new (free!) yarn

oops--i wrote this post last week, but failed to actually publish it. let's hear it for follow-through! anyway, here it is--better late than never, right?

one of my bosses is also a friend and fellow knitter, which sometimes works to great advantage. she has excellent taste and picks out lovely gifts as well. earlier this week, these things all coincided when she gave me a gift for administrative professional's day--enough yarn for 3 pairs of socks. now, granted, the likelihood of me making actual socks from this yarn is, as you guys well know, slim. and yet--the yarn--it is intriguing to me. the ella rae is so my color scheme, and it's enough for a swallowtail shawl (rav link). the others, who knows, but the possibilities are endless. are all these colors not lovely? here's what you are looking at, from top to bottom:

aslan trends santa fe: 2 skeins, 180 yards each. 85% merino, 15% polyamide. color SFE1327, dyelot 3810. made in argentina.

ella rae lace merino: 1 skein, 460 yd. 100% extra fine merino. color 120, dyelot 90021. made in italy.

opal: 1 skein, 425 m. 75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide. color 2650, dyelot 102. made in germany.

the salty sheep

The Salty Sheep Yarn Shop
105 W Church Street
Swansboro, NC 28584
Phone:910-325-0018
i had the good fortune of stumbling across the salty sheep yarn shop in swansboro while on vacation last september. it's in swansboro, at the end of a little street of shops in the tiny historic district of the town. the building in which it sits also houses a fabulous deli/coffee shop/irish pub, a pottery shop, and a cigar shop. in our family, that means there's something for everyone.

i've been back to the store four or five times now, and that has been enough to make it one of my two favorite yarn stores ever. (the other is purl soho, where i get to go next month--whoo hoo!) this one is probably the closest thing to what i would do if i opened a store myself. i think it's a great example of where dreaming can get you. the owners, peggy and amber, were knitting friends who often joked about opening a store in this location, and then--one day--the space opened. amber called peggy, and less than 3 months later, they opened for business. just like that. not to make it sound easy--i think there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in those three months, and a TON of work after the doors opened. but the fact that they pulled it off and have managed to build a profitable business in less than two years is nothing short of amazing to me.

this is a store full of fabulous. they decided early on to stock it with yarns they wanted to knit with, and this is working VERY well. any knitter who walks through their door is bound to leave with SOMETHING. they have a boatload of many of my favorite yarns, including malabrigo, blue sky alpacas, be sweet, dream in color, and rowan. it's a wonder i don't felt it all with my drooling. and if i were a sock knitter, i would just pull all the koigu and malabrigo sock yarn tothe floor and roll around in it. it ALMOST makes me want to knit some socks. (but not quite.) and here's the part i love: they are completely up to date. there's ravelry open and running in the store on one or both of their laptops. if you pick up something interesting, both peggy and amber can tell you 10 things you could make with it. i have been in so many stores where the help is kind of not there, but not the salty sheep. they are ON it without making you feel like you can't think for yourself.

further, the salty sheep is a community. i feel like part of this community in spite of living so far away and getting to the store so seldom. and i have discovered through ravelry that i am not alone in this. there are others here in the cary/raleigh/apex area who get yarn shipped from the salty sheep all the time in spite of many closer and larger stores. that truly says something.

on this year's beach trip, meredith and i were fortunate enough to be able to pull off going to the friday knit night at the salty sheep. there was yarn. there were snacks. there were about a dozen very friendly knitters and crocheters. and amber and peggy made is out-of-towners feel 100% welcome. meredith knitted practically a whole hat, and both of us spend too much money, which is only the Right Thing.

in conclusion, if you are down in the emerald isle-swansboro-atlantic beach-beaufort-morehead city-jacksonville area at all ever for any reason, and you are a knitter or a crocheter, then you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't find some time to go check out the salty sheep. it's utterly worth it, and i can't wait to go back!

