the Akamai Knitter

In the past week, I received two unexpected packages in the mail. The first package was from Lori and it was a late birthday present. My birthday in in October, but as Lori said in the card, “better late then never!”

She sent me three gorgeous batts from Enchanted Knoll Farm in the Margarita colorway.

The other box was from Lisa and it was so chock full of goodness I couldn’t fit it all in one shot. The woman obviously knows my fixation with all things Hello Kitty.

Do you see the little blue ball? It’s a felt ball! It’s the cutest thing. It has a little sheepie on it and it can be used as a keychain or as a stitch marker holder. My love for it rivals the Hello Kitty swag.

And she didn’t stop there. Lisa also included the most gorgeous Blue Face Leicester roving from Yarn Hallow in the Seattle colorway. The colors are perfect!

There might have also been a box of the most delicious Dutch cookies ever, but you can’t prove it by me.

Thank you Lisa and Lori! The two of you really know how to spoil a girl. :)

Happy Wednesday! I hope you all get a chance to spoil yourselves.

I’m not feeling so hot. I’m not sure if it’s the Thai food from last night or if I’ve caught some kind of bug, but the end result is less then stellar. So no photos of the handspun that’s dry today.*

Instead, I thought I’d share some fiber I got in the mail last night.

This beauty is from the magnificent Jessica‘s shop Zarzuela’s Fibers. The colorway is Seascape and it’s 100% Merino.

Isn’t it delicious?

Flu bug or not, I’m spinning today because I cannot wait to get this lovely concoction on the wheel!

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend. Go Cards!

*Also, no kitty photos as they’ve all deserted me to nap in secret places. Felines! Feh.

I had a birthday last month and I was blessed with many fibery treats from a couple of very good friends.

Not only did Megan give me some gorgeous French Angora to play with, but she also made me a very special Romney batt.

romney birthday batt

Then Jen gave me three different braids! That’s right! Three!

Gaia and Butterscotch

On the left there’s Rambouillet and on the right there’s Merino.  I’ve already thrown the third braid on the wheel. I forgot to take a picture of it while it was braided, so here it is in a ball.

mud pie

And here it is on the wheel.

mud pie single

I’m spinning it up into a 2-ply laceweight yarn. I’m thinking it might make a nice Honeybee Stole. We shall have to see how it looks once it’s plied.

All this fiber has really helped me get my spinning mojo back in gear, but I still found time to make another amigurumi toy.

she-devil cat

She came out looking a lot different than the original pattern due to the fact that I used different eyes. This was not by design, I just didn’t have the eyes called for in the pattern. So instead of a pure devil, I have a cat/devil type thing.

I also left out the mouth, because I just couldn’t figure out what would be an appropriate type of mouth. I think she looks fine without one, but what say you?

Finally, I want to thank everyone who expressed their concern over my silly statement in my last post. I’m going through a rough patch, but I’m more then positive it’ll pass. Especially with all the good friends I’ve made in the blogosphere. :))

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a fantabulous weekend!

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. :)

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. :)