Inspiration Saturday: Stash additions from Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta

I love fiber festivals.  Aside from the yarn and fiber temptations, we've gone to so many by now that the indie dyers are more like friends we're visiting than companies we are patronizing.

But that doesn't mean I didn't do some patronizing as well:

First, an adorable shirt.  Because it's adorable.  And I'll wear it.

Then, two yarns from my favorite, Heavenly Fiber:

This is Stellar 100 Sock Yarn in Dune Shadows.  It's a grey without any yellow tones, plus a dash of purple.  I found myself gravitating towards different greys all day, so it only makes sense that I'd leave with at least one.

And then, a gradient:

Stardust Sock in Perfect Princess has a little bit of sparkle to it, which I love.  I think this is going to be a shawl.

Finally, Silk Cloud from Darn Good Yarn:

This is a fair trade yarn, all made from silk waste.  I just couldn't resist.

After perusing the aisles of the fiesta and making these tough decisions, I'm sorry I don't have much mental strength for blogging.  In fact, I had to give myself some time to recover after getting home before I even attempted to start writing.  Shopping can be very tiring.  Especially when you are trying to restrain yourself from buying everything.  But hopefully you enjoyed the pretty yarn as much as I'm planning to.

Have you been to fiber festivals?  What's your favorite part?  For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.

Inspiration Saturday: Shades of Pemberley

I showed you most of my FOs from the Jane Austen swap yesterday, but here's one that I thought deserved its own post.  Inspiration is always an important part of these swaps for me, extracting something from the theme, mixing it in with the likes and dislikes of your spoilee, and applying it to something you can create.

In this case, I took some Kool-Aid, some bare mini-skeins, and more than a dozen quote from Austen works to create a collection of colorways that I called 'Shades of Pemberley' (as in, are they to be thus polluted?).  As always, home dyeing is about tempering your intentions with your results, and just enjoying the colors however they turn out.

So here are the shades of Pemberley:

And here they are a little closer up, followed by their inspirational quotes:

Top row:

From left to right:

1. "My dear Mr. Bennet, you must not expect such girls to have the sense of their father and mother.  When they get to our age, I dare say they will not think about officers any more than we do.  I remember the time when I liked a red coat myself very well - and, indeed, so I do still at my heart; and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year, should want one of my girls I shall not say nay to him; and I thought Colonel Forster looked very becoming the other night at Sir William's in his regimentals."
2. They had a very fine day for Box Hill; and all the other outward circumstances of arrangement, accomodation, and punctuality, were in favor of a pleasant party.
3. Her father's comfort was amply secured, Mrs. Bates as well as Mrs. Goddard being able to come; and her last pleasing duty, before she left the house, was to pay her respects to them as they sat together after dinner; and while her father was fondly noticing the beauty of her dress, to make the two ladies all the amends in her power, by helping them to large slices of cake and full glasses of wine, for whatever unwilling self-denial his care of their constitution might have obliged them to practise during the meal. - She had provided a plentiful dinner for them; she wished she could know that they had been allowed to eat it.
4. Elinor, this eldest daughter whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment...She had an excellent heart; her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong: but she knew how to govern them...Marianne's abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor's.  She was sensible and clever, but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation.  She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent.
5. "Mrs. Bates, let me propose your venturing on one of these eggs.  An egg boiled very soft is not unwholesome.  Serle understands boiling an egg better than any body.  I would not recommend an egg boiled by any body else; but you need not be afraid, they are very small, you see - one of our small eggs will not hurt you.  Miss Bates, let Emma help you to a little bit of tart - a very little bit.  Ours are all apple-tarts.  You need not be afraid of unwholesome preserves here.  I do not advise the custard.  Mrs. Goddard, what say you to half a glass of wine?  A small half-glass, put into a tumbler of water? I do not think it could disagree with you."