SALTY SHEEP LINKS
the store: the salty sheep yarn shop
the ravelry group: the salty sheet support group
my pictures of the store: the salty sheep, a set on flickr

believe it or not...

i've been knitting!

yesterday at lunchtime, i sat outside in the lovely weather and wove in the ends on the blanket i knitted at warp speed for my friend kylie, whose baby boy is due in just over a month. this is a tried and true pattern for me, and one many babies love above all other blankets. plus it's affordable, machine washable and dryable (driable?), soft as clouds, and quick to knit. it's a simple 4x5 basketweave with garter edges. this one's 5 skeins of paton's melody in le grande bleu, knitted on size 15 addi turbos. knitted in less than 2 weeks, which for me, is nothing short of a miracle.

i also finished (and mailed!) the butterfly hat (free pattern on ravelry) for my friend amy in oregon, where she promises me it is still cold enough to wear it. i confessed to her that i actually wore it myself last weekend for emily and my walk on the beach in the freezing wind. it was a tad harder to mail after that--i may make one of thse for myself. this is knitted in malabrigo (the BEST hat yarn) in the velvet grapes colorway on size 8 something or others... anyway, totally fun to knit, and i love the result.

i've also been having a bit of a delusional cast-on problem lately. i keep starting projects with this kind of field of dreams mentality of "if i cast it on, somehow it will get knitted." this is the mable dress from erika knight's book, simple knits for cherished babies, that i have wanted to make for years. however, i have never before known anyone having a baby girl at the right time of year for it. now i do, but odds of me being able to get it finished in time? well, we'll just see. if i don't make it in time for boo, then some baby sometime in the future is going to get a lovely little classic dress knitted from jaeger sienna in the creatively named colorway, 404. i will refer to it as lilac. so far, it's slow going, but lovely.

and since mable isn't knitting itself up at warp speed, i needed a faster back-up project. thus this hooded tunic i am making for kieran. this is a pattern from knitting pure and simple that i have made before from noro silk garden--that one is one of my favorite finished objects of all time. this one is a dark grey (darker than the picture looks) wool, silk, and viscose blend called mas acero from brooks farm, which i bought at SAFF in 2007 specifically to make into a hoodie for my then-unborn baby. i was going great guns on this until i realized i might be having a weird gauge issue. i need to address that--there may have to be frogging and redoing on different needles--we'll see... so far, i am happy with the fabric, but i dislike how the yarn gives me corpse-colored fingers when i knit with it. this will get a vinegar soak before i wash it when it's done.

and as if that's not enough (and it's definitely not--who are we kidding?) i've started buying a new yarn here and there in spite of the fact i have enough yarn to last me a good 3 years of constant knitting. at the beach this past weekend, i picked up this lovely skein of be sweet magic ball in the lemonade colorway. nevermind that my pasty white face has no business anywhere near these colors--i want to knit a ruffle out of this. i almost HAVE to. my friend kerstin's fabulous suggestion was to make a skirt and put this around the bottom as a thin ruffle--i REALLY want to do that! now i just need to learn to sew...

i also bought yarn to make some chickens, but we'll get to that later. :)

gotta have it

sometimes a girl just needs a little instant gratification. retail therapy. whatever you want to call it. today at lunchtime i ran out, drove all over hell and half of georgia, and came back with these: crazy aunt purl's drunk divorced and covered in cat hair, which i cannot WAIT to read (LOVE crazy aunt purl--hey girl!), and a beautiful little natural ball of kidsilk haze, with which i will, in my copious free time, knit a branching out scarf as a gift for my lovely work friend janie, who is both awesome and a really tremendous help to me. why i had to have these things TODAY, i am not sure, but i did. and now i have them. so yay! besides, who can argue with the benefits of a yarn store visit at lunchtime. that's just good stuff right there.

ps--that second picture is just there because i like it--love the sunlight this time of day.

weekend excursions, part three: YARN!

