So I finally figured out the wordpress thing on my site I've been paying for (for years now) and not using. I managed to customize it a bit, and import all my blogger posts. So from now on I'll be posting over there and not here.
New Blog: http://yarnophilia.com/blog
So I invite you all to join me, and update your blog reader, etc.
See you there!
So I've gotten a few things since the last post. Melissa sent me some goodies in exchange for knitting the shawl for her. One was a skein of yarn I had sent with the shawl. I asked for a custom dye job, even though I could have done it. I haven't had a chance to really pull out the dyes. It's 2500ish yards of merino lace. It's for the Snowflakes in Cedarwoods shawl by Anne Hanson.
She also sent me some roving, it's gorgeous!
I also got the rovings I ordered from Flawful Fibers:
The top one is rambouillet in Woodstock Earthchild, and the bottom is seawool in Ashes of Roses.
I adore them both.
Other than that I finished a little skein of merino/silk/firestar. It's 58 grams, 170 yards of navajo plied yarn. Really pretty! I threw it in the shop, if it doesn't sell, well I won't cry over keeping it!
In other news, we are moving back to NY. It's a big ordeal, surrounded by DRAMA. I won't get into it here, most of my loyal readers know anyway. I'm stressed, and upset, but trying not to freak. I may post about it later, but right now, I've been thinking about it for days and I'd like to just not for a bit.
So yesterday I went up to the Post Office, I knew there was a package waiting for me. It was my Loopy Ewe sock club!
There is a skein of kettle dyed Sknitches yarn in the color Muddy Waters. It's a gorgeous merino/bamboo/nylon blend. The pattern is called Zanzibar, and it's by Cookie A. It's the first sock pattern I've wanted to cast on immediately from either of my sock clubs in a while. It's just so pretty. The colored things are sticky notes, SO AWESOME. It's a little book that you open up and has the different sizes and colors.
I also got my targhee roving from MoonlightBaker I ordered, but forgot to take a picture of it. Next time, I'm too lazy right now.
Yesterday was also opening day at the fair. We weren't planning on going, but hubby knew how badly I wanted to go and find out how I did with my entries. So we went for a while. Here is my Spring Things Shawl that I entered in the knitting:
I got a big ribbon! I don't know what it means, there were only 5 other projects with ribbons like that. Either way, I was so excited.
Here are my green Twisted Flower socks, which also got a ribbon. (Pretty much everything gets some kind of ribbon...)
Then I drug him over to the sheep barn where all the handspun stuff was in a little shed. I immediately picked out my skeins of yarn (the orange one in the center, and the reddish one above and to the left). Both had blue ribbons.
Lastly, and best of all, my handspun Swallowtail shawl:
I won the Grand Champion ribbon! I couldn't believe it, but there it is. So all in all I was very pleased, and I'm already planning ideas for what to enter next year.
After that we went and watched the rodeo, it was entertaining. I have pics, but they suck, and photos are not behaving on my computer in general.
Other than that, not much going on, knitting the snow on cedars mitts. So I'll be back with more later, now I have to get the kids up from naptime!
I share with you today, how easily I bruise. See those reddish marks on my arm? They are darker in real life, but those are from carrying grocery bags. Yeah...
I got fun things in the mail, two rovings from Allspunup's last update. I haven't named them yet.
I love them both! I was so excited to get them today.
I have a targhee roving on the way from MoonlightBaker, and two rovings (one rambouillet and one merino/seacell) from Flawful Fibers. I've been bad and I know it...
Other than that, today I dropped off my things to the fairgrounds. I entered my twisted flower socks and my teal colored spring things shawl in the knitting. In the wool I entered two handspun skeins, and my swallowtail knit from handspun. I didn't get the thumb of Alexis' mitten done to enter that. It would NOT behave and I ripped it back out twice.
Well, nothing new elsewise. I'll be around, probably with pictures of the fair and let you all know how my entries did!
I finished the second Twisted Flower sock a little while ago! They are so pretty and very warm! I took them off though, I want them as un-fuzzed as possible to show at the fair.
I have the other mitten left to knit, which shouldn't take long, and then the two skeins to prepare for the fair. I have to drop things off on Tuesday.
I got two very pretty batts in the mail on Wednesday. They are from Wooly Treasures and I loooove them so much. This first one is called Pansy:
And this one is English Posey. I adore the mix of colors in it.
They are both a mix of different fibers, I think I may spin the Pansy one first. I need a quicker spin in between the lace I've been slaving at.