Middle row:

From left to right:

1. ...Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles with impatient activity, and finding herself at last within view of the house, with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.
2. Mrs. Elton, in all her apparatus of happiness, her large bonnet and her basket, was very ready to lead the way in gathering, accepting, or talking - strawberries, and only strawberries, could now be thought or spoken of.  "The best fruit in England - everybody's favourite - always wholesome. - These the finest beds and finest sorts. - Delightful to gather for one's self - the only way of really enjoying them. - Morning decidedly the best time - never tired - every good sort - hautboy infinitely superior - no comparison - the others hardly eatable - hautboys very scarce - Chili preferred - white wood finest flavour of all - price of strawberries in London - abundance about Bristol - Maple Grove - cultivation - beds when to be renewed - gardeners never to be put out of their way - delicious fruit - only too rich to be eaten much of - inferior to cherries - currants more refreshing - only objection to gathering strawberries the stooping - glaring sun - tired to death - could bear it no longer - must go and sit in the shade."
3. “The Very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone.”
4. Emma...then joined Harriet at the interesting counter, - trying, with all the force of her own mind, to convince her that if she wanted plain muslin it was of no use to look at figured; and that a blue ribbon, be it ever so beautiful, would still never match her yellow pattern.  At last it was all settled, even to the destination of the parcel.
5. Catherine's blood ran cold with the horrid suggestions which naturally sprang from these words.  Could it be possible? Could Henry's father - ?  And yet how many were the examples to justify even the blackest suspicions!

Bottom row:

From left to right:

1. The letter, with a direction hardly legible, to "Miss A. E. - ," was evidently the one which he had been folding so hastily.  While supposed to be writing only to Captain Benwick, he had been also addressing her!  On the content of that letter depended all which with world could do for her.  Anything was possible, anything might be defied rather than suspense…sinking into the chair which he had occupied, succeeding to the very spot where he had leaned and written, her eyes devoured the following words:
2. "Will not your mind misgive you when you find yourself in this gloomy chamber - too lofty and extensive for you, with only the feeble rays of a single lamp to take in its size - its walls hung with tapestry exhibiting figures as large as life, and the bed, of dark green stuff or purple velvet, presenting a funereal appearance?  Will not your heart sink within you?"
3. The day was uncommonly lovely.  It was really March; but it was April in its mild air, brisk soft wind, and bright sun, occasionally clouded for a minute; and everything looked so beautiful under the influence of such a sky; the effects of the shadows pursuing each other on the ships and Spithead and the island beyond, with the ever-varying hues of the sea, now at high water, dancing in its glee and dashing against the ramparts with so fine a sound, produced altogether such a combination of charms for Fanny, as made her gradually almost careless of the circumstances under which she felt them.
4. To this nest of comforts Fanny now walked down to try its influence on an agitated, doubting spirit, to see if by looking at Edmund's profile she could catch any of his counsel, or by giving air to her geraniums she might inhale a breeze of mental strength herself.
5. Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.  Catherine knew all this very well; her great aunt had read her a lecture on the subject only the Christmas before; and yet she lay awake ten minutes on Wednesday night debating between her spotted and her tamboured muslin, and nothing but the shortness of the time prevented her buying a new one for the evening.

For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.

WIP Wednesday: Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone!  Tomorrow's the big turkey day, are you ready?  I just about am, my mom and I have plans with some of our knitting group to gather together with food and all of our projects.  I'm hoping that with their help and a Thanksgiving miracle, I'll finally start seaming my cardigan and get started on some of those ruffles.

I've been off work all week, taking a few of my days off before I lose them at the end of the year.  That's given me time to enjoy a little extra sleep and to make sure I keep going strong on my NaNoWriMo efforts.  There's just a few more days to go, and just a few thousand words to go as well.  I'll probably still have story ideas left to explore, and some unfinished ones that I've started.  But I'll get all 50,000 words typed up for sure.

And to go with my literariness, I have a new pair of glasses that I just picked up from the optometrist this afternoon.

They're purple!  For the first time ever, my prescription has stayed stable enough that I didn't actually need new glasses.  But I had the insurance to cover most of it, plus the flexible spending money that I had to use up (insurance and vacation time, gotta use them all before New Year's), so now I have two pairs of glasses that I can wear.  It's kind of exciting.  Plus, it means that next year, when insurance only covers lenses, I can put new lenses in one of the frames and still see wearing the others while they do it.