i have crossed over, people. i am buying yarn with no real plan. everyone told me it would happen, and i said--no. and i still have to have SOME rough idea of what a yarn will be before i just go throwing my money down and walking out with a pile of it. but i challenge anyone to go to purl in soho and not come out of there with a pile of yarn. i mean, seriously--that place is a wonder. so many beautiful things packed into such a tiny space! the yarn just about comes to you--all you have to do is soak it in. add to that the generosity of a good friend, and a trip to bella filati in your recent past, and your stash is going to have some serious new members in its ranks. and lucky for me, rita's window sill turned out to be a FABULOUS spot for yarn photography. here's the run-down:

ok, so i mentioned in my previous post how THK saved my ass on friday, right? how she came to get me at the train station in her bathrobe at 5:30am and made me an omelet? yeah. i owe her so MUCH for that day. i decided to start with some sock yarn, as she has some kind of SOCK OBSESSION. i picked these two little skeins of koigu from the--oh--8 or so shelves PACKED with it at purl. lovely, no? i am sure she will make at least one sock from this. maybe someday she will even make two--we'll see...

this yarn is maybe the best thing EVER. (although i am sure i will think that about a bunch of other yarns as soon as i start fondling them!) it's enough alchemy silken straw to make a whole entire sweater. with sleeves! for me! do i have a pattern? no! but i know i want to make something simple with it, not too fitted. think something you would want to put on over your tank top and linen pants to go take a walk on a windy beach. that's what i want. suggestions highly encouraged. requested even. perhaps i will go so far as to say--suggestions DESPERATELY NEEDED AND SOUGHT! help! have you guys ever touched this after it's been knitted and blocked?? it's AWESOME.

next is this kidlin, which i had never seen before. it's a blend of nylon, kid mohair, and linen, and the colors were deep and saturated and gorgeous. i wanted this all for myself, but i wasn't done with gifts for THK yet: i got some for her and some for me. i love that green with a fervent passion (is that redundant), but the truth is that it looks like crap on me. the close-up of the red? that's all me. i am going to make something lace from this and wear it in the fall with bright red lipstick and smoky eyes. THK is trying to talk me into some kind of kidlin knit-a-long with her, but i know for a fact that her fast self would kick my ass, be done in a week, and have made three (single) socks while i was still working on my setup rows. then again, that WOULD mean she would have already made the lace and be able to help me with it when i get stuck. hmmmm...

rita de-stashed and gave me some FREE YARN! and not just that! free yarn from steam valley fibers, a small family farm in pennsylvania near where my friend rita used to live. this stuff is lace weight, hand spun, and hand dyed. check out the close-up to see just how awesome it is. it's a superfine wool of some kind, and it's solft and fuzzy and pliable. i have no idea whatsoever i am going to do with it, but it sure is fun to fondle! this one is going to take some thought... again--if anyone has any suggestions for what to do with around 260 yards of fab yarn, i will be glad to hear them.

more free yarn from rita's stash--this is a ribbon yarn from berroco, the name of which is escaping my tired and tiny brain right now. it's awesome though--rita made a scarf from it that's very pretty and actually feels a little suede-ish. again, i don't have a clue what i am going to do with this, but there's enough of it to do something good. might make a drop stitch something or other to show off that ribbon-y-ness. by the way, while digging around in her closet, rita said--i have some cashmere in here somewhere... and i was really torn between yelling at her one of two things: 1) WELL, KNIT IT, GIRL!, and 2) FIND IT RIGHT NOW! 'cause i love me some cashmere. i'm just sayin'.

ok, this yarn isn't from nyc. it's from bella filati. it's the blue heron beaded rayon that's destined to become the baltic sea stole. i have mentioned it before, but i could NOT get a good picture of it at my house. rita's window sill, however, proved to be the perfect place to actually GET the color. the color name is blueberry, which i think is wildly appropriate. this yarn is what THK wound for me. i was planning to knit it on the train, but only got as far as the cast on. this sunday, come hell or high water, i will start in on the stole. it's time i made something for me! yay!

whew! are you overwhelmed yet?! i am! i can't wait to swatch it all up and play!

knitting notes from the weekend...

