Halfway Down the Stairs

I Promised You Roses


I ordered this on 4/15 - it's called Every Rose Has a Thorn - I ordered it from MCY on Etsy just before they closed down shop. I think you can still shop them on ebay and at their website, I don't have those links to hand, so you'll have to break out the Google Fu to find them. They are of some controversy due to their customer service, but I do believe they are working at it. However, their shipping is notoriously slow. (Okay, I lied, I found their website for you.) Enabler? hello, meet me.
In the meantime, here is the oh so snuggly Flair - which I desperately want in many colors right now. I am so loving this yarn. I need to find many, many patterns in which I can use this Blue Sky Cotton. I plan on finishing this bad boy in a week or so!


The second Mad Weave sock is toddling along, I'm onto the sixth pattern repeat on the cuff, so I may have another pair of socks to show you soon!

Oh, and welcome to the Spirit of '76! (76 days left.) I almost broke this weekend as Moirae is having a lovely stashbusting right now.

Hello SP, if you are out there!!! (She is very hit and run - I hear from her and then she is gone!)

New Free Socky Pattern

Here!

I am going to knit it with this:
This would be the Seacoast Handpainted Yarns in Ashes and Roses from our friend Sheri at the LE. Won't this be yummy?

Also? 77 days left.

Also? I ordered sock yarn for my SP10 pal - I couldn't bear to part with any of my stash, besides she had some on her wish list.

Also? 83 degrees today and I get to go to Lacrosse tryouts and hand out fundraiser packets. Woo. Hoo.

Smile!

Stash Socks Swap


So I got the pretty in the mail without even trying!!! That up there is some Colinette Jitterbug - in the Mardi Gras colorway, but it's really bright, and really gorgeous!! She sent me a whole bunch of other perfect goodies! There's a little knitting reference book, some Pony needles for kitchnering, an excellent little crochet hook AND stitchkeepers!!! How nice was she? (Now I have to get my outgoing package in the mail..) Thank you so much Kelle! I'm not sure what her blog is, but I suspect that there is one (link in my comments if you're there Kelle - she did say she's been lurking.) Kelle definitely went above and beyond. Thank you!

I'm signing up for another kit swap this week - by invite only - I'm pretty excited.

So, I'm up to seven inches of Flair with 79 days left of Yarn Fast. This is what my desk looks like this morning. If anyone is interested, that is an episode of "Blood Ties" that I am watching on my iPod. It runs on Lifetime on Sunday nights, but I miss a lot of episodes so I load them onto iTunes and watch them while I knit. Kona is starting to feel better, so less butlering is involved in my day.

The landscapers have been here all week repairing the damage the siding guys did this Winter and they're planting all sorts of new pretty flowers in my yard! Now maybe I can post some beautiful nature pictures like my friend Mia.

Psst. Wanna know a secret? I got more Pretties in the mail yesterday, but I'm gonna eke 'em out a little at a time since this Yarn Fast is cutting into my receiving of The Pretty. Some pretty, pretty roses and STR!! (I may have to really hold off on the STR 'cause it's the Sock Club and I don't want to be all spoiler-y.)

This was ETA all sorts of stuff.

One! One Mad Weave Sock!

(As The Count from Sesame Street would say.)

One Mad Weave sock sitting on one inch of Flair! My one inch of Flair has actually become five inches since I took this picture yesterday afternoon. This yarn is so yummy and I love this sweater so much, I am wishing I'd bought enough Blue Sky to make a second one in a bright color. I also think I may need an extra skein for this sweater - which I declare will be an exception to the Yarn Fast if it becomes necessary. I browsed last night looking for the best price I could find on the Blue Sky cotton, and it comes down to Webs having the best price when you order the quantity for a sweater (with discount - $7.50). Kpixie had it for $8.50, being the second least expensive place.

80 days people, and I am so proud. I STAYED AWAY from the Loopy Ewe yesterday when she did her "Sneak Up" of new yarns. I looked at the end of the day after ALL of the Yarn Pirate was already gone. For a while, us knitters tipped over the Ewe - the site crashed just a little bit under the weight of all the shoppers.
Also? Wouldn't this be the PERFECT yarn for April/May Project Spectrum? This is some hand-dyed from the Yarn Nerd. Just askin', 'cause you know I'm not shopping, right? Eighty days left - I have finished 11% of my sentence.

