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!

The Lure of Sock Yarn

Oh how I love a sale! I have been in need of some tiny little number charms for a project for quite some time. I finally found a pack of these I could live with on JoAnn.com and thought I would "just peek" at the yarn "real quick". Famous last words. I just happened to be there when a bunch of sock yarn was half off! AND add to this, so far one of my favorite pair of socks that I have made was out of the Lion Brand Sock Ease. I got a pair of socks out of one ball and I really loved how the fabric turned out on these socks.

Here's a picture of the socks I made from this yarn last year.

I just loved the fabric. It's a little rough, but it isn't scratchy and they wear really well! So when I saw that I could get this yarn for half price and free shipping if I spent $50.00 I stocked up! I have no idea when I will get to this yarn - especially considering how much delicious sock yarn I already own and can't seem to resist buying, but I am pretty happy with this purchase!

Stash Enhancement

I made it four days into 2014 before I added new yarn to my stash. Uffda. Glad I didn't bother writing down any resolutions this year!

Pretty though, right? This is Zitron Wolkenspiel, a 4 ply fingering weight yarn in the color Abendrot. We popped into Knitters Palette Yarn store in Lakeland Minnesota on January 4th and this little lovely followed me home.

The color on the photo just doesn't do the yarn justice. We don't get enough natural light around here in the winter, so it's hard to showcase the glory of this yarn. There are some hot orange tones to this yarn and I just fell for it. Num num num.

At least the pressure of NOT adding to my stash was blown early. Now I am free to be a glutton of yarn the rest of the year knowing I am not breaking any promises to myself or the Internet!

Nerd Girl Yarns = Awesome B-day Gift

For my Birthday last month my parents gave me some spending money, which allowed me to go and get some yarn I have been wanting to try for a long time. I headed to Nerd Girl Yarns and looked through everything Yarn on the site. In the end I fell in love with these two yarns and had to get them.

Bounce and Stomp in the colorway "Bad Luck". I got the last available skein of this and I cannot wait to work it up. The stats from the website: "4-ply fingering - 75% superwash merino 25% nylon
Approximately 463 yards (423 meters), 100 grams".  When I pulled it out of the bag I went "Ooooooh" and gave it a squish with my hand. Oh yeah baby. That's what I like!

The color explosion above is a worsted weight yarn called "Clever" in the colorway Wonders. Here is the stats about it from the website: "100% superwash merino. 218 yards, 100 grams. worsted weight". I love love love the colors in this.

Living in Minnesota - I wear a scarf over half the year. Most of my coats are black. I wear blue jeans every day. Yawn. So a violent pop of color on my neutral colored wardrobe, when I live in an area that lacks any color in the landscape for months on end - well it makes me REALLY happy.  I am anxious to get knitting on this as well!

As for the shopping experience? Great! The website was well organized and easy to maneuver. I clicked on the link for "all items currently in stock" and cruised through them looking for my must haves. I have been to the site before looking for sci-fi themed yarns and been a bit confused about how that works. So I avoided that this time and had a better experience. I am drawn to a lot of her sci-fi lines of yarn - so I may need to figure that out in the future.

I was able to pay with PayPal (easy peasy) and got great confirmation of my purchase and tracking info. My yarn was in my hands just a few short days after I ordered it! Wonderful!

Very happy with my Birthday gift! 

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!

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz - How delish a baktus is!

I HAVE FINISHED MY BAKTUS!

I worked on this on and very off and then on again. It took me 11 months to finish. Argh. Not that the pattern is a burden or anything - it's a very simple pattern and it's wonderful. This is actually my third time making this and I love each one. I wear them all the time. They are super simple and they show off a yarn wonderfully. Just love them! Here is a link to the first one I made and a link to the second one I made. So it looks like I have made this three times in the last year. It's just such a wonderful pattern and a great way to bust your stash as it will work on pretty much any gauge. I just love it. Here is the Ravelry link to the pattern if anyone is interested. This pattern is to me as Toast is to Knitting Nix. (Although I suspect she has made more Toast than I have made Baktus. She wips out amazing Toast on a regular basis!)

When Tom and I went to the alpaca fiber festival in November I spotted someone wearing a striped Baktus and Tom thought it was quite the thing - so I am tempted to make my next Baktus striped. I have no doubt there will be another baktus in my future. I don't knit socks you see, and yet I can't stop buying sock yarn! It's just so flipping awesome! So this is a great use of it.

I know it looks like I took my poor dog and kind of forced her onto this in a posed manner. Not true! Any fabric  - knit item. towel or blanket - that I throw on the deck she immediately comes over to and sits on. It's crazy. She was snuffling in my hair and walking all over this thing as I was taking pictures. I think she is all hunched because it's still kind of cold out. We have been in one of our few cold snaps this weekend and it's tough on Emma. She loves it outside but is pretty much bald in her girly regions. Huh. Maybe that's why she is always sitting on my knitting....

So at the widest part my Baktus measures 12" and the length comes in at 82". Almost Seven Feet long! I am 63 inches tall (5'3") so you can tell how long this is on me. BUT - Because its sock yarn it's really light and because its so long I can wrap it around my neck a bunch - so I think it will be a really "Go to" item.

Also - This is so girly Pink that it really looks awesome with my black leather jacket!

Am very pleased with my newest FO!