Not A New Year's Resolution

I plan to blog more this year.

It's not a New Year's Resolution, just a plan I'd like to implement. Even if the posts are short, I'd like to get back to regular posting. Stay tuned to see if I succeed.

I plan to: blog more, knit more, and spin more. YES I said SPIN. More on that...later.

Here is some knitting I did for and over Christmas:

The top photo is a close-up of a pair of socks I knit for my mom for Christmas. My mom got sick in December and will go in for surgery in a few days. I thought she could use something warm and cozy. Here is the complete view:



She loves the socks and has been wearing them night and day with a liner of cotton socks. I knit them with handspun sock yarn that I bought from KnittinPretty at etsy.

The mitts are knit with handspun from Hobbledehoy at etsy. I have a serious addiction to Hobbledehoy's yarn, and I think it is the main reason for my desire to spin my own yarn (so I don't go broke at Hobbledehoy). In the long run, the wheel is cheaper.

I was able to knit three pair of these mitts from the one skein, so I kept a pair, sold a pair, and gifted a pair to my niece for Christmas.



This was supposed to be my cozy Christmas sweater. I knit it with Rowan Big Wool Fusion in a smoky blue/grey colour. I used the Rowan Pattern from Big it Up. The sweater was fun to knit, and quick on 12.75mm needles. And it doesn't really fit me, so it went to Little Miss H (who just turned 11). She loves it and calls it her "sleepover sweater." I wasn't allowed to show her hair 'cuz she was mad at it, and I'm supposed to say that this is her stunt-double posing in the sweater.





This is the yarn I used to knit my nephew a pair of socks for Christmas. Yeah, I know, lame to show the yarn and not the socks. Didn't get a photo. Yeah, I know. Lame. Especially as I have more of the yarn available in my shop, and you'd think that pix of nice socks knit in it would be a great marketing tool. Yeah, I know.



The yarn is called Rusty Camo, and it was fun to knit for socks on size 4.0mm (cuffs) and 3.75mm needles (the rest). I used about 150 grams to knit size-10 men's socks with 10 inch legs. The socks knit up fast, and the yarn striped in chunky stripes of rust and green. They looked great.

I also can't show you the two monster hats that I knit for my other two nephews. They were grand, and so quick and easy to knit. The monster patches just pop right out. The nephews loved them and wore them all through our time at dinner and after. Do you think I got any photos?? Yeah, I know.

New Girl in Town

Meet Mooch!

Mooch is really teeny. We got her a few weeks ago 'cuz we're hamster-lovin' kind of people.



Yes, we still have Daisy. Daisy loves cilantro. Daisy does not love Mooch. We introduced them briefly, and Daisy made it very clear that she was the Alpha-Chick. Then we had to separate the two of them so that it didn't turn into a Sam Peckinpah moment.



Daisy loves Carrots.



Mooch loves to attack the giant sunflower seed head that Grandma sent home with us at Thanksgiving.



This is me waving hello to everyone out there in blogland.

In case you've worried, no I have not been working 24/7. I have been knitting!!! Yes, real knitting has been going on. I can't show you what I'm knitting, unfortunately, but I can show you the secret bag that it's in. Maybe tomorrow. :)

Phew! What a Big 'ol Day

Today, I got my 1000th sale on etsy. Cue the streamers, the balloons, the confetti, the marching band...

This is considered a seriously major landmark over at Etsy, and I am blown away by it.

Etsy counts sales in an interesting way. Etsy does a lot of things in an interesting way. And yes, the word interesting is a bit loaded in this context. If I list five skeins of yarn from one batch, and five different people each buy a skein of yarn, it counts as five sales. If one person comes along and scoops up the whole batch, it counts as one sale. The 25 sets of stitch markers that I listed as a custom order counts as one sale. So, 1000 sales is a whole lot more than 1000 items.

I've had a pretty exciting day. :)

Oh! And I must point you in the direction of DancingMooney at etsy. DancingMooney bought the item that bumped the counter over to 1000. She is a lovely and very friendly etsy seller. She makes sweet jewelry that is well made and affordable. Thanks, DM, you're a doll!!

And thanks too to all of you out there in blogland and beyond, who have encouraged and supported me in all kinds of ways. Thanks to all my buyers! Thanks for blogging about my shop, or the yarn you bought, the socks you knit. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of great ideas (I still want to know who gave me the heads-up about including a different stitch marker in my sets). Thanks for referring me to good yarn sources. I keep telling people over at the etsy forums that knitters are the best!

