I am off to bed. I want to read a little and still be in bed early to be ready for tomorrow.

Vacation

I didn't post about it, because I didn't think it was a good idea to announce our house would be empty, but we went on vacation this week. We went to South Carolina where we grew up to see my family, and our old friends. We went to Alcolu, a town so small even people a county over may not have heard of it. There wasn't alot to see or do. Mostly we ate at restuarants that we don't have locally. I took three pictures, though I did mean to take more. I took a picture of a restaurant menu, and two pictures of my old friend. He was the Man of Honor at our wedding. Meaning that he was my maid of honor, and my only "bridesmaid." We also found out that after years of common law marriage (wether they knew it or not they were) my uncle and his girlfriend got married today. We were already home by that point, but unless something happened they are married right now. They don't need anything, but I am crocheting them some dishclothes anyway.

I got to see the kids my mom is a nanny for, and my old girls Abby, and Victoria. Who I forgot my camera and couldn't get pictures off. They have a rather complicated story that I won't post, but we (my mom and I) used to be a nanny to them, (mostly Abby cause she was young, and Victoria occasionally after school) and man did I love that girl (Abby since I rarely saw Victoria) We watched her from 9 months to like 2 years, seeing her pretty much every day. She was my girl. Then because of some very stupid reasons, and one crazy woman, we didn't watch them anymore. I haven't seen her since, until this Wednesday. She 4 now. Tall and thin as ever. Abby broke my heart, and didn't want me to leave. I am planning on creating little care packages for them (Abby and Victoria) occasionally (like once a month or so) with little stickers, fake tattoos, candy, that sorta stuff, just to let me know i'm thinking about them.

Anyway dinner should be ready any second now, so I'm going to post a picture of Chris. My Man of Honor. He says if he ever gets married I have to return the favor and be his "Best Lady"



Chris if your crappy internet stays connected long enough for you to view my page, I want you to know I love you. It means so much to me to know that you are the only one that kept in touch with me after I left school, and the only person who really seemed to care when I did. Sometimes when I think about how big the posse was when I was in school, and I realize that now I only talk to you (and not nearly as much as I should) I get upset, then I say "well atleast I still have Chris."


Oh an before I forgot, my best friend from highschool is getting married in December. I doubt she'll read this (we haven't spoken for probably six years, we lost touch after I left school), but I wish her the very very best. She never knew how envious of her I always was.

Sooooooo much to say:

I didn't realize it's been several days since I updated this. I've been so engrossed in stuff that I totally lost track of time. Wanna know what I've been engrossed in? Here's a rundown:

Spinning- I'm on my 5th cheese of pencil roving for my aunts throw. I also brought out my spindle for some handdyed (by me) roving last night.

Crocheting- I started the throw, and have about 5 or 6 rows. I'm just doing a big rectangle slightly larger then 50x60" (I'm just measuring it against a throw that I have) so far I have about 4 of the 60". I'm also making a Puff n stuff scarf to swap with the matching hat for a necklace from a fellow indie. And I finished, except for the edging I need to pull out and just without a scarf for a scarf swap.

Knitting- I practiced a bit, with different yarns to find the right one two try, and am now working on a scarf. I'm using some neat colored mill-end Lion Brand Homespun to make Nick a scarf.

Harry Potter- I'm now on book 5, and have another gameboy game- The Quidditch World Cup, which I also have on PC but it is so much easier on my gameboy.

Yarn buying- Lots of new yarns here. My Knitpicks order came today, and I spent some time on Saturday at AC Moore (Yes, Mom I got you a pack of quilling paper) .

Digital Scrapbooking- I recently heard more about digital scrapbooking, and decided I had to try it, not with the intention of actually doing it, but I must try everything once. I LOVED it right away. I was useing a free trial program, but Saturday we went to Curcuit City and I ended up with a brand new drawing tablet which came with the program I wanted. I love my drawing tablet!!!!! And I've been scrapbooking up a storm since I got it.

Dyeing- Remember all that plain roving? Well some of it is no longer plain. I spent a lot of time yesterday in the kitchen with some kool-aid and wet roving. I ended up with some great stuff! I did the method which makes it vareigated, and then have been redyeing each set with a complimentory color to help fill it in more. So red with a pinkish color. Pink lemonade with regular lemonade.

Here's enough photos to slow even the fastest internet-
Red roving. Cherry overdyed with strawberry kiwi.

I read that an once of roving is about feet long, so I did 3 arm lengths, I haven't weighed it but it should be a little over and once worth. I used this "meaure" for all the dyed roving.


I hope thes epictures don't disclose me to my secret pal. I'll be sending her some, so if she sees these pictures she'll know who I am, but I just have to share!



And some yarn spun from it:
This is just about a yard of roving. Most of my dyes I did the 3 arms length and just a yard or so sample length.











