THE yarn is here!

The other day I came home to a note on the door from the UPS. I wasn't sure what it was for at first. I did have a few skeins of yarn coming but I didn't think it would be coming this soon nor does it usually come by UPS. Then I read the note- Zelinger's Wool. THE YARN IS HERE!!! I ran up to the leasing office hoping it was up there. CLOSED. So unfair! I would have to wait until morning to get it (if it was in the office) or wait until the evening when I got home from work. Luckily, it was in the office and I got a call in the morning from our sweet landlord saying there was a package for me. I ran up (hair still wet from a shower) and got my box. I opened it and oh the delight! So much yarn! I ended up getting 2ply worsted and 2ply sport. Both are lovely. Lots of pictures -enjoy!

Springtime in Hollis Pattern

I am so excited to be a licensed knitter of Comfort Wool Co. "Springtime in Hollis" pattern! I am absolutely in love with the pattern and cannot wait to cast on a couple different ones and try out all the different options provided in the pattern. I have a couple different colorways in mind, I just need to decide which to use first (decisions, decision!). Here are the three that I am considering...hopefully WIP pictures very soon!

CWC "Sweet Grass" CWC "Jules"CWC "Cosmos"

Good Bye Fleece...Hello Yarn!

This past weekend I headed up to Bowling Green for the Black Swamp Fiber Festival. My mission: to send off my bags of merino fleece I have been hoarding for a while to get processed. I’ve been holding on to these fleeces since they are the last from my merino, Elizabeth who sadly passed away. In the past, I’ve always sold her fleece at whatever fair or function I exhibited them at-she never placed lower than reserve grand champion-so usually I had a handful of notes from spinners offering to buy them from me.

Now that she is gone, I didn't want to sell them and want to keep them for myself! I have been reluctant to send them off to be processed, partly because I didn't know where to send it, I didn't know what to do with it, and well it's costly. I was referred by a LYS owner to use Zeilinger’s in Michigan. The issue: shipping. I had quite a few bags of fleece and they are quite heavy. Anyone who's dealt with merino fleece knows it's rather spongy and doesn't pack easily. Much to my delight, Zeilinger's was at the fiber festival and brought their trailer to haul fleeces back up to Michigan with them. Which for me means no shipping costs! Plus, they also are having a sale for the month of March when you send fiber in for processing into roving, batting, or combed top. So my mom and I make the drive up to BG with all the bags of wool in the car. We estimated the weights but we only weighed a few bags, not the whole batch. When we got there and they weighed it, it totaled to 78lbs! Quite a bit more than I expected but I was thrilled.

The people from Zelinger's were rather excited about my fleece and commented on how they hadn't seen fleece that nice in a long time, commenting on the staple length and the crimp of the fiber. They helped me decide how to have it processed and my options. So here is what we settle on: yarn and combed topsYou need 30lbs to do a yarn run so I clearly had plenty for that! The rest will be made into combed tops, perfect for spinning. I still have to decide how to have the yarn run- what weight/ply. So if anyone has suggestions or requests, let me know. I am thinking nothing more than 3ply based on the fine fiber that it is.

Now, I am excited to have plenty of yarn for my own use, but I am going to have SO MUCH YARN AND FIBER! I am planning to sell a lot of it so I am looking for ideas as to where to market it, how to market it, etc. Anyone who might be interested or has ideas... let me know! I'd like to try my hand a spinning some of the combed top, but I am not planning to spin 50 lbs of it. I also would like to attempt to dye some but also, no experience in that area either.

So many options... at least it takes a good 4-5 months in order to get the wool fully processed. Lots of time to figure out my options!

