Swap: We Love Lucy Christmas

Oh man.

I love swaps.

I love the We Love Lucy Ravelry Group swaps especially. It seems people are REALLY good stalkers in that group. You might remember that in the last Lucy swap I was totally floored by the fact that my partner somehow figured out that I bake cupcakes.

This swap I had the amazing Izzy. It turns out we're VERY similar people, which is pretty awesome when it comes to a swap partner. We both like bright colors, make up, nail polish & Downton Abby.

Issy did an amazing job finding things that I loved so much I literally squealed when I opened them. No joke. Actual squeals of delight. Observe...

This is what the box looked like when I opened it:


And here's all the little packages wrapped up so cheerfully:


Inside all those packages was this amazingness:



Ok... "When Bad Things Happen To Good Knitters"? Best book ever. It's a great, easy to follow, step-by-step guide to all the knitting tricks I need to learn! It's awesome! There are very clear pictures and I can't wait to really read through it!


The yarn is King Cole Galaxy (a wool/acrylic blend with little sequins throughout- so cute) in red and purple and King Cole Baby Alpaca (100% alpaca- my favorite fiber) in a mossy green & a subdued lilac. They all feel beautifully soft and I love all the colors.

I LOVE that she included matching buttons! It made me want to decide on a project right away. At least one ball is going to become a Juliet scarf. The other... I'm think some kind of cowl or maybe a slouchy hat (since I look so awesome in them ;)!) with a little button on the edge? Your recommendations are welcome!


And the nail polishes... so awesome. I know Rimmel London is heavily advertised, but I don't think I've ever actually seen it sold in stores here. I'm going to have to really keep my eye out because the colors she sent (a vibrant blue & a very sunny yellow) are SUPER saturated & dry really quickly. She also sent a crackle top coat which is so cool. Look:


Yeah, that's right. I already have it on! I love it soooo much!

I also gasped when I opened this little beauty:


HA! A posh little Hello Kitty vainly checking herself out in her mirror! I love it!

She also sent this awesome little key chain made by her daughter! How adorable is that? And this totally cute candy tin featuring one of my guilty pleasures!

The handmade gift from Issy also floored me. Check out the longest Queen Anne's Lace scarf ever:

That's it folded in half, people! It has to be 10 feet long! I'm so excited about it, too. I've been crocheting for a million years but for some reason every time I've tried this pattern I just can't get it! The colors are so bright & cheerful too-- made with King Cole's Wicked. In her note Issy said this was to wear to see Wicked this month! This is AWESOME because the dress I'm wearing is what I like to call a little "boob-tastic", so draping this multiple times will help keep me warm & not flashing people! The colors are very "Over The Rainbow"! It's absolutely perfect.

Finally, her very cute and thoughtful card said this tea is for my little sister, who, as you know, is recovering from a coma. 

How incredibly sweet is that? I'm so touched that she thought of my little Sarah that I could just cry. Of course... that's immediately followed by the thought that English Breakfast is my favorite tea and this looks really delicious. :) We're so close to Christmas that I might not see Sarah until Christmas Eve, so I think I'm going to wrap it up and put a little note saying it's from Issy in England. :) Sarah was really interested in the little gift I made for Issy and asked what she'd be sending me in return, so I think she'll get a kick out of receiving this! 

I'm so happy to receive all these amazing things! Everything is just perfect! Yay swaps!!

Lucy Swap (Caution: Pic heavy post)

I recently participated in Round 4 of the "We Love Lucy" group swap on Ravelry. All the folks in the group are fun so I knew it would be a fun swap. I didn't know, however, that my partner was going to spoil the crap out of me. We were required to send yarn, something handmade & goodies totally about $24 USD.

Here's what came out of the package:

Isn't it pretty all wrapped up? I love the gift bag, too. So cute.

As I unwrapped the little gifts I found a treasure trove!

First, the yarn. Norah gave me some awesome Fyberspates Scrumptious DK.

Scrumptious is right. It's a great single ply worsted weight that has a similar look as Malabrigo. BUT it has this great sheen and amazing softness due to it's 45% (!) silk content. Holy cow. I love it.

Then there were these two amazing skeins:

What's particularly awesome about her giving me Riot is that I just commented a couple days ago about someone else receiving this same yarn in a different colorway on the Lucy forum. It's a wool acrylic blend that is super soft & has amazing long repeats. I couldn't be more pleased with the color.

Norah also went above & beyond in the handmade department too. She made these adorable lizard bookmarks to go with the book she gave me.

I particularly like the one with the tongue! :) And the book looks like a great summer read.