finally this weekend, i managed to spend some time with my yarn. NEW yarn, no less! THK ended up not working on saturday (for once!), so we made a little roadtrip down to southern pines to visit bella filati again. she took pity on me and drove so that i could knit--a true friend. i came away with a copy of favorite socks, some blue heron beaded rayon yarn (in blueberry) with which i will make a baltic sea stole (more on that in a later post), and a bunch of rowan hand knit cotton with which i will make a whole slew of wash cloths for my guest bathroom. i got a little leisure arts booklet of baby washcloth patterns, and immediately made a butterfly. but then, the butterfly was so cute, i wanted a dragonfly to go with it WAY more than i wanted a stork or a baby bottle. i wanted it badly enough that i just stole the construction and drew my own. i know it's a bit silly to be so excited about designing a washcloth, especially when the construction isn't my own--but people, i just LOVE it! look how cute it is! now i need to make more garden critters and flowers and stuff--i am going to knit through all my cotton in no time. and then i am thinking maybe i will try drawing some shells and sea things for my own bathroom, too. i am fired up about wash cloths all of a sudden. :)

in other knitting news, check out my new knitting bowl! THK gave this to me a few weeks ago to try out. her friend leanne, who is an awesome potter and painter designed these and made a couple for us to try and critique. they have little holes in the end that you can thred your yarn through so you can keep multiple strands from tangling, but i haven't tried that yet. so far, the bowl part is working great at keeping the cat hair out of my cotton! these little 50g balls of cotton fit well in the bowl, but i think it might be a little small for anything much larger. i am still checking it out, though--we'll see... in the mantime, i LOVE the bowl itself. it's so pretty and such an interesting knitting accessory. THK put pictures of hers on her blog, too--check them out.

i have managed to finish up a couple of other long ongoing projects, too, but i haven't taken pictures yet. soon...

new stuff!

yay! silver dance shoes! should be here sometime next week...

and in other mail-related news, not only did i recently receive a lovely box containing 20 skeins of noro kureyon (color 188) with which to make myself a lizard ridge blanket, but i also just ordered the new pink martini album. whoo hoo! it's a good month for mail...

i seem to be buying a lot of sock yarn, too, even though i am still on my first sock ever. i blame THK and her contagious sock mojo for this...

anyway--happy friday, people. i am off to eat sushi and dance!

yarn!

the bella filati haul:

this brown sheep nature spun isn't my yarn. well--i gues it's SORT OF my yarn. i bought this for the hippie because he's obsessed with making me some pippi kneestockings. not that i am complaining--i will LOVE some pippi kneestockings. i just think it's funny that i am picking out yarn for him to use to knit somehting for me. seems like cheating. anyway. i thought i would choose brighter colors, but bella filati didn't have a ton of choices in this particular yarn. plus, once i saw it, i really liked this combo. i think it'll be awfully cute with some black mary janes. :)

i will be copying THK with this liisu wool and mohair yarn in solid stealth black. she's been making the embossed leaves socks from inteweave knits using this yarn, and i am jealous enough that i plan to make a pair of my own. nothing like stealing your ideas from someone else! i hope she's flattered and not annoyed, esp since i am also sstealing her latest trekking socks colorway--it just came in the mail today (along with another yarn that's not for me).

i took one look at this colorway from lorna's laces, and thought--that would make an awesome pair of socks to wear with jeans. and lo and behold, that's the name of the color--great minds and all that. i have no particular sock pattern in mind for these. i just know they're going to become fabulous socks. there was another color i liked just as much, but alas--my purse would only allow for one. i chose this one over the other in honor of project spectrum's blue and grey colors. maybe i'll start something out of these in march. we'll see. if there's one thing i have learned. it's not to promise anything with regard to the timing of my knottong projects. it'll happen when i get around to making it happen.

and last, but not least, here are two wonderful skeins of debbie bliss pure silk. i have been looking around for some reasonably priced silk with which to make some little lavender sachet bags. this is a weightier silk than i originally wanted, but i LOVE how it feels. this is the one i HAD to knit with immediately. as you see, one bag is made and is in severe need of blocking. i am planning to hit ornamentea, a wonderful local bead shop, for some cool silk ribbon to tie this little bag up with. and then i just need to make a little muslin pouch to fill with lavender and slip inside the bag. this one's for me, but i am going to make the purple one for my new guest room. and i THINK i may be able to get two bags from each skein--if that turns out to be true, i will probably include the extras with some of this year's baby gifts.

