Rockin Sock yarn shipment

Upon arriving in Arizona, one of the immediate benefits was that I had a shipment from the lovely Blue Moon ladies waiting for me... some of my favorite yarn! I just LOVE Rockin' sock yarn! There are others that I really like a lot, but I think this is my favorite for socks. It has such a lovely smoosh and spring to it, and the colors are always so fabulous!


I got (in order from top to bottom):
Sugarplums in Mediumweight
Mesa in Mediumweight (seeing as I now live 'round the corner from Mesa!)
Nodding Violet in Lightweight
Philosopher's Stone in Lightweight (possibly my fave colorway of them all!)

I also got a skein of "Downpour" in lightweight, which are nearly a pair of Cedar Creeks.


They are a little big for me as they will be a xmas pressie for my hubby (hence just a plain cast on edge instead of the pretty picot edge in the pattern). I am really pleased with how they are turning out. They are fun to knit, and I got into the pattern straight away, didn't take long to be able to knit them without referring to chart.

Spinning

I am a total newbie to spinning. I was interested in it for about a week when I had DH make me a spindle (actually, I had him make me 2, one top and one bottom whorl spindle; see link here for directions on a DIY spindle). Still, that is really good for me. I usually decide I am into something, and have to get all the gear straight away!

The spindle is basically a length of wooden dowel, with a wooden toy car wheel as the weight (bought from local hobby craft store), then a small cup hook in the top. For the 2 spindles it cost a total of £1.60. Even DH can't complain at that!

Best thing, they seem to work great. I don't have the experience to compare them to any other spindles, but they seem to do the job great. In the image below, the yarn on the right was some I spun a few weeks ago. I haven't picked it up since then, but you can see the yarn on the spindle (which I spun last night) is a lot thinner, which is what I had wanted. I was really pleased with the result.

The fibre is Shetland fleece, in a fawn colour, which I bought while at Woolfest back in June. I bought it as a practice fibre, as it was washed and carded, and only cost £5 for 250g. 250g was a huge bag! I thought it seemed cheap, although as I am a newbie I have no idea what the going rates are for fibre yet!

I also bought a bag of beautiful Alpaca fibre in a gorgeous golden colour. I haven't taken any pictures of that yet, but will do soon and post them. I did however get a picture of the cutie alpaca who generously donated the fleece:

I bought the fleece at Woolfest, from a stallholder representing the Alpaca Centre. I looked it up after we got home, and we went for a visit. It was a great, we saw the alpacas and had a lovely coffee and scones in the tearoom. They also have a shop selling alpaca fibre clothing etc. If you are into fibre and around Penrith, England at all, I would recommend stopping by. Plus they were all lovely friendly people! And how cute is this alpaca!!!!!!

Started winding Pretty Pirate

I started winding my skein of Pretty Pirate, from Yarn Pirate last night, when I realised I hadn't taken any pics yet. I just LOVE Yarn Pirate yarns. She just has a real eye for colour, and I think every skein is a true work of art. In the pic below you can see (left to right) "Cannon Beach", "Pretty Pirate", and "Patience".

I think they will all be socks, but we will have to see...

Finally, get to "Eat my Greens"!

Yippee, my beautiful yarn from Hipknits Project Club has arrived! It is kit one, and is a gorgeous skein of Cashmere, in "Eat Your Greens" Colourway. The great thing about the club is that we get to choose the colour yarn we want for each project.

It will be a lace shawl, which from other pics I have seen looks gorgeous. I have only done a small amount of lace in socks before, so am virtually brand new to it, and will admit to being a little intimidated, but excited to get started.

This yarn has been a long time coming, the original one went missing in the post! So Kerrie from Hipknits kindly put another skein in the post for me *phew*.

I think they are also putting the kits up for sale on the Hipknits site, shortly after each kit is sent to members. So if anyone is interested in buying a kit for themselves, it should be available soon.

My 2 year old seems to like it as well. Here he is having a squish of it:

Iced Tea

Just received my new Emily yarn, a 80% Lambswool, 10% Cashmere, 10% Angora mix in "Iced Tea" colourway from Posh Yarn. Should make a beautiful pair of socks!

Skein doesn't do the colours any justice. When it arrived I must admit to being slightly disappointed, but once I wound it into a ball, I was in love! Beautiful shades of green, pink and pale brown. Was going to use it to make DH a pair of socks, but think it may have a touch too much pink in. Oh well, another pair for little old me then!