The Specifics

I felt It wouldn't be fair to leave y'all with just a picture of The Stash in it's entirety - I need to explain, give you specifics with pictures. So, without Further Ado, may I present -

The Sum of the Parts:

First - The Stash:

The bags & rubbermaid tubs in the background was where SOME of this was stored. BTW, that's a Queen-sized bed covered in yarn. :D

Now, the specifics - On the couch, we have:

Y'all know what THAT is, right? ;-) Yep - mostly Lion Brand Homespun - soft as the dickens, but can be a PITA to knit with. Still, I do love it. That was back there, plus some Bernat Boucle - nice stuff, Acrylic like the LBH, but not as bad with weaving in of ends, etc.

On the back of the bed, we have most of my "Novelty Yarn" - the Lion Brand Fun Fur (and "Festive Fur"), and my Bernat Boa & Bernat Disco - both of the latter, free gifts.

In the middle of the next pic is my Malabrigo:

Here's some of my cotton:

This is some of my sock yarn - the italian sock yarn was gifted to me last Christmas at our SnB Gift Swap - I look forward to using it for myself, perhaps, this year!

More sock yarn, this time, my Opal:

Next, my Berocco Cotton Twist - bitch n'a half to knit with, but beautiful to look at and sooooo soft to touch:

My darlin' Cinderella's (http://www.rindercelly.com/) Cookie Monster Yarn!

...I only still have it because it hasn't told me what it wants to be yet....but I'm thinking, either a wild scarf, or a nifty felted bag/hat; stay tuned on that.

...And just to prove I'm NOT a Fiber Snob, here's my yarn made out of teflon. No, really:

....it's waaaaay soft.

I even have Red Heart - but they make a coupla super soft varieties now, and they really ARE soft - I used one to make a balaclava for my BIL last year, and he loves it!

I got rid of a Garbage Bag full of yarn, and this is what's left:

I also have two bags of antique fingering weight wool from my dear OA, but I didn't want to lay that out and chance the cat taking a liking to it.

Like he did to The Stash.

Yea.

He sniffed...

...yawned...

...Rolled...

Then gave me the, "What?!?" look when I yelled at him - he'd started to CHEW - and Momma was having NONE of that.

NY Sheep & Wool, part 2

As tight as the budget was on Saturday, I still planned to get a thing or two to take home with us, and I'm happy with what I got. I'm debating trying to learn to spin with a drop spindle, so maybe next year, a drop spindle will come home with me. ;)

I also wanted to purchase some Jacob Roving (from Jacob Sheep), for my friend Cinderella to spin for me...but decided that I have to concentrate on my Commission Knitting before I can play with something special for myself. :)

Here's what I got on Saturay, then!

HandSpun, Hand-Dyed yarn, made of 75% Kid Mohair & 25% wool. SOOO nice!

Toys for my daughter - a Felted ball, and two fingerpuppets:

Then, Hubs & I each got a pair of Alpaca gloves - my SnB friend C got a pair, and that put the bug in my head - so I had to get a pair, too - I've always wanted a pair, and like C, don't think I'd ever make myself a pair. So, here they are!

Lastly, I got myself some cute earrings:

My other SnB friend J talked about wanting to bring home a Llama, or a Alpaca - she's not the only one!! I fell in love with These two fellas:

(that one above is the side view of THIS gorgeous face:)

So - that, really, is a quick summary of my Saturday - I saw Tons of other bloggers, of course - but I was too gobsmacked by the whole kit & kaboodle to take any more pictures than I did - and the Llamas truly seemed so calm, I was ABLE to photograph them with no trouble. :)

Now, time for Holiday knitting - I will post pics of that as I get them. Oh, but I DO have a picture of my husband's First Sock:

Lorna's Laces Fingering weight, Colorway "Aslan". Don't you LOVE it? He does, and that's ALL that matters! :-)

Stash & Rhinebeck

Fall, already? Yeesh...I guess the saying is true - "Life is what happens when you make other plans." Well, "Life" sure has been happening around here, but I've managed to keep getting up every day, and getting myself & the wee one fed, clothed, and basically occupied. :)

I was challenged by a friend to "Flash my Stash", so I did...and here's the proof. (That's a queen-sized bed it's all laid out on, btw - and some on the couch behind, too!)

I also ended up visiting the NY Sheep & Wool festival, and met up with several of my knitting pals -
It was truly great fun, and I look forward to NEXT year, when hopefully I won't be quite so overwhelmed!

F.O.'s, FINALLY!

Well, I'm finally back, and I've got pictures for ye! First off are Boo's finished socks. She really warmed my heart with what she said when I told her they were finished. She stopped playing, and stared for a second - then said, "Can I wear them??" We slapped 'em on immejitley, and she was VERY happy & proud. They (mostly) fit, and they feel good on her feet!

Then there was that Tank Top I was making - the "Smartly Shaped Tank":
It came out nicely, but I need to re-seam the shoulders, as they keep falling off MY shoulders.

For Mother's Day, I knitted my mom a bag, and felted it - my FIRST Felted Object! It was the "Sophie" bag from MagKnits:

I think it came out really well, and I'm making more for my MIL, and my sister. Right now, I've got to go work on Berroco's free pattern "Coppelia" for my daughter, for her birthday next week. AAAGHHH!!! I'm going to knit it in the round, because I really don't feel like knitting flat & seaming. Wish me luck!

