bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Eye Candy Friday

sometimes i'm a little bit embarrassed by the amount of fiber i've accumulated in the almost 2 years since i've learned how to spin.  just a little.  it certainly helps that i know i'm not alone.

but most of the time, it makes me really happy, especially when it comes in the mail.  i currently belong to three fiber  clubs (well 2, adrian is going on a bit of a hiatus) and this is what i received in the past couple of weeks.

1.  4oz of rambouillet in Hyacinth from Funky Carolina.  mmm buttery.

2.  4oz of wennsyldale in Perfect Storm from Amy of Spunky Eclectic.

and finally,

3.  4oz. of faulklands in Hive by Hello Yarn. 

i love belonging to clubs because i get fun packages every month but i also get to try fibers that i wouldn't normally think of trying (well if i didn't hoard so much) and i get exposed to colors that i don't naturally gravitate towards, which is my favorite reason for being surprised every month.  i mean really, how pretty is this stuff?

**************************
day 23  -- don't even think of getting your hands on any of it. 

Shop Update

i'm sure you've all been waiting with anticipation.  but your wait is no longer.  i've updated the shop.  heh.

if you recall, i donated a set of 10 cards as a ravelraiser prize.  not everyone can win though, so i've put some of these cards up for sale.  i'll put more up tomorrow.  AND IF PEOPLE WOULD BUY SOME I MIGHT EVEN MAKE MORE!!  not that i'm begging or anything.

**************************
day 8 -- good for shameless self-promotion

To the Rescue!

about 3 weeks ago, i was working at the shop and my co-volunteer, M, suggested i go check out the big bags of "giant yarn balls" in the office.   

giant yarn balls indeed.  they were huge, styrofoam balls, wrapped in a fiber of some sort, made to look like massive balls of yarn.  and in the bags were a couple of pairs of 2 foot long knitting "needles."  hmmmm. 

the story behind these balls was this.  a fancy store at the local mall had been using these balls and needles as part of their store display.  rather than throw them out, the kind folks at "very fancy store" donated everything to the shop.  a couple of the balls and needles were used in our own shop displays, and what was left to get pitched were these two giant bags.

giant bags of CASHMERE!  or so i've been told.  (i do know it's animal in origin and amazingly soft but i'm finding it hard to believe that people would just so casually throw the stuff out like that). 

after sorting and removing pins and styrofoam there is close to 10lbs of the stuff.  10lbs of cashmere!

...that kind of just fell from the sky so that i could save it from the trash. 

i spun this up before i knew what i had. 

Some Knitting

so i'm not one to do christmas knitting because i think that's just craziness.  but i will birthday knit and this year i decided to knit my mother-in-law a scarf.  i know, brave.  i had some pretty deep burgundy alpaca in the stash and initially planned on knitting her the quivet webs scarf (without the quivet) from the interweave holiday 2007 issue.  yeah that wasn't going to work.  (and it wasn't a yarn issue).  so after wasting a day knitting and frogging and knitting and frogging, i punted and came up with something new.   in the end, i really am a simple girl.  if it's successful, i'll write up the pattern. 

i've also been working on a sock. 

yeah, the excitement never ends here. 

*****************************
i've added some new cards to my shop.  remember, even if a card has sold, i can always make more. 

 

Not My Birthday ...

and yet, i got presents.

i love presents.

first, from cathy, i received this gorgeous sock and enough yarn to make myself it's mate. 

i'm a little afraid.

and this awesome cube/pouch thing that she makes.  you can buy yourself one at her etsy shop here.

thank you cathy!!!

and then from amy i received 8 oz of BFL in her Grand Opening 2007 colors, a prize she donated to stitchy's blogger bingo drawing ... which i won.  yay me.  thanks stitchy and amy!

i love it when my blog posts are color coordinated.

ETA:  I've gotten a few requests for the pattern to the honeybee sock above.  cathy's provided all of the info in her flickr photo of the same sock here.   

by the way, i used to think "ETA" only meant "estimated time of arrival" so i couldn't figure out why bloggers kept using it.      

Things I Like and Don't Like

1.  look what came to live with me.

it's "bog" by adrian at hello yarn. yeah i like pretty much everything she creates. i also scored some lovely yarn too in spite of the circling fiber vultures waiting for me to flinch so that they could swoop in and steal from me what is rightfully mine. ha!

