tow happiness in the mail

When I was a little girl I always introduced a new doll to my old dolls. Sort of like an initiation ceremony to the toy chest if you will. I would gather all my old dolls together and set them up to prepare for the new arrival. I would bring the new doll in and show them to each doll and tell them what her name is. When two skeins of my favourite yarn in the whole wide world arrived yesterday I did just that.

Blue Suzanne, Gewitterhimmel, Am Kalter Polar, Barista, Pfefferminz Prinz, Digitessa, and Vergissmeinnicht meet your new friends

Sultan and Spice Market.

The photos were a re-enactment of what I did last night much to the amusement of ACA. He also got treated to my views on having soooper spechiaaaal sock yarn that never gets used, only collected. I think a yarn is sad when it doesn’t get used. It’s sad because it didn’t get to fulfill it’s potential. I am buying these yarns because they are beautiful and I love turning them into beautiful things for me to wear. I absolutely adore the knee socks I made and I get compliments everytime I wear them (even when I don’t pull up my pant’s leg to show the socks I made). Once I get good at knitting with two colours Sultan is going to become a sock with a white skein. Unlike every other Wollmeise skein I have this colourway loves showing up true to its colours on my camera.

I couldn’t capture all the colours with photographing one side, so here’s the other side.

Wheee!

The other skein I got was Spice Market. I am having a hard time photographing this one because it is a cloudy and overcast day. I took some photos of it yesterday and they are pretty close to what it looks like.

Looks like Wollmeise changed her label style again.

I do like it. But it is difficult to take off to photograph the yarn, but slips right back on once you take it off.
I bought this because it reminded me so much of the Misir Carsisi (Spice Bazaar) in Istanbul. I’ve been there many times in my childhood and last summer when I was in Turkey. This pair will become Nutkin socks. Ravelry link here And looks like for once in my life I’ll be using the exact yarn in the exact same colourway as the pattern suggests. Why mess with perfection?
Another treat that came in the mail was the Loopy Ewe’s “Don’t be blue” sock kit. This was for people who didn’t get a spot in the Loopy Ewe sock club.

The yarn that came is 115 gr of lusciousness known as Handmaiden Casbah sock. The colourway is called “W(h)ine with Roses.” It came with a pattern, a pen that says “Loopy for socks” and the extra awesome bag you see in the photo. The bag is nice and sturdy. Also has nice side pockets to hold notions and needles or hooks. I am not blue anymore!
And the final addition to my stash this week was 20 balls of Jo-Sharp Desert Aran Cotton in midnight sky (how many fancy words for black are there?!). I found the project I want to knit it into right away.

It’s the Dovetail pullover from Interweave Knits Spring 2008 issue.

On the needles I have this pair of socks.

It’s a do over of a pair that I have already finished back in January. See this entry for details. I had a lot of trouble finding the perfect pattern for this yarn and I have frogged it more times than I can count. I finally called them done and started wearing them. Everytime I wore them I had a nagging feeling that I really could have done better with these socks. So couple of days ago I ripped the sock back down to the heel turn, put it back on my needles and started over. I am planning on making these socks longer. I only made them ankle high last time because I was sick of the yarn after trying three different projects with the yarn and I just wanted to move on to a different project. Now that I am done being mad at it, I can make the socks longer and nicer.
I have also been working on a sweater. I didn’t put photos of it because a sweater in progress really doesn’t look very interesting. It’s the Phyllo Yoked Pullover from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan. Here’s the ravelry link The front and the back and the sleeves were to be knit and seamed later. I don’t like seaming when I don’t have to so I knit the body and the sleeves in the round. I also added waist shaping and short row bust darts. I joined the arms and the body together and now ready to knit the yoke. I already ripped it out once. I am hoping to get it right this time.

See what I mean about boring photo? I also knitted the hem in seed stitch because I don’t like how stockinette curls up. I am calling this the GTA sweater because while I was working on the sweater ACA was playing GTA IV. It strenghtens my argument that his hobby (video games) is a waste of time. In the time it took him to clock the game I knitted up almost a sweater. I am smug that I have the more productive and fun (well I think anyway) hobby.
We are going to a wedding this evening ins and I am planning on wearing my butterfly wing shawl. I will try to remember to take some action shots but don’t hold me to that!

There was a question about how I dye yarn. I use food coloring, Kool Aid and Wilton’s Icing dyes. I have a lot of sock yarn that I either claimed for free or was gifted that I don’t like the colour of. That’s why I started dying. I have also dyed a skein of yarn that wasn’t dyed before. I like dying the yarn in a pot on my stove because it’s less messy and I like how the colours get shaded. Hmm, maybe I should take some photos next time I am dyeing. I don’t have a developed method yet. I just satisfy my inner mad scientist by adding colours and mixing and seeing what happens! This is an action shot of “Kina Gecesi” getting dyed.