my etsy friday

I hadn't planned on a post today, but a jaunt to the post office earlier this week (thanks again!!) reminded me that the USPS is raising postal rates again. For most it means 2¢ more for a letter... but for others who do business thru the mail, its a lot more complicated with shape and weight based pricing going into effect Monday. Packages like mine (bubble mailers less than 3/4" thick) are going up over 50%, and true packages are going up more than 100% over the current postal rate. (Helpful breakdown on rates here... USPS' site is truly awful).

Anyhow, today & tomorrow are the days to get in under the gun before postal rate changes... (I'm not raising my shop's postal rates yet, but it may be necessary in the future.) What better way to race under the wire than find some new etsy vendors? :)





I'm on a batt frenzy. Really though... can you blame me for these? Merino, cashmere and silk noil, 7+ oz of the thickest, most delicious wonderfulness since tuesday. or wednesday? whatever. These are from String Theory Fiber Art (love the name)... she listed 2 batts and said she could card more, so of COURSE I took her up on it. I'm thinking a worsted single, low twist for a decadent Clapotis? For now I'm just squeezing it-- its as squishy and soft as it looks.

My etsy posts couldn't be complete w/out paper frenzy...


clockwise from top left:
i drink beer (russian) card from notyourmothers.etsy.com
knot of frogs from smackofjellyfish.etsy.com
journey to the center of the earth cover (reproduction) from notyourmothers.etsy.com
shortcut to mushrooms from spaceoddities.etsy.com
squids (set) from audelaine.etsy.com

I've bought a grip of cards from Smack of Jellyfish-- I think she's brilliant! She has a series of 26 cards for each letter in the alphabet; from her etsy store: "Collective nouns for animals are called "terms of venery." I found animals for each letter of the alphabet, and collective nouns for each of those animals. " She has other great ones too, and packages each with *black* envelopes, something that makes me weak in the knees.

I've also become a sucker for repurposed book papers... the shortcut to mushrooms cardfront is a page from The Fellowship of the Ring with tiny 3d mushrooms attached in the corner. This one totally floats my geek boat-- in one of my former lives I was a serious mycophile and I regularly check etsy for mushroom stuff. :) The Jules Verne is a reproduction of the "Center of the Earth" cover, but its a really good one on heavy cardstock.

More cards/paper...


clockwise from top left:
shoji screen, washi paper card from swankdesigns.etsy.com
popup card from tracychong.etsy.com
"the black ice score" repurposed book cover journal from raegunn.etsy.com
cooool flipbook from invaltdesign.etsy.com
sharky's machine repurposed book cover journal from raegunn.etsy.com

I can't do justice to the popup card from Tracy Chong. Just amazing... I bought another the day I received the one above, its just thrilling to me. The journals are both made from repurposed book covers, superfun (shipped from Japan but with US/APO rates). And the flipbook is just way awesome... if you're squeamish/prudish (it's okay!) don't click the link, but if not you really should. Makes me want to be a boy, for the second time this week (and 8 millionth in my lifetime)! :)


l to r: quietude, nightshade, poison (colorways)

Well, this is sock pr0n, yall :) CASHMERE/superwash merino/nylon sock yarn from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com. I think she's a color genius, and I like her colors more than Koigu. (Dude, what did she just say?!) Really though, there's a reason Krista's shop is regularly empty... and now she's stocking cashmere sock yarn at an insanely good price. Machine washers, this stuff is for you (no complaining about previous handwashing jabs!)

Gratutious is what I do best:


(Krista's pics of her yarn are better than mine though.)

edit, Krista says in the comments: "Unfortunately, my supplier just notified me she's out of stock of this cashmere sock yarn for a month and a half! Arggh! I might be able to get some still, though. we'll see."

And for April, shocked that you can buy food on etsy:


Stoneware mini bread baker (with jiffy mix inside!) from RisingSunEarthworks.etsy.com
Artisan loose leaf tea from TeaNoir.etsy.com (in glass tea mug/personal infuser with Delonghi water kettle)

The bread baker is f*ing genius. 1 box of jiffy mix (did you know this stuff is like, 35 cents?!) + egg and milk = awesome, AWESOME cornbread. I'm a huge fan of teanoir too (my favorites are her Cashmere & Marteani... I bought several of her sampler packs*. Check her sold items since she doesn't always list all of her blends...)-- I usually stick to genmaicha (toasted brown rice in green tea), since its what we'd have at my grandparents house and I'm all about nostalgia in my old age, but these are... wow.

