The urge for Christmas Socks

I want to knit a pair of Christmas socks. Not really sure why, but I just want them. I want to knit them. I want to wear them. So I went in search of Christmas Sock Yarn. I checked GnomeAcres first as I really like that shop and she has some wonderful Halloween yarn. But when I watched her podcast she said she was not going to make Christmas yarn for awhile - and since I am a pretty slow knitter I guess I will not be buying any Christmas yarn from her. Unless I want it for the next season.(Boooooooooooo!)

So then I went to Etsy and started searching for Fingering Weight Christmas yarn. After some digging I was able to find LolaDoodles shop and she is selling a yarn called Christmas in Vermont. This looked like a winner!

 

The price was reasonable and the shipping was also very reasonable. It showed up in just a couple days with a nice note. The colors where much more muted in person than I was expecting, but I am still pretty happy with what I got. If I am being really honest - I want the colors I saw on my computer screen a lot more than the colors I got - but I know that is the risk of buying yarn online. And also why its good to buy a single item from a new vendor, you get to test the waters and see how true their portrayal of their product is.

So overall I am pretty excited. I think this is more of a winter colorway rather than a Christmas colorway, and I am not sure if it will cure my need for Christmas Socks, but I suspect I would wear this all winter and not just up to Dec. 25th!

Mail Call! Mail Haul!

OOOH! Look at the pretty thing waiting for me when I came home today!

I present "Enchanted Evening" which is a Superwash sock yarn I purchased at wooliebullie's Etsy shop. Here is the description from the web page:

Enchanted Evening is now available in our new line of RAZZLE SOCK handpainted yarn. Deep and rich teal, black and blue - it will light up your night with the bit of twinkle.This yarn is beautiful and a luscious and easy care blend of 70% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon and 5% Razzle.   

This yarn is SOOOO awesome looking. I am tickled to add it to my stash and wondering already what wonderful thing (shawl) I will make with this.

There was a lot of temptation on this etsy shop!

Mail Call!

When I went on to Etsy to purchase my shawl pin a couple weeks ago I ended up spending some time looking at other stuff too. Etsy is so addictive! I somehow (heh) ended up finding someone who was destashing. (Squee!) And so I ordered one of her lots which was Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals Yarn. I picked up 4 skeins of Onyx, 2 skeins of Cranberry, and one skein of Chestnut.

I am a BIG fan of Brown Sheep yarn. I use it a lot. Love the feel of it, love the finished products I have made from them, and I really like the colors the yarn comes in. I used my flash on these pictures so the colors are bleached out here, but these are wonderful colors.

I have been enjoying thinking about what I want to make with this yarn. I originally thought a shawl would be very warm and wonderful, but I read that this yarn felts really well, so now I am toying with the idea of making a bag out of it. Not sure which way the wind will blow on this, but the thought process is a joy!

A Better Standing Ovation

Back in December I knit the pattern Ovate which is a paid pattern on Ravelry. I loved the pattern except for one thing: The tacky closure. Maybe it was the toggles I chose? Maybe it was my lack of mad skill in the crochet department? Whatever the reason - it looked like crap. I found myself not wanting to wear my fancy Rasta shawl that I was so excited about. Sad face.

See how sad that looks? It didn't look much better with me in it, let me tell you. And honestly, I don't think it looked that great on other people's either. I feel like people really had to work to get it to look nice in their Ravelry pictures. Maybe it's just not my style. I can't pull off the belted sweater look either. **Shrugs**

Enter some serious Etsy browsing and the discovery of a shop called WireDreamsDesign. I found a wonderful shawl pin there that is pearl colored on one side and black on the other. It's made out of Polymer Clay and the "pin" is a recycled knitting needle. FABULOUS!

As you can see there is a pattern in the clay as well - making it just a little more special. I only took pictures of the pearl colored side, as I didn't think the black side would show up well in pictures.

I am soooooo happy with this purchase and think this is a wonderful upgrade to the shawl. I have added this shop to my favorites and suspect I will be getting more shawl pins from them in the future. Did I mention they are really affordable too?  Awesome!

Happy happy joy joy!