Socks that Rock, seriously.

my friend denise and i had so much fun at the blue moon fiber arts booth at the expo. as i mentioned, it was the first place we hit for fear they would be sold out :) denise was so excited to meet kaci, who designed the pattern for the first sock of the month club yarn. denise is a member of the club and is knitting the pattern now. kaci was super nice and we gabbed with her for a bit. she even allowed us to snap a shot of her, which she told us is rare, thanks kaci! she is holding denise's sock and denise is holding the large bag of yarn (notice fibery goodness in the background!)


we also met the color genius behind the company, tina. oh how i love the color! she was super nice as well. all in all, terrific people from a terrific company!

ok, so here are the 6 skeins (oh how i wanted more) of socks that rock that made it home with me

dutch canyon

metamorphic

farmhouse

watermelon tourmaline

sherbert

my fav, lemongrass

i resisted their cotton sock yarn (oh my) and their worsted yarns (oh my again!). they had so many yarns that they don't show online. next time they are in town i am going to save my pennies for months ahead of time. i think denise would agree, she walked away with 6 skeins too!

ok, one last money shot of them all together

so that was my first encounter with socks that rock. oh the vibrancy of this yarn, it is fantastic! it really strikes me because of the unique color combos. for me, there is just nothing better than hand dyed yarn. seriously. it is at the top of my list and the reason that i just love this stuff. i mean really, over like 200 colorways to choose from? seriously.

now go watch greys.

seattle knitting expo

i spent a great knitting day with my friend denise yesterday. we drove down to the the seattle knitting expo in rush hour traffic to go to the opening of the marketplace. it was open for 2 hours last night and didn't disappoint!

here is the alpaca i bought from honey lane farms on san juan island.


just enough to do a small scarf of some sort. i am thinking a small cable? maybe the pattern from the one skein book?

and because i love the hand painted yarns, here is a great sock yarn in my favorite colors available from a swell yarn shop


but our first stop when we arrived was the home of some of the coolest sock yarn out there. boy what a treat to see it all in person. the pic below gives it away. want to see what i bought? come back monday and see the pics. all i can say is the gals behind this business were a treat to chat with.

still. sunny.

thanks for all of the kind comments on my living room! i have so much more i want to do with it, but as flights and such need to be purchased for the big trip, i have to hold off on spending too much. i have no idea how much it will cost to go to london and paris, but i know it will be a lot considering how much i love to shop!

i finally settled on a new sock to knit last night. i am using the cable and rib pattern from the fall 2005 issue of interweave. the yarn is the mountain colors my mom bought me while in california. i am 4 rows in.

while i was debating which sock to do, i finished up the hermione hat.


i was so disappointed because it doesn't fit the way i wanted it to. darn. i love the lorna's worsted i used. so now i am debating whether i should frog it and making something else. i'll try it on a couple times more to be sure.

after work today, my friend denise and i are headed down to the seattle knitting expo. we are only going to see what yarn they have up for sale. i'll let you know if i buy anything.

happy friday!

**update**after taking the hat off of the wireform (it was on it overnight), the shape is much better and may just be ok!

it is sunny. in seattle.

you know how much i love my trekking. and how much of a selfish knitter i am. so i am struggling because my mom wants these socks.


will i be able to part with them? i haven't decided. i guess if i do, i need to find more trekking yarn.

size 1 needles are free again. wonder what socks are next!


my felted white bag from one skein. i had to eliminate 4 rows out of the pattern because i didn't have enough yarn so the shape is a bit off. i also carried 2 strands of worsted instead of the bulky it called for (lambs pride). i have to sew the button on still :)

i have a hermione hat in the works. i am in love with lorna's worsted superwash. softer than soft. oh my.

and yes my friends, it finally arrived. just in the nick of time as hold everything is closing shop for good.


so my furniture shopping (besides the bedroom) is done. now i just need some art on the walls!

and yes, seattle is having major sunshine right now with no rain in the forecast until next week. i love it!