there are not enough hours in the day for all the knitting i want to do! nor are there enough dollars in my wallet for all the yarn i want to buy. i guess this is a pretty common problem among knitters. *sigh*

ok, i gotta shut up and get my butt in the bed. we're closing on the house tomorrow--i need all my beauty sleep so i look good for the lawyers. :)

what's up?

spent most of this past weekend thinking about yarn. and you tell me, folks--when's that ever a bad thing? first off, THK and i made a little road trip down to bella filati, a yarn store in southern pines that specializes in high end yarn--my favorite. i've been trying to make it down to this store for an age or so, and now that i finally got there, i can tell you first hand that it ROCKS! i will definitely be going back. i have failed to take any pictures of my new yarn (one skein of which has already become a finished object--more on that in another post), primarily due to my failure to clean off my camera card before we went down there. oops. but anyway--we had a very pleasant drive, a wonderful experience at the yarn store, which was filled with wonders and very friendly and helpful people. i came VERY close to coming home with this entire bin of noro kureyon (#188), with which i desperately want to make a lizard ridge blanket, version two. but luckily they were 3 balls shy of a full blanket (heh--that sounds funny, like i just said, "not te sharpest tool in the shed" or, "not the brightest star in the sky"--but that's not what i mean!), which saved me from having to buy it right there on the spot! i admit i am now scouting around for this yarn cheaper on the web. and leave it to THK--she found a place that has 20+ balls in stock for about $6/50 a ball. i am still scared to click "purchase" given that i am makine many other major purchases in the very near future. but i digress... anyway--the store is way cool--y'all should go.

meanwhile, at home, i FINALLY got my shit together and mailed the sam what is possibly the latest christmas gift in recorded history, which contained the second latest. *sigh* i am so bad, y'all. i have all these great ideas, and i am even good at executing them. and i love giving stuff to people--probably 80% of my knitting goes to other houses when it's done. but for some reason--and i have no IDEA why this is--i just can't get the shit in the mail. sam, i hope you know how much i love you. you can't take my slackness as a sign of no love, people--it's just the way i am. and i really AM sorry! but all the same, i LOVE this bag i finally mailed to the sam (christmas gift 2005), in which i packed a lovely wrapped gift (christmas gift 2006). notice how the wrapping paper on the gift matches the bag? that was an accident, but how cool! next up--maybe meredith will get something in the mail i gave to her--oh--over a year ago. it's been ready to mail for a long, long time. *sigh* hopefully i will do better this year!

and last, but not least, did i mention that my friend kimmie is having twins this year? well--she IS. and how exciting and scary is that, people! i am overwhelmed for her. esp considering she will have a newly walking toddler about the time these babies are ready to come out. whew! anyway--this requires a knitter to get her shit together early! i will be making not one, but two garter stitch baby cardigans for these babies--one in green and one in blue. these colors are chosen since kimmie's electing not to discover the genders of the babies--i tried to pick muted colors either gender can wear with pride. i started with blue in honor of project spectrum. i am a little less than half way done with this one--it's ready to divide for the neck and the front portions. whoo hoo! my baby count is up to eight for this year. this makes for a long toDo list for this knitter. good thing i LOVE it!

mmmm...malabrigo!

ran into the yarn store for 5 minutes to get some green worsted weight yarn to make a little umbrella hat for gabriella--came out with this lovely pile of bright green malabrigo! it's enough for a hat AND a sweater for my surrogate little girl! whoo hoo! i can't WAIT to wind this stuff up and get going on the hat tomorrow when THK comes over to play!!! this is what happens when you fill up your frequent buyer card and get a pile of yarn for almost free! i am SO GLAD my LYS is carying this stuff now!