Finally, before my kid yanks them away...



Toddler silkscreen tshirts from supastarr.etsy.com. I have several shirts from supa in my size, but I'm all about starting them young and getting them hooked-- my kid is no doubt going to be a tshirt addict like me. I just checked too, as of right now she's running a huuuge sale on most of her silkscreened shirts.

Have a good weekend, miss you!

...and go check out my stitch markers for sale over at Yarn4Socks!!! too.freaking.cool...


taken... * do you like black and red looseleaf tea? i bought 5 -- 1 oz samples from teanoir that aren't my thing. i'm a green tea girl but bought some blacks and some rooibos... they were okay, but not something i truly enjoy. (i don't like adding anything to tea, and like it hot, maybe they'd be better prepared another way). i have 1 oz (minus a teaspoon from each) in lady in red, juicy, heart of darkness, blue dahlia, and mojito-- all sealed in ziplocs as they were received. send me an EMAIL (not a comment, please-- addy's @ the bottom of the page) that you want these & i'll send them to you... i hate seeing them go to waste. int'ls fine, too. be quick, i'm thinking tea + knitting go hand in hand :)

they are looseleaf, so you'll need an infuser!

penguins and tigers

sometimes i just need to hold myself down and pound out that stockinette urge... run away from that feeling you're never going to have a FO again.



round y round, around the world and back again. stst does take the edge off, doesn't it? it'll return no doubt, the nagging need... but that is the fun, yeah?


long weekend socks
started: 4 may 2007
finished: 7 may 2007
toe up using PGR's method
handspun superwash merino, "glass ocean" roving from my shop
US 1.5 (2.5mm) knitpicks dpns, 4

i was beginning to feel i'd never have anything finished in my hands ever again, even though the german stockings probably only have a day's worth of work left in them. i just keep thinking... they'll be done and then what? i don't even think i can take pictures of my own legs, not in a way that really highlights how rad they are going to be, and i don't even think i have a skirt in my possession to put on (not counting the now-dusty suits from my days of posing as an officer of the court), and where am i going to wear something so fabulous-- sandy playgrounds, toddler-led tours of downtown?

anyway, this isn't about those stockings (though they will be done!)



toe up using priscilla gibson-roberts' method from simple socks: plain and fancy (heel/toe, and her grafted bindoff @ the top). i knit the cuffs in stockinette (see rhapsodic above about stst love, if you missed it) for 4.5" from the heelturn, and 1.5" 2x2 ribbing on US 0 (2.0mm). the gurus at knittyboard saved me at 130am, reassuring me cuffs like these should stay up. i'll need a field report to know for certain, but just trying them on hot off the needles for these pics seem to show they'll be fine. it is nice too, a less bulky cuff in my hightops-- every sock cuff i've knit before has been patterned or ribbed.



i love the yarn. i should be modest but really, i'm so happy with it. its pretty even, though the purple skein was thinner (64 st cast on vs 60 st CO for the more-green one). its soft, not wiry, and just fascinating to watch knit up. almost reminds me of trekking, in a way... i almost stopped my stockinette quickie and made pomatomus again-- reminded of my last fish pair.



i'll definitely be dyeing roving in this method again, as well... its weird, i thought i preferred no more than 3 colors in roving, plus the white for depth and brightness-- that any more was jarring to the eye during spinning and knitting. even though i used way more than 3 colors here, they're all tied together with complimentary overtones and i think it works and looks beautiful, not car-crashy like i feared.

that's it for now :)

oh... it was drilled into me, at a young age to not tell :) but my 13-year old boy soul does like to listen (could just be the 29-year old voyeur, too...) so leave me a comment about your best day last week-- you can be as vague ("wednesday") or as specific ("one time, at band camp...") as you like. next monday i'll send a skein of lightweight socks that rock in "henpecked" and a set of "surprise" zerO stitch markers to random's #1 darling... no worries if you story can't live up to mine :)

good luck!

best day ever

thanks for asking.

be back soon (with knitting).

