Waiting

I'm still waiting for my order to arrive from Spunky Eclectic. It's not late (4-10 days to ship because I ordered a custom color) but everyday I sit at work daydreaming about my new fiber and hoping that it's arrived early. I know, I'm lame. Nothing much else to post about -- I'm at the toe decreases on my first green sock. I've decided to try and adhere to a more strict and equitable sock knitting system here. We'll go by age. So this green pair is for Dave, then a pair for me, Older Son, and Younger Son. I am considering dropping Dave from the rotation because A) I'm not really pleased with him at the moment, B) He doesn't really wear the handknits too much, and C) Did I mention I'm not really happy with him? Although, to be fair, I'm not really happy with anyone here. I could maybe be having hormonal personality issues with everyone, but still.
I'm trying to decide what to do for WWKIP Day. We have knitting the night before so I don't know. Maybe I'll round up some of my knitting posse and we'll just hang in the hood. Cause we roll like that. Yo.

Sundays Are For Spinning

I've reinstated the Sundays are for spinning program here at the G household. This week I plied up my yellow green single. I finished the spinning Friday night at Knitting and then used the generous Heather's ball winder to make a center pull ball for plying. A few tangles, but sooo much easier than the one I wound on my own. Eventually I'm going to have to break down and get a ball winder of my own. Anyways, I skeined up my bobbins and finished off my yarns. Wanna See? Of course you do. As I said, I am considering these two yarns together for a BSJ. Here're the money shots:

The blue/green multi, and

the yellow-green. They're not quite dry yet, when they are I'll reskein and estimate my yardage. I might consider the yellow green for an "Our Favorite Baby Sweater" by EZ if I have enough yardage. That leaves the multi hanging, but I might be able to think of something for it.

I've also finally finished my Noro socks. As I was finishing them up at Eat N Park Saturday night (I took Older Son out to dinner for his birthday, more on that in a minute) an older woman approached me. "I see you're knitting socks. What yarn is that you're using?"
"A Japanese yarn, it's called Noro.."
"Oh, is that the Noro sock yarn? What do you think of it?"
"Well, it's a little harsh and goes thick and thin, but I love the colors."
"Oh yes, the colors, I knit a whole coat out of the Noro last year."
She left, but I heard her say to her dinner companion "That's the Noro sock yarn." Knitters, we're everywhere.
And as I said, Sunday was also Older Son's birthday. He's 19. How did that happen?

We Need to Talk

Celtic Queen called me to chat during her drive home from work tonight. Surprisingly, I was home already. So she asked what I was up to.
Me: Ordering stuff online.
CQ: WHAT are you ordering?
Me: Just some stuff from Spunky Eclectic
CQ: Like what?
Me: Well, some fiber. She had this fiber and it's sparkly I couldn't resist so I got it.
CQ: Right, and this after you bought all that Angelina fiber so you can blend up your own sparkly fiber. See, this is why you have so much stash.
Me: Yeah, well it's worse...I joined the Spunky Club. I'm getting fiber every month.
CQ: (Explodes) Laur! This is why you're never going to use up all your stash! You've gone beyond just a knitter with a stash, you've become a collector of fiber! You've got fleece to finished yarn and everything in between! You're never going to use it all.
Me: Well, I figured I could gift you and Heather with some of the fiber, that way it won't all be piling up around here...
CQ: Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, but you know it's not going to happen. You'll just keep piling it up.

Whew! Good thing I didn't mention the merino/tencel fiber I ordered or that it's not just the regular club but the double fiber club... I think she would have come over for an intervention!

And you know, originally I just wanted one of the cool stone spindles she has on the site. I forgot to order one. You know what that means -- I'll have to go back again!

The Haul

Here's most of my goodies from MDS&W. Down there on the bottom is my black t-shirt,and you can see the little packets of Angelina fiber. The roving is from Gale's Art and I am totally enamoured of it. The multicolor is a "Potluck" so it's one of a kind, and when I saw it with the merino ("Lime") I had to get them. CQ and I hit her booth late, we'd seen lots of people in there earlier. I'm hoping she comes back next year because I think I want more of her stuff! I also got some roving from a youth organization that I can't find the card to tell me what their name is right now. I got two four oz bumps. The blended color you see here (showcased by Older Son who is trying out for the job of wool model this summer) is spun and plied already. Two ply, spun long draw. The other bump was this yummy yellow-green which is on my wheel right now. I tried spinning this long draw but the roving is just a bit too sticky for it so I'm using a modified short draw (worsted) technique. This will be two plied as well, and the two together (hard to tell from the photos, but the colors do coordinate) are being considered for a Baby Surprise Jacket. (Inspired by Brooklyn Tweed's handspun BSJs.)

I'm Back

I'm back. I survived Maryland. I only have one picture because I spent my time taking pictures with other people's cameras. I took pictures of Celtic Queen with Casey and Jess at the Ravelry get together. (Which she hasn't posted yet.) And of Heather and Heather which she did post.
Sunday I realized I had no pictures so I made CQ snap this one of me. I did not purchase any fiber from this vendor, but CQ did. (It has sparkles in it.) I got some roving (some of which I've already spun up, Heather and I met to spin the Monday after Maryland), and some Angelina fiber for blending, a stand for my tri-loom, a double pointed needle holder, and a t-shirt. I bid and lost again on the shawls from the sheep to shawl. I got Heather's boys some stuff too. Her youngest loves red, and spinning with a drop spindle, so I got him some red roving. He was so cute when I gave it to him - he hugged it to him and ran off immediately to put it in his stash! I don't think I even bought any yarn! I was very tempted at Tess', but I had no particular project in mind, so I passed. I guess I'm serious about knitting down the stash! I'll try to post more pics tomorrow of the yarn I'm spinning now, and the rest of the fiber I bought. It's all downstairs right now and I'm too tired to go and get it.