Yes, that’s right – for you, my dear readers, I even broke out the blocking wires. (OK, and I really, really wanted to see what it looks like so far.) It’s a GORGEOUS pattern – I can’t wait to see how it continues to progress. There are all sorts of theories about the theme bouncing around out there, but I have no idea what it is.

That and Norberta are about the only things I am working on right now, so that is it for the WIP portion of this post. Now, we move on to some overdue thank you pics.

WAAAAAAAY back when, morgsarah and I struck up an agreement to do a fiber festival swap. I picked up some things for her at Maryland Sheep and Wool, and she picked up some stuff for me at… erm… Taos? Damn, now I don’t remember which festival it was. These are the gorgeous goodies she sent me:

In the front is some hand-dyed Wensleydale roving dyed by a friend of hers, behind that is some merino-tussah and some Navajo churro, and in the back is a Corriedale-alpaca blend. All so, so beautiful!

I also got a lovely, thoughtful gift from Bezzie recently, tucked in a box of hats. (And yes, I swear I will update the Hats for Alex blog soon. Hopefully tomorrow.)

It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign, and it has some very personal significance that I’m not getting into here. Just let it be said that I cried when I saw it, I’ve worn it every day since, and I am unbelievably touched by her sweet gift. Not to mention the 19 (!) hats she sent.

I won a blog contest over at AKKnitter’s blog, and check out my prize:

8oz. of beautiful alpaca, and a grow-your-own pet.

Finally, my lovely, lovely Knittyboard SP9 pal “Marie Dent” (who also goes by “Mostly Harmless”) sent me my first package last week:

We have a Wizard of Oz mini activity book, Koigu’s “Take Along Socks” pattern book with three hanks of gorgeous Koigu in front to make a pair of socks from the book, Pez and a cute-as-a-button lamb Pez dispenser, and a Hemp for Knitting kit. The pattern is called Kathy’s Fingerless Gloves, and the yarn (one ball is next to the kit) is Cashmere Canapa in that awesome green. It’s a cashmere/hemp blend and is just so soft. I can’t wait to work with it! Thank you, my dear Marie! You clearly know me really, really well. And I have NO CLUE who you are.

I also picked up some yarn recently for a new crochet project, but I think we’ve had enough pictures for today, so that can wait for tomorrow.

Now, on to the pr0n! This week, we have some pre-yarn. This is some spinning fiber I picked up at (all together now) Maryland Sheep & Wool. Which means that I’ve managed to make the S&W pr0n last for 2 months after the festival.

This is some merino roving I picked up from Cloverleaf Farms. The color is called “Rose Quartz”, and I have 2 braids of it, so 8oz. all together, I think.

Next week will be, I believe the very last of the Sheep and Wool pr0n. Luckily, I’ve gotten a few other goodies in swaps (ok, and with the occasional purchase), so I shouldn’t HAVE to buy anything for YPFs for a while. And I still need to photograph a fair amount of my stash for Ravelry, so some of those may pop up here as well.

I’m not quite done with clue #1 for the Mystery Stole, but clue #2 came out today, so I’m hoping to catch up this weekend. I’m really enjoying it so far, and I think the pattern is very pretty. I should have pictures for WIP Wednesday next week. I also discovered that the last clue comes out the day before a wedding we are attending in August. I wonder if I can finish the last clue in a day and get it blocked in time to wear to the wedding…

Have a great weekend, all!

A silk scarf kit from Fiberworks – to be drafted and knit as unspun silk.



And Habu Textiles Tsumugi (or Tumugi, depending on where you look) Silk, in 14 and 53 (deep orange and tweedy purple, respectively) There are a couple of patterns in the very, very fabulous Victorian Lace Today that call for this, so that is probably in its future.


