to market, to market

to buy...

my first stop at stitches west market was webs. the salesgirl was very helpful and without my asking, directed me to the sock yarn. (could it have been the pomatomus socks i had on?) i found the tofutsies yarn that was on my list. i also found some of webs' house brand of hand-dyed sock yarn which was NOT on my list. needless to say, i qualified for the 25% discount.

top row: tofutsies #723, alpaca/ silk lace wt in burgundy, tofutsies #733
bottom row: kangaroo dyer hand-dyed franklin sock yarn (wool/nylon blend) cherries, twilight, blueberry




lisa souza

on the left is sock! merino in "emerald city"
on the right is sock! in "little devil"

to the right : claudia's hand-painted yarn in "just plum"

brooks farm primero kid mohair

sock yarn from ellen's half-pint farm

notice a color scheme going here? i was trying very hard to get out of my comfort zone too. oh well, i'm happy!

"meandering" at stitches west

i had a chance to shop the market at stitches west on friday. i manged to find all the different sock yarns i wanted to try and then some. the weather is horrible today so i haven't taken any photos of my newly purchased stash.

i stopped by the blue moon fiber arts booth in the hopes of meeting tina and kaci. tina was not there but i did get to talk to kaci. she is so nice. of course, since i was there, i had to browse around. i was good and did not buy any more str since i already have a huge stash of that. BUT i did spot...

"MEANDERING"

it's MY pattern!!!!
which i designed for bmfa last summer!!!

and it is now available for purchase.

i felt a surge of excitement seeing my sock and its printed pattern hanging there in the booth! the sample is knit with socks that rock lightweight. the colorway is "midsummer's night". i loved the subtle color changes. i had to give the socks to them so will have to reknit them again for me one of these days.

i also stopped by the swtc booth, home of soysilk yarns, and talked to jonelle. my first published design was for swtc. i designed "pink peony" using their optima yarn. jonelle really liked the sock so has asked if i would redo it using their new tofutsie. it was one of the yarns on my shopping list...what a coincidence! i get to play with it now. silly me! i'd already bought some at my first stop!

i feel loved!

...a customer brought me













a beautiful bouquet of tulips!















AND a bag of M&M's!!!! no m&m's for blog. they have been used for knitting purposes only! (said with a big chocolate breath smile)

and i received my prize for the sock-a-month2 kal december drawing.

look at this and drool.....

REGIA SILK!

how much better can it get?!

and i love the colors!!!!!

sock-a-month kal 2 is over but sock-a-month kal 3 has just started. come on over and join the fun. see everyone's gorgeous socks. so much inspiration! i wanna knit them ALL!

seduced by seduction

i have just finished knitting a sock that i designed for blue moon fiber arts. i got to play with this beautiful skein of seduction in the blue brick wall colorway.

seduction is a blend of merino wool and tencel which gives the yarn a gorgeous sheen. the yarn is soft and silky and truly a pleasure to knit with. i love the colors. the colors are pretty true in the skein. the following pictures are a bit washed out!

here's the cuff...

heel flap in eye of partridge...
isn't it cute?!

and the toe!
see the great stitch definition?!

and it's a little finer than the socks that rock lightweight and has more yardage than either the str lightweight or medium weight. it doesn't have the sproing of the traditional str but it is so nice to knit with. i am in heaven!

what?! where's the rest of the sock? you know i can't show that to you. ;o}. the gals at bmfa might come after me!

in other knitting, i am working on a baby surprise sweater for my cousin who is having a baby shower in a week and a half. i am hoping to finish it before the shower. my plan is to give it to her unassembled. she and her hubby are both architects and i am bad enough to make them guess what this is. ez was truly brilliant. i am amazed every time i make one of these. my sons just shake their heads... i am using woolease in black sprinkles (with flecks of colors which aren't showing up very well in the photo).

i am going to market at stitches west next friday. anyone else going?

vanilla sox with a touch of "wild" tiger

i have been down with the flu all week. this is not a nice one. i slept all day LAST wednesday. worked thurday through sunday. i was never so glad to see a sunday end. i am tired all day and have a horrible cough! i am tired from coughing!

i finally took the tigers out of the corner and finished them. thank you for telling me that tigers don't match and that i could really leave them.

here are the MATCHING toes!

i really wanted to believe you that the insteps didn't need to match. i really, really did! but i couldn't help myself. it's amazing how many times you can frog opal yarn and still have it looking it NEW! no, i won't tell you how many times i reknit the instep to end up with this.....

WILD insteps!

i give up. i almost got them to match once but the colors started over too far. these i can live with. at least the pooling looks like tiger stripes. i think i had a problem with the original ones having an even orange streak across the instep...not tigery at all!

...and the rest of the sock matches!

opal rainforest tiger
2.5mm needles/gauge 9 sts/inch
visited frog pond enough times to qualify as TWO pairs of socks knit!
i think i got my money's worth from this skein!

now to wash and block them so that they can be sent on to their new home!