She also felted this cute little bag to put the awesome knitting bracelet in!

The bracelet has knitting related charms and cute felted purple balls. Totally my color.

The other handmades are a lipgloss holder with some awesome gloss inside and a little chain to hang it from my purse (how did she know I always lose my gloss in the bottom of my huge bag?) as well as this beautiful "friendship ring" square. I plan to tack it up on my inspiration wall when I finish converting the spare room into my craft room. :)

Then this is where she totally blew my mind:

Ok, first off, I love the little coin purse! And I REALLY love that she put a coin in it because it's totally bad luck to give a purse without money! :) But in her card she wrote that she added the cupcake charm because she knows I bake cupcakes. I can stalk better than anyone I know and I can't for the life of me figure out how she knew that! Did I post a blog about it? It's not on twitter. I have NO idea how she knew this but I LOVE the charm. I'm actually moving it to my "real" charm bracelet, which I've been adding to since I was in high school.

And ok, last picture:

CHOCOLATE!!! :) I'm seriously salivating over the Cadbury bar. The black box is some super fancy 71% cacao dark chocolate. Norah said this is to enjoy with my wine. :) I think it deserves a special bottle so I'm going to be cracking open a bottle of my favorite dessert pinot that we picked up at Homewood in Sonoma. YAY!

There is also a cute magnet that says "Go without a bra- it pulls the wrinkles out of your face" (HAHAHA!) and this adorable little bird ornament. It will be hanging from my lamp in my bedroom I think.

If you haven't tried a swap on Ravelry I really recommend it. For me, I don't have many friends who craft (or at least who crochet or knit) and it's great to share fun packages with like minded people.

I'm a Knitter Now

I'm definitely NOT saying I'm giving up crochet. Crochet is my first love and still what I turn to when I want to make something quickly and have full confidence that it will work out the first time. However, having finally gotten the hang of knitting, I've gone ahead and made a couple major purchases.

After getting a "try it set" of Knit Picks Interchangables a couple months back I confirmed my original hypothesis that I'd like the Harmony Wood tips the most. Am I sorry I shelled out the $20 for the try it set? No. I would have driven myself crazy thinking I'd made the wrong choice otherwise. Besides, I have a crazed need to switch back and forth between projects, so having more than one set of the most commonly used tips isn't a bad thing.

So... I purchased a full set of Harmony Interchangeable needles, as well as an extra, longer cable (I have visions of knit blankets dancing in my head) and a couple of the smaller sized fixed circulars since the interchangeables only go down to size 4. I also purchased a full set of 6 inch dpns (sized 0-3). Honestly, I think I should have gotten the 5 inch or even maybe the 4s... but oh well. It's done. Along with a few extra little things for my on-the-go knit kit and here's what you have:

And you didn't think I could order from Knit Picks and NOT get any yarn, right? Yes... I continue to fail at the yarn diet just as miserably as I do on any food diet. Behold my shame:

To my credit: none of this is "stash" yarn. It all has a very specific purpose.

4 skeins Comfy Bulky in Arbor: For an Owlet for A&O's bun in the oven. A is one of my oldest friends and she LOVES owls, dark green and anything handmade. This is one of approximately 5 gagillion projects I have in mind for this baby. I've already cast-on for this. :)

3 skeins Wool of the Andes in Winter's Night: For a pair of the ever-so-popular French Pressed Slippers for myself. This is really a test-knit for Christmas. I've never felted anything before. If these go well I hope to make several pair for presents this winter. 3 skeins of WotA makes a large pair. At $1.99 a skein for many colors, this is a super cute uber cheap present!

2 skeins Chroma Worsted in Midwinter and Mix Tape: For a Noro Striped Scarf. Honestly, I researched the way different colorways worked together forEVER and then at the last minute made a completely random choice and now I'm not so sure about it. We'll see how they work out. If it doesn't I love this yarn enough to get two more skeins that work better and make two scarves!

And finally, because you aren't sick of looking at the million ways I spend money yet... here's the whole list o' goodies I purchased:

Have you made any fun fiber purchases lately? Or do you have any recommendations on how I can stop buying every yarn that catches my eye? Seriously... I have a problem!