2.  i love (yes love) the new iphoto 8.0.  i had been using iphoto 5.0 that came with my laptop to manage my photo files, but my 8,500 pictures had pretty much rendered 5.0 insanely slow and basically a pain in the ass.    last night, i loaded 8.0 and whoosh!  my pictures load like a dream. i know it does other fun things but even without knowing what those are, i can safely say that  i love 8.0.  iphoto 8.0, will you marry me?  j won't mind.

3.  it's been very fall-like these past couple of days and cool enough at night that i had to pull out the blankets (not cool enough for the duvet though).  i love sleeping under blankets.

4.  something i wasn't liking:  my dishrag sock.  in theory it worked, but i wasn't having fun knitting it and i thought it looked kind of like ass especially around the heel area.

so i frogged it and started another one.  i like the new one much better (no photo yet).

Transformation

one of the things i like best about spinning is watching a big pile of prepared wool  ...

get transformed through spinning ....

into yarn ....

that i then knit up ...

into a lacy scarf.  i still need to block.

the wool is coopworth sliver in nightshade by spunky eclectic.  it's a gorgeous mix of dark grays, rust, burgundy and lavender.

the scarf pattern is branching out from knitty.

5 More Days

this monday i'm on the ball. 

ok, maybe i'm not.  i wrote that yesterday, which means that i had the best of intentions.  but then i got sidetracked.  but not today. 

so what do i like today (or rather what did i like yesterday?)

1.  i'm leaving for vacation in 4 days!  (it was 5 days yesterday).  i don't think i need to elaborate.  woo-fucking-hoo!!!

2.  on saturday, after working at graceful stitches (and selling lots of yarn -- and for once not necessarily to myself) i got to hang out with carole, martha (who might as well be blogless) and blogless sharon.  and i had a really good time. go read carole's post about our afternoon.  i not be so good with werds like she be good with werds ... english after all is my second language (no really it is, technically).   we did some knittin' (i have a couple of FOs to share, but that's for another post.  don't want to cram too much material in one post so that afterwards i have nothing for 3 weeks).  and we did some sittin' .  and some grinnin' and some spinnin'.  no pickin'.  because you can pick your friends and your nose, but not your friend's nose.

oh, and there might have been some margarita drinkin'. 

but no hoola dancin'.

3.  have i mentioned that it's 4 more days until my vacation? 

An Ode to Cummington

it's official.  the MA Sheep and Woolcraft Festival is my favorite fiber festival.

even though i didn't have my usual energy and social butterflyness due to the sickness which had afflicted me, i still had a very good time socializing and shopping and admiring sheep.   again, i didn't come home with a fleece and the reason for that is that i don't like touching them.  i think they're gross.  but i had no trouble assisting in the enabling.  what i did come home with though is 13.2oz of this beautifully colored roving.  i can't remember the name of the booth where i purchased it, but it's not amy boogie's. 

here's what i got at amy boogie's. 

corriedale in "rocky mountain high"

bfl in "mash"

skinny sock in "leaf peep."  yeah i stopped there, but could have easily kept going.  willpower i tell you.

half of the reasons why cummington's  my favorite though  have little to do with the festival itself, but rather it's location.

first of all, it was the first time since december that i got to listen to Stephanie Miller in my car.  see, the boston area no longer has a progressive radio station.  turn to 1430 AM in boston and you've got 24 hour rumba.  not that i have anything against rumba, but i think that one of the most "blue"  cities in the country should have it's own  progressive radio station.  i find it pretty hard to believe that "24 hora rumba" makes more money.  northampton on the other hand isn't all about the rumba and still has a progressive station, so i was able to listen to a little stephanie on my way to the festival, which  made me very happy.

but that's not all.   i missed "this" on my way to cummington, which is funny as i was stuck helplessly behind some NH asshat who was going a good 10 mph BELOW the speed limit (you would think that going at a crawl would allow me to actually do a little sightseeing)  but caught it on my way home.  i had to stop.

minis!!!  a whole bunch of them!  really old minis.  really teeny tiny minis! (and another car that i can't identify).

i love minis.

then there's webs of course.  i went with the intention of purchasing a new bag or two.  but elisa and kellee had already been there, so they didn't have any of the colors i was looking for.  but that didn't mean i came home empty handed.  i bought some cotton classic  and a couple of skeins of silk garden.  i also came home with a big ass blocking board.  yes, the big ass size.  (the new bag(s) will be for another time.)

that's all i've got for today.

