Pal Packages and Woad

Do you want the good news or the bad news??

The bad news....in order to dye with woad, you need about 1/2 a pound of leaves or 32 ounces. How much did I have? 2 ounces, obviously not even close enough. But all is not lost, I had ordered a pile of dye-your-own yarn from Knitpicks in lace/sock weight and worsted weight. Once I pried Zoe off of the yarn, the girls and I did some dyeing with Wilton's frosting dyes and Kool Aid but more on that later,

The good news...In the space of 4 days, I received packages from my August Birthday Pal, Eva, and my SP8 pal (Ok who are you, I am clueless!!). Here's my birthday pal package... Dontcha just love Lorna's Laces sock yarn? Those delicious skeins on the right are Valentine. Eva lives in Slovakia and that reddish skein is Sockenwolle Unipo which is made where she lives. More sock needles are always welcome since I leave a trail of them everywhere. Poncho's and Wraps: A Knitter's Dozen has been on my Amazon wishlist for a while so now that's taken care of! The green floral tote is just darling! Ironically the card comes from Ikea. I sent my August birthday pal a set of floral boxes from Ikea! And I love the little lady ornament. Thanks again birthday pal!

My sp8 pal also sent an awesome package. Look how beautiful everything was wrapped...and here's the loot.... As Jenny says to Clare in Dragonfly in Amber, un embarrasement de richesse!! More Lorna's!!! 2 skeins each of Sand Ridge in Lion and Lamb (Which I am LOVING in my clapotis!!!)and a teal and cream blend in shepherd sock!! I've been lusting after some light-up needles and my SP8 pal provides with a set of Knit Lite #8's, a great new way to embarrass my family! She probably doesn't know it but the I heart NY mug is great for my hubby since he's from Long Island (Bellport). I love the pen, my girls are NOT appropriating it! The zephyr stitch markers are, to quote my knitting friend, Mary, just great knitting jewelry. Ummm, the chocolate is almost 1/2 gone, how shocking after the crushing woad disappointment. And finally, more needles, are always welcome so I can keep knitting along and leave my trail! SP8

In knitting news... I made a blue and white ball band dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting (It's turning out to be one of my favorite books) and I also tested the felted boxes as a possibility for Christmas presents. That's the box in it's prefelted state. I used some leftover Noro Kureyon doubled and some leftover red Brown Sheep Bulky also doubled. The Noro was thinner than the Brown Sheep, not surprisingly so I'll be curious to see how they felt out.

Well I still have a lot to tell about my dyeing and the holiday grand plan but I'll wait on those for a post later this week. Don't forget to bid on my lot of Lion Brand- 34 skeins!! TTFN!

A quick post...

This is a quick posting. Tomorrow is my great woad dyeing experiment. Wish me luck. I'll have pics of that and of my gifties from my August Birthday pal swap on Sunday.

If anyone's interested, I listed a LARGE lot of Lion Brand yarn at my store, so go check it out.

I'm also prepping for Christmas so I'll try to put up pics of my recent yarn orders!
TTFN!

Lookee Pictures!!

Well I'm sorry I've held off between posts but I have a surprise! I am now the proud owner of an Olympus digital camera!! It's a simple point and shoot that I got off of eBay from a certain store that I know well.

First. I finished the Trekking socks for my friend, Kris...
. I used the basic sock recipe from Yarn Harlot's latest book-Thanks again SP for that giftie!

I've also made some more progress on the clapotis. We were at another Redbird's game on Friday,
so of course the Clapotis came along to the game! We sat behind the Redbirds dugout and my youngest caught a ball at the top of the 9th inning. Well, the minor league player threw the ball to her so well that it bounced off the dugout and hit her in the mouth!! She's OK but not a way to end the night. Here's a progress pic of the clapotis...
So I'm now up to 4 sections of dropped stitches, only 8 more to go .
Anyhow, I am now excited that I can finally take part in most knitalong challenges that require pictures in a timely manner. So now when I don't put up pics, I'll have no excuse but laziness!!

Meme and a Laugh

Accent--Used to be very Boston but I've lost it over the years and the frequent Navy moves
Book I like--anything by Diana Gabaldon, Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts classics-Gone With The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird
Chore I don't care for--Most of them.
Dog or cat--one black and white old girl cat.
Essential electronics--Computer and TV
Favorite movie--Princess Bride, Gone With the Wind, Harry Potters, all Star Wars, Romancing the Stone
Gold or silver--Gold
Handbag I carry most often--Right now it's the buttonhole bag
Insomnia--nope
Job title--???eBay lister??
Kids--2 daughters 14 & 10 1/2
Living arrangements--House.
Most memorable moment/time--College
Naughtiest childhood behavior--Lying through my teeth
Overnight hospital stay--5 different ones
Phobias--heights, snakes
Quote--Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit - what
a ride!"
Religion--Roman Catholic
Siblings--only child
Time I wake up--school starts next week so 6:45
Unusual talent--I got nothing....
Vegetable I refuse to eat--acorn squash, olives
Worst habit--needing to talk all the time-can't enjoy the silence
Xrays--Teeth and a few broken/sprained bones.
Yummy stuff I cook(or make)--Lasagna, Christmas cookies, bread
Zoo animals I like most--Pandas, big cats

Consider yourself tagged if you wanna play!

Now for the laugh for those who know me... I'm going to try this. Ok I should start a pool as to what week I forget and/or ditch this plan. But in all honesty the last 2 years for the holidays have just not meant a lot for assorted reasons. So I'm hoping by playing along with this plan, even if I ditch it, I get way into the spirit this year.

SHHHH- don't tell my hubby...

I am a lame blogger! But my 5-10 readers (I'm being optimistic) know that already. What have I been so busy at that I don't have time to post??? Well work has been busy. For the last 2 weeks I've been working almost double, but now that school starts next Monday (!!!) I'm back to normal. But that means I'll be a walking zombie next week adjusting to an earlier schedule. Shall I post a picture of what I look like when I wake up?? Yikes!!!

The Trekking socks are progressing nicely. I've turned the heel and picked up foot stitches on the second sock. The clapotis is currently stalled over a fit of guilt. I picked up my ruffles scarf and I'm going to try to finish it before I finish the clapotis. I'm going to get rid of 1 UFO this year.

So what am I shhhhushhhing you about?? Well, some of you might already know and others may throw things at me for not sharing this info, but last week was Interweave's Hurt book sale! I loaded up like I was heading to a desert island! I got:

Domino Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro

Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush

Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski
Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle

Interweave’s Compendium of Finishing Techniques by Naomi K. McEneely

Knitter's Stash Edited by Barbara Albright

Knitting On The Road by Nancy Bush

Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel

All of that for...$91!!!! And I was pleasantly surprised that all of the books are like new. I can't figure out why they were designated as hurt books.

I've also been to Rainbow Fibers and loaded up for my SP, my birthday pal, and myself but that's another post when I mail out boxes. And I eventually want to make a log cabin blanket a la Mason-Dixon knitting, so I've been loading up on Tahki classic cotton on eBay. My knitting shopping is out of hand!!!

My friend, Tanya, asked about a KnitPicks substitution for Lorna's Laces, Lion and Lamb. She's thinking about a clapotis. I was thinking maybe Andean Silk since it is a silk and wool blend like Lion and Lamb and same weight. Any other ideas?