"Loopy" or "Soprano", it's all up to Sheri

WoolPet's Sheep needle felting kit from the Madrona Fiber Retreat that I got to jump into during HighOhSilver's work trip. I finally completed him today. He doesn't have a name yet. If I get the Dream in Color Classy in Chinatown Apple during the restock at the Loopy Ewe, I will knit him some lovely red&white sockies and name him "Loopy".

If I do not get what I want during the re-stock, I will string him up by his fuzzy little testicles and name him "Soprano". {sheri, you hear that? You dont want this poor little sheepie hangin by his berries, do you?} There was so much extra wool, that if I can find an extra bell this weekend, I will knit him up a galfriend (and change out his lovely pink ribbon for a nice merino scarf). This project was so much fun! Unfortunately, I just kept putting it down because the legs were frustrating me. If I would have realized that after a couple trials I would have realized how easy he actually was and I would have been on on my way to completion long before today. Needless: I love him.

And speaking fondly of the Loopy Ewe, I got my Gypsyknits Sock it! in Appalacia in today's mail that I ordered on Thursday. This whole Groupie Sneak-Ups is financially painful. There is so much that I love, that I never got to see before because all those other leaches picking the best stuff up f a s t. I love this privilege of being made aware of the new yarn before everyone else. And I love this yarn. So did many others, it was only stocked for a couple hours. And honestly, I hate to admit it, but I bought it out of retail therapy as I was greatly upsetted over the frogging of my Deadly S(p)ins socks. I mailed them to someone who might actually appreciate them and then went to try to peek at the March shipment of the Rockin'Sock Club's March shipment. Only to find out there that the hint was "Lucky Charms" with all the colors of the rainbow and a picture of all the pastel marshmallows. I freaked! More pastels? AHHHHH! So I ran to Loopy and begged for something I would love: Appalachia. Yes, Appalachia is pastel green, but it is only one pastel. All by itself, and it sang to me. That, and the Mexican Sunflower was sold out. Leaches.

But if you want some greatness for yourself, Cinnamongirl93 is giving away some...

...Malabrigo on her blog. Yes, GIVING AWAY MALABRIGO. I'm not one to take advantage of a total looney, but this chickie is giving away paradise in hank format. Drop your name over there, mention me AfternoonMoon and I get another chance. And speaking of other chances... Here is my favorite flower given to me by HighOhSilver a couple weeks ago, just because I love, love, love the smell of the Stargazer Lily. They smell so amazing and the smell fragrances the whole house. The roses were a special treat, because DH's favorite flower is the rose.

Oh, and by the way, I got my RSC shipment and I am so LUCKY it wasn't pastels!

I think someone is pulling up the driveway...

Pattern: the ever infamous Monkey Socks by Cookie A from knitty.com

Yarn: Zen Strings Serendipity in Hopi.

Needles: Addi Turbos 40"circ in size2

Cast on: Feb 28 Bind off: March 16

I so love these socks. My only regret is that I do not {yet} own a 40" size1 addi turbo circ. I use the STR mediumweight on the size2's, but for this Serendipity lightweight, the size1's would have been perfect. Plus, now that I am getting more experience, I find that my knitting is getting looser. I guess my fingers realized that I do not have to death clutch the knitting; it is not going to fall off on its own. As you can see from the color choice I made, I love bright colors. Muted colors bore me. I have been trying to force myself to work on the Seven Deadly S(p)ins socks. I just finished the ribbing and am moving into the actual pattern, and it is starting to get interesting. The socks seems exceptionally loose.

So as the title of the blog post states, "I think someone is pulling up the driveway..." But they are not. It is 9 degrees F below zero. The equinox is today, we are now on the teetering edge of spring. There is always a hope for warmer weather here in the Interior. It was light enough to see everything around you at 9:15 last night. Dark by 9:30p. The gaining light is heaven-sent. Civil twilight begins at 6:56 AM, ends at 9:01 PM Nautical twilight begins at 5:56 AM, ends at 10:03 PM Astronomical twilight begins at 4:45 AM, ends at 11:15 PM. Basically, Civil twilight: "Suns gone". Nautical twilight: "It's dark". Astronomical twilight: "Wow, star. The Northern Lights are gorgeous tonight." But getting back to the blog title, at this temperature, I can hear, clear-as-day 1/2 mile away. I can hear the neighbor down the road, across the street telling his wife that he is picking up a pack of smokes while getting into his car. I hear the trucks turning onto Goldsteam road and keep thinking that someone is pulling up into property. Not so annoying for me, but because of this, the dogs are driving me crazy! Barking at every turning car, alerting me to trespassers and in their minds: potential attackers needing to be warned that this is their dog territory. Not needing to be said, but being said anyway, "The damned dogs are driving me crazy!" I have been jumping up and down every five minutes to verify there is no one come up and knocking on the door, or just trespassing on private property. I have at least one trespasser every day this week. Living at a Historic Place is difficult at times. Always people ignoring the signs and coming out anyway. Ahhh!