I finally decided to start a project that I have been putting off for a while. I keep seeing these sock yarn blankets and I have been wanting to do one for ages. Especially this one, which Robyn keeps posting about...
So I started my own. Or rather two. One for each kid. Girl colors, and boy colors. Roughly separated. Some colors work on both. I didn't realize how many scraps I had, and gathered them all up in a canvas bag to keep together, and got to work.
Alexis' so far is mostly pink, but there is that blue square and I've got some blue and the green from the twisted flower socks. There are actually five squares done on hers now.
Nicholas' blankie now has 8 squares. As soon as I finished the socks, I added a green square to his. His is mostly green. Seems I have more green than I thought.
So to any blog readers out there who don't have plans for their own sock yarn blankies, have any scraps to spare? Each square is around 4 grams of yarn, really small. I'm knitting them on size 2's and they aren't taking long to knit. I know this is a long term project, but I would wholly appreciate any help along the way! I am only using superwash sock yarn, fingering weight. I'm not using any self striping, just solids, mostly solids, and handpaints. Colors aren't a big deal. I think pastels (pinks, yellows, blues, greens) would be great for hers, and darker colors (brown, green, blue, etc) for his.
Other than that, I have to go cast on the mitten, I should be able to get a decent amount done tonight. I work tomorrow, Sunday and Monday, so that cuts in on the knitting time before the fair. I know I'll get it done, I just prefer to be done as soon as possible!
Well, wine with strawberries in it anyway. Beringer White Zinfandel is my new favorite wine. Of course the premier one is better, but I can only find the regular it seems. Add some cut up strawberries, and heaven. This is how I would like to spend all evenings.
You can see in the picture I've started my second twisted flower sock (finally, I knit the first one last august!). I want it to enter in the fair, I've got until September 2nd to get things together. That's the day you bring things in.
I also planned on finishing my fair isle Selbuvotter mittens, but my tension has changed, so I have to start it over. Instead I figured I'd make things easy on myself and instead, get a headstart on winter knitting. Alexis picked the pattern, and two colors, and this is the first mitten done.
It's NHM #5, in black and pink, just like mine. It came out well! Now just to knit one more, but this one took less than 2 days. So I'm not worried.
I also finished the first Rivendell sock. It looks long and funny, but it's the ribbing on the top making it look that way. I had to have the needles from this one to knit the twisted flower, then when that's done, back to the second Rivendell.
Other than that I've just been knitting and spinning. Oh yeah, and my yarn I spun last time, apparently I didn't spin the singles opposite on my yarn, I just underspun one ply, so it didn't look right at first. It's much better now that I set it.
I got a few goodies in the mail yesterday. Look at this!
Isn't it pretty? This was how my fiber from ExclusivelyLindaLee came. I unwrapped it all and it was even better than it was on my computer screen.
Here we have a pretty bit of tencel. This is the chocolates colorway. She also sent a little sample of this color in either bamboo or tencel. It looks identical to the tencel so I think that's what it is.
These are the same color as well, though you can see how differently they took the dyes. Soooo soft! It's tussah silk.
Then I have 2 batts of cashmere silk that are insane. I want a whole pile of it to roll in.
I also got a few things from The Loopy Ewe. A skein of the new Intentions Yarn in the color Hope. 
And some Gale's Art roving, which is black bfl dyed, it's the color Proud Peacock.
I can't wait to see how it spins. It's really soft, and the colors are so intense. It's a bit darker in person though. This was the best I could get.
So I'll be busy for the next week, prepping for the fair and stuff. I'll let you know how it goes!
Sometimes, I swear, I just don't think!
So yesterday I plyed my Pink Lady singles, which I had finished the day before. I was so excited to be done, and have my first 3 ply sock yarn.
Yeah, so two hours later I finished the three ply. There was a bit left on two of the bobbins, so I figured I would just ply those together, and have a little skein of 2ply. Well when I finished the two ply I noticed that they were not "sticking together" the way they should. Yes, I managed to once again ply ONE of my three singles in the opposite direction.
I think my 3 ply will be ok. It's tightly plyed,a nd you can't tell too easily. Plus I'm just gonna knit it into socks. So, I'll set the twist and go from there. I'm determined to use it either way.
Isn't it pretty though? I love it.
Today I got a few things in the mail when I went up to the post office. One was a package from Opal. I won a contest on her blog and she sent these cute stitch markers! I adore the little fairie.
