Monday, July 31, 2006

Yarn Sale

Dear Friends,
It has come to my attention by going through my yarn bins that certain yarns will never be used by me. They're all nice yarns, but some was in excess and some are just things that I don't see me using anytime soon. I can't seem to find the right project or what I planned to use it for, I've since fallen out of love with.

This is in your favor. Please take a look at what I've got to offer and if you're interested, leave me a comment or send me an email at awanda[at]gmail dot com. Also, I do accept Paypal at the same address. Prices do not include s&h. All yarns have been stored in clear storage bins, smoke-free, pet-free home.

Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
First up is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, color Columbine. The color I used to make Green Gables. At 215 yds per skein, it's perfect to make a baby or small child's sweater. I paid $8 a skein for each, I'll take $8 for the both of them. SOLD


12 skeins of Mission Falls 1824 Wool in color dijon. All same dyelot. I paid $6/skein. Your savings: $40 for the whole lot of it. One skein was swatched with and wrapped back around the ball, all the rest are untouched. Great yarn, all merino and it's superwash. It's just not the right color for me. This is a worsted weight yarn. SOLD


Avanti Merino. I have 10 skeins of this yarn at 137 yds each. I bought it one day when I wasn't feeling so good. The yarn is lovely but I'm a bit short to make myself a sweater out of this yarn. It's a sportweight and it's a lovely variegated yarn with shades of red. One of my favorites, but as I said, I've always been a bit short of yarn. I bought it at a discount at the time at about $60, but I'm willing to part with it for $35. Maybe it will be just the thing that someone else is looking for. SOLD


The ever-popular Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in color Popsical Blue. It's a pretty color, but I'm not certain that I can't live without it. But then I bought lots of Cotton-Ease last summer. This color is teal-ish color, 6 skeins at 207 yds each and it's all the same dyelot. $15 for all of them. I did also swatch with this yarn, but not a huge amount and it is wrapped back around the one skein I used. SOLD


More Cotton-Ease in Pistachio. Not much more to say except $15 for 6 skeins, all same dyelot. 207 yds ea. SOLD


7 hanks BlackWater Abbey yarns. Color: moss, yardage approx. 220 yds per hank. Dk to light worsted yarn. I attempted to make Eris last year starting with the collar and worked the first 6 rows of the chart and ripped it out. And swatched from another hank that was wound up. The rest are fine and all yarn is included. I bought this yarn at $9/hank, now it sells for $12/hank. I'll sell it for an even $45. SOLD


For the cotton lovers among you, I have some Tahki Satin, a ribbon yarn, 87% cotton, 13% nylon, in a pretty apple green color. It's a chunky ribbon and the yarn is now discontinued. There are 10 skeins at 98 yds each. Perfect for a Bijoux Blouse pattern or Waterlily from IK. I'll sell all of them for an even $18.SOLD


Lastly, but certainly not the least of which is a whopping 18 skeins of Plantation Unger with 102 yds for each skein. This is dk to lt.worsted 100% mercerized cotton yarn. In a pretty turquoise color there is plenty of yardage to make a woman's large sweater, pullover or cardigan. All for $25.SOLD

Thanks for looking and anything that doesn't get sold here will go to eBay.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

First of all

I wanted to let you all know about a wonderful vendor whose products I recently purchased. I've been reading Chris' blog for over a year now and really enjoy it, but recently she's begun selling shawl pins, stitch markers and the like. I finally broke down and bought a few things. I'm so happy with my purchases, I just had to share:


Her shop over at Etsy is here. I'm just a pleased customer. I bought a green beaded shawl pin and 2 sets of stitch markers. Obviously I was in love with the green at that time and the blue clay stitch markers are so cute to me. Not that I really needed more stitch markers, but they are quite cute.

Secondly, this weekend I've cast on for new projects. The first being Tivoli using some lovely yarn from Elann, Endless Summer Collection Luna in a coppered sienna color.

I also plan on casting on for the Ballet Camisole using Knit Picks Shine Sport in the Crocus color. I can't wait to get started.

As you can tell, I obviously "had" to buy some new yarn because I didn't have anything that was sportweight or dk weight to make these knits. As I was going through my stash of yarn today, I decided there were some yarns that needed to go. There were some that I just don't want to work with or never could find a use for. I'm going to put them up on my blog for sale first if anyone is interested and if not, they will go up on eBay. That will be in a separate post.

I also finished the Clapotis on Friday. I plan to get it block it in the next couple of days and then I will take a pic and post. I forgot I also finished a pair of socks a little bit ago, but never posted those. There will be some new FOs showing up on the blog soon, but it may be after I return from my trip. I'll be going out of town beginning Thursday through the following Tuesday to visit the world's cutest nephew(Ok, my nephew! :-)) in Atlanta, as well as traveling to Monroe, LA (my hometown) for my family reunion. I expect I'll have at least one more post this week, which may be my yarn sale stuff and that may be it until I return. We shall see.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Where I've Been

Nowhere in particular, but after the weekend knitting retreat a few weeks ago with some friends in Keystone, I was too pooped and needed a vacation from my vacation, so instead the blogging suffered.