I'm pretty tired now, but I want to show you what I knitted with that fun orange yarn I blogged about a few days ago.

The skein called October was enough to knit two pairs of these funky cozy fingerless mitts. I listed one pair in my shop, but it sold already. I'm thinking of keeping the second pair, but we'll see.



I forgot to photograph this yarn in the skein, but it is another one from TinyAirplane's yarn club. She called it Fizzlebottom, but I call it Apple Picking. Big poofy merino that knitted up into super cozy mitts. I'm going to get two or three pairs out of this skein. This pair is listed in my shop now. (well, it's there at the point of posting this, at least)



And as a side note, Daisy wants it known for the record that she isn't actually that fat. She just looks that way when her cheek pouches are stuffed full of seeds. Hmph.

I HAZ FATT FASE

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Okay, maybe it's not the Great Pumpkin. It's a skein of hand dyed and hand spun yarn that I bought from Tiny Airplanes where else but at etsy of course. She calls this one October.

Fitting.



The yarn arrived a few days ago as an installment of a six-month yarn club that I bought from Tiny Airplanes. I have never joined a sock yarn club (and probably never will), but I am on my third funky art yarns club. I've done one round of the Insubordiknit art yarn club, and then I signed up with Tiny Airplanes. I think I might be the only person in that club, but hey, it works for me. Then I signed on for another three months with Insubordiknit 'cuz Jacey has me thoroughly addicted to her crazy ass yarns.

I had to wonder about Tiny Airplanes' club. Her yarns are really pretty, soft and fun, but the club was ridiculously cheap. So much so, that I think she is paying me for knitting with her yarn. I feel ever so slightly guilty. For a second or two. And then it passes.

The mystery was solved today. I liked that skein of October so much that I snapped off a quick photo and immediately wound it into a big fat ball. I mean we're talking about 130grams and over 100 yards of this beauty. I had a fun pair of cozy fingerless mitts knitted up in about five minutes. I'm already on my second pair. Then I emailed her to ask if she would mind if I sold mitts made with her yarns in my etsy shop.

She is thrilled with the idea. After all, she doesn't knit. WHAAAAAAAT????

A. How can anyone who isn't a knitter or crocheter create such highly knittable (and I'm assuming crochetable) yarn?

And

B. How can she resist? I mean Sheesh!

Now I know why I'm getting such a deal. Shhhhh....don't tell her.

Hey Buddy, Can You Help a Knitter Out?

Here is a wonderful knitting opportunity for anyone who lives in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver. I know you're out there...

My friend Kirsten is the creative genius behind Yummy Yarn on etsy. The pink socks I blogged about yesterday were knitted with yarn she spun. She dyes, spins, and knits beautifully. She also designed that Full of Holes Triangular Scarf that many of you admired and then promptly went out and purchased the pattern.

Now, how would you like to take a knitting class with a knitter like that????

She just emailed me to ask for my help. She is scheduled to teach a knitting class at our local arts centre in Port Moody. The class is on how to knit sweaters without a pattern, and it will be on Wednesday evenings, starting (I think) this Wednesday.

The problem is that she is short one or two people to make the class full enough for her to teach. If she doesn`t get the extra bodies, they will cancel the class.

If this appeals to you, you will need to contact the arts centre by Tuesday to register. The centre is a fun, relaxed venue for classes. And Kirsten is really nice, I promise.

Here is the detail on the class:

Basic Sweaters (Ages 16+)
Instructor: Kirsten Z.
$75.67 includes registration & tax
7-8:30pm Wed (7 classes Sept 26-Nov 7)
Only recently have knitters been given
painstakingly detailed instructions to work
with. In the past, knitters learned formulas
and techniques rather than patterns, and
they made sweaters to fit the wool, the occasion,
and the person. In this class, you
will be guided through designing and knitting
your own sweater to fit. Students may
choose from one of several basic sweater
types: yoked, raglan, saddle shoulder, or
gansey.
*Supply list available at registration
Pre-req: basic skills of knit, purl, increase,
decrease, cast on, cast off.

So, if this sounds like fun for you or a friend, or you and a friend, or your mother-in-law, or that neighbour down the street who keeps talking about knitting a sweater, then this is a great opportunity to Knit On!

Here is a link to the Port Moody Arts Centre, which will give you all the contact information you need to register.

Sock On!

Yes! Knitting has been happening around here lately.

