Just a quick note to brag say that Adrienne and I are going to the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene this weekend!!!

It’s our first Fiber Festival and we are sooo excited!  If you see are planning to be there too and recognize us please say hello!  I’ll be the one with the bag full of yarn and a glazed over look in her eyes.  Adrienne will be the one plotting to ship an entire flock of sheep up to Alaska.

We’re a bit shy (and I’m terrible at recognizing people) but I’d love to meet anyone who reads here just to put faces to names even if I do seem terribly over-stimulated at the time.

Hope you enjoy your weekend whatever your plans are!

A few weeks ago I won a little contest over on Yahaira’s Bitter Purl blog. The contest was to celebrate her blogoversary and also to help her chose a pattern for a unique yarn, her post on it is here.

Anyways after a thorough reading of the instructions I suggested the Hypoteneuse Stole, won yarn and when the yarn came it was very very pretty and sumptious and screamed “Adrienne,” to me (it’s her colors, it’s very red and purple in real life) and so I gave it to her and told her to make a Clapotis with it (of course!).  Thanks Yahaira!!!

I really loved puzzling out Yahaira’s yarn puzzle for her and reading everyone else’s suggestions for her yarn.

I think most of us have some Yarn Puzzles in our stashes. Yarn that is really really awesome but difficult to select a pattern for. Yarn that is really special and unique and you want to find just-exactly-the-right pattern for it (yes, I am a perfectionist, why do you ask?).

This is a long-winded way of me saying, “Folks, I need your help. I have awesome yarn and I want to knit it but I can’t decide what to make!”

My parents got this yarn for me when they were visiting my brother in Bellingham last month!

Specs:
Yarn: Spincycle Yarns
Fiber: 100 % BFL
Weight: Worsted
Yardage: 120 yards

The color-way that my parents picked out for me is “Ursus Horribilis” which is the scientific name for Grizzly Bears and is inspired by same noble beasts.

Please help me decide what to make with this awesome yarn!!! My yardage is limited so I was leaning towards a simple hat to show off the yarn. Probably not an ear-flap hat because I never wear the earflap hat I have.

Any suggestions?

mmm… colors…

I think it would be great if you were to post your own Yarn Puzzles and then tell me about them! I think that sometimes it’s easier to puzzle out yarns from afar and even if I don’t get the exact right pattern maybe I’ll get poked in the right direction! It’s also a great way to show off and share some of the really great yarns in your stash! I know I have more of these lovely but tricky yarns.

WARNING: No knitting content whatsoever.

I know it’s been a while since I posted but I haven’t had much time for knitting…

I blame this:

Charlie - will eat anything/everything

and this:

Sula - ball fetcher extraordinaire

and this:

Eddy - the laziest puppy ever

and actually all these guys too:

Left to Right: Zigzag, Sula, Azul, Cedar, Oso, Missy

I have a new job and it’s all about dogs! I’m doing Rad Dogs which is a doggie daycare program run by the Humane Society here in town. Basically people drop off their dogs in the morning, we walk them, exercise them, play with them, etc. and then in the evening their owners come and pick them up again.

It’s great for the dogs and great fun for us!

Linda shows off the dogs’ perfect manners

Even though I haven’t had much time for knitting this month I really love my new job. I will return with knitting content soon, there has been knitting, just not as much as usual.

Bonus:

My favorite co-worker

As soon as I decided on the perfect colors for my Tomten Jacket it became The Last Thing On Earth that I wanted to knit. Actually, in the last week or so pretty much everything that I’d been knitting up to that point became The Last Thing On Earth that I wanted to knit.

I blame the heat.

It really has been gorgeous weather here in Juneau lately. And I started a new job where I get to be outside having fun all day long! Whoppee! I am tired but happy.

Therefore I am in the process of casting on all new summer projects.

I started with this:

mmm…orange sweater…

Which is the beginning of Sahara (here and on Ravelry) in some deliciously orange hemp yarn.

But then I quickly became distracted when I got the new Interweave:

Leaf Kimono Top in Catania Cotton

Then I decided that this color and the lace pattern didn’t go together. Mainly because this is a top that will require something under it (Picture of the pattern here and Ravelry) and I thought this color would be too hard to find things to go under it.

So I started over:

This particular green is hard to capture at this (late) hour but it is basically olive

I like this better but in the process of taking these pictures I noticed that my gauge varied wildly from one start of the back piece swatch to the next so I will have to rip it out.

Also I want to start knitting with this as soon as possible:

I want to make a Beaded Cami (here and Ravelized). I think I have one more size 3 circular needle so I can start it tomorrow without having to cannibalize the needles from another project.

Hurray for summer!!!

PS: I have a sunburn : (

Thanks for all your helpful comments on the last post. The green in the last picture seems to be approved by all involved so I’m going with that. Except I decided the buttons I got are too small…

Anyways here’s some actual knitting content!

These are my socks-in-progress for the Earth Element of Project Spectrum. They represent pretty much all the knitting that I’ve been doing lately except for one truly impossible to photograph scarf.

They’re both really fun socks to knit and I’m just past the heels on the matching socks for both pairs.

In fact the brown socks were so much fun to knit I had done an 8″ cuff before I knew it and subsequently ran out of yarn for the toe. Luckily I had some matching coordinating yarn hanging around to finish them off with.