Then there was the final club shipment for my funky carolina fiber club. It's 4 ounces of bamboo, it's really interesting feeling! I have been wanting to spin pure bamboo, now I'll get to!
I also got two sets of size 0 needles I swapped some roving for. I don't particularly enjoy knitting on 0's, but they are so tiny, I figured I should have some in case my others break.
Well, I'm still doing all the same stuff otherwise. I'm about to FINALLY start my black merino tencel for the dragon shawl. It's going to be a long time spinning, with almost 10 ounces. I plan on taking my time, and probably spinning smaller bits of other stuff in between. Here goes!
Yes, lame title I know.
So I found this Hello Kitty mousepad at work. We've had them since last christmas, and there were still a few there. I bought one for a friend, and one for me! I needed a new mousepad. Ain't it cute?
This is the other thing I found. A case for my DS. I like it wayyy better than my old one. It's adorable!
In other news, I finished a pair of socks! My sister's Carolina socks. After her visit where she tried them on (and I was sure they fit right) I got to it knitting the second one. She left a few things here when she left so I hurried to knit the sock in order to send them to her with the other things. Right now they are on the way! 
I've been knitting like a maniac on the stole. I finished the first half of it! Here we have a picture of it when I was still knitting the arrowhead pattern. I messed with it so you can see the beads. So the color is off but you can see them!
Here we have it when I was knitting on the border. That took me a day and a half on it's own. I had no idea how much work that takes! It's so pretty though.
So I finished that half, and today I picked up for the second after pulling out the provisional cast on. It looks great in the center pattern, but it doesn't quite match on the side. It's no real biggie, but I'm thinking it will bug me, so I'm gonna pull out the small bit I've done to fix it. See, fixing it will change the border rows that go with the center patterning. So instead of following it row by row, I'll have to remember where I'm at on the edging since it won't match what the pattern will say. Easy enough, the edge pattern is really easy.
I also started the Tudor Grace scarf, also from knitspot. I have started knitting it in two different yarns so far! Neither one looks the way I'd like them too, so I am still trying to decide what I will use. I LOVE the pattern though! It's really easy to memorize, and fun to do.
Lastly, I got some yarn in the mail! I traded some stash for these two. The first is some of the 100% superwash Wollmeise in Miss May, one of my FAVORITE colorways. 
This one is really different. It's meant to be colored after the picture of that moth on the label I think. It's so cool though, and super soft!
Well, that's about it, it's late, and I'm really tired. I ran a few errands today in the heat and it wiped me out. I got new shoes though, so it was worth it! I'll take pics of them for next time. Later all!
Thought I would show off the Melanzana stole I'm test knitting. I have to say that as much as I thought it was pretty before, knitting it has made me fall for it even more. It starts with a provisional cast on, and you knit the flowered section. Then the little lacewing section which I love. I'm into the third part now.
Here's a close up shot of the lacewing motif. I think it's perfect.
I'm beading the last section, just because I can't help myself. It's pretty so far, and I might finish it today, and then there's an edging on it. That's the first half! So we'll see how far I get today.
It's been nice weather out lately, just the right temperature. Here's a pic I took the other day of the sun setting.
We had taken the kids out to play, they love the dirt.
Their job was to fill up the black container. They didn't get far before they got bored lol. 
They had fun though. Trying to take advantage of the nicer days we have before winter hits and we get cooped up in the house!
Today Chad is home from work. He has a guy he works with over to help him drop the engine back into the Mitsubishi. Hopefully all goes well. He's been driving his parent's truck that sucks up gas like you wouldn't believe!
Now I'm off to knit on the shawl, it's going so fast! Pictures of it maybe tomorrow with the beads. :)
That's right, I said it. TWO. Not only did I finish the swallowtail and block it, I blocked the Jaywalker Scarf too!
Here is the swallowtail all laid out on the couch. You can see how big it is, it's covering 2 cushions! I love how there is no major pooling.
A shot of the points, beaded and oh so pretty!
More beads. It helps if the picture is bigger, so maybe click on it. I can see them pretty good in the big version of it. See what I mean though? They match so well!
Here is the scarf, and of course, as soon as I started taking pictures, the munchkin got in the way. 
Here again, she wouldn't budge! Ah well.
I adore this scarf. I also have enough to do another scarf. So maybe I'll make up my own chevron scarf? It's an easy enough pattern.
Right now though, I'm still knitting the knitspot lace stole. I'll have a pic of that next time. It's barely any further, although you can see the pattern, and it's SO pretty. I just have to pin it down so it can be appreciated.
Till next time!
