sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Friday, August 31, 2007

etsy friday

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Mini box pouch by dreamrains.etsy.com

I may not be feminine, but I sure do love the cutie kawaii stuff in moderation. This little (super little!) box pouch came along from dreamrains when I bought the superfluous tissue cozy-- even though I had no use for the zippy pouch, I couldn't say no. I've since found a great occupation for the world's cutest (fabric) box...

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...an adorable house for the pendants I've purchased from etsy vendors. (i do have a thing about seeing inside and underneath, don't i?) It's not lined or fused with interfacing, a little origami with fabric and thread. It's very simple, and just very cute :) I'm not enough of a real girl to opine on other uses for it, but I'm sure you could think of a few.

Also filed under "more than a few", I've become a bit of an etsy fiber junkie lately. Ravelry needs to get a fiber stash database up so I can stop (my yarn stash notebook has been keeping the yarn purchases somewhat in check with its ridiculousness). Til then, though...

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Superwash BFL from dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com

I'm still choked with undyed superwash merino at home so don't really look to buy it dyed-- but superwash BFL (blue faced leicester, for the secret message crew ;)) is high on my covet list. So is dyework by dyeabolical yarns, aka Rachel. Her scratch art yarn is still sitting on my desk pining for attention, but I think this braid of fiber will have me first :)

I was really drawn to this American Maid colorway since cracking the spine on Deb Menz' Color in Spinning (and also the Twisted Sisters' Sock Workbook)... I keep wondering how the primary reds and blues will 1) draft together and 2) look to the eye once spun as singles and 3) as a plied sock yarn. Can I make purple, or the illusion of it? Dunno, but the color's peaked my curiosity.

Something else has peaked...

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Baby alpaca/silk from mataharispinnery.etsy.com

...namely my rational sense. 12 ounces (!!!) of 50-50 baby alpaca and silk in black from Matahari Spinnery. You may remember from a long while back that Arianie of MatahariSpinnery.com sent me a fiber sampler package for winning a contest on her blog-- she included a bump of baby alpaca and silk roving in fawn that I just was head over heels for. It's what my love feels like, my heart as it wavers and aches. She's since opened an etsy storefront to compliment her website. Browsing etsy I found that one of her revolving sales was on this fiber... and I bought it all.

Now really, this is a lot of fiber for me. Even though I keep buying larger qtys of fiber lately, my attention span... well. I really did have a reason for it though-- I've been kicking around an idea I shared on the Stash and Burn podcast a while back, namely to knit a circular scarf using the bmp space invaders sock charts, something decadent and worthy. And because I am like, mad... I wanted to spin the yarn myself. Maybe someday this'd be the background for that.

Maybe it'll just sit in my fiber stash and never be used but just longed for. I don't know.

I do know someone else who thinks space invaders and etsy is a good combo though...

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Space invaders handknit sweater by n2Imaginations.etsy.com
(picture used with permission from n2i)

n2Imaginations has HANDKNIT this invaders sweater and has it for sale in her etsy shop. I was blown away browsing and running across this-- dude. so.much.work and something so familiar. Nancy told me that though the charts weren't from bmp, they were inspired by the socks! Yay :)

I think the sweater's already terribly underpriced at $60 (?!!), and she's also selling a pattern for the sweater for $3. Very nice! :)

Also on the very nice front... Pantheon Acres, Knitting in Pink and Grad School Knitter have all posted about some of their favorite etsy finds and I loved them all :) I've been backlogged lately with life and... life, and it was really nice to see and hear from other etsyphiles.

I'll be back Monday (or tuesday-- it's a holiday in the states for the working wo/man... and me) with an odd project I hope to have some progress on. I miss you terribly.

9 comments:

StaceyR said...

I had a great time browsing through your stash page.....envious!!!!

Lisa said...

I can't wait until Ravelry makes a spot for our fiber either. I took some pictures of mine this week, and I have way too much. I have too much yarn too. I think I overbought as a new knitter and now I don't quite know what to do with some of this stuff.

lexa said...

Love the space invaders sweater! That's a lot of work for only $60.

We have Labour Day on Monday here in Canada, too. Then the kiddos go back to school in my province on Wednesday. My youngest goes to preschool three mornings this year instead of two. I won't know what to do next year when he starts "big school", too, and I have like 5.5 hours a day to myself! Maybe I'll learn to spin...

Enjoy your long weekend! :)

Courtney said...

I love the fiber, it is going to make beautiful yarn :-)I cant wait to see it spun

Opal said...

Cute bag! Gorgeous fiber! I too wish there were a fiber stash page on Ravelry. I need all the help I can get on getting organized and on keeping the stash down to a manageable amount.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the nice comments about the Space Invaders sweater. As you can see from the picture, it had some issues with the original design. But I'd put so much work into it and it looked so cool I didn't have the heart to frog it and didn't feel right about big $$$ mark on it.

Very cool post on the special finds on Etsy. Lots of cool stuff out there that can easily get overlooked.

Nice to know I'm not the only one out there that could insulate their house with their yarn stash. But I'm working it down....really.... that yarn purchase today won't make that much difference and I really needed it. ;>)

n2

Anonymous said...

Here's something I'd like to see you talk about in the future ...

You submitted a (an?) URL to the magazine awhile ago that made mention that many/most people who thought they were allergic to wool were actually allergic to part of the treatment process of raw wool.

As you know, we're not raw fiber kinds of girls here, but I'll bet you know what's being referred to right off the top of your head (or could put 2 and 2 together with just the smallest amount of web research).

Could you write about that sometime in the future? You could either send it to us at the mag, but I'll bet all your fans here would like the dissertation.

Thanks, babe! : )

Linda said...

I love little bags like that one. Your Hanami stole is gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

That pouch is great! Always room for a little kawaii in everyone's life.

The alpaca/silk you've bought is just gorgeous, I can see why you got so much of it, who could resist?

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