It's Here! It's Really Here!

After months ( or what seemed like MONTHS !)of waiting for my turn the YARN ABOARD box made its way to my part of Virginia. It has been many many miles on it's adventure.





This is a list of all the places it has been.

At each stop it has been filled with beautiful yarns and sent on to the next person to share the joy of fiber.

The box is looking a bit worse for wear but fortunately somewhere along the way it has received a sturdy outer shell USPS box.


The Yarn Aboard Box came from the Bronx in NYC! I have never been to NYC so the postcards and goodies from the city are greatly appreciated. And the yarn! Nancy sent two different yarns both in the gorgeous bright colors that I so love!!

I have never knitted with either one so that makes me love them even more!! There was candy that she got when she was in Iceland. Sorry it didn't make it to the picture! and the zoo magnet and the Susan Bates set of dpn's in those hard to find really small sizes.....THANK YOU!!

The Yarn Aboard Box is empty now and tomorrow I will send it off with goodies to the next lucky recipient. I have a picture of the box packed with the goodies that I am sending but since the list of participants is dwindling now I don't want to ruin the surprise....so that picture will have to come later.

Thanks AMANDA for a great swap. I am looking forward to version 2 !

Happy Rainy Monday

Guess WHAT!?!
The "Yarn Aboard" Box made it to my house and oh what lovely goodies it held. Picture taking tomorrow for a most special post about it. Thank you Nancy!

Finally.....Here is the yarn we dyed yesterday. Such nice colors!

And here is a closer look.
I am still waiting for mine to dry. I am anxious to get started on my Knit Socks Kit Swap Bag. Anyone know of any good free online felted patterns? You.know. while I wait .....

"Dyeing" for a Good Time

Oh MY! What a group of knitters won't do for a good time?~! We had a great day today at our favorite "dyeing haunt" ie. Becky's delightful log cabin home in the woods by the pond. Becky and Sandy spent quite a bit of time yesterday gathering dye and supplies and winding their chenille into a giant 10 ft skein. Pam and I made our yarn into regular size skeins when we got there today.

So much fun and Good food and friendship .....WHY I think I can work a letter from the ABC along into this here post .... how about GREAT, Gratifying, Good friends, GIANT skeins......yes I know I am so so behind but I can catch up I know I can.

Anyway we had so much fun, Pam, Becky, Sandy, Ruth Ann and myself. We were sorry that more of our knitting buddies were unable to join us today. Rest assured we will bring yarn for inspection on Wednesday.

I had a special reason for dyeing today. I have joined the Knit Socks Kit Swap and you are supposed to make with your own hands a small project bag of some type for your secret pal. When I joined this I had every intention of CHEATING....yes. hanging my head. I was going to have someone else sew my bag for me. However I am HAPPY to announce that I know that do that is not the "knitting way" and would be wrong of me and therefore I would not enjoy the swap. SO I have decided to knit and felt a bag for my pal. That I know I can do. My Pal likes different colors than what I usually like so it made for interesting dying to focus on her colors and not mine. I think I have something that I can work with. Hurry up and dry.... I got some knittin to do!!

OH! Would you like to see some pictures?? Of course you would. That is why you are here.

Sandy is rinsing out her yarn. Lovely PURPLE water!

In an almost Unprecidented Appearance in my own blog .......me.... modeling my Yarn Lei. I only put this in to show the lovely location we are enjoying.

Here is our yarn drying ......It is so colorful and pretty....Maybe not. Blogger picture isn't working very well tonight. It keeps telling me that it is done but the pictures are not there. YARN pictures tomorrow.

Saturday Sky

This is a wonderful idea from Sandy ! I couldn't wait. I have been outside and taken a picture of the clouds that abound today. The sun was trying to come out briefly oh so briefly while I was taking the picture but you can't see that for most of the clouds were in the way.

Here is how the sky looks today in my part of central Virginia.

Now....if I can only figure out how to add Sandy's "Saturday Sky" button......

"Oh What A Beautiful Morning....

...oh what a beautiful day!!! It is just glorious here today. I couldn't wait to get up and get outside and enjoy the cool morning air and the chirping birds. I am on vacation today and I was up and out at 6:40 AM!!! I don't do that on weekdays. nope not me!

