Dish Rag Tag Reverse Swap

Many moons ago -- as in August 2007.  I participated in Dish Rag Tag.  My team decided to do a reverse swap and we all promised to get it done in the month of October. I think maybe only one or two teammates actually managed to get theirs out in time.  (I know I didn't.)    About a week ago, I did receive my package from Rena.  The package was well worth the wait!

The contents of the box was covered with seasonal tissue paper -- it just drew out the suspense.

I removed the tissue paper to reveal this:

All the goodies in one bag...

Let's exam the items more closely, shall we? First up, the requisite dish rag... I'm so impressed that she managed to get all of my favorite colors into one dish rag -- there's purple, and green and blue!

And the same colors were in the lovely Merino 5 yarn by Crystal Palace:

 

And even included a suggested pattern for the yarn:

 

And what's a swap package without chocolate?  I love that it's SOAP!  It smells so good, I almost want to eat it.

 

And actual edible chocolate.  (which was eaten soon after this picture was taken).

    

Thanks Rena, for the awesome package!!!

Small Stash Enhancment

A local yarn store, Fringe, is going out of business.  Don't be too sad, because the owners of Fringe, are also the owners of Dream in Color yarns.  Dream in Color has taken off, so they need to close the store to dedicate themselves to the business.

Last Saturday,  I spent a few hours shopping at their sale and picked up a few items.

Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in Light Moss -- which has already become a bath mitt. 

Plymouth Linen Island -- this will probably become a small hand towel a la Mason Dixon.

 

2 skeins of lovely Malabrigo Worsted in Emerald Vivacity

 

Some Knit One Crochet Too Cotonade in Pebble -- this will probably become some sort of face cloth.

2 skeins of Mauch Chunky by Kramer Yarns in Cotton Candy -- 1 skein has already turned into 2 hats for my nieces.

A couple of skeins of Hemp for Knitting #210 Hempwol in Natural, Licorice, and Silver Sage

     

2 skeins of Alpaca with a Twist Highlander in Heather in Bloom (isn't that a great name?)

And last but not least -- as they run Dream in Color, the 2nd's are available for purchase:

Dream in Color Smooshy in (I think) November Muse:

Dream in Color Fatty in Black

I also picked up a bunch of books:

• The Knitting Answer Book


• The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns


• 101 Designer One Skein


• Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs


• Big Girl Knits

And a couple of patterns:

• Smittens


• Pacific Northwest Shawl


• Head Huggers


• Hat & Mitten

And of course some DPN's (to go into my new case)

Cleaning Up My Act

As you saw in my previous post, I cleared off the KNITTING TABLE OF DOOM!!

I present to you, my dining room table:

No, I didn't just sweep everything off the table onto the floor. I did go through it and organized all my knitting stuff. My sister moved to a smaller place which didn't have room for this:

The dogs were very interested:

So, I gathered up all my knitting stuff - except for my stash ('cause it won't fit in there), organized it and ta da:

Awesome, no? The best part, if things get disorganized again:

Morganna says, "Great Momma, now come cuddle on the couch."

etsy Friday - YarnCon Edition

Last Saturday, thanks to the amazing Sherpa skills of Blooangl, I was able to attend YarnCon.  (I'm such a total suburbanite, that my travels to downtown Chicago usually consist of a train and then "Taxi!")

I purchased a few items and interestingly from vendors who are also on etsy.  All except one --

Pattern Tamers

These are neat ribbon covered magnets that are used to keep your place in your pattern, your book open, despite the efforts of small children and animals to knock your ruler off the page, rip off your post-it note and dragging the pattern onto the floor.    I've used the largest one to keep track of the my working row on the mystery shawl.  I've been very impressed that it hasn't moved.  I wish there was an easy way to move up or down a row, but that could be part of my lack of co-ordination and would probably render the pattern tamer as useless as post-its.  I also like the weight of them as they keep the paper from floating away.  I wish she had a web site or etsy shop, but only an email account.  If you're interested, leave me a comment or email me at errs at yahoo dot com. 

I got to meet Shannon Okey of knitGrrl fame...as well as purchase some of her lovely hand-dyed lace yarn: 

You can get some too at StitchCleveland, her wonderful etsy shop.

At My Small Wonders, I  found some sock yarn in lovely "water" colors.  I was thrilled to find that the designer & I were thinking the same way:

Lagoon

Sunlit Waves

I think they are going to be either a Chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (Ravelry link) or a Jaywalker Scarf (Ravelry link).

The best part was getting to meet Jen of Piddleloop! (Hey look, I'm famous!)  I think she got the bulk of my money as I picked up another project bag set,

and a small notions pouch, since my iPod lives in the other one I had..

and a larger pouch for all the stuff I seem to need no matter what I'm knitting...

I looked by the only skull designs I could find where with the scissors, not the knitting needles, and you've got to love the cool green/blue color...

But then Jen surprised me -- there was 1 more skull knitting project bag!!! Hurray!!!

Did I mention that they match my Pattern Tamers?

 

etsy Friday and Other Goodies

Only one etsy purchase to share this week. It's from A Sheep of a Different Color.

1760 yards of lace weight in the colorway Blood Roses. A perfect color with a perfect name for the Halloween Mystery Shawl. The pictures really don't do the color justice -- beautiful deep reds to reds so dark they're almost black.

I got my yarn for the Mystery Shawl from Morehouse Merino. While I was there a few other items made it into my cart...

The Baby Alligator Scarf was just too cute to pass up. ;) And despite what Rose-Kim says, this scarf cracks me up.

Rat Race scarf -- the red beads are for the eyes! Hee!

Signature Needle Arts is looking for a tester for their new double-pointed needles. They're running it like a contest. If you're interested, let me know and I'll forward you the email. Just make sure that you mention me when you enter. (I want the extra entries.) I have to say, again, that I really like these needles. I think its worth an entry, don't you?

Goodies!!!!

Last week was a very busy week for getting mail.

I received my "Posy Sock Sack" from KnitNana

Isn't it adorable? But I have to be honest and confess that I don't knit socks. So I am officially changing its name to "Posy Scarf Sack". :D

I also got my Yarn from Ms. Pixie Riot


The coolest part is the swag that she included


Those little things are actually magnets. I adore them! They just make me smile all silly.