In other news, my father is insane. OK, any of you who know me must figure that I get it from somewhere, and that would be my Dad. Don’t get me wrong – I adore both of my parents, but Dad is definitely nuts. Case in point – Kris and I were watching Bones the other night when my phone rings. It was Dad. He asked if we were in fact watching Bones (They watch it too, but Kris and I usually wait until after it starts so that we can fast forward through the commercials. I love my TiVo…). When I said yes, he asked how far along we were in the episode (10 minutes or so from the end). Then he says, “At the very end, Zack is wearing a hat. I want you to knit me one, but I want it in Black and Gold for Steeler parties.” This would be the point at which I started to get nervous. I was partly dreading what this thing was going to look like. I got off the phone, and I told Kris why Dad had called. About ten minutes later, it appeared on our tv, and the first thing Kris said was “THAT is the hat your Dad wants?”

I’ve been searching, but sadly cannot seem to find a picture online of this hat. Basically, the shape was very much like the Swell hat from the summer issue of Knitty, done without the stranded colorwork in a fairly muted variegated yarn, and with one major difference. It had a mohawk down the middle of it. It’s kind of hilarious, and strangely I can actually see Dad wearing it. Which is the ONLY reason that I found myself at AC Moore yesterday picking up black and gold yarn to make one. (Speaking of, black is easy to find, but gold seems a bit more difficult. I finally found some that is a little darker than traditional Steeler gold, but it was either that or pastel baby yellow.)

And I promise, there WILL be pictures of this thing when it is done. Modeled by my Dad, of course.

ETA: Courtesy of Sherry, the cover of this book has pretty much exactly the shape of the hat on the show. Only much, much brighter than the one Zack was wearing.

ETA again: And courtesy of Artemis, a screencap of the actual hat! Thanks, hon!!!
Told you it was hilarious!

First, my overdue Fiber Stash Flash:
Across the top, three silk hankies from MD Sheep and Wool. Below that, some lovely roving from my Knittyboard SP6 bylt, and some merino/tencel roving from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (also from MDS&W). The two giant balls of roving are ones I picked up at Springwater Fiber Workshop, and the little bundle in the corner is some Gypsy Girl silk I got at (all together now) MDS&W. So, yes. That’s my pitiful fiber stash.

ETA: The “beach balls”, as Avrienne so accurately described them, are 13 oz (orange) and 16 oz (purple) of fiber. I’ve got lots to spin there.

Next, I want to show off the AWESOME handspun that Morgsarah sent me.
This was my prize for winning her “Guess The Mystery Fiber” contest. Isn’t it beautiful? (And how thankful am I that she didn’t spin the actual mystery fiber – it was horse poo) I have to find something really awesome to make for myself from it – per Sarah’s blog it’s about 490 yards of sport/fingering weight yarn. I’m open to pattern suggestions!

Courtesy of Nimrodel’s blog post on her Patons SWS Fuzzy Feet, I was doubly inspired. I’ve wanted to check out that yarn for a while now, and I think I’m the last knitter alive who hadn’t made Fuzzy Feet. Besides, Kris is jealous of the ones Turtlegirl sent me (Ack! I don’t have a picture of them! Must remedy that!). So, Betsy and I picked up some SWS and knit ourselves silly while the boys watched football on Saturday. The result, post-felting:
Fabulously mis-matched stripes and all! There’s only one small problem. This stuff felts like a mofo, and these barely fit MY feet, let alone Kris’s. So… back to Michael’s I went.
On the left, the new pair, which actually FIT him. I had to make them almost 20″ long before felting them. They looked really, really silly. But they fit now, and he likes them a lot. It’s hard to see in this picture, but the stripes actually matched on the second pair – completely by chance! Incidentally, I love the yarn, and I am going to use it again for sure. Possibly for more Fuzzy Feet for the family.

And finally, what y’all have been waiting for – Stitches loot! Betsy and I had a complete blast. I had two great classes – The Joy of Steeks with Maureen Mason-Jamieson (LOVED her, LOVED the class, and no longer do I fear the big bad steek!) and Dive Into Design with the divine Fiona Ellis. And yes, I took my copy of Inspired Cable Knits and asked her to sign it, which she did. Yay! Seriously, though, if you have a chance to take a class with either of them, I highly recommend it. They were both lovely, and genuine, and REALLY good teachers. I can’t wait to take more classes next year!

