My Yarn Harvest goodies

So, Yarn Harvest was really fun, and super tiring!

We had a long day and I had put some money aside so I could splurge a bit. 

Here are the lovely yarns that followed me home!

Details? Why certainly, I would never deny you! From the left, a natural skein of Jamiseon Shetland, because I found the Sheep Carousel pattern on a table at Black Sheep and HAD to make one. I have other Shetland here so I only needed the lighter shade to make the fun teacozy, and I may have to make two! Love the pattern, and check the link... it goes to the designers site and not to Ravelry (not that there is anything wrong with this  Ravelry link, but some people are not on the bandwagon yet so I want to share the joy with everyone)

Next, moving right a beautiful skein of Sweet Georgia Tough love sock in the colourway Boheme....... yummy isn't it? Here is a close up.

Because you wanted that, right? The cool thing about buying Sweet Georgia yarns during Yarn Harvest is you get to visit her in her studio! Smell the wool and see the racks of drying fiber and fleece. A great experience, especially when the lovely Felica is herself in attendance. Thanks Felicia for your creative beauty. 
I didn't just buy one skein at her studio though, I bought two. The beautiful purple on the far right is the colourway Amethyst. It really looks gorgeous. (they all look gorgeous)

A closer look.....

Finally I picked up a skein from a indie dyer I had never encountered before indigodragonfly. This skein is called "Paging Dr. Smart-ass" LOL

She has some great names for her colourways. You can find her at indigodragonfly.ca
That's it, except for some hand lotion and some new sock needles to replace a broken pair.......oh, there was one other thing.

I won a prize!
From the new shop Wet Coast Wools in Vancouver..... it's a slipper kit that is a thrummed slipper! This is a technique that I have never attempted, so I am excited to try it out. Progress shots are a promise. All this beautiful wool and I have no plans yet... LOL isn't that always the way?

Been busy!

Hey gang.
I have been busy, but sadly absent from this blog community.
Sorry about that... I just always sit at the computer and get sucked into other kinds of stuff (like pintrest........ don't judge me)

Let's see what I have to report.
I spent an afternoon a few weeks ago getting a pile of baby burp cloths ready for sewing. Turns out that we have to prep for a new family member from both sides, as well as several family friends....

so I got prepared. They are cut, paired and ready to sew up. Now all I have to do is get my kitchen table cleared off! 

I picked up a new, larger cutting mat with one of the famous 40% off coupons from a well known big box and it worked out really well. as you can see from the variety of fabrics, I have anticipated both genders. In some cases families find out the sex and in others.... we wait.

In addition I was dealing with the last of the summer berries.

I picked enough blackberries just down the street from our home, to fill two large freezer bags. It really is nice to live so near farmland. 

There were other things going on during weekends of course...... the Yarn Harvest was two weeks ago and I really should show you what I picked up as my gals and I toured the local yarn shops...... yes, must get that stuff photographed!

Husband and I are trying to get a creative studio set up in our second bedroom, and we have been pulling out the carpet to allow us to be a bit dirty back there. I have been consolidating my fabric, yarn ans craft projects as much as I can so they are reasonably easy to move around and store if we need to put them in the attic or under the stairs while we move things. It will be great, I can get my pottery wheel up and we can organize the leather working area too. 

Did I mention pintrest? Yes...... I may not be on social media. But pintrest grabbed me. Dang it...... so much to see. Drop me a line if you want to link up..... I'd love to see your boards. Okay, I have stuff going on behind me so I will end here and drop in for another post later. :) Happy crafting!

Now that the whirwind is done....

I can tell you that Yarn Harvest Yarn Crawl was great!
A Blast! Thanks so much to Anna and Catlin for hosting me at Baaad Anna's!

We had a busy and exhausting day. It was great! I bought nothing! How crazy is that!?

Find out more at the Fraser Valley Knitting Guild Blog

On a personal note..... I finished a few things. YAY!

My Old man of Storr, I knit it in Unwind Yarns in Licorice Alsorts so I call it my Treat of Storr. Came out really well and I really like the pattern!

This may seem wild, but the colour is true. I love it! How could I hide it in shoes? The pattern was easy and intuitive, once you got it..... no worries, you could pretty much pick it up and put it down. Fantastic.

I also completed another shawl, this one in Silk Crush by Sweet Georgia. I love the colour, it's called Saltwater! The pattern is Travelling woman, and I used the whole skein. I did make the centre section a bit wide and had to stop before the final lace chart was done (I wouldn't do that again) but, it's cozy and colourful. I wear it out and the Silk Crush is just fabulous.

Finally I am completing some little hats. There is a call out in the Lower Mainland for purple baby hats, so I have made a few, and will continue until the deadline, or my Guild meeting... whichever. LOL

They work up so quick that I have made a few for the little people in my life too.

Oh and the Bitterroot shawl is progressing quite well. The pattern seems daunting, but it's really straightforward. I can get through a chart in a hour or so. That being said, it's more than 300 stitches wide now and the chart I just began is the one where the beads begin too. I am not sure I will be whipping through it so fast now. The other reason or two that it may not be progressing as quick is that I have both made progress on other projects and I am beginning a KAL with some friends for the Tibetan Clouds Beaded Stole. It will be so pretty! I am using laceweight malabrigo in Polar Morn. Pictures of that when you can actually see something more than squished up stitches! LOL

Hope that Thanksgiving was good to you all and that your projects progress well! Talk at you soon. Tell me what you think.

