My First Contest...

So the weather is crap today... pissing down rain... and lucky me, I have a day off. I decided to haul out all my yarn from behind the fireplace and sort through it all. You know... reorganize. Holy Mother of God... I have a lot of sock yarn. So here is the contest. You send me your favorite non-sock pattern using sock yarn along with your favorite colour/colour combo and I will do a random draw and send you some. I will draw 2 names on June 15th and find something in your colours to send you so there's lots of time. I can't wait to see what people come up with!!

PS: If you link to my contest from your blog and tell me your favorite non-sock pattern, I'll put your name in twice!

Bad...

Bad girl!! Yep that's me.

I had a little yarn buying incident... OK I had a big yarn buying incident. It wasn't my fault really. First of all I saw this post, it got me to yearning for a little yarn lovin' myself. I went searching but to no avail. Then I got a heads up that my hearts desire could be found here. Then all hell broke loose. It is to die for!!

How can you not desire a yarn aptly named Elizabeth Bennet? Oh so soft and lovely. And the colours...
Bayfield Apple...

Sunny Skies...

Tuscany...

In a bleak, late snowfall, Calgary moment... resistance was futile.

While I was scooping up my Yarn Love goodies, I chanced upon these goodies, Evolution by Chameleon Colorworks

Ophelia...

Mourning Dove...

I liked the colours and was intrigued by the description "Stretched Wool" it appears to mean super soft squishy merino wool that feels like a silk/bamboo/cottony blend. I look forward to trying it. Also it's sport weight and I love making socks on slightly larger needles.

I'm so weak...

Long Weekend...

Not that I had one, I worked Friday and Saturday but the boy was off school both Friday and Monday and we had no rugby Sunday morning or Monday night so it felt like a long weekend.

We got lots done (actually we got nothing done but did a great deal of goofing off). We went Canoing on Sunday and had breakfast out Monday morning, new decadent breakfast...cinnamon bun french toast, Yummmmmmy. Our deal on Monday was we could go to the comic book store and however long the boy spent there, that's how long I got to spend at the yarn store afterwards! We threw in an afternoon movie for good measure. We saw "Prince Caspian" and both enjoyed it.

A fun filled weekend.

of course he had to get something at the comic book store and you know what that means...

I had to get something at the yarn store!

The boy enjoys the yarn store, he usually goes and gets a slurpy while I shop and visit. I can't get him remotely interested in knitting but the carding machine interested him and he seems interested in spinning too. Who knows... next spin-in, I might take him down so he can try it out (although hang it! spin-in is always on Saturday and I work!) Darn work anyway.

I saw a lovely entrelac scarf in progress using Noro sock yarn on smaller needles. I love Noro's colours but the feel of it has always put me off. I've never tried entrelac but my enabler assured me it was easy. One skein is enough to find out for myself if I will like working with Noro.

I also stopped in last week to pick out some more Avery Allison. It was just too soft and pretty to pass up!

Nearing completion on my silver wrap sweater. I can't wait to wear this, it feels so soft and snuggly on. The body fits perfectly, now all it needs is some i-cord ties and a couple of short sleeves!

Swimming through a fog...

That's what it feels like I've been doing lately. I have been so tired and I'm not sure what it is. We had a winter that seemed to drag on forever and I suffer from severe SAD so that might be part of it. My Doctor wants me to go on medication every winter and get one of those SAD lamps to minimize the effects. At any rate, all I want to do these days is sleep and then sleep some more. I've been forcing myself to go out and do stuff. "Activity precedes motivation".

The boy and I went to "Iron Man" for our Mother's Day celebration. I see a lot of action movies and not many "chick flicks" part and parcel of living with an adolescent boy. Lucky for me I like action movies and I loved "Iron Man", Robert Downey Jr. is an unlikely super hero but he does a great job!

We also went to the zoo. They have a new manta ray exhibit where you place your hands on a ledge in the water and the rays swim over them. They feel smooth and it was all together pretty darn cool!! Edited to add: I just read the newspaper article about the rays dying, how sad! I hope they are able to figure out what happened.

Rugby is ongoing. I get boy to practice and fall asleep in the car waiting for him. Good support there. He had a game on Sunday and I did watch all of it. The more I watch Rugby, the more I love rugby, it really is a great sport.

Knitting is on going as well. I am progressing really fast (or at least fast for me) on my silver/gray wrap sweater. Even the girls at work are excited to see it finished. I did a little stash enhancement as well. I needed another skein for the wrap sweater but while I was at the LYS, I saw they had some new sock yarn in. Avery Allison, an indie dyer from St. Albert Alberta. All the colour ways were pretty but I settled on Iris.

Decisions...

Decisions... So, I may have already mentioned that I signed up for the Make One Fall Fiber retreat. Oh once or twice... I'm gonna keep mentioning it too. I can't get over the line up of instructors. Talk about spoiled for choice. You get to pick your instructor for the all day Friday class. Initially, I had picked the Yarn Harlot because... well why wouldn't I? No matter what she's teaching, it's bound to be great! Then... Stephanie Japel was added to the line up. Stephanie Japel!! I LOVE her book and love her patterns I want to be her official stalker! Okay... so now what? I was compelled to change my selection. I am taking her class on top down sweaters. I love them, they are my absolute favorite thing to make. I still hope to take a shorter class with the other Stephanie but all the instructors are awesome so what ever I get I'm sure it will be fantastic! Only 7 months to go...

Oh and here is my latest Stephanie Japel inspired project. A wrap sweater in Skacel Urban Silk. Coming along nicely.


And here is a picture of Ginger, she's having a relaxing snooze in her bed right now, there is a sunbeam hitting it perfectly and she LOVES that!