Pretties from the Fiber Festival

A Lucky Find x2

A while back I saw the most adorable set on Universal Mama. A little shirt made by {cake.} and a beautiful pair of longies by Dwell Wool Knits. I wanted this little shirt so badly! At the time I thought I could get it for my nephew (one of the two that it would fit). But alas, two things stopped me from getting it. A) The cost since it was paired with the longies (and therefore exceeded the Christmas shopping budget per child) and B) It was snatched up so fast I wouldn't have been able to anyway. Well as the fates have it, I was browsing through Spots and I saw that little shirt listed on there. I had to have it! Of course my nephews are both now too big for it but I am adding this to my someday stash. Perhaps I will find a little one to give it to before then, but I am holding out hope that I'll need it sooner rather than later for one of my own!

THEN a few days later, browsing around Spots again, I came across this gorgeous colorway. A Mosaic Moon colorway called "Noellaig" which matches the shirt perfectly! I am pretty sure it is the same colorway that was used to make the longies that were originally with the shirt because I checked around on Ravelry. The colorway was listed as an OOAK, but now is listed as Noellaig which means Christmas. I am so excited about these lucky finds...this is going to make a perfect set!

A Pair of Little Longies

I purchased this awesome OOAK colorway from Tree Frog Knits and I thought they would make a sweet pair of longies. Boy was I right! I had no one to make them for in particular but either I will hold on to them until either I have a little one or until a friend or family member has someone to wear them. Or perhaps if I ever get enough knits together to open a shop on say Hyena Cart or for a craft show. Who knows. They will find the right owner in due time.

I just love the way that it knit up and the colors look so neat together. I don't know if I would have ever thought to combine all those colors but I am sure glad someone did! I still have some left over, probably plenty enough to make a hat. I am thinking a Hudson Hat. Hopefully that will come soon!

Additions to Yarn Stash

It's always dangerous when your local yarn shop has a "Spring Cleaning" sale. I set off on the first day of the sale with a $50 spending limit (which I *almost* stuck to). Debblie Bliss Rialto DK was on sale and since I have about 100 baby knit patterns that all call for DK yarn, I snatched some up. Rialto DK is an extra fine merino is an all season yarn: cool in the summer and warm in the winter so I am hoping to make some versitle garments with it. I grabbed a handful of colors in hopes to make a cute sweater.

"Chocolate""Berry"

"Beige"

"Pale Pink"

Horton for a Horton

A new project is on the needles and I am rather excited about it. I told a dear friend of mine to pick out a few yarn colorways I have in my stash and that I would make her kiddos some hats. One of the colorways she selected for her daughter happens to be just perfect. Their last name is Horton and I just so happen to have a colorway titled, "An Amusing Elephant, Horton!" by BugSnuggler. The yarn base is aran BFL and it's so squishy and soft. I love the colors and it's knitting up so lovely. I cannot wait to finish it and send it off to her.

forget about the butterflies, cupcakes and dump trucks...

The title for this post is inspired by a conversation had via facebook last night and the wise words of a dear friend. There was the most adorable shirt available on Universal Mama by {Cake.} last night. I was so tempted to buy it.

I kept thinking to myself, there are so many little ones in the family, someone will be able to wear it! The more I thought about it however, all of the little ones are not so little and not a single one of them could ever fit into this itty bitty shirt. Disappointed but not discouraged, I thought to myself, I should add it to my "someday collection". My dear friend (another country farm girl like myself) who saw my comment about this item said that she (who btw is expecting her first in March-yay!) started her "someday collection" before she was even married but that it's really come in handy-picking up those outfits and items that you'll "probably never see again". As she said, "forget about butterflies, cupcakes, and dumptrucks, I pick up the stuff with cows, sheeps, horses, etc. ...not very often you see that stuff. Take advantage of it!" and " if you don't ever use it, you can garage sale it!"

Now I must admit, I already started my "Someday Collection". And like my friend, mine too started before I was even married. It is small but growing. There are just some things that cannot be passed up. For example-I found the most adorable little sweater at Old Navy for only $3.00 on their extreme clearance rack. Wonderful knitted little sweater in blues and browns and creams. Way too much intarsia knitting for me for one thing and I couldn't even buy the yarn for the price I got it for! The other thing I have a habit of buying are little shirts on the clearance rack that I see when we go on vacation places- like the little shark shirt I snagged at the New England Aquarium on our first anniversary trip to Boston. The day that shirt finally gets put into use, I will be able to reflect on all the great memories we had on that trip and how far we've come since then.

