I've Got a Plan

Correction: I had a plan, but it seems to have fallen apart. Last Friday, Mary wrote that she had ordered some royal blue alpaca/merino yarn to knit the Wavelength Wrap. She wrote, "1,200 yards of worsted weight yarn can weather a crisis. (right?!)" This got me thinking that maybe some new yarn could help me get through the cold winter months and any unfortunate events that might be happening on or around January 20th. 

 

I looked at lots of patterns and yarn, and finally decided that I needed to knit an afghan. I found a relatively easy pattern, appropriately called Look for Happiness (ravelry link). Designer Mary Lee from Fifty Four Ten Studio encourages knitters to "Look for happiness under your own roof,” to actively look for happy moments on ordinary days… within our own homes." That seemed like a great start to my plan, so next I looked for yarn. 

I settled on Berroco Vintage in a lovely dark green. It's machine washable,  contains wool, and Webs was having a 40% off Black Friday sale. I ordered enough to knit my chosen pattern and patted myself on the back for finding a yarn I liked so I could knit an afghan for a reasonable price. I ordered a 60" size 8 circular needle from Amazon and was pleased that my plan had come together so nicely.

Until Monday, when I got an email from Webs that my order had been cancelled. No explanation, no reason, just cancelled. They still had the yarn in stock so I was puzzled. I looked around for a different yarn, but many of them were prohibitively expensive. I decided to think about it for a while, and then Amazon delivered my circular needle. They had sent a size 4 instead of an 8, so my plan had been scuttled by two different sources. I know I could easily fix the plan, but paying quite a bit more for the yarn and reordering a needle made me seriously question whether I really wanted to knit an afghan. 

I got this lovely skein of 100% Tunis from Glenfiddich Wool the last time I visited my SiL. I intended to knit some warm fingerless mitts for myself with it, so now my plan has been modified. I'll wind this beautiful, squishy skein sometime before Jan. 20th, decide on a pattern, and be knitting by the 20th. This plan is completely doable, and mitts knit from wool from such adorable sheep (lambs are born with red fleece and their faces stay a reddish color) will surely help to make me happy.

Field Trip

Last weekend John and I went to our local alpaca farm. They were having a sale and I haven't been there for almost three years, so it was time for a visit. 

When we first arrived there was one cute little alpaca outside of the fence. He seemed to be trying to find his way back in. I let the owner know and she didn't seem too concerned. She said he had been getting out all week and would join the rest of the group when it was time to be fed. Sure enough, when we left he was back inside the fence. 

I have trouble telling alpacas from llamas unless they are standing next to each other with their ears up, so I'm not sure exactly which animals are in this group. 

This was not really a help to me.

I think these two were playing some sort of "I'm taller than you are" dominance display game since they kept posing like this. The one on the left was consistently the winner. 

I'm fairly sure these animals below are llamas because their ears look like commas (that's how I remember). 

This one was quite tall and she was content to just look around the corner and chew.

I did buy some yarn and I think you might get to see it tomorrow.

Thanks for coming along on the field trip!

On Tuesday I'm Grateful For ...

 ... Yarn and the ability to knit! (I can crochet a little bit, but only if I have to.) 

I don't often keep yarn on the dining room table, but I had just cleaned it off (a monumental achievement because there were >12 antlers, a mountain of hunting equipment, and assorted fishing stuff on it), dusted, and put the tablecloths on, so it seemed like a good place for the picture of some of my stash.

I love yarn, I love how it feels, how it smells, and what I can make with it. Cotton, merino, cashmere, and alpaca all have a place in my stash. I wouldn't call myself a yarn snob, but I do only have a few skeins of acrylic (mostly for washable baby blankets). Much of my stash is from The Loopy Ewe. Ryan and I would visit several times a year when he lived in Fort Collins, and I enjoyed his careful consideration and choosing of the yarn and time spent with him as much as the yarn itself. I know I can still order from The Loopy Ewe online, but it doesn't feel quite the same. And while my stash isn't huge (three large tubs and one smaller one) it is quite big enough to keep me happily knitting for many, many years, so I definitely don't need any more yarn. But does that keep me from wanting more yarn? Definitely not!

In fact, I may have acquired a couple of new skeins despite my attempts to not buy more yarn, but I blame Kym for these. :-) I couldn't stop thinking about the colors she used for her Humulus sweater, so I bought something similar to try out a Hitchhiker idea that came to me one night when I couldn't sleep. I've started knitting with the green and hope that my idea will work when I add the pink-purple. 

I hope you've got lots of yarn in your life to be thankful for!

Three on Thursday

I'm joining Carole and friends for Three on Thursday, today with three life lessons I was reminded of while winding yarn. I wind all my yarn by hand, mainly because I'm cheap and would rather spend the money that a swift and ball winder would cost on yarn. There is the added benefit of knowing the yarn, spotting any joins or knots, and it's also nicely meditative. Here's what I came away with.

1.  Get comfortable.

Yes, I'm winding yarn in my flannel nightgown. It's warm, comfortable, and I have tea nearby. These all help me sit still for the 20-30 minutes it takes to finish the job. Being comfortable can help you manage ... more comfortably.

2.  Appreciate the small, beautiful things.

Seeing this little bit of blue and the interplay of so many bright colors made winding this yarn an even more lovely experience. Pay attention to the little things.

3.  When you encounter knots (literal or figurative) don't overreact.

Don't yank on the knots, tighten them, and make things worse. Loosen up, consider carefully, and start winding a small ball from the opposite end. Approaching things from a different direction sometimes helps.

There you have it -- life lessons learned from winding yarn. 

Be sure to visit Carole for more Three on Thursday thoughts!

My Gain Could Be Your Gain!