Pardon My Rant

Have you noticed sort of a sibling riverly between crocheters and knitters? I've seen it a lot on Ravelry but never experienced it in my personal life until last week. I went to a local yarn shop for the first time on Thursday. When I walked in I had my crocodile clutch (which has been my constant companion since I finished it) and as has happened every time I've gone out with it in public- a lady at the shop asked about it. She was a customer working on a knitting project. I could tell she was a relatively new knitter. She asked if it was easy to make. I replied it was actually pretty easy if you knew how to crochet. She asked the shop owner if she had a pattern that was similar and that's when it happened.... The owner replied "No. We're a knitting shop." Um. Ok. She turned around to me and said "Of course, crocheters are welcome, but we just don't sell any crochet patterns.... or supplies.... and we don't teach it." Yeah. Was that supposed to make me feel better about it? I honestly felt like leaving, but I thought that would seem petty or something. I ended up buying a few little odds & ends for a swap I'm in this month and at the last minute asked about the "ongoing free sock class" I had read about on their website. The owner said she had a pattern that used Malabrigo Worsted & size 6 dpns, so it was easier to learn before moving down to sock weight yarn and spaghetti-thin needles. I ended up spending quite a bit there once I paid for the dpns (size 8s for me and my apparently tight knitting), the yarn and the pattern. In the meantime I chatted with the other customer about Ravelry and gave her my email address if she wanted to learn to crochet. I was also kind of miffed about the pattern. The owner admitted it was written as though you were in a class. This probably explains why I got confused on the heel once I was home. It uses short rows, but didn't say that, so I just thought the stitch count was off. So for a not-totally-clear pattern the $6.50 price I paid seemed REALLY high. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the free patterns available, but that seemed really steep. So imagine my annoyance when I logged the pattern into Ravelry & saw that the download is only $4 there! STILL too high, if you ask me, but that's almost 40% less! Are they charging me that much for the 3 pieces of paper and the sheet protector? I didn't need that! What's MORE annoying is that we had been talking about Rav, so she really could have just showed me how to do a circular join & start me on my ribbing and then give me the option to go on Rav to buy the pattern. I had dpns full of worsted weight yarn- what else was I going to do with it? I would HAVE TO download her pattern. Now I'm perplexed. The shop has some great yarns at reasonable prices. They have a weekly knitting night, which I'd LOVE to join. It's relatively close, there's drive-through Starbucks on the way & it's near the cemetary so I can visit mom and kill two birds with one stone. But the anti-crochet attitude and the weird pattern issue really bother me. I can't decide how I feel about the shop. I'm thinking of maybe scoping out some other local shops and seeing if one's a better fit. What would you do?

On Being Proactive

I've gotten totally out of control on my spending. There are certain things I've somehow ended up stock-piling over the past 18 months. These things are make-up, wine & yarn. The make-up and wine I've gotten a handle on. The yarn on the other hand...

Remember how I'm on a yarn diet this year? Wanna know how many skeins I've purchased while on this "diet"?

90.

Yeah. 90 skeins of yarn. WHAT ON EARTH?! Now keep in mind, 62 of those skeins came in one box from Japan. But seriously? Where did the other 28 come from? And I'm going to be honest... that doesn't include acrylic. Yeah. There's more. You can take on, I'm gonna guess 20 skeins of acrylic to that.

I bought enough Bernat Satin for a small throw to more or less replicate this awesome blanket I saw on pinterest (though I'll probably do squares instead of hexagons because I don't like the edges).

I can also blame pinterest for another 4 or so skeins. I have a ton of Red Heart Super Saver (yuck) in turquoise and blue from making Special Olympic Scarves. So I decided to use the turquoise for a blanket like this.

Of course that meant buying red, sage & off white acrylic. Why not just make a blue & turquoise one to use up all the yarn and not buy more? Good question. Because I have a problem! That's why!

Then I bought yarn for my Lenten commitment, which was REALLY stupid because I already had a bag full of baby yarn.

So how am I being proactive? On my long weekend off I photographed my stash (minus the acrylic) and updated my stash page on Ravelry. I am now diligently matching up my 2011 gift list with projects in my queue.. and those projects with stash yarn I already have. I think I can get through all of 2011's "MUST Makes" with my stash.

I'm hoping to get my whole stash back out for a "Flash Your Stash" photo by the "official" day (April 1). Let's hope it's at least a teeny bit smaller than it is at the moment. :)

Are you participating in Flash Your Stash? Do you buy yarn just for projects or do you stash too?

Yarn Diet

So I had high hopes of reducing my stash in 2011. The plan was to craft only from my stash until it was at least 50% reduced, and then to only purchase yarn with a specific project in mind AND only when I was ready to start said project.

We're 3 weeks into the year and I've already failed miserably.