Flair.


I really love Wendy Bernard' s style. This is my first time trying out one of her patterns (I think). This yarn is totally yummy and I think once I get it started, it should fly relatively fast.


I can't go far from the house today because the Kona has Giardia. So, not only do I have to stay close to let him outside frequently, I had to prepare homemade dogfood last night. I'm a dog butler.

So, I'm on a dozen or so e-mail lists from websites that sell sock yarn. I think I'm becoming immune to the pretty after clicking on three e-mails this morning. 81 days left. I'm not letting anyone forget it, just so I don't try to sneak anything past anyone! (Including me.)

Tomorrow: A sock

I know, I know, I still have 82 days left. However, I ordered this before the embargo.

Isn't it purdy?

(Sigh.) 83 days left.

Did you see Cider Moon's new Louet based sock yarn? I linked it yesterday. I have to wait 83 days. (Sigh) Are you tired of the whining yet?

I took my secret project along with me this weekend, and I have to say I have never ripped and re-knit a project as much as I have this one. I'm just hoping that I can figure it out.

There was progress on the Mad Weave Sock before I left however:

We had a big Lacrosse weekend. Varsity lost (boo), but it was a non-conference game so it won't matter until we have to play them again in the Playoffs. The Freshman/Sophomore team had a round robin tournament on Saturday and they won two out of their three games. The Teen plays in the Attack position and they are shorthanded so he got a lot of playing time on Saturday.

We took a quick spin up to the cabin to make sure it is all in once piece, and it is. My SIL lives up there so we visited and had dinner together. I taught her how to knit over New Years weekend. We bought her first project (a very simple scarf with alternating knit and purl stitches - a 2x2 seed?) I checked up on her progress and she's finished three scarves and a baby blanket!!!

I shipped off my SP10 Pal's second package on Friday - now I'm lurking on her blog to see if she got it!

Honey, I'm Home!

I just have one thing to say.

This yarn fast sucks!

Labels: Stash Enhancement

ON THE ROAD

For days 85 and 84.

Mwah!

See ya later

FO: Roza's Socks


Yarn: Yarntini Merino/tencel blend in 4-8-15-16-23-42 colorwaypurchased from her site at etsy. Love this yarn, love this pattern. This brings me to 3.5 miles on the Lime & Violet Sock marathon.

Yarn Fast: 86 days left.

The rest of the Woolgirl Pretty:

Pink!
Sheepy stitchmarker!


Oops. Bad Girl and Triple Scoop right in front of me!

This yarn fast is going to be very hard on me - I crave the pretty!

Now, I washed out of the Sock Madness in the second round, but I still get the patterns as they are sent out via e-mail. This is the Mad Color Weave Sock pattern - I love this pattern. It's really fast and easy to follow. I don't think I'll carry the pattern down to the foot because it makes a really thick fabric. The yarn is Vesper's Crew colorway. I am big on the green from this month's Project Spectrum - I need to get some pink in there. Isn't it pretty?

Did I mention 86 days left?

Woolgirl.com Oh My!


Allright, since my Yarn Fast started on 4/16 - I have 87 of my 91 days remaining. I will keep the countdown, just to stay strong! My current mileage goal for July 15 is 400 (measured from the beginning of the year), I'd like to bump that up to 650 since I am currently at 350 miles!

Also? The Sweet Sheep is putting up some Sweet Georgia Friday at 7 and Saturday sometime. None for me as the fast is in place. I really would like some Kill Bill...but I will STAY STRONG!

Keep in mind that previously placed orders will be trickling in so there will still be the pretty to show you, I may even show you the pretty a little bit at a time!

(Mia wants me to admit, out loud, that I have a sock yarn problem. I TOTALLY admit it! To make it worse, I take a particular joy in enabling....) By the way, Mia maintains my undying respect for many things. Not only is she a modern day hero as a firefighter, but she was an awesome swap pal. She takes awesome photos and knits some really fun socks!

I ordered on Friday from Woolgirl.com, and this is part of what I received on Monday:

Hmm, that Boots looks incredibly similar to the pretty I showed you yesterday doesn't it? Well, just one more reason for the yarn fast. The Stellar's Jay was chosen for the Teen. He was our nature guide on our trip to New Mexico and was thrilled to point out the unfamiliar wildlife to us, the Stellar's Jay being chief among them. I thought he would like a manly pair of warm socks in that particular color.