I finished my socks done in handspun sock yarn that I bought from Yummy Yarn at etsy. I love her handspun and have bought several skeins from her. This skein was called Rosie Toesies. The dark bits you see on one sock's leg and the other's toe came from a second skein of YY that happened to match.



My work requires me to spend a lot of time on the computer, so I have been happy to grab any time away to knit. It is a treat to work with DRY yarn for a change, and I enjoy the simplicity of working on basic socks. Plus I love to wear them when they are finished.

This is my latest pair in progress. I bought this handspun from Knittin Pretty at etsy. The shop is new, and she hasn't posted many yarns, but they are already popular. I bought this blue superwash merino called Lapis and another skein pictured below.



I knit Rosie-Toesies on 4.0mm for the cuffs and 3.75mm for the rest. The Lapis yarn is a bit finer, so I'm knitting them on 3.25mm. I have to admit that I really like slightly heavier sock yarns. I took my Lapis sock and sock in progress over to a friend's house on Thursday. She is a new knitter, but when she tried on the sock, she was hooked on the desire to knit her own socks.

My other yarn from Knittin Pretty is called Wild Thing, and I absolutely LOVE it. My favorite colours. The put up is a whopping 608 yards, which is a really good deal for the price I paid. Keeping in mind that handspun is pricey, of course.



Here is another little goodie that I picked up from etsy. A sock knitting bag that I bought from Stuck in Illinois. This woman makes lovely little sock knitting bags in all kinds of fun fabrics, and she sells them for only $10.00. And that includes shipping!



I bought this Coffee Cups bag first, and it is really well made. Fully lined, light, and just the right size for a sock project. I take it everywhere. It sits on the floor or beside me and holds my ball of yarn while I knit.

I liked it so much that I've ordered a second one. It is in the mail, but you can see it HERE.



And just one more bit of show and tell...

I think this is my favorite skein of yarn ever. Ever. I bought it from an etsy shop in the UK. I love the name of this shop: Shunklies.

She called this skein Walk in the Woods, and it is so soft and squishy and beautifully spun. It has all my favorite yarny colours and in some lovely combinations. The yarn is on the chunky side, and it is a huge skein (200g/220yds). I'm thinking scarf knit on big needles. I can hardly keep my hands off it and can't wait to knit it, but I also can't really bear the thought of rolling it into a ball.



I'm already wearing the pink socks again. They went back on my feet as soon as I finished photographing them. Now I think I want to go and roll around in yarny goodness.

What A Pal!

Ever notice that I measure my "tomorrows" in weeks or months? Seems that way at least. Okay, I promised some action on my sockapalooza bonanza-of-goodies, and here it is!



My sock-pal lives in Anchorage Alaska, and she is wonderfully generous, as I have found other Alaskans to be. You can find her at her blog Knitting Escape, and hey! Look at that. Not only does she blog about as often as I do, but her last entry was about MY socks. You can find all the lovely details there.



Aren't they beauties?? My package arrived and I couldn't believe it. Lacy patterned socks just for me. I only ever knit plain stockinette socks, so my feet were feeling pretty special in their new socks. I had to sit and reflect for a moment that someone I've never met knit me such a lovely pair of socks.

One happy foot:



Two happy feet:



The socks came gift wrapped, and they were not alone. They came with a bunch of Alaskan goodies, including chocolates (notice they are absent from the photos, wonder why?), and yarny gifties.

Thanks, Barbara! You're a peach!!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!!!!!

Today, my kids went back to school.

Technically, yesterday was the first day of school, but since they only went for an hour to satisfy some attendance-taking requirement, I call that the bait-and-switch back to school day.

Today was the day that they left the house, caught buses and remained gone until about 4:00. THAT is my definition of the first day of school.

I love my kids, but summer is long, and they get bored.

Today I walked around the house in my underwear.

Okay, I didn't do that, but I could have if had wanted to.

I was supposed to post all the lovely things that my sockapalooza4 pal sent me, but I lost my good photography light, so it will have to happen tomorrow. I'll leave a sticky note on my laptop to remind me.

I will also post progress on my second pink sock, which I'm hoping to finish tonight.

I noticed that a lot of you were interested in the handspun sock yarn. I find that you have to haunt the place (etsy) a bit to nab the really good stuff. Since I'm such a nice person, I will tell you how to haunt some of the best places.

Way #1: Go to Etsy Front Page; click on buy; categories: There are two categories for finding great yarn in the order that it gets listed. Those categories are KNITTING and SUPPLIES/handmade. I scan these listings regularly since those are the categories in which I list my items too.

