Yarn!!

Last week I got two yarn packages in the mail. I wonder if that means I have a problem, as I had just returned from my trip to Denver with 4 –I mean 5skeins of sock yarn the week before, and now 4 more skeins have arrived! I won’t ponder on that, but just be happy for more new yarn!

I received my Loopy Ewe order and my first Woolgirl 2008 sock club package. Both were WONDERFUL! First I’ll let you know what I got from The Loopy Ewe, as the Woolgirl sock club may be a spoiler for some….so beware—there are sock club spoilers below.

From The Loopy Ewe I received my first Yarn Nerd yarn, Creatively Dyed yarn and Cherry Tree Hill yarn. Hooray! All new yarns for me—but that is not a difficult task, as even though I have quite a bit of sock yarn, there are tons of different yarns/dyers to pick from.
Yarn Nerd: 100% Superwash Merino; 450 yards; color 5 O’Clock Shadow
I just love, love, love this color! It was why I placed my order, and like I said, I just love the color! I can’t say it enough—WOW!!!





Creatively Dyed: 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon; 360 yards; color New England Fall (12)
No superwash here, so it is a good thing that I hand wash my socks, so I’ll not have to worry. But I did run across a wonderful tip that someone (whom I cannot remember—sorry!) shared, which is to do a purl row before beginning the toe to remind you that your sock is not superwash, so it has to be hand washed instead of washed in the wash machine. If I remember to, I think I’ll do that when I knit this yarn. Gotta love sock knitting tips, even if you don’t remember where they came from.

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock: 100% Superwash Merino; 420 yards; color Peacock
I must confess that it is not exactly what I pictured in my head (even though I saw the picture on line), but it is still a very pretty color. It is likely that if I had seen it in person it would still be at the yarn shop, and not in my stash, but I’ll happily make and wear a pair of socks out of the yarn for myself.

Recently I was talking to someone about purchasing yarn online vs. in person, and they mentioned how hard it is for them to purchase yarn online because you cannot feel the yarn or see what color is really is. I do agree that it is much nicer to feel and see yarn in person before making a purchase, but for me that is not very practical unless I want to really limit my sock yarn selection. So while it is true that sometimes the feel and/or color are not what I was expecting, that is the nature of purchasing yarn online, and I am willing to accept that. Imagine all the wonderful yarn I would be missing out on if I only purchased in my not-so-local yarn shop!

I also picked up a sock blocker key chain from Knitcelleneous just for fun—it didn’t hurt that it also took me over the $75 mark to qualify for free shipping. As usual, The Loopy Ewe takes special care when packaging your order—it was shipped in a box, with the yarn wrapped in tissue paper and then in a plastic bag for safety. A hand written note was included on my invoice along with a special gift and

WoolGirl Sock Club- April 2008
This is my first time in the WoolGirl sock club—WOW!! The package was AMAZING!!! After opening up the box, I found my yarn & goodies in a plastic bag tied with a purple ribbon and flowers. It was so pretty to look at that it was hard to open it. Inside the bag was my beautiful purple Mama Lama yarn. Oh and it is so super soft! I took it with me over the weekend and just had to have people touch it because it was so soft! I look forward to knitting with it soon. Also included with the shipment was a sock pattern, notes on the color selection, a coupon for my next yarn purchase (just twist my arm!), some pretty note cards with pictures of the yarn included in the shipment, a WoolGirl pen and a WoolGirl bag to put my sock project in. WOW! Jen sure does spoil her sock club members! I though a regular WoolGirl order was special, but it has nothing on my sock club package! But I still do think that a regular WoolGirl order still makes a person feel really special.

Denver!

I was in Denver, CO for the Frozen 4 WCHA Hockey Tournament last week. I had a really good time in spite of how poorly the Fighting Sioux played. No more comments on that!
While in Denver, in addition to watching hockey, touring things such as the Denver Mint, the Capital Building, the Molly Brown Museum, driving into the mountains & visiting Wynkoop Brewery (more than once), I managed to stop at 5 yarn shops—hooray!!

LambShoppe
http://www.thelambshoppe.com

This was a very friendly shop, and the last one we visited. While I cannot remember the woman’s name (she works the 9-12 shift), she was super friendly and helpful! Even though I’d never been in the shop before, I was treated as a regular customer, and felt right at home. What a great shop! I was even invited to one of their sock knitting groups, but was unable to attend, as it was the day after I left for home. The other two people I brought with me were not shopping for yarn, but still had a good time, and the shop was one of the two that we visited that they really enjoyed—that is a very good thing that they could have a good time in a yarn shop when they were not there to shop! I was good, and only purchased a skein of sock yarn, a skein of Scoubie Du to make a baby dress that was super cute! The pattern is Buttercup Sundress and is in this book: Country Living Cozy knits for cuddly babies by Elanor Lynn. Now I am working on tracking down the book. My first attempt is inter-library loan, we’ll see how that goes, as I’ve never tried that before. I also brought home Mountain Colors Baby Hat & Socks pattern, suggested by (and located for me in the shop) by a really nice knitter in the shop.