It started with Knit Picks. How could they release a beautiful long-repeat yarn in January? And one that had a true rainbow? I've been looking for a reasonably priced rainbow long-repeat yarn for over a year! So yes, I bought 2 skeins of KP Chroma in Prism. Oh fine, and 2 more in Lollipop. Ok fine fine... and I added 3 skeins of Andean Treasure in Heathered Fog because it's beautiful. It is now my favorite yarn ever, so that makes it worth it, right?

Then it was the swaps fault. I'm doing the Magic Yarn Ball Swap on Ravelry again. I had to purchase yarn for it so I went to Eat.Sleep.Knit. and maybe a skein of Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton & Silk jumped into the basket too.

Then... ok look. I've been lusting after Pierrot Yarns forever but shipping is too expensive. So when there's a "Lucky Bag" with an AMAZING deal on tons of their best selling yarns and it includes free shipping, how can I NOT buy it? So now I have a huge box (with 62 (!) skeins inside) coming soon.

But now... really really seriously for sure I have to stop buying yarn. Possibly for the rest of the year. I have beautiful yarns that deserve to be used! They will be used!!

Pray for me.

Stash management

I was doing so good.

I bought one of these closet organizers in which I stored all my yarn. Well, almost all. I also had a little bit in a rolling sewing machine tote thing. Also in the rolling tote was some hibernating projects.

Then I had my WIP basket which I was cleaning out every couple days and keeping nice and tidy.

Now?

My closet thing is totally jam packed & I'm not even sure what all's in there anymore. I have a large box FULL of worsted cotton for my hexagon blanket that I don't even intend to start any time soon. (so why did I buy the freaking yarn?!) I have a medium sized box FULL of sport cotton for the baby hexagon, which I have actually started.

I have two random ziplock bags full of mostly sock weight cotton. Why? I don't even make socks.

I have a back pack that has some random acrylic that I've been using to make afghan square for donation.

My rolling tote is JAM PACKED with yarn and I'm not even sure what it is. At the bottom are the hibernating projects, most of which I haven't looked at in a year.

My WIP basket got out of control. Cleaning it out is what prompted this tirade. I can't even say it's for works in progress anymore. I just rearranged all the yarn that was in (and AROUND) it so it looked neat.

Oh... and there's a stack of finished projects under my side table.

This week it HAS TO get under control. I think I've been putting it off thinking I'll pack it all up when I move & organize it in a nice new home. But at this point I don't know when I'm moving (plans & roommate options have changed several times) and this can't be put off any longer.

How to you organize stash, projects you're working on and finished objects? Any great tips?

Being Selfish

I saw this picture quite a while back and have been lusting after it ever since. I've actually purchased yarn for it not once but TWICE.

First it was massive amounts of Vanna's Choice. I couldn't find a white or off-white at my local store, so I bought Linen on Joanns.com. Um. No. Linen is almost silver looking. It wasn't right. Also, I suddenly realized I didn't really like the feel of Vanna's. Boooo. If I'm going to put in the effort to make a BLANKET for myself, it's gonna be comfy gosh darnit!

Then at some point I came across Lucy's lovely blog and... um... hello!



She's like The Queen Of The Granny Squares!
I love her so much that I joined her group of Rav which then lead me to buy the Rico "Lucy's Creative Color Pack"... from ENGLAND. Yarn shipped overseas. This is ridiculous.

I am a big fan of soft cotton yarn, though, so I do love the Rico. The pack itself, though, is not nearly enough for a blanket. Another Lucy group member suggested Shine Sport by Knit Picks. So like a crazy woman I bought like 10 skeins in different colors plus 4 white to get more of the look of my inspiration picture.

Yeah. While Rico is aran weight and, therefore, should be a bit thinner than worsted, it's a very dense yarn. The Shine Sport is barely sport... it's more of a baby yarn- hovering somewhere between sport & sock weight. UGH!

I also purchased Knit Picks Shine Worsted for my Crochet Class. Comparing it, it's a LOT closer to the Rico. Below I used an H hook with Rico for the center & third round and Shine Worsted for the second (green) round.



You can see the weight matches up pretty well. The Shine is obviously living up to it's name. If I wanted a really seamless look with the Rico I might go with Knit Pick's Comfy Worsted instead. But actually, I kind of like it. I think the different "finishes" give it some depth.

Since my class grew larger than expected, I wound up not having enough KP Shine Worsted! So I threw the Rico I haven't played with into the class bag. I'm bringing 15 balls total so the 12 students will have SOME choice. I'll most likely end up with some Shine left when I go home. So now I think I'll have to stash the Shine Sport for future baby clothes & pick up more Shine Worsted and perhaps Comfy Worsted to do my blanket.

