What is This?

Looks like a little sweater. For someone special. My cousin, Jake, in fact. This summer he saw me knitting and wanted to learn. As soon as he had proven to himself that he could do it, he was off to something else. But not before he asked me to make him 15 sweaters in various colors. And 15 for his younger brother, Harrison, as well. I probably would have just dismissed it but a few months ago he asked me how his sweater was coming along. Hmmm...guess I should get started on that. So, 2 weeks ago I cast on for the Sailor's Rib Sweater from weekend knits. It's the perfect pattern and a fairly quick knit, as you can see. Hopefully I will finish it up by the end of the weekend. Then I need to start on Harrison's. If there's time, I might try and work the sizing for a wee little one for my newest cousin, Britt, who's only 3 months old.

I've also got a few things to throw in the shop once I get some better pictures taken.
Superwash BFL sock yarn in Hawaiian Hibiscus and
a new Aran weight BFL in Day at the Beach (multi) and Buttercup (solid).

A note about the shop: this weekend will be the last time that you can get my rovings for only $10! No coupon or codes needed. After Sunday afternoon (as long as remember to change the prices back) this sale will end.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Angoras and Alpacas and Llamas

Oh my!

On Friday I took a little "mental health" day from work and headed up to Fletcher, NC with my friend Stephanie for SAFF, the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival. I'd never been before but we had a great time.

The vending floor
The fleece sale
Steph and I sat and watched people examining the fleeces while we ate lunch. I don't know a whole lot about fleece but I am learning more from reading other people's blogs (check out Sock PrØn for some really good information on fleeces).

The food
I think there is an unspoken rule that when you go to any fair type venue you have to eat the most nutritionally lacking food you can find. The chilli dog might have been so good that I ate a second one.

There were lots of animals:
Alpacas
I really liked this guy. He had this cute little quivering lip and the softest looking ear tufts.
Steph and I both got a handful of hay to try and feed them but they were more interested in eating out of the big feed bag.

Llamas
Say "cheese"!
This guy was really interested in me. He came up and stuck his nose right by my hand and inhaled for a good 20 seconds. He kind of scared me and I pulled away which made him a little put off. He retreated to a corner and sulked the rest of the time Steph and I were visiting him.

And angora bunnies
I loved the seeing the rabbits. When I was a little girl my parents got me a rabbit, a brown and white Holland Lop that I named Benjamin. He had this awesome run in our backyard that my grandfather had built and I used to feed him clover through the bars of his cage. One year we entered him in the state fair and he won second place. Unfortunately, one day when I was at school Benjamin kicked out one of the sides of his hutch and escaped (at least this is what I have always been told). Seeing these little puff balls made me want to get another bunny. I liked the orangy brown ones best because they look like Penelope, just in rabbit form. Plus, angora fur is the softest thing I've ever touched! I have a super sensitive neck but I think I might actually be able to make a scarf with angora yarn (which I just happened to pick up :) ) and wear it.

Speaking of yarn....
I did make a few purchases. Mostly sock yarn and all unique dyers. I didn't want to buy anything I could get at my LYS. I haven't taken pictures yet but I will soon and I promise to post.

Going to SAFF was a whole lot of fun and it also energized me to get working on my store more diligently. I have some new yarns to post and I need to get the next batch of yarn ready to dye (it's still in a great big box in my living room). This week I will hopefully get some of that tackled, all while getting ready for a Halloween party on Saturday night. Wish me luck!

Time

Time is a funny thing. Suddenly you find that one week has turned into two weeks and then it turns into three and before you know it a whole month is past. And then one day suddenly turns into two...and then three...And a whole day turns into just a few hours.

I wanted to break my blog silence exactly one month after I had last posted. I hadn't originally planned to be gone for so long but then, after thinking on it, it seemed like something I needed to do. So I took a month. And then I had planned to come back on Friday with a little catch up article of the (few) things I have been doing while I was away. I was out with a friend but managed to make it home with moments to spare to tell you I was making a comeback. The comeback has been slow in coming though. I've thought of great posts all weekend but the time to actually put them down has skillfully eluded me. No longer! Where to begin...

Socially:
I've been hanging out with my friends a lot this past month. One of my best friends, Brittany, got married a few weeks ago which was pretty awesome.
Hope for single girls everywhere.

There were a few movie nights and an '80's themed game night in there too. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of those things.

Knitting:
I finished the secret project I've been working on for awhile. All that needs to be done is to sew in the ends and give it a little washing but I still consider it "finished" for all intents and purposes.

I finally have gotten around to starting the arm on my final item for Warm Woolies.
Notice I have started but not gotten a lot done on it. I did a count of items and this is my 10th piece. I just have to finish it!

I started (and finished) a sock.
This is some of my own hand-dyed yarn! My first sock from my own hand-dyed. I loved working with this yarn. It's BFL and it is super soft and silky and has a great sheen to it. The colorway is Raspberry and it's available from my shop. The pattern is the Japanese Feather Socks (free Rav download). Knit on US size 2 DPNs.

Dyeing:
There's been a lot going on with my dyeing. I just finished skeining some yarn I dyed last month.
I dyed more this weekend (since I had Friday *and* Monday off from work). My friend Stephanie even came over to get a crash course in yarn dyeing.
From left to right: Hayride, Hawaiian Hibiscus, First Buds, Edelweiss, and Unmasked

More from this weekend: Day at the Beach and Buttercup

I still have more colors to skein. Of course I have to label and post all these in the shop. The Unmasked roving are 4 oz. portions of some samples I sent into the Phat Fiber box this month.
I'm excited to be a contributor for October!

So there has been quite a bit going on for the past month but I'm going to (try) and set aside time at least 2-3 times a week to post. If nothing else than to help me remember everything I've been up to.

Penelope helping Stephanie by keeping watch over her bag of yarn labels.

One More Day

It has official been one month since I last blogged. I'm breaking the silence tonight but tomorrow I will have a more detailed post.

I'm back. You know you've missed me :)