Lorraine - A trip to Shepherd's Harvest may fall under the category of a Mother's Day gift. Would you be going on 11th or 12th? Some planning may be in order.

More pretty to show you tomorrow.

Gratuitous Yarn Pr0n Photo (since I have very little else to post)

Purchased from this shop on Etsy. So many nice yarn dyers (sigh).

However, I really mean it this time, as of April 15 I am starting a 3 month hiatus from purchasing sock yarn!! I really mean it this time, really. No new purchases of sock yarn until July 15. (However, there will be incoming yarn as I do belong to several sock yarn clubs, but those are all pre-paid). I also have my order from Woolgirl that I will show you.

AND. Since I can't e-mail you lovely people...

I'm going to answer questions from my previous posts here!

Robin said...

Okay beautiful yarn but what colors are they????? I love the kisses that she sends. Gives me a reason to order more yarn so I can get chocolate.

The Fleece Artist was Rose Garden and Nova Scotia and the Lorna's Laces is Rose Garden.

Lisa said...

Oooohhhh, yarn. I remember buying yarn. It seems so very long ago. Darn this Knit from your Stash thing! Good thing I've got a freebie day at Shepherd's Harvest. Are you going?

I don't know about Shepherd's Harvest...somebody tell me more!!

And here comes a huge,

Oh, and ALSO?

GO WILD!

Last night's game was so excellent!!! The officiating left a lot to be desired, but, woo-HOO!

My Secret Pal has Struck Again!

She sent me another Gift Certificate to the Loopy Ewe, and as I am a Loopy Groupie, I received notification of a "Sneak Up" last week. Well, credit in the account + Fleece Artist =

THIS:


And since I wanted the free shipping, I threw this in as well:

AND - because I am a Loopy Groupie, Sheri tucked in this:

Kisses for me, in case you weren't sure.

Mystery person who is enabling me to the extreme - THANK YOU!!!

Who can she be? When you only receive the gift certificates, it makes it very hard to winkle out identity clues....

So You Want to Know What This Is?

Well, actually, I'm not sure what it's really called. It is a little carved wooden walnut.

That opens up to expose this:

Inside is a little silver thimble.

This little treasure came to me from my Step Great Grandmother. I was lucky enough to know her until I was in my early 20's. She was a strong, independent woman. She was educated and unafraid. She was a Missionary in Panama in the late 1910's. When her sister died young leaving two young children and a husband, she came home to Minnesota and eventually married her sister's widower. She raised her sister's children. They adopted a little orphan girl who came to their house to be a maid. When she passed away in the nursing home, one of the few things she left behind was a little tapestry bag with some yarn scraps, a few sets of knitting needles (old dpn's), an ivory crochet hook, (which sits on my desk, right next to my computer). Also in the bag was this little walnut with a thimble inside. Of all the memories I treasure of my Great Aunt Fanny, there is not one of her knitting or sewing. I remember her Easter meals with homemade icebox ice cream and hot fudge. I remember her baby grand piano in her parlor where she used to play the songs from The Sound of Music for us. I remember her porch swing and no television. We always had paper dolls and playbooks that occupied us for hours. I remember her gifting me with a copy of Bullfinch's Mythology and bookplates when I was in sixth grade. I read that book cover to cover. I could have taught that sixth grade unit on Greek Mythology all by myself. No knitting and no sewing, but obviously she did them both. This is the only material item I have left of her, but she gave me so many other gifts.

I've been quite busy this weekend - I finished one of the car socks - this is Lorna's Laces in Hawaii. I used a short row heel on this sock, but I don't like it and I won't be using that technique again. I just like my heel flaps.
Here is one finished Roza's sock in my Yarntini. I REALLY love this sock and I am already two inches into the second one.
I yearn for more of this yarn. There will be no exorbitant prices on ebay for me, but if I can stalk her etsy site for more, I will.

I started a little secret project on Friday, (can I just say, this is going to be gorgeous?) but I stalled out and am waiting to hear back from the designer.

Oh, and also? High School sanctioned Lacrosse started this weekend and our high school came out of the gates and defeated their #1 ranked rival!(This school's boy's Varsity is ranked #34 in the country!) Varsity, JV, Girls' Varsity and Girls' JV ALL defeated this school's teams. Go team! Our Freshman Sophomore team has their first game tomorrow night.