Pattern: Log Cabin Socks by Anne Woodbury from handknit Holiday

Yarn: Lamb's Pride worsted in khaki

Needles: Brittany size5 dpn.

Cast on: March5 Bind off: March9

These were a "oh shit, Trisha's birthday is next week" and I could spend some of my sock yarn money, or.... I could knit some socks. Guess which won? Needless to say, I grabbed one of the discarded skeins of the Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted that didn't make the cut for color choice for the Central Park Hoodie I have been dreaming about jumping into. The color is very muted and the socks will be very warm. The size5's ultimately were too small. The Lamb's Pride is slightly thicker than the Dream in Color Classy I first knit up the Log Cabin pattern with. That, and the Lamb's Pride tighten in the wash instead of loosened up. Feeling guilty (come on, how do you feel guilty for giving handknit socks? whatever...) about giving 100% worsted weight wool to someone in March, I also threw in my Jan/Feb STR Rockin Sock Club Serendipities in Dragon Dance, so that my dearest sister can have a pair of summer socks as well as some winter one's. Oh, those and a check for $50. I had to seal the bag before I started throwing in more. It is all guilt driven for living so far away from all of my family. Michigan is so far away from Alaska. So painfully, painfully far away and I miss them all dearly. But socks help mask the pain. And I had to call to see if she would say anything. She loved them. I feel relief.

Two shipments: One day {seven deadly spins SPOILER ALERT}

I got all of my cardio walking back and forth to the mailbox. I am mailing out all my returning employees hiring packets and I noticed that I left of the postage, so I had to walk back to the office. Run them through the post meter and then back to the mailbox before the mailman got there. As I am walking back and forth, it gets me thinking. Well, I do have to mail out the Vintage Baby Cardigan since I got all the buttons on, and it is just sitting in the box; so back upstairs, throw it into a Priority bag and then back to the mailbox. Oh, hum, lots of walking since the mailbox is at the edge of property and about a football field or so away from the house and office. As I am almost to the office, I see the mailman come up, take out the motherlode of mail from the box, and replace it with DELIVERED BOXES!!! I'm thinking, "Oh baby, there are goodies in the mail for me!" Please let the fourth time to the box in 20 minutes be worth the walk. May I also add that it is 17F and I am only wearing a hoodie with light gloves. I'm cold. This better be goodies for me and not just a bunch of work crap. Low and behold, two of my orders. The first one I rip open is my lampworked Triple Passion & Ruby Glass Paperweight Button, which actually looks more like their Triple Passion & Cobalt Glass Paperweight Button to me. None-the-less, I love it and will heartedly be using it for my Mr Greenjeans sweater as soon as I get the Dream in Color from theLoopyEwe during the next re-stock.

The second package was the first shipment from EarthFaire's The Seven Deadly S(p)ins Yarn Club. This shipment is Gluttony and it came with a lovely sock pattern. But yet, I am still perplexed. I guess I should have researched their past products a bit better.

I was thinking, "Seven Deadly S(p)ins, kinda anti-craft, kinda anti-standard. Was looking forward to something dark and sinister; wicked almost. I saw the link on LimeNviolets Daily Chum about a new sign-ups for the club, and automatically assumed that it would be a little-tinsybit Goth-Girl. The shipment was more like: "ooh-la-la, spring has sprung, Easter egg hunting, frilly-girl dress wearing, pastel happy-happy-joy-joy." Uhm, wtf? What is so s(p)inister about pastel glee? Not to sound so bitchy, but I was thinking maybe blacks with sparkles of "happy, happy, joy, joy"? Really, I do LOVE the pattern, I do LOVE the colors, it just didn't match my expectations. The club did far exceed my expectations with all the extra stuff in the bag. There was a keychain sock blocker with extra yarn for a mini-sock, with a mini-sock pattern (I will use my own so they are all the same), a bag of assorted JellyBellys (which I happily ate in a gluttonous fashion), and some adorable needle point protectors in sock shape. I dont use point protectors, so I will most likely add them to my BlogAnniversary drawing. And hinting at Blogiversary drawing, I have a set of Knitpick Options in the cloth canvas, some knitpick cloud laceweight, some Panda bamboo sock yarn and a bunch of other stuff that I will be de-stashing for the giveaway. More as the blogiversary comes closer (May 1).

