Weekend Meetups

Well, I have had quite the busy weekend regarding fiber!

Saturday

Saturday was a really great day. I met up with the San Antonio Handweavers Guild. They have a meetup every third Saturday of the month starting at noon at Yarnivore. There were quite a few people there, I was very surprised! It was nice to meet new people and learn from them a little. My little spinning wheel was quite a hit and a lot of people thought it was cute and had questions.  I also got quite a bit done, as well! I spun up some of the dyed merino I bought from WishFox Dyeworks. It's probably the only merino I have done well with thus far and I think the spinning is coming up great! I will probably navajo ply it to keep the color changes nice and consistent, since the roving is a bit wild. I would hate to lose the gorgeous colors in the business of plying it. I'd rather try to keep it consistent. Anyway, I bought 5 oz so I'm hoping it will turn out lovely with quite a bit of yardage.

Another great thing is that this particular fiber seller is part of the Phat Fiber group. Apparently, this month each purchase made from the etsy shops of any of the sellers listed gives you a chance in a drawing for a fiber box. Wooo! If you are interested in the details, please check out the thread on the ravelry group. These fiber artists do amazing work so being the nasty enabler that I am gives me warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

Oh! Pssst... speaking of enabling! Yarnivore is now carrying Tosh sock and DK weight, and waiting on the worsted. I would hate to be alone in this dangerous place, you know. :)

Sunday

Today was a local LSG meetup at 2 Rivers Coffee in New Braunfels, TX. It took me forever to get there, and not just because I underestimated the time... but because I got lost. Yes. I, even with the superpowers of a GPS and iPhone, got lost. Horribly. I will say, though, that New Braunfels is hardly the worst place to get lost. The scenery is quite wonderful and it's nice to drive around there, lost or not. Also, I will mention that it is not a horribly big place, so getting lost there is kind of... special. I did eventually figure it out and we met up and had quite a bit of fun! I gave away some fiber to the daughter of one of our local hoars and also traded her some sock yarn for her blankie, which I totally convinced her to do in the first place! She had some great sock yarn for me to add.

Please ignore that purple ball toward the bottom, there. I had meant to add it to her bag and had a brain fart and dropped it into mine on accident, even though I have an entire ball of it. I'll keep it and give it to her when I see her next. When I came home, I totally ignored my sock (the almighty last few inches of it!) and worked on four squares. The blanket is looking less and less scarf-like by the day, it seems.

I took a picture cutting off the area I haven't worked on all month, so that blue square in the top left is where I started off this month. I'm submitting my blankie squares to BSGFPB this month, so I'll probably doctor a picture up at the end to outline the squares from May. I love that big red one. You can't see it too well, but it's actually a lovely gradient yarn starting at a deep fuschia color and going to a red-orange at the top. I like it.

I'm really hating the yellow light in the house. I'm going to have to definitely take pictures outside, probably on the picnic table in the yard. Everything looks so muted and jaundiced it's not even funny.

Yellow Rose Booty!

Well, it's taken me a while but I'm finally ready to talk about what happened at Yellow Rose... as in I have gotten over my serious laziness and will now post all about it! Nothing bad, it was AWESOME! When we first got there, we were greeted by a naked alpaca and llama. I got a picture, but the llama was being a douche and did not want to be photographed.

Our first stop going in was to fill out a cool form for drawings. Amazingly enough, I was the first person to win a prize! That's so crazy and cool and I was excited while walking around trying to figure out where I was supposed to go to pick it up. It contained some stickers and a skein of yarn, by Gritty Knits called Smug. It's a really striking yellow, a DK weight and I have no idea what to do with it but it is pretty and quite shiny.

Then, I returned to the booth where I was when my name was called. The shop is called Knitting Rose. The top is her Blossom yarn, it's a sockweight, and is superwash wool. Below are some minis I purchased from her, she has another yarn that contains buffalo fiber, called Budding. I believe two of the minis I purchased are of this yarn, but they are not labeled. It feels like it, though. She was a really awesome, interesting lady. She also has a podcast if anyone is interested.



Next, I explored the MAFIA booth.  Yes, the fiber world has the mafia and we do love it so. This is a group of several different fiber artists, so I will try not to blather on about them too much. But! In my Battlestar Galactica group there is an amazing, generous woman who offered to give me a birthday gift when I visited her stall. She is the owner of Lazy Pi Farm. She gave me some absolutely amazing fiber as a gift and had some sock yarn minis as freebies. I shamelessly took one, but really, really want to buy some more of her yarn. It's really good stuff. The type I got was called Elemental and it is glorious. Seriously. Go buy some right now.