Way#2: Go to Etsy Front Page; click on buy, and use the search bar. Plug in handspun yarn, and it will show you all the listings from most recent back.

Way#3: Go to my Etsy shop; scroll down, while scanning the right hand sidebar. You will come to a box with my Fishy Wishy avatar, under which will say profile and then favorites. If you click on my favorites (items/sellers), you can see a lot of the yarn shops that I like to say nice things about on my blog. I check those stores fairly regularly for new listings.

If you have your own Etsy account, you can "heart" or favorite shops and items that you like and build up your own library of shops to stalk.

Since this has been a very wordy post with no eye-candy, I will leave you with some eye candy from my own shop.

Canadian Maple: making its debut as a sock yarn


ChocolateBerry Truffle (mmmm)


The cutest stitch markers: Wasabi World (they look like little wasabi planets to me)

Happy Blogiversary Baby

Got you on my mind...

All day I've been reminding myself to blog because it is my BLOGIVERSARY today!!! Yes, one year ago today I started blogging. Imagine that.

I had to get my entry in before the date changed so that it would count. Well it is 9:45pm around here, so I say that counts. Over at Etsy, everything runs on NY time, so people are up very late while it is still pretty early for me.

I have knitty stuff to show off too. This IS a day.

Doug posing in his new socks: He says his feet are very happy.



I knit the first one back in March with (yes) some of my very first hand-dyed yarn. Then the remaining yarn sat around with the orphan sock until about a week ago when I got going on the second one. Doug and I were watching a movie last night, and when he got up to get a snack, I snuck the socks onto his chair. He was so thrilled, he put them on right away and had a big smile on his face for the rest of the movie.



Alas, I did not manage to get a photo of the finished Butterscoth socks for my sock pal. I did get them into the mail though, along with more sock yarn for her to enjoy and some fun stitch markers. And wait'll you see what I got from MY sock pal. Show and tell on that tomorrow. And yes, there will be a tomorrow.

Guess what this is?



Yup! Another finished pair of socks. I finished these up at camp with the handspun sock yarn I bought from rmddesigns at etsy. I have another skein from her and a third on the way. We'll get to some show and tell on that eventually.



I have discovered a great love for knitting socks with handspun sock yarn. Yes, it is ridiculously expensive, but I can think of many many good reasons to do it:

1. Handspun sock yarn is usually a wee bit heavier in gauge so socks fly along.
2. Handspun sock yarn is ridiculously expensive so you buy one of those instead of eight of something else and thus stash stays small and you use up your yarn purchases faster.
3. Handspun sock yarn has this funky colour changing thing going on so you can knit the plainest of socks without ever getting bored, cuz that yarn is always so durn interesting.
4. Every single stitch done with handspun sock yarn is a joy.
5. Um...I like handspun sock yarn.

6. How could you possibly resist something like THIS:



I mean, that is just one hunka hunka burning bliss. I can't wait to knit socks with that yarn. I bought it from a shop called Bizyhands at etsy (natch).

Or how about this one: (alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com)



And one of my favorite hand spinners at etsy is YummyYarn. I've blogged about her before -- she's the one who designed the Full Of Holes Scarf. This is my current sock on the go (one done, one at the cuff stage): 100% BFL Sock Yarn, handspun of course.



So that's me, and a bit of what I've been up to knit-wise. I haven't been blogging 'cuz I hate summer and go into survival mode, which basically means ignoring a lot of things until the kids go back to school.

Back to school in two days...and counting...

Let Me Tell You About Harry

It's late, but I haven't blogged for a while. I came home from camp and hit the deck running with post-camp laundry and jobs, summer stuff, business, work, Doug's work, kid stuff, etc etc etc. This last week and a half has been a complete blur.

But I have to tell you about my buddy Harry.



The building you see in this photograph is the dining hall at camp. Doug and I were staying in a cabin way up the hill from there. Every year we stay in "The Old Workers Cabin." Not sure if it's the cabin or the workers in it that are old, but I've stayed in that cabin for the last twenty years, and it is a lot older than that, so probably both are true.

The cabin can house four "units" of people. Doug and I got our room all to ourselves this year, but other years we have had one or both kids sharing it with us. One, when we only had one. Both when we had two. I have a lot of great stories of life in The Old Worker's Cabin. But today's story is about Harry.