In other words, it's a Giveaway! I've been threatening to clean out my yarn closet for a while now, and today is the day. I was up early, took everything out of the closet à la Marie Kondo, did a preliminary weeding of clothing and yarn (this closet is also where I store off-season clothes) and now I'm starting the delicate process of choosing what to put back. I came across this yarn, hemmed and hawed about whether it went in the keep or donate pile, and thought a giveaway would be ideal.

Here are four skeins of Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles, 100 grams/366 meters (400 yards), 100% merino, in a Potluck color. I fell in love after seeing them on Instagram and had to have them. Now they just don't spark joy, so if you are interested, please leave a comment on this post by next Friday, Sept. 20th at 5 pm EST. I'll draw names randomly from a hat and let the winner know by email. 

I hope someone would like this yarn as I think it deserves to be knit into something lovely, but I don't think it will ever be me. I gain space to keep four other skeins of yarn, and you gain some beautiful yarn! Good luck!

Never Before

This weekend I did something that I've never done before; I went to a fiber festival and didn't buy anything. This was the weekend for the Garden State Sheep Breeder's Sheep and Fiber Festival, and I was not terribly happy to find I had scheduling conflicts. A family obligation prevented me from meeting up with Vera and Dee on Saturday, and I had to wait until the family staying with us left on Sunday left before I could go. They had no desire to come with me to look at sheep and yarn - can you even imagine?! (I'm not sure I'm really related to them.)

I debated about not going at all, but I can't have sheep and yarn a mere 15 minutes away and not at least go and walk around a bit. I got there about 90 minutes before they closed on Sunday, and that was honestly perfect. I took a quick look around, checked out the animals in depth, and then went back to several of my favorite vendors.

I watched shearing,

and showing,

and laughed at this shirt.

It's not just sheep at the show; this giant angora rabbit was quite pettable.

I always enjoy the sheep herding demos and was glad to have been able to catch the last one.

I was tempted by Fibernymph Dye Works,

Marianated Yarns,

and White Birch Fiber Arts.

This cake in the middle almost came home with me, but then I remembered that I've got two skeins from White Birch that I bought last year that I haven't even cast on, so I resisted.

It was really a lovely time, full of sheep and plenty of beautiful yarn, and some self-restraint!

Could This Be a Trend?

Saturday was the second good mail day in a row!

This is a skein of Berry Colorful Yarnings Saturated Sock in the happy-making colorway called Happy Life. It's hard to find because sadly Berry Colorful Yarns has discontinued dyeing.

I had knit Ryan some fingerless mitts out of one skein I bought at The Loopy Ewe, and while I was knitting recently, an idea for another skein (possibly a two-color Hitchhiker) popped into my head. A search on Ravelry revealed a nice knitter who was willing to part with hers, and now it's mine!

The stripe colors remind me of the Obama Hope poster, so that's part of why this skein makes me happy. I don't think I'll be casting on in the near future, but for now a second good mail day and a second skein of Happy Life are enough to make me happy.

I hope your week is off to a happy, hopeful start!

Gifts You Give Yourself

I haven't been consciously trying to adhere to a yarn diet lately, I just haven't seen anything that I had to have. But then something happened that changed my mind a couple of weeks ago ...

I follow #muststashyarn on instagram, as I always enjoy looking at pretty pictures of gorgeous yarn. I've looked and admired, but then they posted something I simply could not resist. I looked at the photos, clicked away, clicked back, told myself that it was almost my birthday, and a couple of skeins would make a fine gift.

They are the best gift!

This is Mordor Fun Run, featuring "20 stripes of perilous adventure". I think it's amazing, and even more so once it's knit.

Sometimes the gifts you give yourself are simply the best!

High Hopes

or maybe medium hopes, but I do have some kind of hope for these books. I was anxious to get back to NJ to pick up these books that I had placed on hold. I've been disappointed in the past few books I've started and want to read something, anything, that pulls me into the story, has an interesting plot, or teaches me something. With plenty of wind and rain, this looks like a good weekend for reading, so I don't even have to feel guilty about lying on the sofa and doing just that. 

I was also excited to get back to NJ because there is some yarn I ordered for a Christmas knitting project in the mail that I had held. The post office was supposed to deliver it yesterday, but did not, so I do hope it's in my mailbox today. I don't know if the USPS understands how excited a knitter can get about a new project, but I'm sure if they did, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night would stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. The postal service and I have a love/hate relationship, so I even raked leaves from the front walk this morning so the mailman wouldn't slip. Fingers crossed!

Wishing you a good weekend!

Pleasantly Overwhelmed

After Saturday and Sunday, I wanted to take it a little bit easy yesterday. I washed and hung out all of our fiberglass clothing, and then it dawned on me that there was no immediate house project to work on. Vera had been kind enough to recommend a local yarn store, so I thought it was high time I paid a visit.

The Vulcan's Rest is in Chesapeake City, but I didn't know exactly where that was located. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a mere seven miles away, and packed with gorgeous yarn. I meant to ask about their unusual name (is this the Spock kind of Vulcan or the Roman God of Fire?) but I completely forgot once I was inside.

They carry so many types of yarn that I've never seen in person that all I could do initially was stand and look with my mouth open. In addition to all of the wonderful yarn there's a lovely sitting area up front and a big class area in the back.

Their whole name is Vulcan's Rest Fibers because they realize that knitting is not the only fiber-related craft, so you can also find supplies for crochet, spinning, weaving, and even pot-holder looms, needle felting, and reeds for basket-weaving.

They are looking for a tenant for the coffee shop that is under construction through that window you can see on the back wall. I'm afraid I might never leave when that happens.

I only bought one skein and some Chibi needles but I know I'll go back, soon! Thanks, Vera!