etsy friday

Today I have two lovely gifts to show for Etsy Friday, and I couldn’t dig them more :)

A few weeks ago, I found out that the Pigeonroof Studios yarn I’d chosen for a pattern I was writing had been discontinued… the yarn base Krista was using had changed in gauge, and I didn’t want to publish the pattern with a discontinued yarn. As with everything I whined about trying to find a similar sts/inch yarn on twitter :) and Rachel of DyeabolicalYarns suggested that her Sporty! would be a good fit…

Sporty! yarn by DyeabolicalYarns.etsy.com-- “hidden tiger”

The yarn is SO soft with a nice tight twist, and I love this colorway!! I really don’t like lighterweight yarns for sock these days, my attention span is just too short. Sporty! is perfect, knit on US 2’s or 3’s it should just fly by. (Did I mention the colors?! Her semisolid series has my toes curling, too.)

It actually will be perfect for subbing into the cabled sock for my Yuki set too-- and just looking at it makes me excited to get going on that project again. I even started finishing up the second and third patterns in anticipation…

Yuki-- left: cables + colorwork, right: colorwork

More on those later though! I’m actually more interested in this...

ButterflyGirlDesigns.etsy.com spindle

A spindle!! Save me, cos as much as I love knitting I love spinning more lately.

This too was an unexpected gift; Mike gave it to me when he dropped off my Ashford Joy I’d lent him. I totally didn’t expect or want anything in return, but look!! A SPINDLE! :)

If you’ve haunted etsy for spinning supplies, I’m sure ButterflyGirlDesigns isn’t new to you-- she makes really beautiful spindles with glass and semiprecious stone whorls (and has heavenly spinning fibers too!). I knew how pretty BGD whorls were, but the shaft is too!

ButterflyGirlDesigns spindle, shaft

See how it is carved close to the top? I know nothing about spindle spinning (yet!) but am pretty sure this’ll help the yarn catch and not slide down as it builds up. I love little details :)

So now you know what I’m doing this weekend, spinning and knitting :) I hope you have a good one too!

**ps! I’ll also be hosting a free shipping sale in my etsy store, zero.etsy.com thru Wednesday July 16… all stitch marker sets will ship free, even international ones. Shipping has already been adjusted, no need to wait for an invoice from me. I’ll be adding new freshwater pearl, semiprecious stone, and bent wire sets throughout the weekend and beyond. I’ll also be listing spinning fibers on Wednesday, weather permitting…**