The Painters are Gone (and the Virus is on it's way!)


We put the house together last night, cleaning and putting furniture back into it's place when I found this. I was so excited because it's an heirloom that means a lot to me. Can you guess what that little brown thing is? I'll show you later this weekend, but I love it. (Hint: at this point, it's about 100 years old.) Yes, it's sitting on a Vesper yarncake in a Project Spectrum color. It's in line after my Secret Project.

While I was waiting for further instructions on my Secret Project, I've been working on this:

This is Roza's Socks from Spring Interweave Knits. The yarn is Yarntini's 4-8-15-16-23-42 colorway. Can I tell you how much I LOVE this yarn? Now I am waiting impatiently for her next store update because people? This yarn ROCKS, and I want MORE.

Also, to live up to my reputation as Yarn Spendthrift Enabler Extraordinaire - check out this website: www.woolgirl.com

She is carrying a huge range of hand-dyed yarns, sock and otherwise. Her free shipping price is $75 - which is a more than I usually spend, but yesterday I was like a kid in a candy store because, me? I love discovering new (to me) hand-dyers. Her yarn prices are also very reasonable. ANYWAY, I was close enough that she e-mailed me this morning to thank me for the order and gave me the free shipping anyway! CUSTOMER SERVICE! Good customer service makes me SO happy.

I bought some Triple Scoop, and some Bad Girl - some of the others are gone already but you can see them when I get them!!!

Well, I'm off for a little exercise and then I am knuckling down to that Secret Project!

Pink Zebras!

Sounds like the DT's doesn't it? This is Sunnyside Ellen's self-striping yarn. I picked this up off of etsy. The pattern is Dublin Bay. I started this last week on the trip out to New Mexico and finished them up last night. A relatively easy and fast knit. I used the new Lantern Moon Sox Stix (size 1's). I liked them OK, however the points could be a little sharper and I managed to snap two of them before the project was done! I do love the length though. These completed socks puts me at 3.14 miles for the Lime & Violet Sock Marathon. 4.0 miles is going to be a piece of cake.

Next: this is going to be my next ultra-secret project - I can show you the yarn - but that's it!!!
Shhhh!
ETA: This is All Things Heather Sock in Scarlet - purchased quite a while ago from The Loopy Ewe. This is heavenly yarn to work with. Love!

I also cast on a pair of Roza's Socks with some Yarntini last night. I'll have some pics of that tomorrow.

SP10:

So my secret pal this time around is so very mysterious!!! My new yarn yesterday was courtesy of a GC she sent me. She sends me tons of ecards - I have no idea who she could be and no clues at all!!! She sent me another Loopy Ewe GC (which I spent at the update yesterday) this week!! Thank you Pal!!!! So, later this week MORE yarn pr0n courtesy of My Secret Pal!!!!

Lacrosse:
If you live in the Twin Cities area you probably are aware that the inaugural season of sanctioned High School Lacrosse begins this week. My teenager will be playing on the Freshman/Sophomore team and they have their first game tonight. People? It is snowing like it's January outside. If you get a chance to see a High School Field Lacrosse game I highly recommend it. Fun and exciting and very fast paced. (Field Lacrosse is different from Box Lacrosse, Box Lacrosse is what the Swarm plays in the Xcel Energy Center.)

Stay warm today people, it's cold out there.

Mail Delivery! (Also? Much Linkiness)

I love coming back from vacation and getting that big tote of mail from the US Postal Service. Before we left I used my Loopy Ewe GC from my SP10 Pal. (Of course, I added a little to get the free shipping.) The first box on the top of my pile was this:

That is some of the Louet Gems in Carribean Blue and some Interlacements Tiny Toes. The Louet is destined for one of Cookie's delicious patterns.

Next was a package from Spritely Goods, Stephanie has been SO nice. She has posted pictures of my socks on her blog and her store gallery!!

This is a little blurry, but after hearing Violet talk about this colorway (Sherwood) last week, well, I snapped it up (Shh - don't tell Violet).
These two tissue wrapped skeins are some more from Stephanie at Spritely Goods. I am keeping one and gifting the other to my SP10 Pal. I haven't decided which one yet, so they are both under wraps.

