the Akamai Knitter

Friday has snuck up on me. I’ve been so busy, the whole week has gone by in a blur.

There has been spinning. Spinning of an unexpected colorway. I’m calling it Spring Bouquet. All I could think of when I was spinning the singles were Easter eggs, but it’s not Easter.

alpaca/silk/merino singles

I normally don’t choose pastels, but I couldn’t resist this blend of fiber. It’s 50% alpaca, 30% silk, and 20% merino by From The Wool Room.  It was heavenly to spin despite the fact that I kept expecting the Easter bunny to jump out and yell “boo!” at every turn of the wheel.

Once I finished with the pastels, I searched for the antithesis of pastels for my next spinning project.

I came up with this.

100% Superwash Merino - Spirit Trail Fiberworks

I feel like I’m diving into the ocean whenever I work on this. I just love these deeply saturated colors.

Deep Sea Diving

It’s also been a great mail week. Since Kris has shown me that she’s got a bigger fiber stash then I do, I’ve decided that I need to catch up with her.

My newest acquisitions from Hungry For Handspun aka the Moonlight Baker.

Water Lilies by Hungry For Handspun

Earth Day by Hungry For Handspun

I don’t think I’ll have a problem catching up with Kris’ stash size. In fact, I might already have done so and more.  But pulling out all my fiber and taking a picture might be too traumatizing, so we might never know.

Another acquisition for the week was a gorgeous sock project bag by Cheeky, my Plurk buddy. She just opened her Etsy store this week and I was her first customer!

I couldn’t resist the hot pink kittehs and I’m really impressed with how well it’s sewn.

new sock project bag

One last thing. I’ve  thrown together a shop blog, so I can blather about what I’m doing for my little endeavor there instead of doing it here. Hopefully I can maintain both blogs without too much trouble.

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend. :)

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This weekend the postman brought many delightful goodies to my doorstep. First up is a surprise gift from someone I met while I was in Pennsylvania. Her name is Kathleen and not only does she have a lovely Etsy store called Friend of a Friend, she also makes the best English Muffins from scratch.

Kathleen sent me the cutest little stitch marker holder and the sweetest bookmark. I’m going to make a lot of use out of both of these things!

This is the rest of my weekend haul.

Wendy of WendyKnits graciously gifted me with the book Eclectic Sole once she learned of how much I coveted the book and of how hard it is to find it on Amazon. I am so happy to get my hands on a copy as there are so many socks in this book that I want to make. Thank you Wendy!

The yarn I got for myself. It’s Shibui Sock in Jonquil and I plan on knitting the Nanner Socks that Wendy has designed for her Plurk buddies. I’m really looking forward to this project as you all know how much I love Shibui.

I feel completely justified in starting a new project as I also have an FO to report. I give you the finished Burgundy Ditto Socks.

Pattern: my own 64 stitch, 2×2 rib pattern

Yarn: Universal Ditto, Color No. 4807

Needles: Size 1US/2.25mm

Started: May 21, 2008

Finished: June 23, 2008

I am so glad these socks are finished. Initially they were a very relaxing knit, but they soon became rather boring. There’s only so much 2×2 rib a girl can take!

I say that now, but I know I’ll return to it like a moth to a flame in a heartbeat. There’s something about 2×2 rib that always makes me go running back.

At least  I’ll be knitting with the Summer Of Socks gang now! Well.. except for the pair of Mingus socks that are still on the needles. But we won’t talk about those.

Instead, we’ll indulge in yet another cat picture. This time it’s Scheyer all curled up like a pretzel.

Happy Monday you all! After all, it’s almost over. :)

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It’s been a special mail week for me. I received a surprise goody box from my very special friend, Karen of Yarn Is My Metier. I was so excited when I received it I emailed the wrong Karen to say thank you!

As you can see, I had reason to be so overcome with excitement.

Starting from the top, I received: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Morning Mist; Dream In Color in Happy Forest; The Knittery’s Merino Cashmere Sock in Geranium; Sunshine Yarn’s Merino Silk in Sunflower; and a stapleless stapler!

The stapleless stapler has to be the cutest thing ever.

And Merino Cashmere? Cashmere! For the feet! Oh the decadence. Oh the luxury! Plus, the color is just what tickles my groove thang at the moment.

I’m not sure what the occasion is for this generous gift, but thank you Karen! You made coming home especially sweet.

Another thing I wanted to share is a prize I won over at Rosa’s blog, Purly Qs. Some gorgeous silk roving in a delicious array of purples and blues. I want to eat it.

I’m rolling in fibery goodness and I don’t think I’ll need to acquire any more yarn or fiber in the foreseeable future. So I’m going to restrain from buying. I’m not saying it’s a diet. That just makes me obsess over what I can’t have. I’m just going to exercise restraint and concentrate on what I have.