Contrary to popular belief, our family did not go away on vacation exactly. All four of us went up to camp -- Daybreak Point Bible Camp on Anvil Island in the Howe Sound of British Columbia. Lots of proper nouns in that sentence. Hayley went as a camper. Colin was on the work-crew, and Doug and I were on one shift of cooks. We worked on a team of five that included us and cooked all the meals for 140 people for a 24 hour shift, and then got a 24 hour shift off. We usually napped when we were off shift. We had to work a bit harder this year because several people got sick up at camp, and we were a bit short-handed at times. The cooks are a fabulous bunch of people, and I love to work with them. We all pitch in to help each other finish and serve meals, and other camp staff (all vounteers like us) help out too.

Early in the morning, when I was on shift for breakfast, I would get up and head down to the dining hall to start work. Most of the time, the other three rooms were quiet, with occupants still sleeping or hoping to squeeze in an extra hour. The room across from ours housed one of the camp directors and her two young sons. Mom is a huge Harry Potter fan, so no shock when I tell you that her younger son is named Harry.

Harry is hilarious. At two, nearly three years old, he still has a baby face and wispy long, curly baby hair that reminds me of my son Colin at that age. Like Colin, Harry has huge eyes that take in everything around him, and like Colin at that age, Harry has the vocabulary and language facility of a much older child. Perfectly enunciated and grammatically correct sentences of marvelous complexity could come out of that kid's mouth, totally defying his outward appearance. And like Colin, he was a child who wanted to be treated like a cat. I know this behaviour. You can look at them sideways, but never come on too strong. Gradually I could feel him becoming more familiar with me.

In the dining hall, I'd see him playing with playdough.

"I have a big saw. I am sawing wood."

Or playing with a muddy mix of cornstarch and water.

"This is cement. I am making roads for the trucks."

One morning on my way to "work" I saw him standing in his doorway, rubbing his eyes sleepily and watching me brush my teeth and get ready.

"Hi Harry," I said casually.

"NO!" (emphatically) "I will NOT say hi."

I held my laughter until I got all the way down the hill. That kid cracked me up. That line has become a catch phrase around here.

By the end of the week, he was cuddling in my lap.

De-Stash SALE!!!

I have WAAAAAAAY too much stash, so...

I'm having a de-stash sale over at my etsy shop. All yarns from my personal yarn stash.

I'll be posting yarns today (Saturday), and de-stash yarns will be available until Monday morning (August 13). Then I'm yanking anything that did not sell.

If your own stash is over-flowing, you might want to avoid my shop today. Who can stand the temptation??

Have fun!

I'm Ba-ack!

This is where I was for the week: Anvil Island in the Howe Sound of British Columbia. Actually, I'm standing on Anvil when I took that picture. The other island you see is called Gambier Island.



Tired. Dirty. Need my own bed.

More tomorrow.

Confessions of a Socka-Pal-LOSER

I even bought a book and everything!

The Sockapalooza-4 deadline draweth nigh, and I must confess that I will cross the finish line, but not with brilliance.

I joined up with high hopes. I dyed special yarn. I bought a book of sock patterns. My pal was going to get a brilliant pair of socks. I was going to leave mysterious and witty messages on her blog.

Well...

I sold off her yarn. Never opened the book. She doesn't have a blog. And I never contacted her. I consoled myself on that last point with the reminder that my pal never contacted me either, but then my pal did. About two weeks ago. Hmmph.

So if you have a blog, you are not my pal. Ditto that if you have heard from your pal. It wasn't me. I didn't send you a care package, or a note, or leave chocolates on your pillow. And you are not getting the latest craze in sock patterns done in thread-like yarn on itty bitty needles.

BUT

You will get a lovely pair of well-executed stockinette stitch socks in my much-coveted Butterscotch Rowan Pure Wool DK that was dyed by me. They will be done on time and in the mail as soon as I get back from camp on August 4. They will arrive accompanied by a nice skein of sock yarn, also dyed by me, a card, and a set of stitch markers.

So I'm not a total loser.

I'm away for a bit, but my shop is stocked with all kinds of things, and you are welcome to browse and even to buy, as long as you don't mind waiting a bit for your item(s) to ship. I just posted two more offerings of the elann.com Cash Tweed. Each is a 100gram skein currently available...until it is not. The last two flew away very quickly.

REDWOOD FOREST:


RIVENDELL:


PS. I got my gold pirate-tooth today, and it feels great!

PS2. I will actually take pictures up at camp this year so that y'all can see how glorious it is.