:)

my own private blue moon and posh yarn sock club

...day 69 of no knitting content continues...


PoshYarn.co.uk
L to R: "Heckle" in Lucia, "Journal" in Emily, "Egg Yolk" in Lucia.
(Lucia: 4ply sock weight 70% merino 30% cashmere yarn. Each skein is 100g / 360 yards, Emily: 4ply sock weight 80% lambswool 10% cashmere 10% angora yarn. Each skein is 100g / 365 yards.)

No, I didn't join a sock club :) But I wanted to play along, esp. after seeing so many great ones roll around blogs lately.

This was my first Posh Yarn purchase-- she updates every Sunday at 10am PST (6pm GMT), and its a free for all. (What is it about yarn that drives us mad?) I usually pass over the preview since there are a lot of pastels that aren't my cup of joe, but the black in the "journal" colorway, and the bright yellow "egg yolk" was too much to bear :) I'm not as sure about the "heckle," but as with everything we'll see. The base yarns are wonderfully soft and cabled-- Lucia is 3 plies of 2-ply and Emily is 4 plies of 2-ply. Emily looks thicker than Lucia, though they're listed as the same weight/yardage. Handwash only, so unless someone changes their ways the cashmere socks are all mine :)

More on selfishness...


Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight
L to R: Sunstone, Midsummer Night, Jasper, Tanzanite, Mustang Sally, Obsidian

I love STR, and love their semi-solids & watercolors even more. I may have been one of the last custom dye orders (I requested the Jasper & Tanzanite, the rest are available for sale on their site)... I read on the rockin' sock club blog that they aren't dyeing to order anymore (somewhere? can't find it now.) These were sitting at the post office for weeks, my mailman is getting even at me for getting so much cool stuff lately.

Cool stuff segue:

Newest shirt from threadless on its way, even though I hate light colored shirts:



(its not as cool as my "you sank my battleship" zipup from last-last week, but i'm an asia-phile, -racist, -littlekid...)

...and Knitting Nature is on sale @ Amazon for $8.99 (?!!) I picked up Runway Knits too... the wide rib light grey sweater on the bottom of the Knit Picks preview page has me... anxious. :)

spinning is like doritos. and a side of etsy.

(almost as good of a non sequitur as poker is like quilting, but i digress.)

There have to be other people like me out there... you totally have other commitments, are rational people who know what they are and how they should be done-- but you get that princess pea nagging about something and have to do it til you're absolutely sick of it. Every few years (cyclical, I can't decide if it comes with El Niño or not)-- I get absolutely obsessed with Doritos. Like, a bag a day... and not the new fancy ones, plain ole fake orange cheese in the corner of your mouth is all that's left of today's bag Doritos. Its gross, I know! Goes on for like 10 days (two weeks, I lie!), and then I just wilt and can't eat *any* Doritos til the tide rolls in again.

I'm the same way with Taco Bell, but let's not talk about that.

Spinning's becoming the same for me, taking up all of my free time...



...but can you blame me?

It really is obsessive-- I started this "glass ocean" roving (pictured here, dyed for my shop but kept since I was curious) on Friday and had the last of it plied on Tuesday, 4 oz. I'm not a production spinner, nor am I fast-- but I really wanted to have it done in a good way. Partly I wanted another handspun to knit with... when someone tells you your last socks were the best feeling ever (and you've knit a lot of socks!), its a bit of an incentive.



Halfway thru the roving, I seriously thought I was going to sell this yarn though. Its not a color I'm drawn to or like to knit with (blue and green lovers, don't hate me!)... after it was plied I was almost positive of that. Washing it and watching it plump up though-- I don't know.



One skein is more purple, and also looks to be thinner gauge overall... a beauty factor in handspun yarns I think. I plied this really tightly, and again am so happy that Teyani posted about tightly plying yarn (that it's okay!)... before, all the books I'd read told me that the yarn needed to be balanced going onto the bobbins when plying to be "good". My evenly balanced (sock) yarns looked nothing like my favorites: Socks that Rock, Koigu, Louet Gems... I also know now why my favorites have a tendency to twist back on themselves when knitting even though they hang straight in the skein-- I'm pretty sure its because they employ the same tight twist I aimed for.