Of course there was lots of knitting, always with the knitting. For some reason I got a wild hair and decided to knit a Noni bag. Actually, I guess not for some reason, but because Stephanie was working one and it made me realize it was a good use of the heathered pink Cascade 220 that I bought last year in Atlanta that I was going to use for a sweater. After knitting Cascade on the sleeves of my variegated sweater from last year, the sleeves knit in Cascade pill terribly. I decided that I wouldn't make a sweater out of it if the yarn would pill that badly, but Cascade is great for felting.

The project calls for 8 skeins of Cascade 220 in a solid color of it, or if striping 4 skeins of 2 colors. Since I had 7 skeins left, I opted to use 6 of the heathered pink and purchase 2 greys,as the pattern calls for you to use a double strand of one color at a time. It made for some quick knitting and I'm not done with the knitting, just need to felt it. Hopefully it will happen tonight. As you can see, the one I chose to make was the Rather Huge Felted Bag. It is really quite huge. I'm thinking now that it's really too huge to use as a carry bag. I probably should have made the medium. Hmm, we'll see how it all turns out. Below is a pic of the unfelted bag with a ball of sock yarn for scale.



And I started using some of the yarn I bought at Estes already. I decided to get started on the Clapotis using more of my Plain & Fancy Sheep and Wool. I'm using what I call the Roses colorway, pinks and green for my AKA cousin. Oh, I love this yarn. It's so soft and cushy and wonderful to use. I've collected some of this yarn from the very first time I went to Estes about 4 years ago and then bought more last year. This summer has been my first time using any of it. Now that I have, I just love it all the more. Next year I'll be making my first stop Plain & Fancy for sure. Here's a closeup of the dropped stitches. This is the most fun of the project for me.



I'm almost done with the first set of dropped stitches during the increase rows and then on the set of decrease rows. I'm going to my family reunion next weekend and I hope to be finished before then or at least close. I figure I can always wash it at my sister's house and lay it out to dry before we head to Louisiana if necessary, just in time for the reunion to give it to her. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out and I think she will be surprised and thrilled, esp. since she asked for something knitted from me in '02! That's really bad, isn't it? I know, but at the time, I think I had no intention of really making anything. After her sickness, I rethought that. A lot of times, living far away from my family, I'm not always able to have the gift of time to spend with them as often as I'd like, but creating something beautiful that will have them remember me with fond memories seems like the best gift that I can give to loved ones. I'm appreciative that knitting is a gift I can share with others that is unique and handcrafted.

and a pic of Clapotis lounging on the ironing board.


Also, I finished the Ribby Shell and it is at the shop being finished for me. I wouldn't be so lazy normally (who am I kidding?), but I followed the pattern blindly, which is my fault and didn't notice until late that the pattern has you bind off the front straps and the back and I would have preferred to keep them on holders. I would have much rather preferred the 3-needle bind-off. I hate to backstitch, I absolutely suck at it and it looks like it, plus the yarn that I used has some huge slubs in it (cotton/viscose/rayon blend) that I really didn't want to weave the ends into.

And the Bliss cardi is at the shop too getting its zipper put in. Maybe by the time I come back from my trip, I will have some FO pics to show.

Next up will be some new yarn purchases. Summer's not fully over and I've got my eye on a couple of tanks that I plan on starting soon!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Sarafina, Seraphim

Not that this post has anything with the movie, but that movie came to me while writing this post. Rarely have I received such pleasure from a knitting project. I do love most of my projects, but something that I cast on for so fervently (Estes eve) and was finished fairly quickly. Some of you may note that my finished Seraphim is not as large as others, mainly because I ran out of yarn. I had 800 yds. of sportweight (poss. dk) yarn and I used it up to the last drop. I had to stop in the middle of chart #3 with the edging chart still to go. I found this project so highly addictive, I could scarcely knit on anything else. It was also a most satisfying knit. Many of you that read my blog and know me IRL know that I like many a stockinette project. They are great for knitting at knit nites and for me, also for knitting at work or at home while watching tv. I've tried some new techniques, such as intarsia and knitting from a chart and doing more complicated cabling techniques this year, but stockinette has always been my first love. The new love that is added to this group is now lace!

Here is my lovely Seraphim blocking on my highly fashionable (insulation board cut in half) blocking board.


Below is a close-up of the points for the scalloped edging and the lace pattern:


And then, the finished object:


I really wanted to get a pic up of it and since I've been getting home late most evenings and my photographer even more so, I "borrowed" the use of my neighbor's fence and took a pic of Seraphim from point to point.