My NHSW

last year, NHSW was my first fiber fest ever.  and the weather conditions were heinous with all of the rain and the wind and did i mention the rain?   since the forecast indicated that the sun would be shining and the temps would hover around the 65 degree mark, i was a little concerned that the festival would be packed and would be more reminiscent of the madness that is rhinebeck.  but thankfully, i was wrong.

this year like last i didn't come home with a trunk full of fiber or some crazy fleece or anything like that.  i had a list in my head that included the following items:  addi lace needles, roving for practicing my spinning, and a big ass sausage.  check, check, check.

within a half hour of arriving i had found my addi lace needles at The [Chuck] Woolery (heh heh) booth.  i was very excited that i found the needles and yes, that means i plan on knitting lace .... some day. 

i bought a little scrap roving from  darlene and norm ratte from newport center, VT.  yep, that's 100% sheep.  gotta love 100% sheep wool and such a bargain too.

          

and then at some point in the afternoon, i ran into the boston girls (i'm not linking to them.  you know who they are) right in front of the grafton fibers booth.   i think it was kellee who grabbed me and pointed out a batt that she said reminded them all of me. 

hmmm.  so i remind them of the circus and clowns.  "not scary clowns though," clarified debbie. hmmm.  thanks guys.  see up until this point i fancied myself to have a rather sophisticated sense of color.  clearly, i'm wrong.  because when i protested, i was asked to pull out the sock yarn that i had purchased earlier.

oops.

but then, i considered the batt in question carefully and quickly threw it into my bag.  one woman's "clown spore" is another woman's "rainbow flag," which i can totally stand behind.

of course, it was a great time, but at the end of the day, i was in complete agreement with this little girl.

Today Is Going To Suck Ass

it's barely 9:30 and i'm already agitated.  on friday, i was notified by someone who shouldn't have notified me -- as it's not her job -- that i would be sharing my miniscule office with another person -- actually two other people -- who are theoretically only going to be in the office when i'm theoretically not in the office.  i say theoretically because in actuality i can guarantee that there will be overlap.   and i plan on noting when there is overlap in a little notebook.  what really gets up my ass even more is that this office -- although no one will admit to it -- was a bit of a bribe to get me to take on additional responsibilities without the benefit of a raise or an official promotion (you can call me queen of the world but if it's not indicated in my HR file, and i don't get a crown and throne, i'm really only a loser).  anyway, the person who was supposed to notify me on friday, just did this morning.  and the additional responsibilities that i took on?  those were hers when she bailed.   finally, because my boss doesn't work here, i'm additionally at a loss because i have no one to look out for my interests.

if i weren't such a pathetic fool, a coward, and afraid that i couldn't get another job, i would quit.   that's how pissed off i am right now.

also what's not helping is that two tires on my car need to be replaced post-haste.  this is my fault.  i've been driving around on practically bald tires for months now.  (although in my defense, J is in charge of the cars and he's known about the tires as well -- i mean why have a guy around if not to take care of the freakin' cars!)  and i'm lucky that i actually made it to and from the NHSW without an incident and only had the flat tire monitor come on 8 miles from home yesterday.  but for the rest of the week, this means that J needs to drive me to the train station at 6:45am and can't pick me up until 7:45pm, which means i won't be getting home until 8.   i don't recommend talking to me for the next 5 days or so. 

oh, and some asshat is trying to spam my comments.  FUCK YOU LOSER SPAMMER FUCKER!!!

and now for some new finished projects.

spunky eclectic's may fiber, corriedale in strawberry fields, about 100 yards.

new socks in bernat hot sox in "i don't remember the name right now" colorway.  i made these in less than a week.

i'll show you my NHSW haul soon.  you know when i'm actually home again.

Is It The Weekend Yet?

ugh ... fridays are tough for me because in my head, i'm already in weekend mode.  a four day work week would be perfection (remember that episode of friends when chandler was locked in a ATM booth with some model and when she offered him gum he said that would be perfection?  or something like that. ).  ok maybe not perfection, but certainly better than a 5 day work week.

so with the socks done, i'm down to 2 ongoing projects.  the chevron scarf and the ripple blanket (YES I'M STILL WORKING ON IT!!)   so i need a third.  a couple of you asked me about this big ball from my previous post.

well almost exactly a year ago, i made a giant t-shirt yarn ball.  now it's time for me to knit it up into a little bathroom rug.  i have size 19 denises (yes they do come that big) so i think those will do.  others asked me about the roving.   it's 4oz of corriedale from amy's fiber club in strawberry fields.  it's so preppy that it reminds me of carole, circa 1986. 

ok, i have to get back to work.   someone, kill me and put me out of my misery.