Also from the MAFIA booth was The Droll Eclectic. I purchased fiber from this exact dyer before and actually spun my first yarn from it. Amazing stuff! Her shop says that she is currently on vacation, but there is amazing stuff to be had there.  I purchased some more fiber (merino) with the intent to ply them together to get a gigantic amount of yarn, I guess. We'll see. Also of note is the fact that she sells Spinolution wheels. Since I happen to own a Spinolution wheel, I am quite happy to know this and will contact her in case I need any parts or have problems with it breaking down.

After that, there was quite a lot of wandering around. I was sorely tempted by a mini niddy noddy, but I am saving myself for another, so I had to pass. I did pick up some minis at the WC Mercantile booth. It was toward the back and there were some really awesome things to be had there. I focused on the huge bowl of sock yarn minis, though.  Shamelessly. They do have some excellent sock yarn and roving, though, if anyone is interested in that.

Next up was Sky Loom Weavers. I really loved their yarns and purchased a skein of sock yarn (do you see a pattern yet?). I have never really been too fond of melon colors but this just caught my eye and I couldn't put it down. I have no idea what to do with it, but really I don't know what to do with anything, do I? There was a freebie of spinning fiber, though I completely spaced on taking a picture! I plan to give it to a friend's daughter. She discovered spinning at the festival and I am really just a shameless enabler. Don't you know?

At this point, we decided to stop and have a break for lunch. We went to Davila's BBQ, also in Seguin. It was difficult to coordinate with so many people, but eventually everyone did get there. I did not have the presence of mind to snap a photo, which I regret, but hopefully maybe someone else did. It was a lot of fun to see all of the San Antonio area people gathered there. It was a meeting of groups, as well, since we had the San Antonio Fiber Junkies and the LSG folks in the area all together. Fun stuff, I do hope to see these people again because they are awesome and amazing and I LOVE FIBER FOLKS.

After lunch, it was more shopping, of course! I purchased some sock yarn from the Dawning Dreams booth. I was torn and had trouble deciding between this skein and another, more yellow colored one. I decided on this one after a while.

Also, during my ridiculous waiting to decide time I got to see a cute little baby goat. I pet him and he was quite wiggly, hence the blurry picture. Also -- DIAPER! HA!

I also purchased some soap from a booth there run by an etsy store called Mike and Diane . I did not have the presence of mind to take a picture, but I got some soap that smelled like watermelon from them. I am still using it and it is great soap, though. I would recommend it, but my sister does not think so. She is very sensitive about scents, though.

Well, after all of that I went and paid a visit to the major booth of the festival, Windmill Crest Farms. I bought a bag of alpaca fiber. I'm looking forward to spinning it! I am hoping that they will be able to participate in or advertise for Yarn Crawl this year. I'd love to see them again soon! Liz bought some yarn from them. I was a teensy bit jealous until I realized I was going to be able to make my own out of this. Pretty excited about it. The fiber is ridiculously soft.

Then, I found the next booth over or so that was selling llama fiber from Stalter's Farm. I should have put it together when the douchey llama outside was shorn, but I didn't and was surprised to figure out that llama fiber is, in fact a thing. Anyway, it's very soft and amazing and so I bought some of it, as well. It's a pretty natural gray color and I am really looking forward to spinning it. Their website has no mention of llamas, but they were really awesome, amazing people and they came quite a way to get to the festival, so I would not hesitate to buy from them again should I see them. They also gave me a little freebie with the fiber purchase, of both llama and alpaca. I have shamelessly spun up the brown llama, so I will post a picture of that as well. It came out pretty soft and I love the way it spins.

Last, but certainly NOT least, are my favorite people to run into at fiber festivals. Andrea and Emily. They are from the Austin area and are serious enablers with a great attitude. Emily owns a shop called Buena Suerte. I have purchased yarn from her in the past and it is absolutely lovely. This time, I bought two skeins of her Jinx yarn:

She has another type of yarn, called Charm, which is a blend of merino and tencel and it is absolutely fabulous. I did not buy a skein this time around, but I had one that I haven't caked up from Kid 'n' Ewe. The sunlight was pretty weak at the time of the picture taking, but it is incredibly shiny!

I also purchased fiber from Andrea, her shop is Natural Obsessions. She has such amazingly bright, eye-catching dyes it took me forever to decide what to get. Emily suggested I try spinning a wool called targhee because I have had some problems here and there with merino due to the short staple length. It's absolutely gorgeous and I've already started to spin it. I have one single already done, just need to spin up the other half and ply!

I am thinking it will probably spin up to be my best yet and I absolutely love it. Andrea also has a fiber club going on and that looks amazing. I can't sign up for it this time around, but I will keep an eye out for the next one if she does it and  I will be the first one jumping onto that, I can assure you!

