Sock Madness Forever

Are you on Ravelry?  Are you a sock knitter?  Are you participating in this year's Sock Madness Forever craziness?

It's beginning!  All that crazy, hilarious fun the takes place during March Madness.  This is one of THE best forums on Ravelry.  The nicest people, the funniest comments.  No drama!  Just wild and wonderful sock patterns and people knitting their little fingers off to see who can win this madness.  The Norwegians and the Dutch seem to be the fastest, but we Americans and Canadians can hold our own.

I cannot do it.  My very cranky wrists won't allow that kind of speed knitting.  I did try, but was afraid I would injure myself, and that crazy I'm not.  Close, but not there.  So, I hang out in the treehouse and wave my pompoms and cheer.  That's as much fun as the zippy knitting.

AND, I dye yarn.  For the last few years, I've been dyeing 3 colorways for the group.  I offer a terrific price for the yarn, and keep shipping as low as possible.  First Class Shipping is very affordable, so if you take my price and add in the shipping, you will still get a price comparable or often less than a retail store.

BUT, you have to be a member of SM Forever to get that price. 

Here are this year's colorways.  The mods have picked two flowers, Columbine and Scilla, and I've done a combo for variegated yarn lovers.  The yarn is, of course, Penny yarn.  450+ yards, 75/25 superwash merino/nylon, glorious yarn to knit with.  Machine wash if you will; I hang my socks to dry.

In order:  Columbine, Scilla, and Bouquet.

Interested?  Go join Ravelry, if you are not already a member.  Join the Sock Madness Forever Forum.  Decide on what you want, and you can order more than one skein of course.  Visit my Etsy shop, and buy whatever you wish.

There are a lot of other sock and lace yarns on sale, so have a good time.

SM8 yarns are dyed to order, so that I don't end up with too many of one colorway and too few of another.  Please relax and know that you won't be getting your yarn immediately since I have to dye up.  I've been doing this for a few years and have my routine established, and it works out very well.

What's on my needles Friday

I started a new sweater.  This one is going to be a lacy jobbie.  I have about 3" done on the body.

I know; it doesn't look like much of anything. But it will get better, I promise you.

See how I've stretched it out?  That's going to be the lace for the body up until a couple of inches before the armholes.  Then I'll switch to a band pattern, take off my armhole sts, and then do a different lace on the bodice.

Knit shoulders off together, pick up and knit sleeve sts with yet another lace pattern or maybe using the bodice pattern.  I'm so far away from that that I don't know what I'll do, but it'll all work out.

Then, to finish that edge that wants to turn up, I'll pick up and knit a small lacy border on the bottom of the sweater.  There, I'm done.

The yarn is Filatura di Crosa Sportwool which I bought from The Stitching Bee in Chatham, NJ.  It comes in tons of colors, each one prettier than the next.  100% wool.  50 g.  approx 136 yards.  It's so soft and woolly.  I'm going to use it again and again.

I'm using a #5 needle.  Ordinarily I'd use a 4 because I knit loosely, but I want drape on this; so that's why the 5 needle.

And speaking of wool, here's what's newly listed in my Etsy shop:

New Lili Lace yarn.  I cannot tell you just how gorgeous this yarn is.  It's a superwash lace yarn, which means that it just soaks up the dye.  No, I'd never wash in the machin when I'm making lace shawls, so the superwash is what I want for the dyeing.

In order:  Abigail,  Bella, and Elegant!  875 yards of a slightly heavier lace weight yarn.  Very easy to work with, soft and with gorgeous drape. 

 

Plus, there are lots of sale sock yarns, and more Lili Lace Yarn.  I have a festival of yarn going on!

Hot New Rachel Colorways

I love my Rachel yarn!  It's a tightly twisted two-ply yarn which has wonderful stitch definition.  100% superwash merino, it makes cosy socks and pretty scarves and shawlettes.  400 yards of toasty wooliness!  Delicious!

In order:  Dawn, Haze, Hot Shot, and Spring Fling.  I couldn't help the Spring Fling colorway; yes, it's the beginning of winter, but I am ready for spring. 