Eye Candy Friday

i have kind of dropped the ball with the whole project spectrum thing this year.  i really had the best of intentions.  it's not as if my surroundings haven't been inspiration enough.

OK, I'm Getting Better

only one day behind this week.  not too bad. 

1.  i really like this sign that i pass on my way home from the supermarket.  it so appeals to the 3rd grader in me.

2.  i like how funny little kids can be.  she was crying right before this picture was taken because her brothers were bugging her.  as soon as she saw the camera though, she stopped right away, and started mugging for me. 

3.  and who doesn't like receiving fiber in the mail?   this is 4oz of superwash merino in "dandy lion."  i joined the spunky eclectic fiber club at elisa's insistence.  when elisa tells you what to do, you do it.  didn't you know?

on the knitting and crochet front, this weekend was a wash.  a mistake was made on the sock.  at first i decided to  call it a "design element" so i wouldn't have to fix it.  i ended up frogging the whole thing and starting fresh.  progress was stopped on the ripple afghan as well.  just taking a rest is all.

and just because i like this picture ...

It's Only Been a Year

over a year ago, i purchased 4 oz of merino in this yummy pink grapefruit color from michelle at fun with yarn. 

monday, while watching the devil wears prada (ok movie.  book was kind of just ok too.) i finally spun it up.  last night i plied.

yeah, my spinning still ain't all that great, mostly because i just don't have the patience.  and that's ok with me.  surprisingly enough, the skeins are pretty balanced so whatever i make with this shouldn't be all wonky, so that's a good thing.  this is my first time spinning merino too.  and it's very soft but i had some jerky moments drafting and spinning at the same time.  which is why i have some really fat parts and some super thin parts.

whatever.  it's not a competition.

 

Giving Thanks

i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving.  ours was great.  i'm very lucky to have awesome inlaws who have sucked me into their wild and crazy family.  crazy in a good way.  you know ... the kind of crazy with laughter ... not the kind of crazy with plates getting thrown across a room, slamming doors, and crying.

anyway .... remember when i half seriously threw out this challenge?   well elizabeth took me up on  it.  look what came in the mail on saturday (receiving gifts of fiber and yarn does not constitute  cheating on the diet by the way).

4 oz of shetland wool called "bittersweet skies."  isn't it pretty?

A Bear in Sheep's Clothing

so of course there was shopping.  i bet you i'm the only girl to come home from rhinebeck with one of these..

grrrrr.  now that's a bandsaw.

   

but that's not all i came home with.

my first purchase, a little sheepy ornament ...

from carolina homespun i picked up one of these tubes of fiber

and 4 oz of multicolor merino in Baltic (and some additional denise cords and needle points)

from cloverleaf farms i picked up 9.5 oz of blue faced leicester

(the colors are off here, i mucked around with the light balance and still couldn't get the colors right)

from "i don't know where" i got a big ball of "i don't know what" -- i think it's merino.  i was taken with the color.

and from two places that i also don't remember, i got this lovely ashford niddy noddy (thanks laurie for advice on what to look for) and two skeins of trekking sock yarn.

mmm watermelony...

on sunday morning, i finally made it to The Fold where things were pretty picked over (i too saw the line on saturday, and said "fuck it") but there was still this poor little lonely skein of STR left... poor little guy. 

i mean, think about it.  people stood in line for hours to get a hold of this stuff, and yet this little guy in olivite was left.  i couldn't just let that be!  i had to give him love.  it was a matter of his little sock yarn self-esteem!  so although he didn't come in a color i would normally choose, i took him home anyway.   you could tell he was happy to be loved. 

look how happy he looks with the skein of blue moon worsted wear in "flourite" that i also picked up!  it warms my heart.  me and madonna, we're really two peas in a pod.

hmmm.  that's about it, this time around.  oh and of course, the very awesome bandsaw.  i'm just dying to try that bad boy out.