YARN STORAGE

I've decided to act on my opinion that sock yarn is too pretty to keep in bins and made a trip to Target.  I got some Itso cubes and rearranged my stash.

The bottom two cubes hold non-sock yarn, needles, notions, and some knitting related books.  I'm hoping I don't regret leaving the yarn out in the open like this, but it's so much better than having them stuffed in bins in the closet.

I also got some shoe cubbies to organize our shoes instead of just throwing them in the closet.  It was a mess...

SHOES?!

I went to a local shoe store that sells brands like Keen and Dansko to look for that perfect mary jane shoe to wear with my hand knit socks.  I didn't get anything because the saleslady told me their fall inventory will be on sale in a couple of weeks.  If I wait, I'll have a bigger selection.  I don't have a problem with that.  I wore socks made with different yarns to test drive the shoes.

I think I should just do this more often anyway because it's fun.  No pressure on getting that second sock finished.

Going to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair was a late birthday present from my husband.  It's at Crystal Lake, which is about three hours north of us.  We drove up to the hotel Thursday night and attended all three days.

The weather was awesome; low 60s to mid 70s all weekend.  The fair itself was half outside in tents and half inside at a local community college.  Not a bad idea in case it rains.  The very first place I visited was Creatively Dyed.  How can you not?

I wanted to show Dianne the sock I have been working on in her Calypso dyed yarn.  This is in the promise colorway.  She really liked it.  I got eight stitches per inch on size 1 needles.

After raiding her booth (I think I bought about nine skeins total), she was nice enough to have her photo taken with Loopy and I.

Inspired by Dianne's gift for dyeing, Jake decided to dye a skein of his own at Ewe Dye It Yarn.  We saw a fantastic prairie sunset while driving to Crystal Lake and he wanted to emulate that in the yarn.

This was lots of fun.  I'm positive that Jake would get into dyeing if he wasn't so wrapped up in his music.  Here is the end result; I'll probably make a lightweight hat for him.  He isn't too crazy about socks.  He's afraid he'll ruin them.

We called it Prairie Sunset.

We also had a yummy lunch while listening to live music...

...and visited some alpacas that were from a local farm.

I also tried knitting on size 50 needles.

When all was said and done, this is the yarn I brought home with me.

That's just yarn.  Oddly enough, Jake and I fell in love with a quilt kit and bought it.  I don't have a sewing machine or know how to use it if I did.  We've already signed up for lessons and are shopping around.  I also got some handmade jewelry and a little project bag.  Jake took home some roving for felting.  He wants to make a felted Nugget.

I had a fantastic time at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Fair.  It's smaller than Maryland Sheep & Wool, but I didn't get nervous trying to navigate though the crowds and all the vendors had time to talk with us.  We had a relaxing weekend and drove home with renewed creative inspirations.

All of the photos of the fair can be found here.

One of the themes for the May Sockdown on Ravelry is cable or or twisted stitches.  I just bought both Sock Innovations and Socks From the Toe Up from Cookie A. and Wendy Johnson respectively.  The sock pattern on the cover of Sock Innovations is called 'Kristi'.  It's hard to resist not knitting a sock with the same name as me (Kristina really, but everyone calls me Kristi).  It fits the theme of the Sockdown and looks pretty challenging, so this is what I'm going to be knitting for the next couple of months.

Still on Rogue and the mystery project, but I always need something portable.

I'm so indecisive on the yarn to use...

I asked the folks at Ravelry and decided on the Acero on the lower left.  Acero is from Brooks Farm.

For whatever reason, the yarn looks really washed out in this photo.  It's more of a denim color.  I purchased it at Maryland Sheep and Wool a few years ago when I went with my mother.  At the time, Acero was called Limited Edition I.

In other news, I did score some Numma Numma from The Loopy Ewe last Monday.  That order got me into the Loopy Groupies club, so I got fabulous goodies with the Numma Numma.  Photos forthcoming.   I'm feeling extra tired and lazy today since we took Nugget to the dog park.  I'm supposed to be practicing my speech about the Mars Science Laboratory....but no.  

Nugget had a great time wandering around and sniffing trees at the park.

Before I get into anything else, I'd like to respond to TF about the way I laid out my sock blockers in a photo for a previous post.