Pagewood Farm Yukon Sock Yarn in greens (70% Merino, 20% Bamboo 10% Nylon)
Trendsetter Scoubidu in Yellow Stone Wash

The Recycled Lamb
http://www.recycledlamb.com/

Another very friendly shop, and the other shop the two with me that were not purchasing yarn really enjoyed. While in the shop, my friends even helped someone fix (or do something like that) their spinning wheel. It was a very nice shop, and while difficult to resist, I did not actually purchase any yarn here (but the other knitter in the group did!). This shop had spinning and weaving in addition to knitting/crocheting.

Posh Yarn Boutique
http://www.poshayarnboutique.com/

This was the first shop we stopped at. The shop owner, Sylvia, was very nice and very helpful. I had e-mailed her before going to Colorado looking for a specific sock yarn kit, and while she did not carry it, she let me know that another shop did, which was really helpful, and we made a special trip down to the other shop to get the yarn. She even invited us to their “Bobmas Eve” event, but we were unable to attend, due to it being when the hockey games were being played. While there, at Sylvia’s suggestion (a wonderful one I might add!), I purchased my souvineer yarn—Red Rocks Fiber Works in Dark Chocolate. It is 100% superwash merino, and was dyed in Morrison, CO. http://www.redrocksfiberworks.com/. It is a very pretty color, and I’m looking forward to knitting a pair of socks out of it—now to decide on a pattern.

Purls of Wisdom
http://www.purlsofwisdomyarn.com

Another very nice and friendly yarn shop! This time I picked some Aussi Sock yarn www.oasisyarn.com in Oak Moss and Spanish Fiesta. 990% Aussi Merino 10% Nylon. I also purchase a circular needle case, as I really need one to work on some organization. I am planning to knit “I Love Gansey Sock” by Janine Le Cras with the Oak Moss.

One more yarn shop………

Showers of Flowers Yarn Shop
http://www.showersofflowers.com/

Boy do they have a huge selection of yarn! I ended up with Pagewood Farm Yukon sock yarn in Golden and a skein of Cascade Yarns 220 superwash in a dark green to make a Koolhaas hat for my brother. His favorite color is green.

As you can tell, by the end of this post, I got tired of writing about the yarn shops, but I really did enjoy them all, and had a wonderful time actually being able to see & touch all the yarn in person instead of on the internet!

STR Sock Club March 2008

Well, I ment to put the pictures futher down on the blog, but my skills are quite new, and this is where they landed......maybe next time I can figure out how to move them around.......

I just finished my Rockin’ Sock Club March 2008 socks on Sunday. HOORAY!! When I opened up the package I fell in love with the color! By now everyone should have their package, so it should be safe to mention that the yarn is a beautiful combination of greens that just screamed “knit me into socks fast!!” This pattern is my first dip in the pond of Cat Bordhi’s new sock architecture, and I must admit that I am intrigued. It was interesting to knit the heel flap and gusset at the same time (and no stitches to pick up –yea!). I knit the small size, casting on 60 stitches in STR medium weight. I must admit that I was a little worried about casting on that many stitches, as I’ve knit two other pairs of socks in the same yarn, and cast on 48 stitches for the one pattern and 44 stitches for the other pattern—but they were a variation of a ribbed sock, and the sock club pattern was over ½ stockinette stitch, so I took a leap of faith and cast on the 60 stitches required of the smallest size. I must admit that while they do fit, they could be a little snugger, so if I knit the pattern again, which I am pretty sure I will, I’ll find a way to cast on fewer stitches—I know it can be done, I’ll just have to do a little thinking to figure it out. For my birthday, I received Cat’s “New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One” book, so that should be helpful when trying to modify the number of stitches in the pattern.

Last night I gave the socks away to my best friend. I know that she will take care of them and love them very much—what a funny thing to say about a pair of socks—“…and love them very much”—but she did ask if I knit her a pair of socks for her birthday, and when I said no, she was very disappointed. So what could I do, but give her my awesome Lucky green STR socks?!?!? I forgot to get a picture of the finished socks, so I’ll have to get her to model them. So for now, here is a picture in progress.

On the needles now is a pair of purl-free Monkey sock from CookieA. The pattern can be found on knitty.com. So as you can see by my description that I modified them. I don’t have an aversion to purling, this is my second pair, and I’d heard of the purl-free Monkey modification, and thought I’d give them a try.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTmonkey.html