New goodies to show off.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I have been planning a Yarn Crawl called Yarn Harvest in the Fraser Valley. It is now available for viewing in detail on the Fraser Valley Knitting Guild Blog sweet! Pop over, join up... it's this weekend and it is shaping up to be a blast!

On a trip to stop at the shops, we did a bit of yarn shopping. (oops)
Since I will be staying at Baaad Anna's  most of the day... I won't really be shopping, but hay... Yarn Crawl!
Anyhow... this was what I got on my mini crawl. "Research"

A lovely skein of Fleece Artist Nyoni. I love this colour. Picked it up at Gina Brown's in Vancouver.

Organic and low impact dyed cotton from Plum Project Studios..... can you believe that this is over 800 meters! I so have plans for this!

A Yummy skein of lace weight baby Alapaca By Diamond. Picked up at my weekend host Baaad Anna's. I just love this colour, and it was so soft...... I was powerless. Mine now.

And last but not least, from the fantastic sale at Three Bags Full........

Beautiful Kauni. The colourway is ET. It is fantastic..... and yes I have plans for it. In fact as I confessed to my companions that day, I have been planning this purchase for a while. I have to say, checking out the colours on the site ELC is looking pretty appealing too! Well, I can always have more plans! LOL.

We actually hit two other yarn shops that day, and I did not buy anything. One was rude..... well chilly in their reception and the other..... I didn't see anything that made me take it home, but I think I was just scared to start shopping because they had some lovely stuff! Woo!

So, nest post a few projects that I have been working on...  some Bitterroot progress, and two other shawl/stoles that take up my time... but are sooooo worth it! I finally knit with my Sweet Georgia Silk Crush Yarn that I picked up at Fibres West in um..... March? Yikes!  Wait to see what I made, I love it! Have a great week. Hope to see you yarn crawling Vancouver and the Fraser Valley!

Busy Weekend

What a great weekend. I don't think I really got much rest in. Rest will be for the week. LMAO. I amuse myself  some days.

Yesterday was a Yarn Crawl to check in on shops that had signed up but didn't have flyers or signup sheets for the Yarn Harvest event next month. It was great! We hit 6 shops, and we could easily have done at least one more, but we started a bit late. This wasn't go in say hi and leave either....... there was shopping. We browsed in each store, chatted to staff or customers. This crawl is going to be fantastic! Want to see the goodies?

 I would love to show you but Blogger isn't letting me. That's no fair. I wanted to show off the Organic fair trade laceweight cotton, the Fleece Artist Nyoni, the purple blend Kauni, and the Blue baby alpalca laceweight too!

I also planned on showing off the beautiful peaches that I spent most of this afternoon-evening canning. They are beautiful, and will be yummy! Sad really, it's not often that I have image issues. I wonder why.
Well... anyway have a great evening and week. If you are not familiar with the Yarn Harvest yarn crawl that I am organizing and you want to know I will shamelessly plug it, or answer you if you let me know you want info. I thik I will be going to be and dreaming of what to do with my lovely yarns..... yay!

Had to share a few things....

So I would love to share with you the blog that links to my title.

A blog friend... who has just started her own shop up called Yarn Sprout.

YAY!

I think that I will add the button to my side bar later, but I said that I would help to spread the word so here it is! She is creating some lovely handyed yarns over ther so check her out!

I also wanted to spread around an idea that I have gleaned from other online sources and my knitting pals and I have chatted ourselves to a good state of excitement over. I can't claim total personal inspiration for this idea, but it cam about in a neandering way.... here is the story. LOL I will try not to babble.

Over on Foxy and Crafty (see my blog list) She and her gal knittas go on a yarn crawl for birthdays, and I think just for fun.... sounds great. So I have had that idea bubbing in my head, that we need to treck back out to Vancouver for a bit of yarn store adventure. This summer as you may have gleaned has a few wedding in it for me. Showers and Staggets are coming and going.... this leads to talk of previous showers/stagetts and the ideas that have been used. One that I went to a couple of years ago was lengthy and I could only make it to part of the day. We met up a a lingere shope that was booked just for us... the bride to be (to her horror) did a fashion show for us of the items and outfits that we picked for her. She claims that the only saving grace was the wine tasting before hand, so she was less self-concious. Any how, the idea was that we would all pony up fifteen bucks and then she could buy whatever she liked the best there. From the bedroom to the pool stuff....... so can you see where I am going with this?

I think we could have soem real fun yarncrawling for a birthday. Go to the store, pitch in ten, fifteen, twenty dollars.... whatever is affordable. The birthday knitter gets a to pick and choose, and we can all go out for desert after! So... for those on a budget who still want to celebrate, they may get away with a twenty dollar birthday "gift" and get to hang out with their knittas! LOL and the recipient gets some great new stash.... no guilt attached! This does apply for the non-knitters in your group too.... either they are helping to support a friends birthday, or you take them toa store they love and pamper them there!

Thanks Foxy for a great inspiration.... and I hope that we all get spoiled (or spoil our knitting buddies) on our birthdays! Have a nice day.... yes I am still knitting.... oh, what I forgot to mention in yesterday's quick update was that the Stitch it blanket is done and gone on to it's next knitter. I am not sure if it is there yet, but I hope so! I am on the third ball of the flower bud shawl too.... here's hoping I can addit to my WIP total! LOL