You're right, it does look like a penis when the blockers are laid out like that.  Your comment made me giggle. However, I didn't intentionally do it; I just liked how it looked symmetrical. Should I keep doing it? :)

Anyway, last Friday I turned 30 years old.  I didn't cry or go through some sort of denial.  I welcomed thirty; i have a feeling I'd be taken more seriously when I say I'm in my thirties. Besides, people are always surprised when I reveal my age.

My husband says that we'll take a road trip soon to celebrate.  He couldn't get Nugget boarded in time to go this weekend  He says I can choose to go to Chicago, St. Louis, or Indianapolis over the weekend.  I have yet to pick which city I want to visit.  I haven't been to any of them.

St.  Louis is a strong choice, especially after my mother gave me a gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe.  It would be really neat to go see the elves that package up all of the orders.  The problem is we would have to drive out of downtown to get there.  Otherwise, I can't decide on which city I want to visit!

As for other fiber related gifts, I received a really cute pair of Serendipity needles with sheep on the end.

The same person also gifted me a skein of Deluxe Worsted LP yarn in the Autumn Equinox colorway.  I am thinking this might make a nice short row hat.

Now I just have to figure out how to best spend this lovely gift certificate.  I was thinking about some Casbah yarn, but I wonder how it wears.

We need to get a peg leg for Nugget's pirate toy.  He ripped the poor pirate's leg off.

Wollmeise.  I has it.

This is the Vincent colorway.  The photo is from their website.  The husband is still sleeping and I don't want to wake him up by digging through my yarn stash.  I bought it from a Raveler who was destashing; I wanted to see what the big deal is.

I still really don't know what the big deal is.  It's pretty, but so is a lot of other yarn I have. Maybe if I knit with it, I'll get it.

Regardless of my opinion, this yarn is highly desired among knitters.  It's the big thing right now.  Knitters will stay up for as long as it takes to constantly refresh sites like The Loopy Ewe just hoping for a chance that Wollmeise becomes available for sale.  If they get that far, the knitters go into a frenzy.  There is a mad dash to throw as much Wollmeise as they can into shopping carts and buy it before someone else does.  The stock only lasts for minutes.

It reminds me of the Socks That Rock frenzy at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival a few years ago. One year, I was able to visit The Fold booth without standing in line.  They had a nice stock of Socks That Rock in various colorways.  I took my time and picked out a few I liked, paid for them, and went on my way. Next year, there was a line clear out of the barn for the stuff.  I entered the barn on the opposite side and didn't realize there was a line. When I peeked in the booth, I got a slew of dirty looks from knitters at the front of line.  I imagine they had been standing there for hours; their looks could kill.

I hate it when people show their true colors.  People are so shocked when a shawl is stolen or money is taken at knitting shops or fiber festivals.  'Knitters wouldnt do that!' people say.

What a load of BS.  Anyway, I digress!

The Loopy Ewe decided to limit Wollmese purchases to one colorway per order.  Naturally, this leads to some snarkiness that has forced a thread about the subject to be locked on Ravelry.  People who missed the update and didn't get any yarn just can't help but feel a little frustrated at the one person who posts her excitement about scoring TEN skeins of the stuff.

I think this has become less about the quality of the yarn (though the colors are very pretty) and more about a desire for it because it's so difficult to get.  Getting Wollmeise, especially from an e-tailer, illicits some kind of emotional response and bragging rights.  I'm pretty sure people get high off the entire experience, from stalking websites to the rush of actually buying the stuff.  The most amusing part of it all is that many knitters are afraid to actually knit with it.  What if they can't get any more? The yarn they worked so hard on getting just sits in a box somewhere.

I feel neutral about the whole thing.  If you have the time and patience to constantly refresh your browser at bizarre hours in the hopes of getting some Wollmeise, go for it!  It's your time and money.  I wouldn't do it, but I'm not going to whine about missing the updates either.

If I happen to be online when an update goes up, I'd still try to get one though.  I'm way too broke for Wollmeise anyway.  I need to go through some of the tubs of sock yarn I have already.

Oh yeah, I'm going to cast on the other Licorice Sock this weekend.  I meant to last week, but I was waylaid by quizzes in all of my classes this week.  Argh.