We spent plenty of time at the Market (duh), both Thursday evening and Friday morning (having met up with Alice and Roxy and Lisa, who doesn’t have a blog). We originally debated heading home after our classes on Thursday, but decided to stick around for the Victorian Lace Today fashion show and the Market preview, and I am really glad we did. Not long into the fashion show, we both looked at each other and said, “We are SO getting that book”. We also got them signed by the very sweet Jane Sowerby, who was too funny talking to Betsy about the yarn she had picked up. (She was apparently slightly horrified that such a gorgeous green yarn would be called “Pond Scum”. ) We checked out the Lisa Souza booth (Met her, loved her. She’s really cool.), and the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth (Met Kaci – really fun), where we chatted in line with the two women in front of us, who were absolutely hilarious.

So, you wanna see what I got?

First – books (and patterns).
Lucy Neatby’s Sea Lettuce Scarf (we saw a woman working on one Thursday morning, and it’s way cuter than the picture on the pattern shows), the Top-Down Sweater Unpattern (Recommended by a random knitter Betsy was chatting with while she ran to the Market to get a copy of Inspired Cable Knits to have Fiona sign it. I was looking for a good top-down idea for something for Kris), the aforementioned Victorian Lace Today, Barbara Walker’s Knitting from the Top (again, planning the project for Kris) and Cat Bordhi’s Treasury of Magical Knitting and Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (I’ve wanted to check them out for ages, but can never find them locally. So, when I saw them and flipped through them, they came home with me.)

The Lisa Souza stuff. Now, I see why people rave about her colors. Left to right, fingering weight in “Blue Spruce”, Sock! Merino in “South Pacific”, and laceweight in “Emerald City”. I blame Betsy for that last one – she spotted it, and you knew I wasn’t going to leave it there with that name! I did pick up one other thing there, but it’s on its way to Turtlegirl at the moment. Hopefully, it will appear on her blog soon.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts! Socks That Rock in “Fire on the Mountain”, Seduction (merino/tencel) in “Puck’s Mischief”, and Sock Candy in “Prickly Pear”. I was looking for STR in “Ruby Slippers” or “Emerald City”, but no luck. Someday, they will be mine! Interestingly, when I talked to Alice Friday morning as we were heading in, she had just picked up some STR. In “Fire on the Mountain”. Great minds think alike, I guess!

Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk in 14 (the deep rusty orange) and 53 (the yummy tweedy purple). Inspired by a couple of patterns in Victorian Lace Today, Betsy and I both picked up some of this. It’s really beautiful stuff.

OK, this is a story. We left Habu and walked over to the Tess’ Designer Yarns booth, where Alice was looking at a tag hanging next to some nondescript gray yarn. When we got closer, she asked us if we thought the tag said “Undyed alpaca, 50 yards, $3″ or “Undyed alpaca, 150 yards, $3″. We thought it looked like 150, but decided to check. We were right. That’s right – 150 yards of DK-ish soft grey alpaca for $3!!! I bought 10. It’s going to be something fabbo for me.

More undyed alpaca, this from the Yarn Barn of Kansas, in a lovely malt color. It will be something for Kris (hence the looking for a top-down pattern). It’s gorgeous, and so very, very soft.

Also from the Yarn Barn, their Moriah laceweight. That, folks, is 2520 yards of undyed laceweight wool for me to play with. Hee.

And finally, I found this silk scarf kit at the Fiberworks booth. The silver/turquoise combo just grabbed me. So, I grabbed it.

And never fear, pr0n fans. Kris and I will be working this evening, and you’ll get pr0n shots of all of this for the next couple of weeks, I promise.

My first purchase was at The Fold. I picked up some Blue Moon Fiber Arts Merino/Tencel roving in “Dutch Canyon”, which is just gorgeous. This picture doesn’t really show the shine on this stuff (it’s stupid and rainy here today), but this one shows it pretty well.