Blue Roving- from Berry Blue. I haven't overdyed it yet, but and going to use Ice Blue to do it.
















I just LOVe this roving. Pink Lemonade followed by a regular lemonade overdye. Just dreamy. I need to come up with a neat name for it.












This cotton turned out a dreamy color using just orange koolaid, in teh microwave, with no overdye, but the cotton didn't take to dyeing very well. It's a useless lump. The color is incredible though! But notice all the dye on the papertowels :(

The blue and red roving I used the stovetop, the lemonade and orange I used the microwave. I prefer the stovetop method now that I've tried both. It takes a little longer, but the colors seem more colorfast. When I rinsed the stovetop ones hardly any dye came out, the microwave ones had alot come out. The stovetop method is a better do it and walk away method.

This has been done forever, but I don't think i ever shared it. I was going to leave it as singles, but now that I have a ballwinder I might ball it, then spin both ends to ply. I think it'll be stronger that way. By the way it's much prettier then in the picture








This has been done since the weekend my parents came, but I don't remember sharing it before. It's the Dinner Mints roving. Beautiful stuff this yarn!










Here is a bunch of my spun (and plyed) pencil roving yarn just stacking up on the bookshelf. I've used about 2 balls so far. and I still have 2.5 cheeses to spin. I hope I ordered enough roving!

Notice the recycled silk yarn awaiting the ball winder.







Here's a picture of the throw so far. Not much to see really. It looks more like a belt then a throw. But it is working up fairly quickly.
























The ugly shawl is finished except weaving in the ends, and I may do like a shell edging or something. Wonder why it's called the ugly shawl? Here's a close-up of the yarn. In all actually though I really love it! I don't think it's as ugly as when I started.




















The Puff n Stuff scarf is just a few rows of puff stitches at the ends and single crochets for the body. It's abotu 4 inches wide. I think I'm about 1/3 done.










Here's a close-up to show the pattern. I hope it isn't as dark as it suddenly looks.












Sick of pictures yet? To bad I still have TONS more! About 8 or so to go.

The knitted scarf in progress. I'm just making every row with knit stitches. then I'm going to make a scarf using nothing but purl stitches. To help me get better at each one before combinding them.














Here's a closeup of the scarf so far.













The pattern of the yarn I'm using is just amazing. I wanted to share it. It looks like the scarf will be heading towards a blue patch.











Here's the scarf i'm doing for the scarf exchange. It's the curly scarf on the cover of the current Interweave Knits Crochet issue. Fun to make and only 4 rows. The yarn is kinda vintage and I ran out before i had enough to do the edging. I'm debating using a different yarn, or letting it go without. Have I ever mentioned I'm addicted to magazine subscriptions? The scarf is laying on a stack of about 6 I haven't even touched yet sicne I brought them in from the mail.




Onto the yarn!

My knitpicks order. I got (i'll try to go from top left corner to bottom right corner) Simple Stripes in Sunset for sock. GREAT yarn!! Parade sock yarn in Forest. Wool of the Andes, only $1.79 per ball and not scratchy! in Blue Bonnet. Shadow yarn in Jewels, beautiful, simply beautiful! 5 skiens to make a shawl or something. Alpaca Cloud yarn in Tidepool, which is a beautiful blends of colors. It's soft. It's just amazing! And Gossamer in Caribbean. The second row has Dancing yarn in Jig. This is pretty stuff! The dancing yarn just looks different then I expected, and it it so neat. Followed by Simple Stripes in Vineyard. And Merino Style in Moss.
Here's some various close-ups of the order.

Sock yarns.













Wool of the Andes in Blue Bonnet, Merino Style which is much prettier green then it looks, and
Shadow Jewels.














Alpaca Cloud in Tiedpool. I think I could buy nothing but this yarn ever again and be completely happy. And Gossamer.











Here's some of my AC Moore purchases. I also bought some stuff for my pal, that obviosuly I won't be sharing with you, and the paper for my mom. I got three skiens fo gray homespun for a prayershawl, some size 8 needles, a needle gauge to try making my own, a mini stack of fall themed scrapbook papers, a bag of homespun mill ends $5 for one lb!!






Here's a digital scrapbook page to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:





And on the regular stuff: Today I finallllly went to the bank and came home to find, try to guess...........















Saturday when I drove to AC Moore my keys never ended up back in my purse! I was locked out!!!!! I went to the neighbor who I know has a key, but she didn't come to the door, so I went to the other neighbor to try to figure out what to do. I feel like such an idiot! The neighbor with the key was apparently in the shower, she gave me the key, and all ened without me climbing over the back fence to hang out for several hours until Nick got home!