Is it any wonder I can't make my savings account grow faster? Stupid yarn addiction.

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

I participated in my first swap on Ravelry this month. For those not in the know: a "magic yarn ball" is basically a ball of yarn you wrap around little gifts so as the recipient unwraps the yarn, they find all these goodies inside.

In my rush to get mine out to my partner, I totally forgot to take pictures. I'm really hoping she posts some, as I was kind of excited about it.

I came home to a priority mail box and was very excited to see it was my Magic Yarn Ball! I was too excited to find my camera, so I took a picture of the unwrapped ball with my crappy phone camera:



Once I got through unwinding it, this was my loot:




Inside was:

origami paper

really lovely chopsticks

a cute pen

a really nice crochet hook with a floral casing. (LOVE using it)

a small origami crane figurine

a small tea pot figurine

two Millstone coffees (yummy flavors)

a little "luck ladybug" on a rock

a cute little crocheted bag

Forte sea salt caramels covered in dark chocolate (SO YUM)

Crystal Palace dp knitting needles size 2.5

The yarn was Fly Designs Lace Wing Sock yarn in Seattle (a very nice teal & purple combo). It's beautiful and I can't wait to start on some socks! There was also a skien of Sugar n' Cream Twists in green & cream. I plan to make some dishcloths for my new apartment. :)

I'm really excited about my goods. I think I will be participating in the October swap.

Have you participated in a swap with a stranger? How did it go?

Yarn Binge

I took a long weekend trip up the coast to Santa Barbara last week. It was lovely and relaxing for the first couple days, then lovely and funny the next two. Why? Because the first two I was alone and basically just roamed around window shopping, did a lot of yarn buying and worked on some projects. Then on Saturday a whole lot of female relatives rolled into town and we ran around together. It was so fun.

When left to my own devices I hit the two yarn stores in town. The first was Loop & Leaf- a cute little shop that brands itself as a yarn/tea store. The tea seems to be really more of an after-thought. There's a small selection in a side room. The shop's real strength is wool & cashmere. I'm not a huge fan of wool and I don't have the budget for cashmere. Thus, I ended up with only a few skeins. Everything I bough here was on sale! YAY! Although, the "sale" incentive probably got me to buy things I normally wouldn't.

The Loop & Leaf Haul:

Cherry Tree Supersock DK in Country Garden

Project: Fingerless mittens for Maybelle.... and other people too probably :)

Cherry Tree Supersock Select in Peacock

No project... this is just stashed.

Frog Tree Pima Cotton in 630 (Green), 651 (Beige), and 652 (Brown/Slate)

Project: Nothing specifically, but I thought they'd make nice amigurumi friends.

Next I went to Knit & Pearl. This shop is probably less square footage than Loop & leaf but I think they had a larger selection. They definitely had far more of what I was interested in, namely cotton & bamboo. Please don't ask me how much money I spent here. I will tell you it was enough to not have the least bit of guilt over asking the owner to wind 8 balls for me even though she was the only person working the store and there were other customers.

The Knit & Pearl Haul:

Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in Red & Blue

Project: I bought both colors because I loved the yarn so much, but I was drawn to this originally because Earth Day came up this week & marked 15 years since my best friend and I became friends! 2nd Time Cotton is 100% pre-consumer, reclaimed cotton. They all it "recycled" but really they take left over cotton from manufacturers and turn it into yarn rather than let it be thrown out. Full disclosure: I went back and bought two more skeins of each color. I know. I know. It's a good thing, though, as I used 3 + a little more of the red to make a scarf for the BFF. I have to say it came out pretty awesome & will get it's own post once I get pictures of it. I may make her some mitts with the rest of the skein if she's a good girl.

Knit One Crochet Too Babyboo in Hot Pink, Garnet & Cantalope

Project: None necessarily. I bought it because it was a decent price on vibrant bamboo yarn. I friggin' love bamboo. This is the kind of stuff I might end up buying in every color. It was really REALLY hard to choose. Love it. LOVE. IT.

Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in light blue

Project: None. This is stashed for some baby project most likely. I bought it because it was on sale.

And that's my haul. I'm thinking most of the babyboo & the Debbie will be made into little tiny baby clothes. I don't have any little tiny babies to make things for at the moment (my tiniest cousins are approaching 2 years), but with two best friends married & baby-hungry and lots of cousins who are newly married, I imagine there'll be an onslaught of tiny creatures fairly soon. Since you know once you give one person something handmade you have to give EVERYONE something handmade, I really need to start stockpiling.