July Give Away!

Hey, ya'll!  It's time, I think for a giveaway on my blog.  I WAS doing these on Facebook, but it was really difficult to contact the winners if they weren't already in my personal friends list.

So-this, my inaugural blog give away is for one of my more popular color ways.

Northman-this color way is inspired by the Eric Northman character in the Sookie Stackhouse universe.  Whether you prefer Book Eric or Show Eric, or wouldn't mind either one, this skein is dark and broody.  Just like a Vampire SHOULD be.

It's on my 2 ply sock base, 400 yd of 80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon.  You'll be able to get a shawlette or an adult pair of socks from this skein.

What do you need to do to qualify for this skein?  Go to Brazen Stitchery and check the shop out.  Then come back to THIS blog post and leave a comment about one thing that you like from the shop.

I will do the drawing on August 12, 2013.  

Spin, Spin, Spin

Well, I don't really have anything insightful or profound to say.  But, LOOK!  At the pretty yarns.


This one is phat samples in natural colors. 2.75 oz, 90 yd, chain ply.

 This one is phat samples in blues and greens.  5.75 oz, 242 yd, chain ply.

 And this one is phat samples in jewel-y colors.  4.15 oz, 168 yd, chain ply.

They are all a worsted to aran weight yarn-more likely to get knit up on my end that way and have all sorts of fibers in them.  I could have kept track, but I am not so great about that.

July Phat Fiber: Under the Sea

This month's theme for the Phat Fiber Sampler Box is 'Under the Sea'.  I did actually get my samples to them this month in a timely manner-so Go Team Stacey!

This sample is called 'I'm on a Boat' inspired by the SNL song by Andy Samberg.  I find this song to hilariously awesome-I even have a shirt that says it.  So, I wanted to do a self striping sock yarn that was based on nautical stripes, because what else do you wear on a boat?

'I'm on a Boat' is on my 100% SW Merino 2 ply yarn-the skein in the shop measures a little light so it is 96 g/approx. 380 yd.

The second sample I sent in was 'Release The Kraken'.  I am still experimenting with layering on of colors and this one turned out just as it was in my head.  Dark and murky with pops of a bright.  Oh, I imagine that this will knot into an absolutely fabulous finished object.

'Release The Kraken' is on 80% Merino/20% Silk/2 ply lace.

 Then, of course I had to send in a way to get Under the Sea-and what better way than on a 'Yellow Submarine'?  Yellow Submarine is yellows and golds and is a fun variegated yarn.  It's on a 75% SW Merino/25% Nylon/2 ply sock yarn.

 And, I found this fabric at the store and thought it would be perfect for this theme.  I have a couple of small bags in the shop with some medium bags and a tote bag queued up in my sewing basket.

The Laundry is Going to Eat Me

Seriously.  The pile of laundry in my living room is epic.  I started on it yesterday, but I need to just pop on some Star Trek on Netflix and get after it!

I have been knitting along on my knitting projects, but mostly been spinning.  We had a good 4th of July-mostly we hung around the house.  I made some delicious pizza for lunch and then we went swimming and had a picnic at the pool for dinner.  Then we came home and cleaned up just in time to head over to the church on the hill by our house where you can see several city firework displays.

I have finished my second skein of the tour.  This one is all of the samples that featured purple as the prominent color.  I ended up with 140 yd, 3.9 oz.  It'll work up to a nice quick project.

The Tour is Here! The Tour is Here!

Dear Friends, Family, and Husband,

      I have not disappeared.  Really.  It's just that time of year.  The Tour de France is on-not that I care too much about seeing strangers riding bicycles in a country that I will never be able to visit, it's just that Ravelry has this thing for spinners.  It's called the 'Tour de Fleece'.  See what they did there?  They made it about spinning.  And the goal of this is to spin every day of the tour.  Resting when they take a rest, challenging yourself on the challenge days.

During last years tour I spun 6 skeins of yarn.  That's as much as I spun the rest of the year, so I kinda need this.  I have done SOME spinning this year, but not my goal of 2 skeins a month.

So.  Here is what I've done so far.


Day one:  I went over to C's house and we skirted and tried our hand at washing wool.  This stuff is so gross.  Just yuck.  Makes me appreciate the prepped stuff.

 Then I came home and started some spinning.  I took some brightly colored phat fiber samples I'd collected and made them into rolags...

 This is what rolags look like.  Fiber sausages!  Fun!

 This is what my bobbin looked like on day 2, much spinning.

 And today, I finished spinning the singles and plied them on each other.  I ended up with 3.15 oz/250 yd/Navajo plied(that's 3 plies on itself.  It's kinda tricky)

This weekend I also skeined up miniskeins for the phat fiber July box, sewed a couple or bags, and had a wicked good couch nap.  But that's a subject for a different post.