Then just now while uploading the massive amount of pictures you just looked at I took a bite of my pizza lunch and seriously burned my mouth. I mean really really bad, no doubt the worst burn ever in my life. I'm in serious pain!!!!

and that is I do believ all that is new in my life. Ready for more pictures???


Oh and just in case you're wondering, I started writing this message a 1:49, nonstop and it's now 3:13!!!

Roving & SP6 package

Today was a good mail day! A package from my Secret Pal and 5+ lbs of roving. You know what funny a five lb box of rovng feels much lighter then a 5 lb bag of sugar even though they are the same weight. Okay so I'll do roving first. I got 1 b each of cotton, and two types of wool, all natural colored so I can try some dying, and make some natural colored stuff also. I also got 2 lbs of dark brown pencil roving. It's for a blanket for my aunt. I can't decide now that I see it in person if I will actually spin it, or use it as is for a bulky texture. Probably spin it for strength more then anything. Here's a picture of my roving:

















The pencil roving comes in wheels or "cheeses" here's a picture of what one cheese looks like:






I LOVE the smell of wool. I could just smell it all day I think.






I almost forgot (until I looked up and saw it sitting there) I also ordered some "Carpet Warp" from Mielkes. I got colonial green to try and make some placements or coasters or something with my weaving loom. Here's a picture of that:

















Okay on to my suprise goodies: My secret pal sent me a great assortment of stuff here's a picture:

The package included:
A Halloween cookbook

Brittant Knitting Needles in size 6- which are beautiful!

two pencils with erasers attached, one is a peach sign theme the other a hippy style flower

Solid Bubble Bath- Chamomile Bergamot scent- which is so great smelling

A shiny qauzy fabric barg with beautiful beaded fringe and a great pair of earrings inside. The earrings are silver stars and little crystals. Very beautiiiiiful. I took a pictrue of the earrings seperatly, but it didn't turn out very good and it would be an insult to these earrings (and my pal) to post such a horrible picture.

Takumi size 11 knittin needles with great polymer clay ends.

Tie Dye swanky hankies. (Little pocket tissues with a design on them) Which reminds me of folding laundry yesterday. lol I swear it went like this- blue shirt, tie dye blue shirt, blue tank top, tie dye t-shirt, blue tie dye tank top, blue shirt.... lol

and the book " The Portable Crafter: Crochet" which had me in awe as I flipped through the pages!

Now to go clean the kitchen and then see if I can make something creepy outta my halloween cookbook to feed Nick when he gets home!

To my pal- You are the greatest!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Edited about 4 hours later to add:
I realized I forgot to add the picture of my Carpet Warp yarn. Also after I posted I cleaned up the kitchen, ate lunch and then spun. I already spun and plyed two cheeses worth of pencil roving!!!!! I LOVE this stuff!

Socks + Harry Potter

I haven't posted for a few days. Not much has really happened.

Saturday we went out for a day of fun. We saw The Corpse Bride, which I loved, but Nick didn't. We went to two yardsales were we got 4 books and a kids weaving loom for me. It isn't a peg loom, it's actually a pretty decent little loom. It has a very interesting heddle which you pull up and push down to move the threads. It's pretty nifty. We also got at various stores throughout the day:
Matrix 1 + 2 dvds
Harry Potter 1,2, + 3 dvds
A Harry Potter Gameboy game
4 Harry Potter COmputer Games- a box set with Sorcerers Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisioner of Azkaban, and Quidditch World Cup.
A BIG Mr Potato Head that is filled with other Potato Heads and pieces. It's Safari Mr P, and comes with animal parts.
And I think another thing or two that I'm forgetting.

Yesterday I placed big orders at both Knitpicks, and Mielkes. Ordered $75 worth of yarn, and $75 worth of roving. I ordered lots of sock yarns, and a variety of other yarns. I ordered some lace weight alpaca to try to make a lacy shawl. At Mielkes I order all natural colored rovings so that I can dye them myself. I also ordered the roving to spin the yarn to make my Aunt a throw.

Now I just need to go to the store and buy some yarn to make my cousins prayer shawls. I started with the idea to make one cousin one to try to help her with what she is going through right now. Then I figured each of her sisters have their own problems to. One is in New Mexico doing volunteer work, and one is 18 which is hard enough without problems. So I decided to make each of them one. I decided to use Lion Brand Homespun because it:
is thick so it works up fast
Is inexpensive (but doesn't feel cheap)
It is acrylic and machine washable but is soft and feels luxurious
Come is some natural colors that are't bright and flashy, and they are Mennonites, so flashy isn't a good idea
and it's one of my favorite yarns.

And incase you're wondering we're not rich. We don't just spend money like crazy all the time. We got a BIG refund check from our old mortgage company when we refinanced the house, and we decided to use part of it to treat ourselves.

Here's the socks I have made so far. I love the green/tan/white one. The reddish plumyish color is comfy, but not quite as nice looking.