there is some serious talk about a trip to london and paris in the fall. makes me ill just to think about the plane ride (i hate flying) but oh the destination! i'll keep you posted. i have a work trip that will take me to minnesota in june. this will be a good practice plane ride for me as it is the longest i will have been on (longest so far for me was 3 hours). ooohhh la la!

ohhhhh trekking...

my size 1 needles are never bare for more than a few minutes. this time, i couldn't resist the trekking yarn in my stash.


i purchased this awhile back at my lys. i prefer the lighter colors, but this was all they had. i just love to knit with this yarn. it really is cool to see how the color plays out. if i ever come across the lighter colors, i will buy more! this is just a simple k5,p3 rib. and i am not that quick, i still have to make the second sock...

speaking of my lys, yesterday i made a quick trip down (it is a couple blocks from my condo). i was looking for the mason dixon book, but they don't have it in yet. instead, i managed to find some yarn. i don't know what it is with me and color trends, but there is definately one here!


lornas laces worsted for a hermione cable hat, silky wool for some sort of lace scarf for me, koigu (just because) and some cashsoft to make the socks from the latest interweave. at least i had projects in mind.

i also bought another skein of vesper sock yarn, i'll have to snap a shot of that. seriously, you have to STALK her etsy shop to get the stuff. as soon as she lists, it disappears within seconds. seriously.

oh and i knit a cute little project from the one skein book. it is white and it is felted (*gasp*). when i finish adorning it i will share.

i'm hoping to get an update on my shop from my friend soon. i still actually have one page to design though so i need to get on that. i would have spent all the time in the world designing it, but needed to get it done so it will be very simple. i am still working on inventory and am hoping to get a few more batches of stitch markers done soon.

the common cold. boo.

you would only catch me wearing clashing stripes if i were sick.


well i am, so don't judge the stripey pj bottoms that were caught in this photo with my completed stripey socks. dublin bays were finished thursday. just a day over my goal. this picture was taken friday night while i was lazing on my couch. i seem to have caught a cold.

yesterday was our monthly knotty knitters meeting. it was at my place this time and i whipped up some kapuska (baked sauerkraut, just like my grandmas) and bananas foster napoleons. my friend denise brought the yummiest pasta primavera and there was so much more food!! it was all yummy! oh and cocktails of course! i made my favorite martini, the dreamsicle.

i also managed to find some potted tulips for my mom's easter basket (with easter being so late, this was no easy task).


i was so inspired by the basket article in the april issue of martha that i decided to try my own. the basket was just plain and unfinished to start. i bought it at michaels along with the moss and little eggs. i painted the basket and then added the cute little "chocolate" bunny (it is plastic, not chocolate). i was very happy with how it turned out. sometimes it feels good to do crafty stuff un-related to knitting ;)

hope you all had a happy easter!

*sniffle**cough*
i'm going to go rest up!

more yarn

yesterday i was greeted with yet another surprise! well technically it wasn't a surprise, i just had forgotten it was coming! lucky me, i won a blogiversary gift from from jill. i never win anything, i was so excited! look at the goodies!


a skein of manos in the greatest pink, some burt's bees lotion (i heart burt's bees) and a noni flower pattern (can't wait to try this one out, maybe this weekend!). thank you so much jill, i love it!

i also received some new yarn for my stash from my parents. they made a trip down to california last week. they went to knitting by the sea in carmel and picked me up 2 skeins of noro iro, 2 skeins of noro big kureyon and a skein of mountain colors yarn.


i'll have to do more of a comparison, but so far, the big kureyon doesn't look that much bigger than the normal. the mountain colors is destined for a pair of socks i think. i love the bright colors!

and to feed my chocolate obsession my mom bought me some other goodies


scharffen berger cocoa, yum, the best! and some chocolate raspberry sauce from the firestone winery. i am thinking of using the sauce for a martini drink. i have some ideas in my head, i'll let you know what i come up with.