All in all, Yellow Rose was amazing and I can't wait until next year. So, I will leave you with a picture of all of my purchasing glory in TWO bags, one of which I had to buy because my poor knitting bag was too full. Ridiculous, aren't I?

Update on the Yarny Things

Well, I did not mean to be away from blogging for quite so long. Oops! I should have been updating this entire time.

I have been doing quite a bit of knitting these days.  Maybe even to the point of being ridiculous? I'm not sure. It has occurred to me that I did not ever post pictures of the gray Hermione's Everyday Socks I was working on. That is because there currently aren't any of the finished pair, as I am lazy and have not taken any and I haven't even woven in the ends for them yet! However, I do have a picture of the first one right before I began the toe.  That particular pair of socks was rather amusing, as I found out after knitting most of the first one... that I have been doing the knit stitch incorrectly for a number of years. Purl, also.  It's rather sad and I am not happy about it, but I have corrected the issue and the second sock was knit very differently. The difference in how the eye of partridge heel looks between the two is astounding! It also fits much better. I have a number of beautifully done things since, and I will shamelessly flaunt them before you as they come up.

Anyway, nearly immediately after I finished these socks, I started another pair. Surprising, I know! I decided to use the pattern BFF out of Cookie A's book, Knit. Sock. Love. This apparently used to be a free pattern, like Monkey, but I had it in the book and it fit the Sock Knitters Anonymous prompt (cables!) for March... so why not?  I have not quite finished, but I have gotten to the heel flap of the second sock and am really enjoying the knitting. Really.  I have a picture of the first one completed:

And another of the yarn in more natural lighting to show off the color:

I absolutely love this yarn! It's Tosh Sock by madelinetosh and now I understand why people rant and rave about it. Really.  The color is beautiful, the yarn is soft and workable, and the stitch definition is good. All around, a great yarn. 
Another thing I have been getting into recently... is the sock yarn blanket. I know, I'm so shameful! I resisted temptation for over two years before I caved. I couldn't help it. Mine is just now starting out. I don't have a ludicrous number of squares yet, but I do have one picture so far:

I have not been taking any pictures of it, as it is significantly larger than that now, because I have not been weaving in my ends like a good girl and it is spiraling out of control.  It's an off and on project, so hopefully I will remember to take and post pictures as I go along. Hopefully. My grand plan is to knit it large enough to fit a king sized bed. I figure it'll be a wedding present to myself or something... which is nothing to worry about. It's going to take me forever and I'm not even dating anyone right now so I'm right on track!

I also feel like I have been very blessed with the people on Ravelry being so awesome.  I posted the need for sock yarn scraps for this blanket in Random Acts of Kindness, as I have not been a sock knitting fiend until quite recently, and received two packages so far. I only have a picture of the contents of the first, but I will put it here:

I was so happy upon receiving this, that I skipped around the house saying "yay, yarn!" for several minutes.  I'm sure my family thinks I'm absolutely  nuts. Really.

Aside from that, I have a few other little things going on here and there.  I will be sure to post about them as I see fit. This is a horrendously long blog post with tons of pictures, as is. I will say, though, that I went to Yarnivore with Chirp in a fit of madness quite recently and came home with this:

Yes, it is orange malabrigo sock yarn. Yes, I am aware that there is something painfully wrong with me and I do.not.care. I am enjoying this particular fit of insanity, thankyouverymuch. We will see what this becomes. I am also looking forward to the Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta coming up this month. It just so happens it's the weekend before my birthday and I do most certainly plan to attend and blow every bit of birthday money I may have. :)

Kiddo Armwarmers

So, I told my little brother that I would be making him some armwarmers for Christmas/Yule. I decided to make him some Gradient Mitts. The pattern is very simple, has a size that would fit for him, and would go by very quickly with a bulky weight yarn. Well, I decided to go ahead and get some Cascade 220 Superwash and hold it triple stranded for this particular project. I think that was where the problems really started. I HATED those mitts. It has nothing to do with the pattern and everything to do with the crazy yarn mess and the fact that, when he tried them on, they did not fit very well. To be fair, he has freakishly large arms for an 8-year-old. After measuring, we have figured out that he and my sister (19) have around the same size.