Stupid Plastic Tooth

I'm longing for two things these days: autumn, and a new tooth.

Autumn isn't happening for a while, so I'm dreaming about it with dye. This one is called: The Leaves Dream of Autumn. (the leaves aren't alone...)



The tooth is happening on Thursday, so that feels somewhat in reach. Right now I have a stupid plastic tooth instead of one of my upper molars. I hate it. Last week I spent the proverbial about-as-much-fun-as-two-hours-in-the-dentist's-chair two hours.

I brought my iPod since there is only so much classic 1970's music I can stand, and that's all that plays at my dentist's office. At least we can laugh about it since she and I are almost the same age. Depressing Harry Chapin ballad reminds her of depressing Dan Fogelburg ballad, and just as we are laughing at the comparison, the Fogelburg dirge comes on. That really gets us laughing.

If we were laughing, it couldn't have been that bad, right? In some ways not. I like my dentist. I really do. Having suffered a lifetime of severe dental anxiety (with reason), this dentist has redeemed a lot of that for me by being who she is. She has a beautiful new office with comfy chairs and NO shaming, humiliating, or disgusting dental posters on her walls. That alone endeared her to me pretty quickly. And she is kind. And gentle.

So she kindly, gently drilled and grinded my molar for almost two hours last week, without anaesthesia (the tooth is dead anyway). I took my Xanax and listened to my iPod, and I survived. But I left with a temporary plastic tooth that feels like a clunker in my mouth. I can feel the edges of it. It doesn't feel like a tooth at all, and my tongue won't leave it alone. I liked the broken tooth better.

I finished sock one in the hand-dyed and spun yarn I bought at etsy. You can check out the yarn and link to her shop HERE.



And I dyed my second skein of the elann Cash Tweed last night in a colour I'm simply calling Blaze. More dreaming of autumn. I love this colorway. I will definitely be doing a few more like this one. And keeping one for myself while I'm at it.



Man-Boy demonstrates the difference between Cash Tweed before and after dyeing. Hopefully you can also see how much fuller and fluffier it becomes with washing.

If Frankenstein Wore Socks...

They'd definitely be Lime-Green and Purple stripedy...



Don'tcha think?

At Long Last Blog

Reasons I have not been blogging:

Can't be bothered
Too damn hot
Too damn lazy
Too many distractions
Too many people in my house (read: kids home for summer holidays)

In other news...

Catbookmom came to visit, and that was FUN! Catbookmom, Lunadog, and plain 'ol Jayne went out for a pub dinner and then back to my house on the HOTTEST DAY EVER. Seriously. It was the hottest day in Vancouver's recorded weather history. Hotter than the gates of hell. Hot.
But we still had a riot.

It was also too hot to take pictures, but I do have two from the day that CBM came and spent an afternoon and evening chez See-Jayne-Knit.

Good pic of CBM....and uh...Jayne having a Forest Gump photo moment.

Ah...that's better. CBM brought a knitting project that she was knitting in yarn dyed by me! My yarn had come back home again. And it was looking very pretty as it Sunray'ed along.

What I'm Knitting

I decided that my sock pal was getting the infamous Butterscotch socks that have set so many knitters to drooling. They are nearly done. I will make the deadline! More on this later.


I am also knitting myself a pair of socks in some lovely and funky hand dyed and spun yarn from a fellow etsian (how Jayne spends her money). The yarn is called creamsicle, and she spun it with little coils peppered in there that give it a fun texture. More on this later.



What I am Dyeing:

I bought some of elann.com's new and limited Cash-Tweed yarn to see how it would dye. Colour choices were very limited by the time I got there, but I still got some useful yarn to play around with. Unless I hit a colorway that I absolutely adore, every batch will be a one of a kind. So if you see something you like, I wouldn't wait.

This is my first effort. I dyed two balls tied together, so the put-up is 100g/392yds, and the yarn bloomed and got much softer with dyeing. I'm calling it Stormy Seas. The colour came out rich and saturated, and that warm coffee brown is really something else (love that). I don't think I will repeat this one, so like I said, if it makes your heart go pitty pat...


A particularly lovely batch of Copper Blaze Kid Mohair:



And a new colorway in Blue Face Leicester that makes my heart go Pitty-Pat! I'm calling it Sun Kissed.



All these are currently in shop with lots of others and a whole lotta stitch marker sets. I didn't know that I would be in the stitch marker biz until I listed a few and they took off. Now it is a fairly large part of what I do. Who knew?