thanks for sharing your mcdreamys. i had a good time reading your comments! and it is funny, i agree with most of them! oh and somebody mentioned anderson cooper, i totally forgot him. i heart anderson.

i think i can, i think i can

ok, so by friday evening i had completed the first sock. i immediately cast on for the second to avoid sss. look how far i am, I should be done with these by wednesday for sure. while the first sock was knit feverishly, i am taking it a bit easier on the second one.


tomorrow i will show you the yarn my mom picked up for me in carmel. she went to a shop called knitting by the sea. she actually brought me back lots of goodies from their trip down to california.

happy monday all! i am dragging a bit because i have a lovely woodpecker who has decided that he just loves knocking on the side of my building. a lot. ugh. what a joy to wake up to! it did however, remind me of woody woodpecker. man i used to love that show and hadn't thought of it in years! and you know how birds are cute and stuff? not this one. he is really ugly!

so today is normally the day we all go on and on about the latest grey's. well with the reruns all this month, i leave you with a question to ponder. who is your mcdreamy? you know, your tv boyfriend? mine is jon stewart and george eads (although i don't watch much csi). although mr. mcdreamy himself is up there on the list too.

proving myself wrong

i will finish a pair of socks in a week. not a month, or two months, but a week. of course, to make sure i make my goal, i picked a fairly easy pattern in which i don't have to read a chart every row.

the dublin bay socks from mossy cottage knits (look for the free patterns link about half way down on the left). the yarn is



vesper sock yarn in the strange little mama colorway. i started on wednesday night at 6 p.m. can i finish the first sock in 48 hours? stay tuned.

p.s. no grey's until april 30th? and then only 4 eps left? what is a girl to do?

tgif

thank god it's finished. i am getting a little discouraged because the last two pairs of socks i have knit took soooo long to finish. what is with that? but i pulled through and managed to finish my elfine's socks. finally.


seen here on my new sock blockers (i know there is no major use for a pair of $25 sock blockers, but i wanted them anyway).


and here with some spring flowers. i used lorna's laces. i forgot the colorway though, sorry! i made them a tad too long (my first toe up socks, i didn't really know what i was doing). i also changed the cuff to a simple k2, p2 rib. the garter cuff didn't fit well over my foot.

i did have a little bit of helping getting them finished up. here is abby ann reading the pattern to me. :)


and the sun/cloud mix we have had for the last few days has been nice. i am seeing green buds everywhere! chase just loves to roll around in the sun... (hmm if you are on a pc you might not be able to see this pic...it is fine on my mac though, weird!)


my parents are on vacation so i am taking care of chase and abby for the next few days. they aren't too much trouble and chase is pretty attached to me. that is when he is not peeing on the carpet because apparently he doesn't like his new litter. oh joy!

oh, lots of pictures!

i have another thank you to post. amanda over at wannabe was so kind and sent me the grey's anatomy soundtrack. YEAH!!! I LOVE IT!! and what did she also throw in as an over the top treat? yarn!


look! a real chocolate brown wool! not the weird lamb's pride brown color. i love it, thanks so much amanda! she suggested i use it for a project from one skein and i think i will!

i see amanda and a few others have snagged the grey's button (see previous post). i am so glad to see i am not alone in my obsession. :)

and before i forget, a finished shot of branching out.


i obviously could use a little help in the blocking department. it was kind of a nightmare, but it still looks pretty. my mom is taking it on her trip to CA next week. poor thing was hoping to get some sun down there, but it looks like the weather is going to be rainy like here!

and like most saturdays, i spent a little time doing some home projects. today i planted a lovely pot with some awesome green and black(ish) plants. i love the contrast!


here is a better close up of the plants. i love the black grass! here's hoping i don't manage to kill these things!



and now that i feel like spring is finally here (not weather wise mind you) i made a couple stitch markers for myself to "mark" the occasion (i am a dork). can you believe how late easter is this year?



well i have a wild night at target planned. gotta go.