As Promised

Hello, my friends...as I promised yesterday, I am back to impart to you (and just write down before it's lost forever in ma brain) my personal recollections of the Grafton, MA stop on the Yarn Harlot's 2006 Spring Yarn Crawl...er, book tour. Same diff, when it's knitting, eh? Go 'head, disagree with me.

Thought not. ;-)


I'll start at the beginning by saying that when I realized WEBS might not work out (thank you all for your helpful suggestions, btw!!) for Saturday, I had to be creative. I checked the tour schedule, Google Maps, and then with my friend Priss-Cilla, in that order. Said, "Listen, I know I said we'd go to Northhampton on Saturday and be silly about yarn - but how 'bout we try doing it Friday night in Grafton instead?" Luckily, Priscilla has known me long enough to run with it, and run we did. We both ditched our kids with the respective male half of the parenting equations, and hit the road.

I have to pause here and say that Priscilla is a heckuva date, and I mean that in the nicest possible way! She knew my schedule Friday was beyond hectic, and that I probably wouldn't have gotten to eat by the time I got to her house. Turned out, she had dinner waiting for me, and I ate the tastiest Vegetarian Egg Fu Yung in the car on our trip - and here I thought I'd be knitting a sock in the car on the way up~! Her idea was much tastier, to be sure. :-)

Right, sorry, I was talking about knitting and The Yarn Harlot a ways back, wasn't I? Sorry, back to business.

A zip up the Mass Pike and a few muttered, "I don't see any street signs..." later, I pointed out Classic Yarns of Grafton on the left, and we veered - sorry, politely signaled and drove into the parking lot. It was just 6pm and turns out, we were right on time. The place was PACKED already, SRO, and it wasn't that big of a place to begin with. A truly nice Yarn store, to be sure, and one I'd enjoy spending time in when I could actually move around in it, but it was such fun to stand arm to arm with other ladies (and two gents), talk and knit together. Priscilla was amazed! She'd never read Stephanie's blog, y'see, and had only heard of her about two weeks ago when I suggested this crazy idea. :-) That's me, the Enabler - nice ta meetcha.



So, we're inside, and Stephanie appears on a stool (THANK YOU!!) so that we could ALL see her; as I mentioned it was mostly Standing Room Only, tho some in the front could & did sit on the floor. The obligatory Sock was produced, and photos were taken:


We all giggled and took pictures back (no kidding, lol), with the resulting flashes prompting Stephanie to comment that if she didn't know better, she'd think she was having a stroke - I felt guilty as I snapped my pics, but obviously, not guilty enough. ;-) Hey, I like taking pics, and I tried to be very considerate!

Then, the talk started - and while Stephanie gave us the option of just asking questions OR hearing her give her prepared talk, we ALL overwhelmingly chose the talk. Thank Goodness, because it was HYSTERICAL. I kid you not! I was wiping tears from my eyes I was laughing so hard, and I was tickled pink that I could hear Priscilla behind me laughing long and loud, too. YAY, my friend is having a great time!! YAAY!

The stories were fantastic, the descriptions spot-on; even the stuff I had read bits about in her blog were brought to life by Stephanie's voice and expressions plus hand gestures. Her face is Amazing! No, really - we all know that Stephanie is not just another pretty face, but she has a face that can convey SO MUCH without saying so much as a word. I loved it, and could watch her talk all night - I was so caught up, it was truly wonderful. :-) Here are a few shots I got when I wasn't giggling like a loon, or crying either:


And of Course, on the Heels of the "Martha-Freaking-Stewart" episode of The Yarn Harlot, we have this sign right there in the shop:

Last but by NO MEANS least, we have The Sweater. Yes, THAT Sweater - Stephanie's Olympic Hardangervidda sweater, and it's even more amazing in person:


The talk and the questions ended, and then we were allowed at the Wine & snackage (okay, it was only then that I SAW them.), and we got in line for to have our books signed. I had Boo's socks with me, the finished one and the unfinished one, and I actually TURNED THE HEEL and picked up stitches for one gusset while standing in line - YAAY, I can really DO this stuff! :-) Here's where we come to the Mutual Sock Blogging portion of our journey, where Boo's sock got to meet Stephanie, and I got to meet Stephanie's sock:
Truly, the next day when I told Boo about it, she just wasn't impressed - but I hope she will be someday. ;-)

The end of our marvelous evening was Priscilla giving in to Fate and buying two of TYH's books, tho not the newer one, go figure. ;-) My dear friend & I had SUCH a blast, and I want to thank the Wonderful ladies at Classic Yarns of North Grafton, MA, and especially Stephanie Pearl-McPhee for a sparkling, Highly Entertaning evening!!

More to come tonite, but for now...

Priscilla and I got to go and hear The Harlot last night, in Grafton, MA - it was HYSTERICAL, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves...we were laughing so hard, we were wiping tears off our cheeks throughout. A Wonderful night that included some Co-Blogging, so I have to post the pics and recap later on, when my wee monster isn't begging for attention.

A funny; Stephanie held my 4th sock (Boo's 2nd sock), and I held her sock for the Reciprocal Blog Photo, and when I tried to explain the significance to Boo this morning, her face got stormy.

"Don't let ANYONE hold my SOCK!" says she. ;-)

She'll understand when she's older.

No, really, she WILL - she IS my daughter, after all.

Oh, and I donated to TSF, and got the nifty button for my vest as well as my blog! I promise, MUCH more later. Toodles!

Little Bit More Monster

Who can resist more pics of

The Homespun Monster??