So... what to do? First of all, I didn't want to go through and undo the one I had made previously and the yarn tangle was still making me pretty angry. So, I decided to go ahead and make up a pattern and get new yarn. I went to The Yarn Barn, which is the only place in San Antonio to get Cascade 220. I have never been particularly fond of this store because I always thought the customer service was sort of... odd. However, the lady who helped us there was very nice this time and allowed my friend, Liz, to use the swift and winder there. I don't know what her name was, but she was knitting the most fabulous beret out of a (probably mohair judging by the halo) laceweight. Aside from the weird customer service, though, I have had the issue with leaving this store with a ball of yarn that looked like a completely different color inside than it did outside. I don't know if it's the lighting or what, but the first time I thought I was picking up ecru and opened the bag at home to find white and THIS time, I got black and blue and found black and purple when I went to start on these armwarmers. Knitting for an 8-year-old boy is not exactly a purple sort of thing. I would suggest to people going to make sure you know what color yarn you're looking at (like hold it up to the window or something) before you buy. That would solve the problem I have had there and, should I need to go there again, I will be doing so. Anyway, the kiddoo has taken it like a champ, so I'm going to get my act together and knit another pair out of the yarn currently tangled and in the other armwarmer.

Anyway, let me go ahead and give the dimensions of what I knit for him and a picture to go along with. Please feel free to use if it appeals to you. If you are interested, my ravelry page for this project is also available, though I think the same information is here, as well. It's just a few mashed numbers to result in a tube. Seriously, not very difficult at all.

Dax's arms are about 8.5" around at the widest point, right below the elbow. From that point measured down to the base of the thumb joint is 10". 

My gauge was 5 stitches per inch on size 7 US needles.

I cast on 40 stitches in color A, split onto four dpns. Knit 7 rows in color A. Switch to color B and knit 7 rows. If you are annoyed by the little jog in the stripes and want to avoid that, TECHknitting has a really awesome tutorial. 

For the thumb hole:
Row 1 of 3rd stripe: Switch back to color A, knit 17 stitches, bind off 6, knit 17.
Row 2 of 3rd stripe: Knit 17 stitches, cast on* 6, knit 17.
*I used the knit cast on. A video tutorial can be found here.


After you are done with the thumb hole, continue knitting in stripes of 7 stitches until there are 12 total (or longer, if you need it to be...?). Bind off and weave in your ends and there you go! Arm warmers!

He seems pretty happy with them:

The Pink is Upon Us!

So, today was my cousin's baby shower. She's having a girl. The shower was a lot of fun with some interesting games. One of which included melted chocolate and baby diapers, which was oh so much fun! So, now that the gift has been given I can now post pictures of the awesome and utterly humongous baby blanket I made for her. Yay! (I'm sorry the picture is blurry, the camera on my phone is a bit iffy these days.)

I actually started this blanket back in late February and it was in the car during the accident. It was salvaged, washed, and I continued working on it to make it into the huge monster it became. I love it and hopefully my cousin and her new baby will, as well. 

After the baby shower, we went to the Blanco Lavender Festival. It was on the way home, and very interesting. We shopped and got some nice sundresses and I got some awesome yarn! It's 100% merino in a sockweight. I'm considering either socks or a shawl. It doesn't much matter, I love the colors. :)

The lady selling it also sells soap, her shop is called Soapmarked. I didn't buy any due to lack of funds, but she has this chocolate scented soap that is absolutely to die for. I'd consider eating it, seriously. Anyway, we got to chatting and I found out she lives in San Antonio. Hooray for having another local yarn hoar, right? Anyway, she seemed neat. She doesn't sell her yarn on her website, but either way her items are worth interest.

We also stopped and got some tasty Fredricksburg peaches. They are absolutely delicious and my grandmother plans to make a peach cobbler tonight with some of our bounty. I am sure it will be beyond yummy. :)

Oh, also! I began the Yggdrasil Afghan. It looks really awesome so far, but I only have a picture of the beginning supplies. I already have had to frog and restart due to being not quite right in the head when I began and screwed up the cast on, somehow. Okay, so the way it works is you have to do an invisible provisional cast on, but I didn't think that was working out too well for me. The pattern says to do it "into a slipknot". Well, I decided to take it at its word and made a slipknot and used that as my waste yarn and then pulled on the tail to tighten it. Basically, a magic loop. It worked fabulously and I am pleased with the way it's turning out, now.

Oh, also I finished the socks. I absolutely love the way they turned out and my sister does, too. They fit her and she wants them. They would fit our little brother better, but it doesn't really matter. She likes them, that's all that matters. They are definitely fraternal twins. The second was knitted while I was on the road to Arkansas with my grandmother. I guess I was having highway anxiety, because it knit up a bit smaller. The colors spiral rather than flash. I like that they're fraternal twins, and the size difference is marginal, but I wish they weren't different. Ah, well. 

Also, I will have you know... I got a new job. I'm excited about it, but everything is happening so quickly lately that I don't really have time to be running around screaming woo hoo about it. I start on Monday, it's doing data entry. Mom is excited about going shopping tomorrow to get me some more office-type clothing. I'm sure I will do well and it may end up being a wonderful fit. I just miss my old job.