In addition to the things I've bought like shirts and sweaters and books (tons of books), I also have a "someday" yarn stash. Yarns that I love so much I just can't part with them and I want to make something lovely for my own little ones someday. I never know if those colorways will still be around by that time. Of course there will be more new and beautiful colorways but some are just too lovely not to have. One example of these special colorways is Nurturing Threads "Hummingbird". Oh how I love this colorway. I was lucky enough to snatch up a custom dye slot with Stacy and had her dye me up 6 skeins of this wonderful colorway. I decided that I wanted enough that if I made something today for someone, I would still have enough when that someday comes along!

Nurturing Threads "Hummingbird"

WIP Brown Owls Longies

Started knitting up a pair of wooly longies for my godson. The yarn, Julibeans "Brown Owls" on BFL Aran is so incredibly soft! So far it's knitting up wonderfully and I am absolutely in love with the colorway. I am using a trim skein of orange for the waistband and cuffs-the color reminds me of cheetos!

Sometimes things just speak to me...

When my parents decided to move from our first house out to the area they now live in, we went from having a half acre to seven acres. For some reason this inspired my father to buy sheep. His plan of course was thinking they would make a nice lawn mower and save him the trouble of cutting all the grass. The property they bought had a large barn so there was a place to keep them-and we could show them in 4-H right? So why not? I distinctly remember coming home from school and there being a message on our answering machine "Yes, we still have some lambs available. We will be in this evening if you'd like to come see them." And so began our family's venture into sheep farming.

When we arrived at the farm, they introduced us to two bottle fed twin lambs. I was smitten instantly. We ended up taking them home, one for me, one for my brother. He named his Henrietta. I named my lamb Posie. For those of you familiar with the American Girl series and have ever read Felicity's books, you would know that her lamb was also named Posie. Posie was the sweetest sheep you'd ever find. As she grew from a small lamb to a full grown ewe, she never lost her gentleness. It was very common to find her laying in her pen with one of our cats snuggled right up with her. She never turned away a lamb who tried to nurse from her (mother sheep are usually very unwilling to let lambs that are not theirs nurse from them). Two sheep somehow turned into twenty or more (especially at lambing season). There were plenty of wonderful sheep that passed through our barn doors but Posie will always hold a special place in my heart. As my brother and I grew older and our 4-H showing days ended, so did the sheep farm. One by one they have aged and passed. We have only one sheep left, Rose, one of Posie's daughters. Unfortunately, we lost Posie to illness and malnutrition after she was improperly cared for at a breeder's. She was cremated and her ashes were spread in a flower bed that surrounds the flag pole in the center of the yard. It is known as Posie's Garden.

When I saw this colorway by Tree Frog Knits, it spoke to me. Not only was it named "Posie"(Posie v.2 actually is it's name), but the colors reminded me of the flowers in her garden that will begin to show themselves when the spring season comes. I find comfort in the renewal of life that occurs in those flower beds every spring. It was hard to say goodbye to such a loving little friend, especially the way that things happened.

Those who don't have pets may find it hard to understand the connection that can be made between a human and an animal. Even those with pets may find it hard to believe that something other than a cat or dog could show a person love. Let me tell you, as a person who has had nearly every type of animal at one point or another, be it farm animal or house pet, that bond can exist. I cannot wait to knit up something wonderful with this yarn.

Tree Frog Knits "Posie V.2"

Compulsive Shopper, Who Me? Never.

Today, despite my best efforts, I failed. But yet I succeeded. Confused yet? I tried my hardest not to buy yarn, I really did. Perhaps it's the time of year and everywhere you go you see cute Valentine's Day things in reds and pinks. Or maybe I should attribute it to my current craving of chocolate. Regardless, I could not pass up this delicious yarn from Western Sky Knits today.

WSK "Love of Chocolate"