Sad news about my Fruit Loopy Shawl, though.  The yarn was on Knit Picks the other day, but now that they're having their 'Big Sale', it's gone!  It's like the colorway has ceased to exist.  I'm going to have to find someone on Ravelry willing to sell it from their stash.  But I'm still tempted to make a purchase from Knit Picks anyway.  To comfort myself.

Speaking of comfort, I'm so looking forward to all of the food tomorrow!  I wouldn't have believed it when I was a kid, but I think the dishes I'm looking forward to the most are the cranberry sauce and the Brussels sprouts.  I know, weird, right?  Of course, I'm also going to save room for pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate pie.  For the sake of being festive.

What are you looking forward to eating tomorrow?  And what will you be doing while everyone else watches football?  For more WIP Wednesday posts, go to Tami's Amis.

WIP Wednesday: If a picture is worth a thousand words...

…then can I add this to my NaNoWriMo word count for the day?

This is my belated haul from the Kid 'n Ewe fiber festival two weekends ago.  Going clockwise from the top-left:

1. Brooks Farm Riata in an 8 ounce mega-skein of Sherbet (yum)
2. Heavenly Fiber Stardust Sock in Optimist (what a great name!)
3. Wooly Wonka Ceridwen Sock in Bazinga (I happened to be wearing all of these colors that day, so it was meant to be)
4. Knitting Rose Yarn Blossom in Thunderstorm (one of those gorgeous grays that has shades of other colors peeking through)

The irony is that I have all of this yarn, but this week I faced a terrible thing: too little yarn.  I ran out of Knit Picks Imagination in the final section of my Fruit Loopy Shawl.  This puts me in a terrible mood, even though I should be able to order another skein of this colorway, and it gives me an excuse to make a Cyber Monday order.  I just hate that I can't get it done now, you know?  After all of the time you spend working on something, it's frustrating to be so fundamentally stumped in the final phases.

But I comforted myself by looking at all of the other pretty yarns. And then I distracted myself by casting on another project.  I could have started tackling the seaming on my cardigan, but I needed to just start knitting something, and the sweater is going to mean figuring out something I've never done, and starting out frustrated by yarn shortage is not good.  Better to save that for Thanksgiving amongst crafty friends and delicious food.

I cast on another Christmas present, so unfortunately I can't share anything about it.  But so far it's coming together quickly.  And hopefully there will be plenty of yarn.  Or someone might be getting a frustrated pile of frogged yarn in their stocking.  Kidding!

For more WIP Wednesday posts, go to Tami's Amis.

WIP Wednesday: There's always time for hellos and goodbyes

It's the last week of October, so I'm saying goodbye to one month and hello to another.  But that theme has repeated itself throughout the week.

First, a bittersweet goodbye as a local yarn store closes.  Farewell, Old Oaks Ranch.  I'll miss the statue garden and the alpacas, but I'll look forward to the new yarn stores which may be opened in its wake.  And I'll always have the closing sale yarn purchases to remember it by:

Apparently I start stashing when I feel sentimental.  Or any other emotion.  I had seen the skein of Araucania Puelo during the Crawl and liked it, so I went ahead and got it this time.  I also got two balls of Liberty Wool Light, because I always like their color mixes, and this chartreuse, gray, cream and lilac is no exception.  I'm thinking a pair of yoga socks, and maybe enough for some matching mitts?  And then, three colorways, two skeins each, of Llama Lace.  You gotta love the name.  And after seeing someone else's WIP in the store using it, I couldn't choose between them and just brought them all home with me.

Also coming home with me is my own alpaca!

No, not one of those, unfortunately.  An alpaca needle felting kit, including naked alpaca starter:

Cute, no?

On a happier note, I also bid adieu to one of my WIPs, the Christmas knit.  It feels good to get that one completed and move on to the next gift.  This one I'm going to sew!  In the meantime, I'm also making progress on my selfish knit, the Fruit Loopy Shawl.  It's still colorful and makes me smile whenever I pick it up.

