WIP Wednesday

I'm still working on my sock from last week, almost done with the leg section. If I had more focus I would probably be done already! But every few rows I have to pay attention to a cable and that can prove difficult with the current schedule!

So what to do? Cast on a new project! This one has a very easy start, nothing really requires my attention until the foot. The sock is Yellow Brick Road. I picked up the Yellow Brick Road kit from Jen's garage sale back in July. I picked up a bunch of fun Wizard of Oz treats! They're all going to my mother in law's partner. Her birthday is at the end of October and she is a major fan!! (thankfully she's not uber internet savvy so we can have a big chat about it!)

The yarn is 80% super wash and 20% cashmere, uber soft!! I'm getting really excited to start carrying an MCN that's 70/20/10. The fabric is just beautiful! I'm glad they are so soft, she is going to need a lot of soft lovey things soon. She was diagnosed with RA in late spring and now doctors are looking for cancer. She's been having a lot of tests done last week and this week with no answers yet. I can't tell you how devastated we are to hear the news. I'm trying to remember to wait to freak out until we actually know what's going on, but the fear of not knowing anything is crazy scary.

We've been spending a lot of time up at Oma's summer camp, trying to be a distraction and comfort. I'm so grateful we all live close and are able to help in this small way. I'm also grateful that my life right now allows me to be flexible. Most of my work can travel up there pretty easily.

Thank you for letting me share about this, it was nice to write and have a good cry about it all. I think I've lived a very sheltered life when it comes to disease. Cancer has not been a disease to effect people I know until recently. What a shitty disease.

I don't want to end this way, so I'll tell you about the cute bag my project is in. It's from Katie (also a cancer survivor, I felt it appropriate), I picked it up at Sock Summit! I love the fabric and when I came across some at Bolt I snapped up what they had left.

I'll be back in the tomorrow with details on the next KAL. Think cardigan, think Cypress Hollow Yarn.

WIP Wednesday

And the winner is....Michele! Yay random number generator! I have three skeins of malabrigo for you! Thank you all for leaving comments. There are some beautiful WIP's out there! Here is mine blocking, super excited to be done and sending it to it's new home.

My current WIP is a sock. I'm knitting up a sample for a kit I'm doing!! I'm so excited about this. I love the yarn colors, the patterns and the bag of goodies that comes with it! There are two choices for the yarn. A variegated, which has a spiraling stripe or a semi solid. The semi solid is crazy amazing. I know Michele will want to knit something with the yarn!!

Kit details: one skein of 100% super wash Merino fingering weight, a sock pattern featuring a cable (candy related), a bag with lots of goodies all to do with candy, and candy of course!! Kit cost is $42, will be shipping in mid September. Let me know if you have any questions!

There will be another kit in a few weeks, a great back to school knit! Details soon.

I'm also getting ready for a fall Knit A Long. Are you ready to make a sweater? I am!! I'll be back soon with details.

Flash Sale!!

Umpqua Valley

The shop is hopping with lots of pretty yarns and I want to par-tay! Friday only the shop is 25% off! Use the code FLASH25 to save. The discount is even good for the sale yarns and destash! After Friday all the sale yarns will go back to regular prices. Shop away!!

Hopefully there will be a finished blanket next time I stop in. Of course we're about to hit 90 degrees for the first time this weekend, so we'll see how far I get!

Work In Progress Wednesday

Yep! Just as the title suggests I'm gonna tell you about a couple of projects I'm working on. First up is Summer Wind. I love this pattern, it's a breeze! Ahahahaha, I couldn't resist! Carrie did a great job of writing a pattern that's perfect to work on with all the out door fun. And the finished knit is great too, I've seen a few in the wild. I'll have the pattern available at OFFF.

I'm using Bling in Cedar, there are a few skeins in the shop now, more to come in a few weeks. The handy little bag is from Katie. I love her bags! I snagged a few at Sock Summit and put them right to work. I just saw another one in the shop I super love!

My next project is near and dear to my heart. An amazing friend is battling cancer right now and I don't know what else to do but knit. I'm making this blanket, hoping it will be of comfort to her and her family. She has three beautiful children that love her to pieces. I'm close to the end, I have a repeat and a half to go before bind off. I'm hoping to be done by next Wednesday! I'm using malabrigo worsted, but I can't remember the color. The bag with the calacas on it is from Slipped Stitch Studios. Also, picked up at Sock Summit. I'm a huge fan of Laura and covet a lot from her shop!

The malabrigo was a prize I won from Melanie for donating to a fundraiser. The yarn is not working with my wool allergy so I'm going to have three skeins left over that need a new home. How about you leave me a comment telling me about your WIP's and you'll be entered in the drawing for three skeins!* I'll announce the winner next WIP Wednesday.

*Assuming I don't have to use anymore yarn to finish the blanket : )

New Yarn

Wow. There are so many amazing yarns and fibers in the market place. I had a really hard time narrowing down the list. I've decided not to carry super wash merino worsted and bulky. I'm going with more luxe yarns in those weights. Let's just get to what I am carrying! I copy and pasted so the spacing might be a bit off but have a look:

Shimmer Lace: 80% Merino, 20% Tussah Silk. Dyed in semi solid colors. A perfect

amount of silk shimmer in the yarn for lace

projects. 4 ounces, 1100 yards. Retail $34

Bling: 63% Super Wash Merino, 20% Silk, 15% nylon, 2% Silver,

fingering weight. Dyed in semi solid colors. Great for socks, shawls,

mittens, color work, baby items. 100 grams, 420 yards.

Retail: $28

Cashy Wool: 70% Super Wash Merino, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, fingering weight.

