Too Much Yarn: They're here...

No!! Not the ghosts from Poltergeist, the movie! The yarn packages are here! But before I tell you about them, I should warn you this is going to be a looooong post! So much to tell you. There are some little things I don't want to forget to bring them up so I'm going to start with that.

First of all, I received a Lovely Blog Award from Jolene (Revelry ID, jobodesigns). Jolene, thank you so much! I have to tell you that I don't forward jokes or chain letters (even the ones that said bad luck will come to me if I don't forward the email on!). With that said, I feel this award is a way to get other readers to read other blogs. This was very nice of you to get others to read my blog... I actually have done something similar to this before but was turned down by many others whose blogs I read. Therefore, I will not continue to award anyone with the Lovely Blog Award, but I do want anyone reading my blog to check out Jolene's blog at Jobo Designs. Jolene's a sock knitter and a shawl knitter, and likes sock yarn! Just like me! In her personal message to me, she said, "You inspire me with your sense of humor and your great taste in footwear!"

Speaking of footwear... now, there's no question of yarn enabling at Ravelry, or project bags enabling, or pattern enabling, but shoes? Is that not ridiculous? So Dorie posted a pair of finished socks with these shoes (Capers from Spring Forward). Remember? I need blue shoes. Excuse the brightness of my Roger socks in Casbah (Berry) - I wanted a color that is very contrasting so you can see the shoes:

Another personal message received on Ravelry this week from Allison:

"I love reading your blog! It’s so entertaining! Whenever I get bored, I’m like hmmm, I wonder if Mapleweave got any more yarn to add to her GINORMOUS stash? Then I check it out :)

Thanks for keeping me entertained haha!"

Well, Allison, you're in for a treat today! I received 4 packages this week: sock club package from Rockin' Sock Club, The Loopy Ewe, Sanguine Gryphon, and Blue Moon Fiber Arts. (oops 5! also received a skein from the 3IG Yarnista Club)

The September Rockin' Sock Club consists of a manly color - Pinning 4 Ewe. It's of a lovely pine color. I think this yarn will be made into socks for the Sock Thief. The 2 patterns that came with the package are EZ's Moccasin Socks and Buggin' Out. EZ as in Elizabeth Zimmerman (Meg Swansen, EZ's daughter designed this pattern) has an interesting pattern. The idea is that the sole is knitted separately or maybe there's some sort of stitch pick-up. When the sole is worn out, you can simply replace the sole. Cool idea, but it seems a bit out of the ordinary and I'm not sure if I'm ready to test this pattern out. One skein of STR Lightweight is not going to be enough yarn! Buggin' Out is desiged by Stephen Hougton. It's a man sized sock with some bug motifs. I think Sock Thief would like this, but maybe it will wait until February Sockdown (man's socks challenge!).

A better color of the yarn:

The big kahuna order from Sanguine Gryphon arrived with the new Fall colors in Bugga. I won't bore you with every single skein. You can check out my stash page for individual skein colors. Here is the group photo:

and my favorite: Frog legged leaf beetle (note that it is not BLUE!)

PLUS 9

From Blue Moon Fiber Arts... the green one (The New Color of Love) is pretty neon green. Emily is going to get that, I'm sure. I like the second skein - the orange one - love the name: Cozy Fierce and Dirty Orange. It's the perfect orange for the kids' school colors.

PLUS 3 (the heavyweights in My Blue Heaven are for a sweater. Yarn for sweaters don't count in Yarnwatchers, says Brain).

From The Loopy Ewe, 2 Fiberphiles MCN and 1 DIC Smooshy with Cashmere in Rock the Olive.

I had ordered Bronzed Lake the week before and Rock the Olive is pretty similar with exception of some greens in Rock the Olive. If I have a project that requires 2 skeins, I could alternate between these 2 skeins.

PLUS 3.

Are you exhausted yet? One last one... this is the September shipment from Three Irish Girls. It's called Sleight of Hand. It's in a base that I really like. I think it's Springvale.

Zero points (sock club)

YARNWATCHERS: Previous = +3, PLUS = 15, MINUS = 0, NET = +18

OK - knitting news.. Yes, I've been knitting up the storm! I finished the Artemis sock, leaving the foot left for Apollo:

I cast on Tuileries in Hazel Knits (Shady Verdant)

I finished clue 2 of the Through The Loops Mystery Sock by Kirsten Kapur... I didn't read the instructions properly, costing me 2 hours of wasted knitting time. What is Garter Stitch when knitting in the round? I figured Stockinette is knit all rows, why not Garter is purl all rows? Well, Garter when knitting in the round is knit 1 row, purl 1 row. I frogged back 28 rows and am now caught up. This is the end of clue 2 (leg of the sock). Knitting this in Hazel Knits in Surf:

And finally, I am so close to casting on a shawl or sweater, but I must resist! I want to finish this sweater. This is Mr. Greenjeans, which I started in 2008! I have about another 2 inches to knit (about 8 rows) and I can cast off. Next, I have to pick up stitches along the edge of the sweater (inside and neck) to knit the band for the buttonhole. This is where I'm at:

You may not be able to see my lifeline about 4 inches below the sleeve. Here's a better photo:

So, I'm supposed to start the cable rib about 5 inches below the sleeve. When I put in the lifeline, I was at 4 inches. I told myself, "one more inch". Well, that "one more inch" became "5 more inches" because I forgot. I just figured I need 5 inches from the lifeline! And so, I started the rib after 9 inches of stockinette, instead of 5! I ganked this photo from Ravelry ID "winterdandylion" for illustration purposes. See how much longer the cable rib is?

Anyway, my sweater will be a bit longer. It seems a little small (when I was taking the photo, Sock Thief asked if it was for Caitlyn, who will turn 6 tomorrow!). I explained there will be 2 more inches in the middle (band) plus blocking. I'm going to block the heck out of this sweater so it will FIT! Anyway, the final length from the sleeves is 12.5 inches. I'm now at 13. I will knit 8 more rows, which should be more around 14 inches. Don't you agree? I'm so close. I should finish this project! I have a few more sweaters queued up. Even Susan from Michigan wants to do a KAL with me on the Tea Leaves Cardigan. I told her I HAVE to finish this! So wish me luck!

Now, I will leave you with something funny. If you read Jennifer's blog at AmphibiaKnits, you would have read about Magda. If not, this is what Jennfer wrote:

"... Magda pranced over to the car and was wearing a beautiful knit cardigan in a lovely purple yarn. In her purse she was carrying a pair of black socks very similar to the Knitspot Tesserae pattern, and she also had a purple fingering weight cardigan on size 5 Addi Turbo Lace. They are all lovely.

But the funny part is that she said to me, “That woman Christine is bad for you. She’s a bad influence.”

Comments

Bad Brain!! Bad influence! Love that smooshy cashmere Rock the Olive. Green goodness!!!

Posted by: ChristyH | October 10, 2010 at 04:35 PM

oooh so you're the one responsible for snapping up the frog legged leaf beetle .... I love the tuileries and the Kristen Kapur. I may have to dig those out. Nice. You inspire me to keep going so I can do some more stuff. Yee ha! Love the Artemis and Apollo as well.

Posted by: Pinky | October 10, 2010 at 05:52 PM