Everything isn't coming to an end, though, some things are starting up in November.  Specifically, NaNoWriMo.  I've mentioned this before, but basically, I'm going to be trying to write 50,000 words over the course of the 30 days in November.  I know it's 'Novel' writing month, but I'm actually working on a collection of short stories.  Shh, no one tell the strict NaNo dictators or I'll be smeared with red ink and thrown in a life-sized slush pile.  Just kidding.  I'm looking forward to the mad panic of blurting all of the words onto the keyboard and getting the stories out of my head.  And hopefully attending some write-ins to engage in that very specific kind of socializing that involves staring at your computer and working intensely…around other people doing the same thing.  Communal isolation.

Alright, so those are the beginnings, middles, and endings for this week's WIP.  For more posts, visit Tami's Amis.

WIP Wednesday: The end of a Crawl is just the beginning...

As if last weekend wasn't enough, this past weekend brought even more lovelies into my stash:

1. From Nan's Needleworks: Noro King in two colorways with nondescript names
2. From Happy Ewe: Wooly Wonka Arianrhod in Spice; and a pair of 60" cables for my Knit Picks interchangeables
3. From Gauge (yes, I had to come back again for more!): Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Lichen and Nekkid
4. From Yarnorama: Rowan Fine Tweed in Monsal Dale, Beresford, and Leyburn; and a mystery silk noil wool fingering weight yarn on a cone
5. From WC Mercantile: Sport weight alpaca with angelina from Bluebonnet Hills Alpaca Ranch; and two skeins of sport weight sari silk yarn

First of all, I want to apologize for the different look of the numbers in this graphic.  I had to recreate it on another computer to make sure I could post today.  It irks me, especially since my day job is about documentation standards.  But anyway...

What are my plans for these?  Or, to put it another way, how did I rationalize buying them all?  Well, the Noro was just such an intriguing texture, made up of microfiber, silk, mohair, and wool.  And I love projects that stripe alternating colorways of Noro, so I'm thinking a simple triangle shawl switching the yarn every right side row.

The Wooly Wonka I just love, and this store is one of only four I think that has it in stock.  There were so many gorgeous colors, and fibers as well as yarn, but I really liked the chocolate-y-ness of this one.  And then I remembered that I have some really cute cupcake buttons, which seems only right for a yarn from Wooly Wonka.  Oh, and the interchangeables are to aid me in turning the Wonderland mini skeins from last week into a Mini Mania scarf.

For the next few, I have a very good excuse: good deals!  The Hazel Knits and Rowan were the special 25% off featured yarns for their respective stores.  I'm thinking of dyeing the Nekkid colorway of the Hazel Knits at some point, possibly after I've knitted whatever it is going to be.  The Rowan will probably actually be used to make the pattern provided by Susan at the store:

Color work and bobbles!  I wear fingerless mitts every day in my freezing cold office, so these will make me smile as I'm working hard at the keyboard.

WC Mercantile wasn't technically part of the Crawl, but they advertised in the passport, offering a discount for participants, and once we were at Yarnorama we were halfway there anyway.  I love the stuff they bring to Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta every year, so this was my excuse to buy the exact alpaca yarn I coveted there last time.  Plus some sari silk just for the heck of it.

Whew!  Now it's back to real life.  Except that in two weeks we're planning a trip to Houston to meet up with another Raveler at another yarn store, and then after that it's Kid 'N Ewe Fiber Festival.  I just love fall, don't you?  The good news is that while we were driving I made great progress on my Christmas knitting, so I can finish that up soon and get started on some of these new additions to my queue.

For more WIP Wednesdays, go to Tami's Amis.

Inspiration Saturday: Cranberry Orange

Last Thursday, in the final sleep before starting the Crawl (Crawl Eve, if you will), my subconscious revealed just how excited I was about the impending yarn roadtrip by having me dream about it.  And in my dream I was on the Crawl and found a yarn in a color that is not my usual color.  I'm usually drawn to jewel tones.  Bright, saturated, and leaning towards the blue-toned.  But in my dream, there I was, buying a skein of orange yarn.  But not just orange.  A cranberry orange.  I think this was my subconscious again blending my foodie craving for all things fall-flavored, like pumpkin and cranberry, with a just-as-powerful fiber craving.