I'm officially a Groupie!

I'm a Loopy Groupie! Whoo-hoo, woop, woop!
I am so friggin' excited. Seriously, friggin' excited. I F5'd my heart out all last week waiting for the Dream in Color Classy re-stock and up pops all new Smoochys. Being unable to resist (and being a continuous Second-Guesser), I had to pick up a skein of the Chinatown Apple just for trial sake. I have been drooling over the MrGreenJean's pattern {flickr / ravelry} I selected for the LoopyEwe.com Dream in Color KAL and craved for it in this colorway. There hasn't been a re-stock of the Classy yet and sighting the same colorway in Smoochy, I HAD TO BUY IT. If not for stash enhancement, then merely to possess something I have coveted for so long. And come on.... dork factor kicks in: "Who amoung us doesn't want a matching Sweater & Sock ensemble?" Oh, yeah baby, hurt mommy's wallet good. Make it burn. All the while the left brain/right brain fight that I was having was getting louder and louder and harder to ignore: "Pick a color on the internet, why don't cha'; spend $140 for a sweater; you've never spent that much money on a sweater; you don't even know if you like the colorway. Maybe your screen resolution is different. Go down to the office and look at it on the monitor down there, now check it on the admin's computer, check each of your five boys' computers in their rooms, check DH's laptop." Ho down! All those computer monitors told me the same thing: "You will love this colorway!". And damned if they weren't right. I love it; it sang to me. The golden copper works wonders with my freckles. And with the Smoochy for socks, it will work wonders with the freckles on my legs. Now for the re-stock of Chinatown in Classy. I don't get more fiber$$s until Friday, so here's to wishin the re-stock may be late....

But that wasn't the only awesome surprise. I ordered the Smoochy on Thursday morning, excited about getting some new fiber, and not more than 20 minutes after I ordered, I get the order confirmation and shipping information. Holy moley! Those girls are fast. I have fiber items from other dealers that I ordered more than 2 weeks ago and I received those, but in 20 minutes TheLoopyEwe has: 1) received the order, 2) processed the order, 3) shipped the order and 4) low and behold: added to the order. This Monday morning it is in my mailbox [and I am on a rural route] which means it got to the Fairbanks post office on Saturday. AND it was my sixth order so I am OFFICIALLY A LOOPY GROUPIE!

Look at that, not just some old stuff that doesn't sell because noone likes it. This is Claudia Hand Painted Yarns in Peppermint Mocha. It isn't just one skein so you have to order another skein to finish a full pair of socks. There was no "hope-and-pray" or "jump-on-one-foot-on-the-third-Tuesday-of-the-sixth-month-since-the-last-lunar-eclipse" to get the second skein. This is two matching skeins of gorgeous yarn! Oh, and chocolate. As if that alone wasn't enough, there was a loopyewe carabiner all wrapped in a clear zippered tote. Now HighOhSilver gets to see all my new purchases. Oops, maybe that is not so great...

Cardigan for Layla

Pattern: Vintage Baby Cardigan by ShiBuiKnits Kristin Spurkland
Yarn: ShiBui Sock 100% Superwash Merino in "Dragonfly"
Needle: Addi Turbo size3 circ
Cast on: Feb20 Bind off: Feb28

This was a wonderfully fast little knit for Layla. It reminded me so much of the knitting experience I received by knitting dishclothes. Learn to knit, learn to purl, learn k2tog, learn ssk. Suffice to say, I learned most of my knitting techniques from my first dishclothes.

With this sweater, I learned the 3-needle bind off and seaming. I also learned alot about weaving ends in. I learned ALOT about weaving in ends. There were so many of them. And I am very tired of garter stitch. And I can't image knitting a whole sweater. Wow, this was really dipping my toes in the proverbial sweater waters. I have two more small orange buttons to sew on the front to compliment the main glass button. I bought the lampworked button from Sheila & Michael Ernest at the Madrona Winter Retreat. But you can buy them from http://www.glasspens.com. I went and bought another one from them for my MrGreenJeans sweater. I am excited to start my first Me-sized sweater, but I can see where there is going to be a vast amount of spacial knitting. My concentrations have been on socks: knit-knit-spin, knit-knit-spin. Soon, knit-knit-knit-knit-knit-cable-knit-knit-knit. Should be a great challenge.