My How Time Flies!

...When you are trying to post to three other blogs! I have this blog, of course you know that! Then there is my new blog--Mrs. Know-It--and my two sock club blogs--Sockamania and SAMKAL 5. And since today is the last day of the month I am running around trying to get my socks that are HOT OFF THE NEEDLES! posted for the month. I don't know what happened to this month! It went by so fast. It's Easter's fault--it was two weeks early this year!



So, without further adieu, here are my socks that I finished.

Powder helped make the picture cute by posing in the background. If you want to read all about the socks go to my side bar and click on the link for Sockamania or SAMKAL 5. Sorry, I am not going to write about them AGAIN! I do love them though and they turned out wonderful!

In other news--I am a hopeless yarn snob! BOO-HOO, boo-hoo! I was somewhere online looking at yarn or knitting patterns, I'm sure, when I came across a link for Woolgirl. **WARNING** If you are low on yarn funds or stash storage space, do not go here! She had this yarn...Superwash Merino, silk, and get this! SILVER. Yes, real silver threads have been spun into this yarn! I had to have it! I am NOT supposed to be buying anymore yarn for me at least for a while--I am on a strict yarn diet until the stash is under control and I have sold a bunch of my retail yarn in my store! But there it was--sock yarn with real silver thread! I was buying it before I even knew what was happening. And a few days later there it was--in person(?) in the mail box!

Not only was the yarn beautiful, but Woolgirl really knows how to wrap up a skein and make you want it more! Isn't this a lovely package?And here is the yarn! Mocha. Isn't it LOVELY! I don't know if I can knit it. It may have to spend some quality time next to me here on my desk first and then some time in the "Special Yarns" stash (which reminds me, if you want an idea on how to store your stash, visit Mrs. Know-Its post about "stash").

I will try to get back to writing on here more. I am really having fun at Mrs. Know-It and I have invited my Blog buddy Hege, in Norway, to join me as a co-author for it. She will be posting Kids stuff and some other fun things. Be sure to stop by and check it out! Remember, if you aren't a blogger you can still post your comments and questions.

Happy Knitting!

Is It Spring Yet?

What a great weekend! No, I didn't spend it knitting (that would have been fun though!!) The weather finally got warm enough that we could go hiking. And let me tell you!! I spent Easter Sunday wishing I had worked up to the hike. I am still so sore! My back, legs, arms, even my hands are sore! (I think my hands are sore from not doing any knitting all weekend long LOL!)

This is HoneyBunny. He found some really nice fossilized sand dollars and several different species of fossilized clams in the boulder he is standing in front of. Our jackets didn't stay on very long. It was about 60 degrees (F) and just lovely outside! I think that part of the reason I am so sore was that I found some great rocks to add to my yard. When we hiked out I was carrying an extra 50 pounds (in rock) back to our vehicle!

Saturday afternoon we colored Easter eggs. This year I found some "Neon" food coloring and, as you can see, the eggs turned out really pretty! That "Electric Pink" egg was really something! I had actually bought the food coloring to dye some yarn with, but couldn't resist trying it out on the eggs first. The yarn should be pretty exciting if it looks anything like the eggs!

And here we are in our new Easter finery. I would have put the picture of all of us together on here, but I look like I weigh 200 lbs in it! I look much better in this picture with The Daughter. Yes, it was another lovely day, perfect for Easter!

In other news, I have started another blog. It is listed on my side bar as Mrs. Know-It. I get a lot of requests for recipes, gardening info., and miscellaneous stuff from my friends so I thought it would be fun to create a blog where all of this could be out there for everyone. Feel free to stop by! If you have a question I will address it in a post. I am really excited about it!! I don't profess to know everything, but what I don't know I usually can find an answer somewhere.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Busy

This week has been so crazy and it's only Wednesday. I can't believe it's been a week since I wrote the last post. With Spring Break ending Monday, new yarns coming in, Easter has been the last thing on my mind. In fact, I didn't realize Easter is this Sunday until about 10 days ago. Usually I decorate the house for Easter, like I do for other holiday's, but it's not going to happen this year. I usually use a nicely flowered out branch to bring inside and decorate with my pretty egg decorations. But the weather has stayed so cold that none of my fruit trees have even been thinking about getting buds on them. Maybe that's why I didn't realize how close Easter was--it's too cold. Last year at this same time the weather was in the 60's and 70's (degrees F); this year it's been in the upper 30's and 40's. That is a huge difference! We are still getting snow in the mountains. Just last weekend it snowed 12-14 inches on the passes! Hopefully it doesn't all melt at once (like I've seen happen in the past) or we are going to have some serious flooding problems here in the valley!

All right, enough of the boring stuff. Here is the yarn that showed up yesterday. I am soooo thrilled with it! 100% Mercerized Egyptian Cotton in some LOVELY spring and summery colors. Just because the weather isn't saying "Spring" yet doesn't mean my yarn shouldn't sing it! Don't these colors just make you feel like spring! I am very impressed with the quality and you can't beat the price either. I will try to get them listed later this week on my etsy store.

Moving on, I have been dilligently working on this months Sockamania sock in all of my free time. This pair will be for me for a change. I really need some socks in a neutral color and this fits the bill for certain. When they are finished I will take a picture of them on so that you can see what they really look like. This picture makes them look like some kind of basket weave pattern, but they really are cables with rows of purl stitches in between.

I may actually finish this pair before the last day of the month this time. They make up really quick, or I am just knitting faster because I have a million other things that need to be done also. Either way, I really like them and they look fantastic on me!

I guess I better get back to work. I have about 48 hours of stuff to do in the next 24 hours and I need 8 of those 24 to sleep. Just never enough time in some weeks--and last week I was bored.

Happy Knitting! and if I don't get to post again before Sunday, Happy Easter to you all!!!

Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Ya!

My daughter has been watching videos on Yahoo! of songs that were my favorites at her age. Adam Ant, Missing Persons, Real Life, ABC, OMD, etc. (She thinks she has found a whole new genre of music). Anyway, so when I went to title this post the song, "Lies, Lies, Lies" from Thompson Twins was playing in my head. I combined it with the idea that I am going to talk about yarn today and......viola! the title.

Remember the partially spun "Sedona" from the last post? Well, here it is all done!

I don't know what I am going to make with it yet.

**Note** I rarely spin fiber into yarn with any particular purpose in mind. Crazy, I know. I just like yarn and I really believe that it is good just the way it is. Sometimes it takes years for a beautiful handspun yarn to "find itself" and its "purpose in life".

I am sure something will come along some day for it to become, but for now it is happy being what it is--really pretty, shiney yarn living in my "special yarn" stash.

Yesterday while I was out entertaining children out of school for "Spring Break" (it was only the second day of the break and I was already frazzled and exhausted) my order from Dale of Norway showed up. Two large boxes of LOVELY yarn. (I will post some pictures on here a little later today). I am SOOOOO excited to be carrying this yarn. I have used one or two of their yarns in the past and like it. However, the LYS's that I shopped at either didn't know that Dale of Norway had a full line of yarns, or they didn't have good taste. (Good chance of the later). I found some very exciting yarns that I can't wait to show the world!! They don't do just wool! Svale is a cotton/silk/viscose that will make the most beautiful shawls and summer sweaters in the world!

and an egyptian cotton that puts the "King Tut" brand to shame! Not to mention a true white (not off-white or creamy white) machine washable wool, sock weight yarn! Yes, that is 100%, machine washable, MERINO wool in WHITE sock (fingering) weight yarn. Lovely isn't it? I can't wait to try my hand at dying some of it! The colors should come out much brighter and vibrant than when you use off-white or cream colored yarn for your base.

They have a new yarn that I wanted to get, but it's a worsted weight yarn and since Spring and Summer is just around the corner I am going to wait until July or August to order some. It is a wool/cashmere/microfiber/alpaca/viscose blend called Harlequin. MMmmmmm! just beautiful! And all of the different yarns come in just about every color you can possibly imagine, including neon!

Of course here is one of my favorites: "Falk"--superwash, DK weight, wool that comes in every color and shade on the planet.

All right, now I am off to go get it all out and get some pictures. (And pet all of my new yarn). All of the yarn is now pictured and posted here! Watch for it to come up for sale in my etsy store tomorrow.

Almost Spun Out!

After almost a week or so of spinning, combing, combining, dying, and fiddling with fibers I am just about done for a while. I love to play with fibers, but it takes a terrible toll on my upper body. Spinning is especially hard on me and now I have a raging head ache that will take weeks to get rid of. My shoulders are killing me, my back is sore and tight, my hands hurt, and my arms are pooped! BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!!

Remember the fiber from Enchanted Knoll? Well it is now about 400 yards of luscious, fingering weight yarn! (It is incredibly difficult to capture it's true essence in pictures!) Very soft and glowing with all of those little blue, red, green, and opalescent silk threads. I am planning to make a lace moebius scarf with it. I have had the pattern forever, but never had "The Perfect Yarn". Well this yarn is as perfect as it gets. There will be pictures when I finish it.
This was some of the prettiest fiber ever! I combined a "sea foam" colored merino wool with royal blue tussah silk and then spun up this GORGEOUS sock weight yarn. HoneyBunny was even a little enamored with it. It is now listed in my etsy store.

This is some Lilac and blue wool/silk fiber I created.

This is a blend of wool, silk, and angora. It will be "to die for" when it's spun up!

I really got into the "Oriental" looking colors. I am going to blend this Scarlet merino wool and gold silk together. It should turn out really pretty, just have to get back my desire to do what it takes to get it combed and combined.

This is the "Sedona" silk that I got from Enchanted Knoll. It has tiny knots in it that make for a textured, shiney yarn. I am about half way finished spinning it into singles. There will be a picture of the yarn posted when it is finished.

And since I can't go forever without knitting, this is the sock that I started the other day. I am using the bamboo/wool I got from Anni's etsy store. It is such nice yarn. I don't think I will give this pair away--they will be mine!

So, that about wraps up (no pun intended :o) ) the fiber adventures for now. I have a bunch of knitting to work on!

Happy Knitting!

"Getting to know me, getting to know all about me"

I have now been tagged by Awesome Mom--I think she is just paying me back for tagging her. This one is more difficult because I need to link to a bunch of blogs I have written. So we are about to see how creative I can be with my computer in order to accomplish this.

1. While sitting on my "pity pot" for all the world to see, I wrote a lot about my family. I am not prone to this type of post, but it certainly gives a reader an idea of why I knit SOOOOOO much.

2. What are friends for anyway if they can't help you find more patterns than you could EVER possibly knit. They can be great enablers when you share an addiction to yarn, patterns, or fiber!

3. It isn't a secret that I have more UFO's and WIP's than are really necessary. I do it so that I don't ever get bored with what I am working on and so that I always have the perfect project for whatever I am doing in addition to knitting--riding in the car, waiting at the doctor's office, watching a movie, cooking dinner, etc.

4. Well this one is just silly! I am supposed to link to something I love. DUH! that's like my whole blog! Knitting, HoneyBunny, anything to do with rocks, knitting socks, yarn, fiber, Halloween--pretty much in that order.

5. Anything......with lots of pretty pictures.


Now I am off to tag five others!!

PS: I am still making yarn--pictures next time.

Been Knitting Lately?

Um. No. I am completely absorbed in playing with all this lovely fiber.

Be back when I have pictures of my adventures! Stay tuned.