Current Events (**Malabrigo Alert**)

Woolgirl Sock Club "August 08"


Originally uploaded by RockyMoreno

What can I say, I heart WOOLGIRL!



Saturday I received my August installment from the Woolgirl Sock Club, and it's just wonderful! Check out the big bag! This is perfect for large WIP's or just many smaller WIPs. See that baggy of goodies? It has the cutest rubber erasers shaped like sandals! I so will not use these, I'll have to place them on my shelf in my office to display. I just love the clever packaging, the way the skein of yarn was stored in the cute orange water bottle. The yarn is just refreshing and pretty, it isn't a colorway I would choose, but it is one that I like alot, which is a perk of joining a yarn club, I think it allows you to broaden your yarn color choices.





Plus.... SQUEE!!!!..... I got an email from Jenn letting me know that I won the "Georgia O'Keefe" Contest from the Woolgirl Sock Club. Not only did I win, I won 1st place! That's 3 skeins of the soft Mama Llama sock yarn of my choice coming my way. Getting my club package, and then finding this out, was just too good; it was kind of like a late bday present.



For the "Georgia O'Keefe" contest, we had to write a post of our favorite Georgia painting. She has such a beautiful collection of art, I just couldn't settle on just one painting, so I did one post with a few different paintings, with a quote of why I like each one. Here is the one that scored me the 1st prize.



My quote for this was:
"Jack in the Pulpit IV"
Rich dark petals bring a feeling of comfort & security...soft blue center of fire reminds me that my sole is strong.
~Yo me siento vivo/I feel alive~

To see my full post, click here.

For my Mama Llama Sock Yarn, I choose these colorways:
Fall Leaves

Venice

Forest



And now onto other events, when I was GPY the other week, I found out from Beth (GPY owner) that they were to start a "Tech Square Afghan" Knit Along, starting 8/17/08. I quickly signed up, because the knit along is not like any other knit along. The Tech Square Afghan really is a unique experience. In this Afghan alone, you'll learn almost every technique under the sun. Techniques are: Entrelac, Intrasia, Provisional Cast-Ons, Seaming, Cabling, Increasing, Decreasing, Half-Hitch Increases, Double Decreases, Mattress Stitch, Circular Knitting, Knitted Cord, Traveling Stitches, Sewing, Waste Yarn Opening, Pockets, Embellishments, Steeking, Hemming, Duplicate Stitch, and much more. It really is a great project. I'll take some pictures of my WIP to show where I'm at in the Afghan, here's a look at the completed Afghan from the book.


**Malabrigo Alert**
I came across a thread on Ravelry, and the wonderful Gonzo, gave a link to a shop in Germany that is well stocked with the coveted Malabrigo Sock Yarn!!! YES ITS TRUE! All you need to do is choose your colors, send an email to bestellungATjuergenweidnerDOTde, they'll process the order for you via PayPal. The online store is Juergenweidner...it's all in German, to translate, use the Free Translation website.

Last, but not least are both the Ravelympics and Yarnsmackdown Events I'm in. I'm sorry to say but I'm just falling behind on my Ravelympics. I'm so upset. Yarnsmackdown has just eaten up my time. And Sock Wars III is still on, but now it's just getting old to me. I've been in this competition for months, killed 4 so far, just received a cake of Mountain Colors sock yarn from my previous target, but really have no desire to cast on another pair of Sock Wars Detonation socks. I've knit so many socks, not just for Sock Wars, that I'm just UGHHH! about it now. I've now decided that both Sock Wars & Yarnsmackdown are going to the bottom of my list, and from today on I'll be focusing on the Ravelympics, the Tech Square Afghan and Secret of the Stole III. I will say that I managed to score some points in Yarnsmackdown, killing with 2 Diamond Lace bookmarks, 1 pair of Starry Starry Nights socks, 1 Avocado w/Dollup of Sour Cream Toast, and 1 set of Diamond Lace Dishcloths = 10 points!

Yarnsmackdown 08' Diamond Lace Dishcloths

I finished all my events in Yarnsmackdown successfully, without getting killed beforehand...whew!
I was taking my sweet time with knitting up these Diamond Lace Dishcloths, until I got stalked and magic linked on Raverly from Yarncandie, informing me that she sent me my dishcloths.



As soon as I read that post, I immediately cast on for these, and in 2 hours, I whipped these out. The pattern was so easy, and the yarn knit up fast, once I got comfortable with it.