Wish me luck, mmkay?

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On Wednesday Shelly took me out to The Knitter’s Underground and its new location. It’s located right on Molly’s farm.

Inside was a beautiful shop full of racks of gorgeous yarn.

Needless to say, I bought some yarn.

On the very top we have Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted* in Onyx and Lotus Pink for the Pirate Queen Booty Bag.

In the middle, we have Frog Tree Alpaca Wool in fingering weight for the Shetland Triangle Shawl that I’m planning on making for my mother. (See? This yarn isn’t for me. It’s for my mother. It doesn’t count as stash!)

Finally, we have Trekking XXL in Color No. 105 and Trekking Pro Natura in Color No. 1506 because a shopping trip just isn’t complete without sock yarn.

Yarn wasn’t all I got either.

I picked up another copy of Barbara G. Walker’s Knitting From The Top, because I seem to have misplaced my own copy.

Then there’s the pattern The Brora Black Cobweb Shawl, which I consider my greatest find. I didn’t think I’d ever get my hands on this pattern. I’ve been coveting it for quite awhile too.

After our visit to the yarn store, we traveled on to Miller’s Hoagie’s. They have the best sandwiches I have ever tasted.

The sandwich has ham, bologna, hard salami, and provolone. The veggies consisted of lettuce, onions, and tomatoes. I declined on the hot peppers that day because my stomach was feeling a little iffy. As you can see, they put the meat on top. This made the sandwich a lot less sloppy then the hoagies I’m used to.

All in all, it was a wonderfully successful excursion. Thanks to Shelly for giving me such a fabulous time! Tomorrow there’s more fun planned, but none of it has much to do with fiber. This is actually a good thing for my wallet.

Still to come are the purchases I made from Delightful Ewe, the local yarn shop that I helped move. It seems every time I stop by I come away with more yarn. Carla, the yarn shop owner, has generously donated an extra suitcase or two for me to cart my purchases home with me. I’m sure she gave me the biggest suitcase she could find in order to urge me on in filling it up with all the yarn I can.

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for reading. :-)

*It’s late here so I took the lazy way out and linked most of my purchases to Ravelry. My apologies!

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It’s about time I got to this post, isn’t it? My excuses? Well, I’ve been busy helping a friend move her yarn store to a different location. I’ve been laid low with a 24 hour flu bug. (This post was planned for Friday, but I was completely incapacitated that day.) Not to mention, that Fibromyalgia flare just won’t seem to go away. Enough with that though!

I give you the booty.

That’s the sum total of my yarn purchases. Were you expecting more? I certainly was! I think I’ve become such a mad spinner that my focus was on all the fiber I could spin and on all the goodies I could spin with.

First up is some superwash merino sock yarn from Wullenstudio Designer Yarns in Green Tambourine. Such a lovely yarn. I’m not sure what it will become, but it’s certainly very soft and squishy.

Next up, is some Sea Sock yarn from Dragonfly Fiber Designs. This one has some sea cell in it and it feels very silky. I think I’m going to use this yarn for the Rivendell design. The color isn’t really accurate as I’d like in the photograph as I’d like. Just think ocean.

The next yarn is more sock yarn. (Do ya think I have a thing for sock yarn? Do ya think?) This gem is from Brooklyn Handspun and I’ve had a really hard time finding this stuff online. There weren’t many colors left, but I’m happy with what I found, which is Wheat Field. I think it will be a good match to my wardrobe.

Oh look! Something that isn’t sock yarn! Yes, I actually found some laceweight that called my name in a lovely semi-solid purple from Sweet Sheep. The color is called Muddle Through, which I find totally appropriate for the way I approach knitting.

Finally, the last item wasn’t exactly a straight up yarn purchase. It’s a kit from Just Our Yarn for the shawl Jack In The Pulpit. I fell in love with the model. At first I resisted the siren call, but in the end resistance was futile and I caved. I think it was the beads that did me in.

I think I did pretty good in the yarn department at MDSW, but I did mention something about a yarn store right? Well, my willpower only stretches so far and there might have been a bit of damage done there. I think I’ll save that for another day though. Too much in one day will have me in a state of shock over the mass quantities of stuff I’m going to have to transport home.

For those who don’t know, I’m flying home on June 3rd, so I wouldn’t expect regular posts until then. I do have a lot to post about though. It’s been a whirlwind of activity here. There just hasn’t been enough downtime for me to write about it!

I shall leave you with a gorgeous shot of some snow on trees in Sinking Valley that I took last week Monday. I couldn’t get over the fact that there was snow! Actual snow! In May! Whee! :-D

I hope you’re weekend is going well! Have a great week!

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