I've got the laptop outside and I have fixed a couple of obvious typos from last night although I did leave alone the crazy stuff I typed while asleep. I have been knitting on my socks and drinking my coffee and now before it is time to go down to the dock and sun for one more day I am going to do my Knit Sock Kit Swap questionaire. Here it is!

What are your favorite colors?
I love blues and greens and I love them together. Lime green and turqouise. I love bright vibrant colors. Pink, orange, purple .....

Are you a new sock knitter?
Sorta...the most difficult pattern I have tried to date is the Jaywalker and we all know how hard that is..NOT!
How long have you been knitting socks?
I finished my first pair last summer. I have only actually finished two and a half pair. But I have lots of wip's

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?
I LOVE multicolored, stripes and I don't mind pooling. I think it adds interest to a sock. The one I am working on right now is pooling just lovely!

What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn?
Any yarn that I can use a size 2 or 3 needle. I don't do 0's and I am stalled on my Jaywalkers that are on the 1's. I usually use wool or wool/nylon. I have been interested in the superwash. You see I felted by accident my first pair of socks!

Where do you usually knit socks?
Anywhere and everywhere. That is what I like about socks. If the pattern is easy you can do it waiting for kids, at school programs, Dr's office. My favorite place is on the dock while I soak up some rays.

How do you usually carry/store small projects?
The yarn is in a ziplock bag and I am currently using my Longaberger medium Boardwalk basket as my purse and knitting bag.

What are your favorite sock knitting patterns?
I love the Jaywalker, and a simple sock pattern from Holly Spring Home Spun. I have a snake pattern that I hope to try next.

What are your favorite sock knitting techniques?
I use dpn's and go from the cuff down. I have to be SHOWN new techniques by a living person and not a picture so I haven't tried any other methods although I look at them online....

What new techniques would you like to try?
Maybe magic loop as I know Becky can help me with that :)
Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting?
dpn's right now

What are some of your favorite yarns?
I love em all!! Julia's Vesper yarn, Claudia's Handpainted, have STR but haven't knit with it yet. Sundara's yarn has lovely color, koigu

What yarn do you totally covet?
I have tried without success to buy Sweet Georgia's yarn and Knitting Sunshine's. Dave has some nice yarn at his Mercantile, I like small batch hand-dyed unique colors. I like to buy yarn from fellow bloggers that have etsy or their own shops. I have bought very little sock yarn from lys.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?
In my case talent and experience are more a factor. But as far as pattern I would have to say that I covet Nancy Bush's "Vintage Socks" and would like to make the Children's socks and several other pairs from that book.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?
For dpn's I like bamboo and comfort zone and those white acrylic that have some give that I can't think of the name for.... I am picky about the circulars and recently I tried Addi Natura and I liked them alot. The turbos are just too slick for me. I have a Denise set and love it as well.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
I would be anything but acrylic!

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?
Not really. I love all things chocolate!

What’s your favorite animal?
Sheep of course
Do you have pets?
No
What are their species/names/ages?

If you were a color what color would you be?
Bright green
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s)..
Soft white cotton sweatshirt with trees and mountains on it in shades of purple, green and blue. It is very soft and is lightweight. Why I have it on right now!?!

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?
Smith Mountain Lake

Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read.
There is a time to every season....... a time to laugh, a time to cry.....

That is alot to answer!! I am tired better go get my bathing suit on now.....

This N That

Tonight's blog is brought to you by "whims" or perhaps just some of the random things that have been going on today in my life. First of all this is what my day looked like today. Pretty isn't it. Peaceful and serene.

I have not been a very good "Project Spectrum" participant. I have been late and missed whole entire months worth of colors. That is why I am so happy to have finished the blue baby sweater and in the proper month!! I started on a new sock with lovely yarn hand dyed by "NoNo Kitty". I got it from Kpixie right before it wasn't going to be available any longer. Anyway I am calling it "The Quarterly Sock" as it meets color criteria for May( green) June (blue) and July ( purple). I was speeding along yesterday at the Father's Day Cookout and all of a sudden I came to a DEAD, screeching stop. It seems that I did not read the directions clearly . I was way past the beginning of a short row heel! with limitted directions. I struggled along. But something just wasn't looking right to me. I debated all night and then this morning I ripped part of it. I was able to save part of the ribbing. But I have to say " I am no good at getting stitiches back on the needles NO GOOD!!" but I managed. Here is a picture of the quarterly socks right after I frogged whatever the mess I had made of the heel, I am pleased to say that it is coming along nicely.Now. But this is how it looked this morning.

