Somebody buy me a lottery ticket! (y dyeorama memeorama)

Somebody buy me a lotto ticket... first with winning a GC to Make1YarnStudio, and now-- I got an email from knitty today, and I'll have a pattern in the summer 2006 extremities issue!

I should go for chinese food tonite just to read my fortune. (I live within a few blocks of like, 6 fortune cookie companies... they sell broken ones by the bag!)

Yowsa.

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Back to reality... went to Imagiknit today for their annual sale! What a fun store, and full of staff who didn't growl at my son (who had a blast flirting with a crazy pretty employee and "picking out yarns..." His favorite? Mango Moon recycled silk (or was it banana silk?) in bright orange. He is my son, you know :)

While I didn't pick out any silk, I did bring some sock yarns home (none were on sale, or I could have done some real damage!)


Koigu premium painters palette merino
175 yd/50 gm, 100% merino wool
colorway p450, dyelot 87

One skein is less blue than the other, but both are the same colorway/dyelot number.


Trekking xxl
100 gm/420yd, 75% superwash wool 25% nylon
colorway 100, dyelot 4202

The koigu is for, well who knows :) and the trekking? For Margene's Trekking Along KAL, natch! It doesn't start til June 1, which is good for me since I have odds and ends to finish before then, but since I have drooled over this colorway for forever and scored the last ball at imagiknit, I thought it was meant to be. (I often have these delusions when surrounded by so much yarn.)

Also picked up...



Folk Socks, since I've wanted it forever and had never actually seen it in person til today. I don't think I'm up to the colorwork (yet?), but with all of the Henry's Attic Kona Superwash lightweight I have on order, I may try my hand at it soon. Maybe :)

As delightful as Imagiknit is, I think my favorite LYS remains the one closest to me, Article Pract in Oakland... lots of koigu, louet gems, lorna's laces, susanne's and lantern moon ebony needles (ebony needles are still on my wishlist; every time I look at them I can imagine snapping them... I noticed one of my aluminum US 2 dpns has a bend in it). I guess you have to leave home to appreciate it :)

In other acquisition news, I had another great knittyboard swap... trading the purple/pink/gold henry's attic kona superwash I dyed with easter egg dyes for some Paton's Kroy in regatta blue...



I've had 4 skeins of that hip hop (the jacquard in the middle) in my stash for forever, to make Devan from Knitty Spring 2004 for the bean. I decided on a whim to post an ISO for the regatta blue, thinking it would match well with the hip hop-- and hey! it worked :)

I love the interweb.

The kroy is nice yarn-- baby bear has several socks in the patons kroy, and it has washed up unbelievably well, kept its color, held up to repeated batterings on the playground, softened up nicely and is super inexpensive (relative to say, uh -- stuff I bought today!)

I think I'm going to put Starsky away til the weather cools, to make space in my knitting in-box... its too warm for now, and I think I could knit the kroy cardi as a "big" project instead. I also have my shimmer shrug from Knitty Winter 2003 to finish too, its getting warm enough for it :)

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Dye o rama memorama ahead (feel free to tune out!)

I am waiting for my yarn from Wool2Dye4 (the henry's attic kona superwash fingering) for my pal... I think I'll go with the easter egg dyes since I have so many! I did place an order for some acid dyes from the yarn coop on yahoo groups, but I don't think it'll get here in time...

Onward y upwards!

Questions specific to this swap:

Your favorite colors?
orange, blue, white, black, purple, red

Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)?
fingering, sport/dk (anything from us 0-2 needles)

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?
multicolored, but i do dig those multi-tonal/"almost solid" colors too, especially for some reason in red

If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn?
sure!

Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)?
sure, again!

Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it?
Oy, have to think about this one! Next post! :)

What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along?
I've never joined a secret pal thing, and this is a small enough scale for me to really have fun with and not be too taxed about the timeline and requirements. I also wanted to try out more dyeing since I've had fun with koolaid and easter egg dyes, and get requests to dye colors that aren't normally within my *ooh* range.


General yarn/fiber questions:

Have you dyed yarn/fiber before?
Yes, koolaid and easter egg dyes using superwash yarn.

If so, what’s your favorite dye and method?
I liked both the koolaid & easter egg dyes, since I'm a klutz and have a 2+ year old-- so food grade appeals to me. I am going to try acid dyes sometime, though!

Do you spin?
No, but truly admire those who do and drool over their creations :)

Have you knit socks before?
Yup.

Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too?
Mainly socks.

What are some of your favorite yarns?
Uh, equal oppotrunity yarn hoarder, as long as I can knit it into socks. :)

What yarn do you totally covet?
Schaefer Anne, Socks That Rock... (I could go on but its embarrassing how much I like sock yarn)

Favorite patterns?
I really like stitch patterns to design socks around.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?
Barbara Walker's learn to knit afghan, and "the great american aran afghan"

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?
Addi circs (but I own pretty much an entire set). I covet ebony dpns in sock sizes, and have been on the lookout for metric sized dpns (2.5mm & 3.0mm) for socks. I love my simple metal sock dpns too and can never have enough of them :)

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
Superwash! Machine wash and dry, definitely.
Some crazy ugly colorway only a mother could love, too :)