This was in the back of my mind throughout the first weekend.  But it wasn't until the final stop that my dream came to life.  You might have spotted it in my WIP Wednesday post:

It's the Plumage Ltd from Little Green Finch, a local dyer who just happened to be in the store.  I had a fabulous time chatting with her and playing the game of 'put random colors together and be amazed at how gorgeously they go together'.  I could play that game forever.  I really just need to find the job that requires me to match yarns and mix up ice cream flavors and I'm all set.  Anyway, when I first spotted this skein, I knew it was my dream come to life.  I don't know if I foresaw this colorway, or if she was able to read my mind, but one of us is clearly psychic.

And so I will take the lead from my subconscious and just share with you a few more cranberry orange things that inspire me:

If I were to try and evoke cranberries in knitwear, bobbles would have to be involved.  I particularly like the look of orchids & fairy lights from tiny owl knits:

Photo credit: tiny owl knits

Nice and chunky, and I can imagine just how squishy it would be in Malabrigo Worsted, as suggested.

Speaking of fruits and bobbles, I feel like this is also a good time to give another shout out to the gorgeous Blackberry Cabled Cardigan my mom made for me:

Less bulky bobbles here create a really nice texture in the back and on the sleeves alongside all of the cables.

Okay, so now I have to revert to the tastes that cranberry and orange evoke for me.  Since I gave my mom some props, I'll do some horn-tooting and mention the Cranberry Jaffa Cakes I made the other week, which had just a hint of orange:

These would be really tasty dunked in a mug of some Blood Orange Herbal Tea, from Tea Embassy here in Austin, to enhance those citrusy notes.  I don't know if that would be considered heresy in the UK, to dunk ones Jaffa Cakes.  But that will just be our little secret, no one needs to tell them.

And I can't talk about cranberries without passing on the recipe I use for cranberry sauce.  I use the one from Stephanie O'Dea from A Year of Slow Cooking.  Again, it's cranberry, but it's enhanced with the flavor and acidity of orange.  We don't just make this for Thanksgiving to go with the turkey and dressing, I end up making this several times in the fall season, to go with ice cream, yogurt, oatmeal, fresh fruit, scones, or almost anything else.  No, you don't really need to use a slow cooker to make cranberry sauce, but it's so easy to just put it all together in there and let it do it's thing.  

And in the meantime, you can knit.

For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.

WIP Wednesday: Crawl in progress

I can't give you details on the knitting I'm doing for the holiday season, but I can give you lots of colorful details about what I've added to my stash so far because of this year's Crawl:

1. From Hill Country Weavers: Yarn Carnival Highwire 3-ply in Amaranthine
2. From Tinsmith's Wife: Malabrigo Worsted in Nostalgia
3. From Yarnivore: Frabjous Fibers Wonderland Yarns Cheshire Cat Fingering Multi-Pack of 10 1-oz skeins in Dark Rainbow
4. From The Yarn Barn: Lone Star Arts Armadillo in Ellie Avery
5. From her studio: Alisha Goes Around Panoply of Peacocks Fingering in Macedonia
6. From Lucky Ewe: Vice Paradigm in Serendipity
7. From Old Oaks Ranch: Henry's Attic Prime Alpaca in Bare and Black
8. From The Knitting Nest: Trekking XXL in 550 (aww, no name)
9. From Gauge: Little Green Finch Plumage Ltd in a nameless one-of-a-kind colorway I'm calling Cranberry Orange and Theodora's Pearls Theodora's Saphhire in Chartreuse Spritz

I have plans for a few of the skeins.  The Alisha Goes Around has been on my radar for a while now to create the Twist Pullover.  This is actually the colorway used in the sample that made the cover of Knit Wear, though it appears darker in the magazine.  I've nearly bought the yarn several times before, in yarn stores or at fiber festivals, but being in her studio, it seemed like I might as well take the plunge now.

The Wonderland Yarns were a revelation.  They are a new yarn which debuted at TNNA this summer, and I'm in love.  The colors were all so gorgeous, I couldn't decide on one for a full skein, so I splurged on the entire rainbow of smaller skeins.  I'm thinking that this is going to make a glorious technicolor Mini Mania.