I promised my Knit Sock Kit Swap pal that I would post my questionaire tonight but I think I will save that for early morning when I am fresher. Right now I keep closing my eyes and typing whatever my fingers and whatever the boys will make of it! See!! That makes no sense and isn't what I meant to say!!

See ya in the morning. Should be fun!!

emmy

In Honor of Project Spectrum

The color for June is Blue.

Whew!! I made it!!

The Dye-O-Rama Deadline that is! I was sure sweating it because it was my understanding that the chief DyeMama would hunt you down and do God only knows what to you if you did not complete and mail your skein on time. She warned of this when one signed up so even tho I procrastaknitted I made the deadline and my yarn and some other goodies were mailed out on June 12th with just a few minutes to spare.

I think it turned out ok. Well it is bright and I like it and will try to duplicate it for myself at some point but it sure took a lot of Kool-aid. I had to shop THREE times to get enough not to have white spots.

Here are some pictures of the finished product so you can have a look and see what you think...

Saturday afternoon projects completed yarn and a baby sweater "seaming party"

Reskeining because...well just because I think it made the yarn look better. The good news...the color changes are so frequent that I don't think there is much room for pooling.

The finished product. It is a rainbow of fruit colors so in my mind I have been calling it "Skittles"

This was fun but a lot of work. I think I like the "experts" to dye my yarn, So I will continue to support the small independent shops and etsy. I am in awe of all you dye(ers) you totally rock.

Well now I just have to wait to see if she likes it....

What a Procrastaknitter I am !

WHY oh WHY do I wait til the very last minute for most of the things that I do? It only adds stress. I know that and have been knowing it for years but still I persist. I must say that I have been known to do some of my best work while "under the gun" and truthfully it doesn't usually stress me out any more than usual. Except for today....

Today I HAD to dye my Dye-O-Rama Swap Pal her yarn. You see it has a deadline. of Monday. to be mailed out! Now I don't rightly know why I just didn't wait until tomorrow. But the sun was shining today and I got busy!

I used 100% merino I bought from Yarn2Dye4 at the Spring Fiber Festival. You guessed it! I only had the one skein. You see I had intended to buy some Knit Picks Dye Your Own Wool but with all this dyeing going on they were out. This meant that perfection needed to be the order of the day.....nothing stressful there! Ha.

Skeining supplies out on the table~ All systems GO!

I was using Kool Aid and had been reading up on the internet for quite some time. Preparing myself as it were. I seriously UNDERESTIMATED the amount of Kool Aid I needed. I had to go out and buy more after I flipped the yarn over and saw how white the underneath was.

Food Lion gave up what I needed and the yarn got dyed. It really is fascinating to watch the water you squeezed out of it run so clear.

I took the yarn in for a steam bath in........are you ready for this one? I kid you NOT! I used the rice steamer. It had the basket and a built in timer. Perfect. After it steamed the colors really brightened up and intensified. I am really pleased at how my rice steamer worked for this. Who would have known.

Tomorrow I will show the yarn all dyed up and dry hopefully. Gee I hope she likes it.

It has been a long day for this "procrataknitter. As a matter of fact I think it is tomorrow already. Well I just checked and it is tomorrow.

Just Stopping By....

Not much to say but I wanted to say hi. I missed Knit Nite tonight because of a work obligation. I HATE to miss it, not that I get a whole lot of knitting done but we have so much fun. Sharing and talking about knitting and whatever. I will be sure to take my camera next week. We are having a baby shower (not a surprise) for one of our gals! I can't wait. I love to see baby "stuff". That reminds me ....My oldest baby turns 18 on Friday. Where does the time go? It really seems like just a few years.

I am knitting and will soon have an FO to show!! Well 2 actually. I did finish a small item and haven't photographed it yet. I have some nice blue and green yarn to use for socks in Project Spectrum. I also will do a quick catch up for the ABC along if I haven't been kicked out already. I am emmy "come late along" it seems.

So there you have some teasers of what should be posted in the next few days. I am trying to more faithful to you....my few but wonderful readers.

No pictures tonight, too tired to fool with blogger for that! I am just as temperamental as it is !!