6 days until classes begin. . .

I'm actually excited because I want to go back to a normal schedule. It'll be nice to be learning once more. . . Florida made me value my education. lmfao
Gencon was a lot of fun. I bought some more art, am now playing a new card game and actually only got into a bitching fight with my sister. . . .twice. That's a very small amount for us. Lmfao. AND my sister & her boyfriend are still together. Lastyear after Gencon, they weren't. . .
Soooo what did I do knitting wise? I knit a sock! I used STR mediumweight in Fairgrounds. I like it alot. I'm naming the socks, Wonky Cable Cabin Socks. I'm going to knit another pair in my Chubby Sock Yarn so it fits in with ym yarns. I'll also put the pattern in my etsy shop if anyone is interested. =)
I need better pics, I know. . .

I had to take a pic with the shoes I'll most likely wear them with almost all winter, besides my Ugg boots.

I finally finished the first of my grandma's Cable sockie things that I forgot the name of. I've already started the heel on the second one, like that says much lmfao.

I also have some stash enhancements today. Yes, that is Vesper sock yarn below. Yes, there are 2 skeins. No, you can't have them. =P The colourways are Sweet Water (one with the orange) and Crew.

Claudia also sent me a skein of Lowenzahn. We're doing a swap. I'm sending her 2 skeins of tencel/merino blend hand dyed by me. I will ship those out tomorrow. I really hope she likes them. =)

Below is a preview of 2 of my newest colourways. These are part of my Autumn Series called: Hoodie Weather. Yep, that's the name of the series, because whenever I think of fall, I think of wearing a hooded sweatshirt and football games. . . oh, and food & the apple orchard and pumpkin patch and leaves changing, etc. You get what I mean. =)
Below are Japanese Maple (the pink, red, purple, etc blend) and Pumpkin Pie (the other one. . .) These are watercoloured so there will not be a specific pooling like my other yarns.


SOCK CLUB INFO!!!!!!

Sign ups for the Cuaran Sock Club (Cuaran is Scottish Gaelic for sock) will be posted later this week on my etsy shop.

The sock club includes the following:

1 skein of yarn and 1 pattern in each shipment. The patterns will be copywritten and any reproductions of these patterns will have serious consequences
The yarns will vary between Celtic, Woodland, and Chubby
Each shipment will be sent out every other month
The first shipment will be sent out in early October
There will be contests and prizes every month
The club is limited to 30 individuals

Months for shipments:

October
December
February
April
June

There will be a lot of goodies included with the yarn and pattern. One of which will be a sock knitting bag specially sewn for the club by Anna

If you need to, you can be billed each month that there is a shipment. If not, there will be full sign-ups in the etsy shop. If you need monthly billing, please message me. Thanks!

I also have some bragging to do:
Venka finished her Bellatrix LeStrange socks in my colourway, Bellatrix LeStrange. They look awesome!

Chelsea also finished both of her pairs of socks! She used Aurelie and The Burrow.

Back. . . . kind of. . . maybe. . .

Sooooo, this past weekend was Stitches Midwest. It was sooo much fun! I was in heaven when it came to sock yarns. I actually was amazed and proud of myself at the same time that I put back so much Socks That Rock. Below is a picture of the wall of The Fold a few hours after I got there. I worked with Toni at the booth for 2 days. My yarn was on display also. I sold 39/69 skeins over 1 1/2 days. Not horrible for a new dyer. The leftovers are on my etsy shop. =)

Here's some of the yarn I purchased. I bought some Tess yarn, but was greatly disappointed when I had to cut it off of my new swift because the hank wasn't wound properly. There goes $16. Damnit. Everything below is Socks That Rock. Some is already wound and ready for my trip to Indianapolis this weekend. Gencon here I come!!!

I haven't gotten much knitting done, unfortunately. Below is a pair of socks I'm working on. These are the Cable & Rib socks from Favourite Socks. The yarn is STR Lightweight in Sherbert. Yes, that is my new Packers sock knitting bag from StuckinIllinois's etsy shop. She has awesome bags!!! Just search for her on etsy, you will not be disappointed.

Hoprfully in this picture you can see the cable better. It's simple and beautiful. I love how the yarn is pooling. =)

I also purchased my new MacBook Pro this weekend with the college student discount. I got the 30 GB video iPod instead of the nano, because I already have a nano. With the discount I saved $199 on it and only had to pay $50. I also got a new printer for only $80. It was awesome. A pain in the ass because we had to go back & forth twice between Woodfield & Oakbrook, but it was worth it. Sooo I have been playing a lot of Sims 2 on my new laptop. It's fun, the great thing about it is I can turn it off and it isn't multiplayer. Oy. . . remembering those horrible days.

Now I have 4 Mac computers and 1 Mac dog. =P Life is good.

Also, I am going to start working on the sock club with Anna, that will hopefully be available this October. It will be every other month and you will recieve yarn, a pattern, and some goodies as well. =)

It sucks when you have a song stuck in your head. . .

Okay, this post has a lot of pictures! What have I been doing you may ask? Or maybe just completely ignore this. . . .I've been winding yarn into hanks, dying yarn, waiting for yarn to dry, and then rewinding the yarn into hanks once more. . . .yep, fun fun. Actually it is. I'm really excited that my 10 pounds of sock yarn is coming tomorrow along with a 2.4 lb of tencel/merino mix to try. Yay!!! I've been wanting to dye up my normal sock yarn for the past week. Oy withdrawal. . Anyways, below is a picture of 2 of my baby samples I've knit up. The green one if the Woodland Sock yarn (bamboo) and the pink/black/green is the normal my normal sock yarn, Celtic Socks. I'm going to make them into pairs so they definately count for Summer of Socks. =) Gotta love it.