The others, well, they were just too pretty to leave behind, and many of them were part of the selection of 25% off yarns that can be used to make the patterns that each store handed out.  That's how I ended up with two skeins of the Malabrigo.  Such a good price, I might as well see if I can make a medium-sized project like a shrug.  And I have so much black and white alpaca, I think that will supply several projects.  Some of the bare yarn might even get dyed.

So there are the results of my Crawl in progress, more to come this weekend!  And more WIP Wednesday posts are at Tami's Amis.

Inspiration Saturday: This is not what stash busting looks like

I may have conquered that inexplicable ability to control my calorie intake, but there's still a resolution I seem to have trouble with: stash busting.  Any time resolutions are being made, I seem to aim for reducing my collection of yarn and fiber.

There are, however, two forces at work against this endeavor.  First, I never seem to have enough time to make progress on my projects.  Not being a speedy knitter, I need more than the moments I can snatch after work to really turn around WIPs each week.  And then, there's my inability to resist the temptation of buying new yarn and fiber.  I can't help it, they are just too pretty to leave behind when I go to fiber festivals and yarn stores!  I think it's just time to accept that I'm not going to live up to any of those resolutions.

So this week's inspiration are two purchases I made that are not so much stash busting as stash building.

Having completed Tour de Fleece, I'm still spinning my yarn from that effort, but there were some fiber artists offering special discounts in their online shops, so I took advantage of one from BohoKnitterChic and added this lovely to my fiber stash:

A golden yellow, the touches of brown and blue along with the sparkle make me think of 'Beauty and the Beast':

With a reminder of one of my all-time favorite movies, how could I possibly be expected to resist the superfine merino, bamboo, and silk noil?

I ordered that a week or so ago and it arrived on Monday, after I made another non-busting purchase at Gauge Knits here in Austin:

The buttons were on sale, and then I found this skein of Bamboo Sheen Sport from Dizzy Lettuce that just went too perfectly to deny it.  I'm planning on making a cowl based on A Very Braidy Cowl, altered slightly to create three running cable braids, then using the gaps from the cables as buttonholes at the end.  I'm really tempted to just cast this on and knit something quick before completing my cardigan.  Maybe then I'll feel more like a stash buster.

But wait, there's more!  More Dizzy Lettuce, in fact:

I should mention that the reason we stopped into Gauge was a trunk show with Sea of Beads and Dizzy Lettuce.  She had a whole table of lovely things, plus a chair draped in still-drying hanks.  I love 'splotchy' colorways like this one, and I'm intrigued to work with linen for the first time.  It's mostly silk, so it's still very soft, and has a slight sheen in the sunlight.  I'm thinking a shawl with this, but not sure which one yet.

Just like a decadent dessert, adding yarn and fiber to my stash may not be in line with my resolutions, but sometimes, you just have to.  Cake can be run off, and cakes of yarn can be knit, eventually!

For more inspiration this Saturday, go to Woolen Diversions.

A weekend of Tuesdays, followed by another Manic Monday

Over the course of the first weekend of Tour de Fleece, a added more than 3,000 yards of yarn to my stash.  Obviously, these were not hard-earned yards of handspun.  No, no, these were cheaply-won yards of commercial yarn.

Emphasis on the cheap part, because I found these additions to my stash at Tuesday Morning.  This has happened to me before.  Every once in a while we pop into the store to see what they have in stock, and this time they had balls of Ella Rae Classic Superwash and other basic yarns in sweater quantities.  Apparently I needed some blue yarn:

I know I haven't quite finished my first cardigan yet, but I've got another one or two planned now.  My mom also added to her stash, but she stuck to mostly purples.

Speaking of purples, I did make progress on my own yarn.  I've almost finished a third cop, and the pile of fluff that is unspun fiber is starting to dwindle down.

I have semi-decided to go ahead and make the leap to try chain plying (also known at n-plying or Navajo plying).  But there's still another single cop to go until then.

