Stashalot

I haven't posted in a while. It's all Ravelry's fault. (Not really.)

I *think* I have my entire sock yarn collection "stashed" in Ravelry. (Well, there are a few mystery balls. Whatever made me think that I could possibly remember what they were without the ball bands?!) My sock yarn stash is, ahem, plentiful, and it is a pretty fun place to go "shopping" when I need a project. (I believe I may be personally sending at least one of Emily Parson's kids to college.)

One thing that I realized was how much more selective I am now about sock yarn than I was just over a year ago when I started to amass the collection. I went whole-hog crazy on Etsy for a while, and while there are lots of fab indie dyers out there, they are not all using great base yarns. It's tough, I know, because I am in the midst of my own personal yarn tasting, trying to find good base yarns for my own dyeing fun. I've found a couple that I like, but have ended up with a bunch that I don't. (A few still elude me. There are a couple of folks out there with to-die-for-stuff, and I haven't yet figured out what they use. I'm going to keep going until I find my Grail.)

It's back to work tomorrow. Just seven more weeks to go.

Playing Catch-up

Hi y'all,

Things have been a blur, so linear is not where it's at with this post.

I received my first Woolgirl Sock Club package.



Nice job, Jen. I am a sock club joiner (Rocking Sock Club, anyone?), but have yet to actually make any of my socks. I will...someday.

The Husband and I went to Renegade last week. It was big and huge and huge and big. In all fairness, I don't love street fairs. Put the same event in a park, and I am happy as a piginpoop. (Side note: I'm on the Kentuck countdown!) The sheer volume was overwhelming. There were fabulous things (great jewels including one of my etsy faves LusterBunny), clever things (I'm blanking on the clever at the moment, but I know it existed), and even free things (Etsy Labs was giving out really yummy tubes of lip balm. Pink Grapefruit, yum!) Overall though, I found the sheer volume to not be advantageous. It felt a bit repetitive and maybe a little diluted. (But, I have heard others say that it was fantastic.) I was seriously holding back, though. I stayed at least a foot away from any yarn that was there. (I know Corinne and Bonne Marie indulged!) There was some gorgeous jewelry. (Items with birds on branches were particularly appealing to me.) In the end, in honor of the coming holiday, I bought a little skull pin from LusterBunny and a Bat Pack (four black heavy paper bat cutouts) from a shadowpuppet vendor. That. Was. It. I swear, I've been trying to be good. I had a little falling down a week or so ago when some Sophie's Toes showed up in my mailbox and I ordered and received a Tracy Eichheim spindle. I got a Lamb Rim Spindle and have Llamas on order. (I've gotta be honest, I'm probably not going to ever spin a ton this way, but I love them as art objects.)

Of all the things one could photograph at an art fair, this is what I chose:

I'd seen this little bit of spin on the side of a garbage truck earlier this summer. So, take heart! No need to feel guilty about all of the waste we are creating that is clogging up our environment and taking up space in landfills. We are making wildlife habitats. Whew, I feel so much better now. I'm going to hop in a Hummer, drive two blocks to the store and buy a whole bunch of juice boxes, frozen dinners, and other over-packaged items so that I can help make the world a better place for wild animals. (Don't get me wrong, I love animals--but I think there could be more pleasant places for them to live and play than human waste dumps*.) That is "spin" with a capital "S"!!!!!!!! (Now, if the C1ty of Chic&go could get its act together on the issue of recycling, I would be much happier. The blue bag system is a mess (but we still try), and only certain wards now have recycling trash bins. Even if people don't use them for their intended purpose, winter is coming and people need some way to save their parking spaces!

*I once owned a used postal Jeep that I bought for $400 at the post office in New Haven, CT. I drove that Jeep up to Boston for the summer (yes, the seat was on the right, and I had a mail sorting table to my left), then down to Tuscaloosa for my first (um, only) year of grad school. When I left, I sold that Jeep to an old man in a laundromat who wanted to use it to take his dogs to play at the dump. They loved the dump and he loved taking them there. He gave me $500 for it ( a $100 profit!!!) and I took the train back to New Haven. The point of this story is that some animals do like to play in dumps, landfills, and the like, I guess.

Wings of Silk

After a minor snafu with the yarn, it arrived and I have been working on Garnet Wings. I got gauge, but I'm not feeling confident about the fit. The silk is stretchy, especially once it has been washed, so I worry about it being too baggy. (I don't want it too form fitting, either, just something that would skim the body.) I would just spray block it and then dry clean it to avoid the stretch, but there is a TON of dye transfer from this Till Tomas Plie. I'm worried if I don't soak it, I will be lobster-colored by the end of the night. Any advice or experience with this particular issue?

I'm off to Columbus for a conference. I'm bringing the Wings with me--I'm on a mission!