Do you ever feel that way with different types of yarn? I bought blue, because my target's favorite color is blue, I bought cotton, because what better to knit a dishcloth with. I visited Green Planet Yarn on Monday, and found that they have this wonderful Blue Sky Alpaca 100% Organic Cotton. It is very soft, and easy to knit, it can tend to split a little, but I think that's because I wasn't using the Addi Turbo lace needles.



I really need to stock up on the Lace needles, they are just so much better than knitting with the dull ends.



So here's an interesting little tidbit, Sandy, (she teaches at GPY), and I were talking for bit after one of the classes, and she said that her friend happened to be at a retreat, or some class or show, can't remember which, and the lady from Addi Turbo's was there, and her friend told her how great the needles were, but only had one complaint, there too blunt. So, voila, a year later Addi Turbo Lace needles were born. If only I knew Sandy's friend, I'd send her some goodies to thank her for giving that suggestion. Who knows, would we have had the Lace needles without it? I don't know the dates or anything, but I thought it was an interesting little tidbit.



Anywho, I sent these dishcloths off the other day with some of my signature goodies, some kisses & tea 8-)



In other news, Purlescence Yarns is having a spinning class this coming weekend! I signed up on Friday the 8th. If you can make, I'd love to see you there! It's only $50 smackeroos too! Great deal!

Some smacking, scenery, and goodies

One of the events in Yarnsmackdown is knitting bookmark. I never knitted one of these, but boy are they fast, and cute! I knitted this for my target the other night and shipped off with some goodies.





I got so many goodies for my birthday

All these books (Creepy Cute Crochet, Tech A Square, Amigurumi World, Crocheting for Dummies, 25yrs of Vogue Knitting, Knitted Embellishments, Start Spinning)


A New Spindle to learn spinning this coming weekend at Purlescence, a complete Crochet steel hook set, Blue Sky Alpaca Yarn 100% organic cotton, Some Magazines (Knit Scene & Vogue Knitting)


This cute Sheep keychain


And friend for Sheepy, a small Alpaca


Oh, and check these Star Wars Alpacas out, so cute..


Here are some pics from the day I spent with my hubby in S.F.
Look at all the Seals.. & there's one posing


This is a snapshot of Alcratraz, for a period of time Indians held seige to the island for 2 years, and called it "Indianland", they used the "Homestead Act" to rightfully call it theirs; eventually they were forced from the Island. Can you see the "Indianland" writing


Here's what's left of the Church on Alcratraz, this was in the movie with Nicholas Cage & the handsome Sean Connery "The Rock", one of my favorite movies


And of course my hubby & I


I have to go knit some more, see if I can get the dishcloths done.. I just got magic linked in Ravelry, and ahhh! My assassin has sent my killer dishcloths in the mail... I'll be dead soon, we'll see if I can get these babies done before mine get here????

Yarnsmackdown 2008

Being crazy as I am, I also joined in on the Yarnsmackdown 2008. I'm in the Food Fight, Advanced Socks, Dishcloth, Stole, and Dishcloth events. I count on dieing early, as I just have too many things I'm working on, plus also trying to go out today with my hubby in San Francisco for my birthday. He's giving me *evil eyes* right now cause I'm writing this post and not yet ready... so I'll hurry up and finish this.

The Food Fight contest, is all in fun, and we've been asked to knit some "Toast", basically a minimum of a 4 x 4 square. In my dossier I received, my target, Daphne LaLuLu, put her favorite color as green, so I choose green as my base color.

I was trying to be as creative as possible with this event, and also trying not to take away my time from knitting the tons of other things I'm supposed to also be working on.

I've called this "Avocado Toast with a dollup of Sour Cream"

Here's the toast with the goodies I sent along this morning:


And some other angles, I really tried hard to make the white yarn, look like a dollup of swirled Sour Cream, I think I kind of came close???




For the other events, I think with continued knitting, I'll be able to send my Advanced Socks out to my target this Monday, I casted them on late last night, knitted to about 2 a.m.. I'm almost done with the leg portion, and should be turning the heel during the drive to San Francisco then from there, it's pretty fast for me. **Fingers crossed to get these done by Monday**

I figured the Bookmark, and Dishcloth, shouldn't take too long, the Stole, I'm not even going to think about right now, that I'll surely die from.
I'll keep you posted.... oh yah, as for the Ravelympics, its slow going because of this contest, once I get done with these, I'll be full speed ahead with Ravelympics, and with Sock Wars, sadly my target can't find the SIPs, she misplaced them somewhere, and will probably just send me a skein of sock yarn.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!