Maybe I can start plying in time for the Wimbledon gentlemen's final.  Who knows who will be playing for, much less win, the Championships this year.  So far the tournament has been a little insane.  Slipping and sliding everywhere, and upsets galore.  It's always exciting to see players make it farther than anyone expected, and as long as none of the upsets include Murray, I'm okay with them.  Can you imagine the uproarious and totally unrestrained celebrations that would be sparked by that?  Pimm's for everyone! On this side of the Atlantic, though, I'm just going to enjoy some strawberries and cream.  It's going to be a little early in the morning for Pimm's after all.  And I always spin sober.

(Just a little humor to get through Monday...)

Inspiration Saturday: Summer marked in threes

It may be soaking wet outside, but I still think it's summer time.

It's been four years since I had a 'real' summer.  It's not fair, really, after spending the first twenty-two years of life with three whole months off a year, to fling unsuspecting students into a real world where three weeks off at a time would be a minor miracle.  Now all that comes with the scary realization that May is nearly over is the relief of knowing that school traffic will disappear, shortening my morning commute by at least ten minutes, and, to complete the trilogy, the three-day weekend of Memorial Day.

I am so glad we've finally passed through the desert of corporate holidays that is January through May. There are no three-day weekends at my company, unless you take your own time off, before this one.  Now at least I can look forward to the 4th of July, and then Labor Day.  A summer slate of days off.

Another sign of summer: yesterday another batch of Sarah Lawrence College seniors turned into alumni.  I didn't see the commencement live, but I'm tempted to watch Vera Wang's speech.  I have no idea what I would say to a tentful of students, but I think I'm pretty safe from being asked to do such a thing until I do something a little more impressive.

Anyway, summer inspiration.  I'm still just knitting my cardigan, which isn't really seasonal unless you consider that I wear long sleeves every day to work, rain or shine.  But I am thinking about warmer weather knits, like my Up for Anything Cami I've already showed you.  Once that's done, I'd like to tackle a few more.  These are two I already have in my favorites:

Sunflowers Cami by Heather Dixon

Photo credit: Army of Knitters

This is a seamless knit from the cabled straps down, I just think it looks so pretty.

Isabella Camisole by Tara Miller

Photo credit: Tara Miller

I just find the construction of this fascinating, and I like the idea of knitting the 'cups', but replacing the body of the top with some pretty flowing fabric.  Plus, this is a free pattern, even better!

Going with my theme of being inspired by things I already have, I have a few yarns that are more summer-appropriate than merino and alpaca (much as I love those).  I bought this Dizzy Lettuce Sheen in the last Crawl:

It's 100% bamboo, which I like for its shine and drape.  I tend not to be as much of a fan of cotton, but maybe I just haven't tried the right one yet.  I'm not sure what this skein is going to be yet.  It makes me think of the Chrysler Building, though, so I'd like to reference that somehow.

How about you?  What does summer make you want to knit?  Does it even feel like summer with you yet, what makes you realize the season is here?

And for more inspiration, check out Alicia at Woolen Diversions:

4KCBWDAY4: Breaking house rules

Here's the problem with me trying to describe which colors I like best: if allowed to continue on, I will eventually list all possible colors.  Because I feel like every color has a time and a place, whether it's an earthy taupe or a bright and sparkly pink.  I'm currently building a collection of fingerless mitts in my cabinets at work in every color, to match whatever outfit I might be wearing that day.  Because it's important to coordinate while I'm typing at my desk or taking notes in a meeting.

But between earthy taupe and bright and sparkly pink, I tend to be drawn towards the later.  I can't help it.  I might be a manatee, but I have peacock tendencies when it comes to color.  This becomes obvious when I go to things like the Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta (I still need to show you my spoils from that!).  I'm always drawn to the most vibrant colors, with bonus points when it's a mix of multiple, hand-painted hues.  Sometimes this is to my detriment, as I end up with beautiful skeins and no idea how to turn them into knitwear.  Particularly when I have so many favorited patterns which have a lovely lace detail, which gets lost in a rainbow of colors.

Looking at my projects page can often be misleading, because many of those were made for someone else in a swap, but I do have a few examples of my taking crazy colors and knitting them into something crazy awesome.  Like my Fabulous Street Urchin Hat:

This yarn called to me during a yarn crawl stop at Gauge in Austin.  It's Dizzy Lettuce Cash Worsted, and I distinctly recall my fellow crawlers telling me, as I agonized over the pile of skeins I was considering, that this was the one they would leave behind if it was up to them.  But I couldn't leave behind the pink and purple.  It's a very simple knit, so the color and the scrunch detail really make it.