Now for the Lisa Souza - back at the beginning of Sock Madness someone posted a pic of socks in this colorway and I decided I MUST have some in Hardtwist. Well Lisa shipped this the day before we left on vacation - so I got to open that package too! I must say, I am really starting to feel better now!

The bad news is that my husband is coming down with this Monkey Pox hideousness, and I don't know about your better halves, but mine is not a stoic.

Oh! And I'm so excited I get to start some test knitting this week...I don't even know if I'm allowed to say WHO it's for - I'll see if I can show you the yarncake before I start. The Zebra's are almost finished - they look like something Pippi Longstocking would wear.

More Vacation.

Since the blanket of sickness has spread to the four corners of our house AND the interior of my house is being painted this week, very little has occured Chez Stairs. The heel flap on my second Pink Zebra sock is underway, the travelling sock is hiding in the laundryroom under a week's worth of dirty travelling laundry, poor thing.

We went to a lovely brunch on Easter Sunday, and afterwards, drove directly to the only open Urgent Care Center in the vicinity (care to GET sick? Go hang out in the waiting room of this place..uck.) The Urgent Care Doc got to visit with three of us at once! We got scripts for Cheritussin (Robitussin with codeine) and 30 days worth of Prednisone!! (I can explain the 'roids - really.) Both of my boys have "Environmental Asthma" and I have grown into it with age so colds like this are tough on our lungs and oxygen capacity. The doc was being considerate and wrote one script for the three of us to make it less costly - thus the 30 days worth of Prednisone - that's ten days for each of us. Really.

So. Anyway. Dearth of knitting means vacation pictures.

I give you the Rio Grande Gorge:


I feel like Wile E. Coyote should be somewhere in this picture.

Also? A Teen who will hold still for the camera. Note the large feet and bad posture.


Well, after one day of steroids, I am beginning to feel more like myself so I thought I'd try to hop on the treadmill this morning and get back into the routine. Later, I've promised myself I will go blog visiting to see what has been going on on the Innernets.

I may even have to go grocery shopping soon. These guys aren't going to be painting forever.

Progress:


The road to Taos. It was beautiful and sunny every day. Can you believe how far you can see across here? Of course, this was right before I fell asleep at the wheel and almost drove us off the side of the mountain. (I actually only blinked and realized that I almost kept my eyes closed and immediately pulled to the side of the road - my husband - quite rightly freaked and we all had a little break right then...oh, and he took over the driving.)

Other progress, relatively little...but...Potamii!! Potamuses? What-the-heck-ever! They are done! Yarn Ahoy Chocolat Cherry (she has an Etsy store - but she is on sabbatical for a while.) My second Cookie pattern completed.

Also? Pink Zebras! I started this one on the plane - and pecked away at it a little at a time over the week. The pattern is, um, just a minute....Dublin Bay Socks from Mossy Cottage Sock Patterns. Sorry for the blurry picture, but we are sick here at Chez Stairs. Oh. So. Very. Sick.

On the flight down to New Mexico there was a sweet young girl in front of me - half of a sweet young couple - and she was honking and snorting and blowing her nose quite effectively. I looked to my left at Puck and thought "Boy. I hope he doesn't get sick." Well, he didn't. At first, anyway. I did. Monday the cough started - it felt like a dry throat. Tuesday, the cough was in full effect, and boy did it make those high altitude hikes miserable. Tuesday night my fever hit 102 degrees and I was curled up on our hotel couch in achy misery while the rest of the fam went out for dinner. I woke up feeling better on Wednesday, but the boys were starting to sniffle and bark. By Wednesday night, the fever and aches were back in full force. My head was so full of...um...stuff. Flying was a misery indeed. The boys were just piggy backing on my misery (in other words - enjoying their share - but in lesser effect). The Urgent Care doc, just shook her head in sympathy and said "Virus.", and she sent me on my way. (She did however, give me the "Just in Case Script" which I will promptly fill tomorrow if I am not feeling better.)

The contest in my previous post was one for the SP10 blog - for inquiring minds.

Did I mention that my SP10 pal sent me a gift certificate for my favorite store? No? Well she did, and I've spent it already. I'm expecting a package from The Loopy Ewe as soon as all my mail gets delivered from vacation....oooo, I can hardly wait! Pictures will follow, of course.

Well, I hope to get on my blog rounds tomorrow and start visiting all of my favorite stops!

Good Night All (sniff).