Dyed in semi solid colors. Delicious for shawls, mittens, garments, anything close to

your skin. 4 ounces, 400 yards. Retail: $32

Silky Merino: 50% Super Wash Merino, 50% Silk, fingering weight. Dyed in semi

solid colors. The drape, oh the drape! A wonderful yarn for shawls and highlighting

lace. 4 ounces, 400 yards. Retail: $32

Shine: 50% Super Wash Merino 50% Tencel, fingering weight. Dyed in semi solid

colors. Perfect for shawls or garments, a lovely drape! 4 ounces, 410 yards.Retail:$26

Fingering: 100% Super Wash Merino. Dyed both variegated and semi solid colors. Great for socks, shawls, mittens, color work, baby items. 100 grams, 400 yards.Retail: $24

Sport: 100% Super Wash Falkland, sport weight. Dyed only in semi solid

colors. 4 ounces, 310 yards. Retail: $20

DK: 85% Polwarth, 15% Silk, dk weight. Dyed in semi solid colors. A perfect drop of

silk to give the yarn shine and drape. 4 ounces, 330 yards. Retail: $26

Silky ‘N’ P lied: 60% Merino 40% Silk, worsted weight. Dyed in semi solid colors.

Luscious for garments, beautiful drape, perfect for one skein gifts. 4 ounces, 225 yards. Retail: $28

Bulkan: 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, aran weight. Dyed in semi solid

colors and variegated. The yarn is big and bouncy, a compromise of bulky

+aran=bulkan. Wonderful for a quick knitted gift. 4 ounces, 205 yards. Retail: $28

Spinning Fibers

Merino Knots: 100% Merino. Dyed in semi solid colors. One ounce of

merino fiber for needle felting, felting, spinning or to use for thrumming in

knitting. Retail $3.50

Merino Fiber: 100% Merino, 4 ounces. Dyed in variegated colors. Great

for spinning or felting projects. Retail: $16

Bluefaced Leicester Fiber: 100% Bluefaced Leicester (a specific sheep breed),

4 ounces. Dyed in variegated colors. Great for spinning or felting

projects. Retail: $16

Falkland Fiber: 100% Falkland (a specific sheep breed), 4 ounces. Dyed in Variegated

colors. Great for spinning. Retail: $16

Spinning Socks: 100% Colonial Super Wash Wool, 4 ounces. Dyed in

variegated colors. Great for spinning, won't felt as it is super wash. Retail: $16

Shine BFL: 75% Bluefaced Leicester, 25% Tussah Silk, 2 ounces. Dyed in variegated

colors. The silk adds a beautiful shine to a hard working fiber. Retail: $12

Silk Merino: 50% Merino/50% Silk, 2 ounces. Dyed in variegated colors.

Great for spinning. Retail: $18

Shine Fiber: 50% Merino 50% Tencel, 2 ounces. Dyed in variegated

colors. Great for spinning. Retail: $12

Shimmer Fiber: 80% Merino/ 20% Tussah Silk, 2 ounces. Dyed in

variegated colors. Great for spinning. Retail: $12

Silk Hankies: 100% silk, mawata, 1.5 ounces. Dyed in variegated colors. All the rage,

knit or spin! Great tutorials on line, would make an excellent class topic.

Retail: $18

And the fiber!! When it's possible I'm doing 4 ounce skeins instead of 100 grams. I'm also doing 4 ounces of fiber or 2 ounces instead of grams. More yarn and fiber for your buck! So that was super wordy, I hope you survived. Let me know if you have any questions about the new yarns. I'm going to start placing orders for it next week!

In getting ready for all the new pretty I'm having a sale in my etsy shop. There's a sale section and I've been adding lots of yarn to the shop in general. Thank you for your support!

A little summer fun- a toasted marshmallow at Oma's!

Starting to Catch Up

I took a few days off and what a difference! The only down side is loosing momentum. But I made sure to do a giant chunk of work before the break, just trying to pick up the strings and go again.

Sock Summit. Wow! What an adventure that was. Brooke and her son stayed at my house, and it was awesome. It took me a couple of days to remember she wasn't here and I won't see her until October.

The show was great, and the customers were amazing! I had great feedback on my booth and design. I already have some changes planned for OFFF (take a peek at their new website!). I can't say enough about the customers. I had so many great conversations, so incredible to be around so many talented knitters!

I also did a little shopping and trading! I love all my new knitting totes, but need to put up a coat rack to keep track of them. I bought some patterns to, I can't wait to have some samples knit up for the booth.

If you follow me on Twitter you know I put a call out for sample knitters. I can pay in trade with yarn, leave a comment if you are interested in participating. I'm switching a lot of yarn bases around, I can't wait to have a show and tell with you! Did I show you the sneak peak of fall colors? Go here to have a lookie-lou. You can go here for all the Cascadia colors, they're a little poke at Portlandia!

Next post I want to tell you the deets about the new yarns!

S-A-L-E!!!

I know I owe you a big, giant Sock Summit report, but this is just a drive by blogging. I spilled water on my laptop this morning possibly frying the whole thing. Major ugh! I'm taking it to the doctor tomorrow to learn the full damage. To help weather the expenses I'm having a quick sale in the shop!

A lot of the yarns on sale are discontinued. I'm adding a bunch of new yarns to the line, I'll share more about that next time! There are some sweet deals, silky n single, fingering, worsted and bulky. All marked down 25-33% off. Oh, and some spinning fiber!! So get over there before it's all gone and as soon as I'm right here in techno land I'll be back for a full posting. Thanks for your support!