And this is a hibernating WIP, but I'm really loving the way a simple stitch is adding texture to the paintball-splattered colorway of this Schmutzerella creation:

The colorway is called 'Are you up for it?' and it was based on the movie '10 Things I Hate About You'.  I try to make my project names referential or witty in some way whenever possible, so this is my Up for Anything Cami.  Or it will be, once I finish it.  Not that I'm a bee, flitting from project to project or anything...

For more posts, use the tag '4KCBWDAY4' in the search engine of your choice.  And don't forget to visit Eskimi's colorful world.

Inspiration Saturday: Gone Fiesta-ing

Today is sure to be an inspirational day for me because I'm going down to Seguin for the Yellow Rose Fiber Producers Fiesta.  It's the third year of this annual festival, and each year it's gotten bigger and better.  I'm looking forward to discovering new fiber artists, and checking in on a few that have become like old friends after several years of festival-going between this and Kid 'n Ewe.

I'll be sure to share the stashing results from today, because I know there's going to be at least a skein or two that I can't leave behind.  In the meantime, you can always check out two Examiner articles (the first here and the second here) I posted this week with slideshows of pics from a few of the vendors.  You'll see what I mean about likely making a purchase or two.

Mom is going to be taking a class on tatting in the afternoon, so I'll have plenty of time to browse and agonize over those decisions.  And hopefully get a few more rows of my swap project done.  Shipping is closing in fast, so I need to get to the wrapping and packing soon.

I'm also looking forward to a stop at Crazy Good in San Marcos for some frozen yogurt to top things off.  All in all, I'm hoping it's going to be a good Saturday.  And I hope it's a good one for you as well!

For more inspiration, check out Woolen Diversions.

Inspiration Saturday: Celebrating in spirit

Yarnorama is one of my favorite local yarn stores, despite being just on the other side of 'local' for me, since it's closer to Bastrop then Austin, and just over an hour's drive from home.  It's worth the pilgrimage as often as we can make it, because owner Susan Fricks has so many pretty things.  Plus, with events like the annual holiday party, it's also a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to make the trip today to help Susan celebrate five years of her playground for the fiber obsessed.  But as I nosh on spaghetti squash, I'm wondering what people brought to the potluck this time and who is winning prizes.  So I'm going to share a few of the things I love about the store, as I wish it a happy birthday!

Along with stocking a wide variety of commercial yarns, Susan dyes not only her own yarn, but fiber as well, called FiberObsessions.  I have several skeins of Simply Sock in my stash, like this one:

Photo credit: FiberObsessions

The colorway is 'All Shaped Up', and I love the way the pink and the gray interplay to create some mauve and dusty rose.

Here's another yarn base, Enliven, that comes in 50 gram skeins.  I don't have this colorway, Live Wire, but it looks like something I really should:

Photo credit: FiberObsessions

Okay, to the fiber!  Remember my first ever completed, self-spun yarn?

That started it's life as Blue-Faced Leicester in a colorway called Seeing Pluto:

And the spindle pictured here comes from Jeri Brock, whose gorgeous pieces are sold in the store.  Jeri and Susan have also teamed up for a Spindle and Fiber Club which has me constantly drooling.

While I have yet to plunk down the money for membership to the club, I do occasionally break down and buy a braid.  Especially at the start of a new month, because Susan dyes a special colorway for each month.  Here's March, Random Happiness:

Photo credit: FiberObsessions

Um, yum!  It's an 80/20 Merino/Tussah silk.  This is exactly why my spinning stash is growing, slowly but surely, to match my knitting stash.

I have a feeling I've crossed the line from inspiring to taunting, but for those of you who are also wishing you were in tiny little Paige, Texas right now, you can order a lot of Susan's stuff online, or feel free to call them to find out more at (512) 253-0100.

For more inspiration, check out Alicia's post at Woolen Diversions.  This week she's spotlighting some Malabrigo Madness projects, so it's a tribute to soft and fluffy fiber all around!