Where?  In my Etsy shop, of course.

Shameless Hussy

I'm a Shameless Hussy!  It's such fun.  Years ago, I went to the opera with a dear friend.  His wife didn't want to go because we'd get home so late, so my friend asked me to be his opera date.  On the way into the city (NYC) we were laughing about the term, shameless hussy.  So off we went to the Metropolitan Opera (don't remember which opera it was), and during an intermission, we wandered off into the book store.  The shop was crowded with very well-dressed people, including some in evening wear.  My friend and I got separated and he wanted my attention.  So, in a nice loud tone he yelled out:  "Hey, Shameless, where are you?"  Every head in that store came up.  We had the entire place's attention.  So I answered back (but not too loudly,  There are limits.):  "Here I am."   The two of us were so cool about it.  Bad people, but fun, fun, fun.  And that's one reason why I'm an SH!  

Most of the time, I'm shy, quiet and demure, but every now and then, the SH comes out.  Yes!

We were chatting about shameless hussies on the PennyRoses forum on Ravelry the other day, and I thought it would be such fun to dye up a bunch of shameless yarn in shameless colorways.  So I did.  And here's the result:

Gina Yarn!  50/50 superwash merino/silk yarn with 430+ yards of soft, shamelessly wonderful yarn!  You can't see that silk sheen in the picture, but it's there in real life.  It is truly beautiful!

Where?  In my Etsy shop, of course. 

I'm adding them gradually.  

Heigh Ho, heigh ho, it's off to dye I go.

OK, it's off to dye I went.  Yesterday.  I had a yen to dye up some pretty colorways.

Top row, the first two and the second from the right are all Heather Yarn, a lovely yarn that dyes 2 values at the same time.  How?  A couple of the plies are in non-superwash wool, and the other ply is superwash.  Superwash takes up dye immediately, the regular wool take a lot longer to take the color, so you get a barber-pole effect.  However, it knits up as a marled yarn.  Very interesting and complex.  Fingering weight, no nylon, and perfect for scarves and such.  You can make socks, but you'll have to hand wash them in cold water.

420 yards of fingering weight yarn that's lofty and lovely to knit or crochet with.

Here they are:  Orangeade, Jenny, and Candy. 

This next batch are Rachel yarns.  100% SW (superwash) merino with a neat little twist that really shows off your stitches.  400 yards of delicious woolliness.

Clown, Grete, Lemon, Parrot, Tropical Fish., Vermillion, and Wood Grain

  

Where?

http://fritzl.etsy.com

YAPB

Yet another project bag.  I'm addicted to them.  I can't stop making them.  I don't need any more.  I have more than you can imagine, but I like making them.  

So here's the latest small project bag:  Zinnia!

 

Isn't she adorable?  In this photograph, she's filled with 2 skeins of sock yarn, and believe me, I can still fit in another skein.  She's just perfect for socks, scarves, even lace shawls.  And who says you have to use her for knitting or crochet?  You can use her for just about anything!  

When I travel, I'll put in all the goodies for English Paper piecing.  A little container with scissors, thread, etc, all the fabric pieces in their own ziplock plastic bags.

One of the grands uses her project bag to hold her ballet gear.

Where?

http://fritzl.etsy.com

Flowerpot

Spring will be here.  It will be here.  Promise.  Enough of the snow and winter.  So, to celebrate, I made a little project bag, just perfect for a couple of skeins of sock yarn, needles, etc, etc.  

Last two pics show the lining. 

So now I'm thinking that maybe I should make a bag with the top trim as the main exterior fabric.  After I do the llama llama bag.  That's next in the queue.  No pics, 'cause there's nothing to see.

Where?

Etsy, of course!

Bag Lady

I love project bags.  I can never have too many of them, either.  I swear my knitting WIPs exist so I can make more project bags.  So take a peak at my latest two bags, both on sale in my Etsy shop.

http://fritzl.etsy.com

 This one is my Batik medium project bag, and it easily holds 4 skeins of sock yarn!

This one is Tea Party Small Project Bag, and it holds 2 skeins of sock yarn.

I cut out another medium one this morning.  This is a disease.