Below is MacKintosh's Christmas colourway "Diabolical Christmas." I like it. =P My Hannukah colourway is in the works and will be released soon. Muhahahaha. . . .*cough* *gag* *pass out* *die*

Next we have the yarn I purchased for my HP Sock Swap 2 pal. Yes, I know it's not true Gryffindor colours, but it self stripes, was a great price and is very soft. . . . . drop it! =P

I wanted to start with the Chubby Sock. I still need to knit a sample with this, but it takes up colours wonderfully and is soft. There are 350 yards in each hank. =) Below are colourways: Ginny (yes, I changed it slightly), Professor Sprout. and Sex Kitten.

Next we have the Woodland Sock yarn, my bamboo blend. I LOVE IT! We have Half Blood Prince, Ginny, Invisibility Cloak, and I have 1 Professor Sprout & another Ginny that didn't make it into the picture. There are 439 yards in each skein.

Below is the first full box of yarn with a few skeins of my Celtic Sock on top. I will be dying probably around 20 skeins of the Celtic & 16 of the others for the festival.

Here are links to some more people who are knitting up my yarn. =)

Venka Is knitting up my Bellatrix LeStrange colourway into Sockopia's Bellatrix socks. The first one looks awesome so far!
And Chelsea is knitting up "The Burrow" and "Arurelie" into some sweet looking stockinette socks. I love how Aurelie is turning out. Kind of like a purple tiger stripe. =)

Now I mentioned a song stuck in my head. That would be "The Fragile" by Nine Inch Nails. Have been a fan since I was 7. Gotta love having older siblings to influence your life choices. I am actually now going to make up a colourway for Trent just because I adore him. Love is too strong a word for someone you don't know. . . . it's weird in my opinion. But, whatever. Yep he is definately my type, except height wise, but screw that. hahahah he's old enough to be my dad. . . .didn't say that. . . .lmfao

Some one say Fiber Festival?

Below is the newest colourway for MacKintosh Yarns. This is Professor Sprout. It consists of vibrant greens and a deep chestnut brown. =)

I have a lot of preparing to do for this fiber festival. . . . .below is only a small portion of the yarn I am going to dye up. The smaller hanks in the front, 8 oz hanks of my sock yarn have 20 more on the way to join them. Yay!!!! Let's get dying! It is a lot eh?

Fiber Fest Day 2 & Finished Sexy Kittens. . .

Lastnight while waiting to purchase the seventh and last Harry Potter book I finished my friend Melissa's socks. I think they turned out great and believe she'll love them! I can't wait to give them to her! I even grafted the toes while standing in line, lmfao! I stayed up until 7am reading and I just finished reading it tonight. All I can do right now is think. The ending makes you think. . . . .and ponder about it all. . . .it is a conclusion and it gives you comfort, but it still makes you think.


OKAY, now to the fiber fest. I helped out Toni for the second time and I simply adore this woman! She kept her promise and brought me bare yarn for my new sock yarn busniess I'm putting in gear. She brought me a 100% Merino superwash, a 100% Merino non superwash and a merino, bamboo, and nylon blend! I can't wait to dye them up and see what everyone thinks! Below is the cone of the Bamboo blend!

Below is Malabrigo Lace in Blue Surf. This stuff is soooooo soft it should be illegal or locked up! I bought 3 skeins, $10 each and 470 yards. This will become my Invisibility Cloak from Charmed Knits! I wanted the green, but they didn't have a 3rd skein. =/ Oh well. I think the blue will do brilliantly!

Toni also brought me 2 skeins of Mountain Colors Twizzle for me to try because I REALLY want to try it! The colourway is "TaMarack." And I also purchased yet another skein of STR. It was the last one of this colourway, "Romancing the Stone" and it was calling to me. . . . .oh shut up! lmfao. My mom went with me today and had a blast!! I was surprised actually. Okay, enough chatter. I have a book to finish & socks to start!



And also, Martha Holiday, who was also helping Toni, taught me how to do short rows!!!! Also, check out her "Hold My Socks" DPN sock holders!!! They're awesome!!

Damage & Soon to be an Etsy update

Below is the largest part of the damage I made today at the Midwest Fiber Festival. I was helping Toni Neil, from The Fold, out at her booth and she is the main Midwest carrier of Socks That Rock. . . . .me being an avid sock knitter dove in and barely made it back up for air. . .ouch
The skeins are in this order: Watermelon Tourmaline, Fire on the Mountain, Seastone, Farmhouse, and Puck's Mischief. All of the skeins are medium weight.

I also bought some more yarn and some roving, pictures later.
Etsy:

I bought some new dyes today also and will be dying up about 12 skeins of yarn next week and updating the store. In the next few weeks there maybe a change in the yarn I am using as I am trying to find a better provider and Toni is helping me with it.

I will also be dying up some more skeins of "Hagrid," which has been requested after the only skein of it sold. There will be new colourways being added to the collection.
Pricing & yardage is as follows:

Merino Superwash yarn: 485 yards & $16.50 a skein
Kona Superwash yarn: 372 yards & $13.50 a skein

If there is a colourway that has sold and you would like to purchase please contact me and I will dye some up for you. Thanks!

And also, I'm now on Ravelry!!!!! Yay!!!!