I also picked up some Gypsy Girl Tussah Silk roving, which I bought for 2 reasons – I wanted to play with silk (duh!) and I just loved the color: King Neptune. (Again, not the best picture in the world. I’ll have to take more when I actually start working with it.)

For most of the rest of the day, we just wandered around petting things and drooling. We met up with the too-adorable-for-words alerievay for lunch, and had a great time gabbing with her while munching on some very yummy food. Valerie and I had gyros, Jen had a fabulous looking lamb stew in a bread bowl, and hubby had lamb barbecue and a lamb kebab. And although we skipped the deep-fried Twinkies (despite being strangely tempted), hubby and I did each (*blush*) have one of the amazing HUGE chocolate eclairs from the same stand.

Toward the end of the day, Jen found a really pretty drop spindle, since she had already gotten some amazing bright pink and blue roving (also from The Fold) and did not in fact own a spindle to actually spin it. I found the Spinning Studio booth, who had some silk hankies. Since I’ve been wanting to try spinning them, I had to pick some up. As you can see, I started playing with it a little last night on my Babe spindle. The only thing that I now regret is not picking up another spindle. The Babe is working fine, but the shaft is a little rough and wants to catch on the silk, which is a little annoying. Clearly, I am going to be on the lookout for a new spindle. =)

My final purchase was some lovely roving from the Opalessence booth. It’s green from a distance, but when you get closer, it actually has a lot of other colors running through it. I can’t wait to see how this spins up.

The only bad thing about the day was that I got a little sunburned on my back. Nothing horrible, just enough to be a little itchy today. I really had a lot of fun, and I think Kris even enjoyed himself. I know he certainly got some great pictures. I’ve got a slideshow of them over on Photobucket, or the full album is here.

Oh, and I almost forgot – Saturday was the official debut of my Prosperous Plum Tank! And the matching bolero! So, a modeled shot of the tank here. It’s not perfect, but I’ll see about getting a better one later, along with a decent one of the bolero.

The sheepy eraser will be keeping me company at my computer, and I think I have decided that the Palette will be stepping in to replace the ball of “Bark” I was going to use for the Lace and Fair Isle Pullover from the Vogue Holiday Issue. I got out the Lemon, Apricot, and Twig that I bought for it, and when I took the Bark out and put the Petal in, it went from so-so to really pretty.
Old combo – on the left, new combo on the right:

Suddenly, I really want to work on this sweater! Isn’t it funny how just one ball of yarn can do that to a project?

Thank you so much, SP – I love my goodies! I hope you are having fun on your trip!

There was also a package today from Jimmy Beans Wool. This was the first time I had ordered from them, and I was impressed with their service. I got an email within a very short period of time letting me know that something I had ordered was out of stock and asking if I wanted to sub colors or wait for it to come in. (I opted to wait) Today, I received the package with the in-stock items (which are for my SP and will therefore not be appearing here) and they put a couple of peppermints in with it – how cute!

Oh! With the Olympics updates, I totally forgot to post pictures of the yarn I picked up when Jen and I went to All About Yarn on Monday.

I picked up two skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in “Woad” (which totally appeals to the King Arthur fan in me), with plans to make myself a second Branching Out. It was such a nice denimy blue that I thought it would go really well with a lot of things.

I also found this gorgeous lace yarn – Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro in color 1208 – a wonderful deep red. No idea what I am going to make out of this, but it is going to be something challenging, just to be worthy of this amazing cobweb-weight lace yarn. (I’m thinking something from my copy of Folk Shawls) If anyone has used this yarn and has any suggestions/wisdom/warnings, I’m listening.

And finally, I could not leave without this amazing hank of Cherry Tree Hill Cascade Lace – 1000 yards of 100% silk in the “Gypsy Rose” colorway. I kept looking at it, and picking it up, and putting it back down, but I finally decided that I could not walk away without it. It needs to be something awesome, but I’m not sure what just yet. For now, I am content to just admire it.

I should probably go fold some laundry so I can go back to my Olympics project guilt-free. =)