Project specs: Seraphim Shawl by Miriam Felton
Yarn: Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool in a variegated color, forget the name and can't find the ball band anymore, sportweight, 400 yds ea (2 hanks)
Needle size: US 7 (4.5 mm) Addi Turbos 40"

Modifications: None! I followed the pattern to a "T" and loved it. Margene had the right idea buying 3 skeins of this yarn for Seraphim. Although you could have gotten away with 2 skeins, just need to cut back on a few rows of the increases to take out a repeat. Although I was a bit bummed that I didn't get to finish the entire chart, I can always make another one at a later date, with more yarn. The shawl is simply gorgeous, at least, imo and I adore it. I've been using it almost everyday at work since I finished it early last week. And with the rainy weather we had last weekend, it was the perfect wet weather accessory as I draped it over my shoulders when I ran out in the drizzling rain and covered my head when it was raining harder. All in all, I learned a lot about lace knitting in my first charted lace project and enjoyed the heck out of knitting it. Brava Mim! Great pattern.

Monday, July 10, 2006

U*F*O*s

The title of this post doesn't mean any unidentified objects, but rather, unfinished objects. Unfinished knitting objects, of course. Reading a few blogs got me thinking. Chris suggested that we take out all our WIPs and take a picture of them. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed by her WIPs and was wondering if she needs a knitting intervention. Then along the same vein, Cyn posted about her KADD and bouts of startitis. I was working on Seraphim and have finished it, however with the rain we had this weekend, I haven't been able to take a decent shot of the finished item. Hopefully in the next couple of days I can get a photo. Since then, I've been plugging away on regular projects, although this weekend I didn't get much knitting done.

M2's birthday was on Thursday and now we have a teenager on our hands, oh the horror. But we took him out to dinner on Friday evening, as well as a little birthday present. Then M2 had a friend over to spend the night and they hung out all day, played games on the Xbox and went to a movie. We couldn't take them to the outdoor park we planned, as it was raining all day and Sunday the weather didn't change either, so they only got to go to LaserQuest and play lasertag, but the whole weekend was all about M2. I was happy for Sunday evening when I could have my house back and only have one teenager instead of two. So the knitting was sparse until last night, then the sock love continued.
I finally cast on for the second of the Opal "Doktorfish" socks last week and am now past the heel decreases. I expect they should be done soon, probably by this week's end.

So with all of that in mind, I've been wanting to cast on for something new, but nothing is quite right. Should I start more lace? Maybe the Claudia's Handpaint yarn in Plumicious for Charlotte's Web or perhaps the Flower Basket Shawl pattern? Perhaps a stockinette top, Picovoli or Mesilla (without all the extra embellishments, just a solid color) or nothing? Just can't decide.

Instead I pull out my UFOs. These are bugging me a little bit. In the picture below, you will see all of my UFOs, which are really not so bad.
First up, is the Fair Isle Jazz scarf. This scarf will definitely be finished, but right now, not feeling the wool love. Too hot to knit on, but I may pack it up and work on it this weekend, we'll see. Then there is a Lorna's Laces sock in a pinky color that I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. I believe I will use the Dublin Bay socks pattern. So that is determined and once I finish up these socks, I will start those. The ribbing is already done, so I'm ready to just start the pattern. Lastly though are the i-cord gloves. I'm still torn on if I will finish them, as the fingers are all done as you can see. Just need to attach them and then knit the hand, which wouldn't be too difficult, I'm just not that enthused about this project anymore. I want to abandon it, but if I do, those little bits of yarn will be useless to incorporate into a new project as I wouldn't want to weave in all those ends, so if I don't use it, it's a waste of yarn. Hmm. My inclination is to go ahead and finish it, so it's over.




Technically, Spork is also a U*F*O*, b/c I still need to sew it up and felt it and attach the hardware. If Cyn finishes hers, then I'll be motivated to finish it. For all that effort, it would have been more cost-effective to buy the real bag! Oh well. And Bliss, that Rowan cardi is still languishing waiting for a zipper. I did finally send away for the zipper last week and it arrived in the mail this weekend. I'll probably drop it off at my LYS this week and get the zipper installed. The nice thing was when I blocked Seraphim, I also blocked Bliss prior to that. Originally when I tried on Bliss after seaming it, it was a bit tight. I made size 40", but because it was a cardi, I needed more room and thought I could only wear a lightweight tee and that defeated the purpose of me making this cardi to wear at work. After blocking, the fabric bloomed and I gained some much needed inches across the chest, so that I can wear a shirt or sweater underneath the cardi now with no problem and the underarms are no longer tight. I guess that's why people say you should wash the gauge swatch! ;-) I was quite happy about it.

I should have some Seraphim pics soon.