I'm not an expert and shouldn't be giving advice (Andrea asked for tips on spinning-- want to share some in my comments? She makes the *cutest* stitch markers on etsy (updated link!!), too), but I'm happy :)

Another happiness?



Singles being plied... superwash merino in "The Color" (again from my last post). Looks like the ice cream you drive way out of your way to share with your loved one. Candy candy the plied stuff looks like, but we'll save that til its done.

I don't think I'm going to be doing anything but spinning for few more zips, so I'll share more etsy stuff to tide yall over. (I haven't knit a stitch in a week. Spank me.)


top: debbieshandspun.etsy.com ... natural colored llama/merino
bottom: magicalfibers.etsy.com, unknown wool in "dalek 2.0"

I've not been buying yarn lately (lies!! wait til next week!), but I've been obsessed with batts for spinning. Somehow I have it in my head that I'll be able to spin a thicker yarn from a batt than from the combed superwash merino top I use... we'll see. The llama/merino is so soft and evenly carded... I was thinking natural socks? Not sure, but floofy and I dig "natural" fibers along with crazy dyed ones. Dalek just looks crazy... I want FAT yarn for a FAT hat for my... unusually proportioned head.


tshirt from etsylabs.etsy.com
ceramic and paper coasters from dragonflies.etsy.com
cherry spree pendant from LORiOLA.etsy.com
octopus pendant from westernmountain.etsy.com

Etsy has an actual, physical place in NY where you can go to create whatever (metal, art, sewing, etc.) for a small fee. They also have a store where you can buy finished projects, like the two headed bird screenprinted on top of a spraypainted pink dot shirt. (Wrinkled by me!) The ceramic coasters are for mother's day... mom's been dropping hints like a madman for coasters. Usually I'm thick as a brick but I caught on about the 7th time-- they're art paper decopaged onto ceramic tiles with felt dots for backing.

The red cherry "spree" pendant was a custom piece from LORiOLA... its thick and heavy and my favorite at the moment. Karrie may dig the next one (we share a love of tentacles and etsy pendants! she has a great list of her favorites on her blog): a sterling silver octopus holding a piece of quartz. So.cool. It reminds me a little of the guy in high school who wore crystals and was into magyc and mysticism (i dated that guy! on accident! he showed up to my door with a rose and a chaperone when i thought it was a "group thing"! told me later he could turn into a panther during the full moon and that though whites were the master race, asians like me were good to have around to do computer work and wouldn't be minded when the revolution came!!)... but I like it and so does my kid ("octo-DUS!"). Came with a simple satin cord, perfect for those times you need to take your necklace off NOW but forget how exactly to do that.

and as always, lots and lots of cards:


top to bottom, L to R:
science of condensation card, dote.etsy.com
fish & dino cards: creativeapples.etsy.com
japanese drywall: dote.etsy.com
r2d2 & pig: creativeapples.etsy.com
mailbox & carousel: bellajean.etsy.com
grasshopper: creativeapples.etsy.com
monkey man & monkey girl: teriko.etsy.com
mr atom robot card: dote.etsy.com

creativeapples is obviously a favorite. What? You don't see those awesome images in her shop? That's cos I snuck on thru her flickr stream and asked her to make a custom listing for me of a few favorite images.

I have a few more knitting-related faves to share... things I haven't bought (yet) but float my boat:

* Porcelain knitware from alyssaettinger.etsy.com. Vases, bowls, coasters, plates, cups... all embossed with knitting textures: cables, stockinette, ribs. Really.

* Mixed media art/knitting paintings by shoofly.etsy.com.

* Knitter's gift tags by IslandCrafts.etsy.com.

*Knitting messenger bags by valutree.etsy.com. Messenger style bags with a front panel under the flap where you can arrange all of your knitting needles and accessories. She says she does custom orders, too.

* Small project pouches from piddleee.etsy.com. (I like the goldfish!)

* Gorgeous yarn (think koigu speckles) from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com. Thrilling yarn (I love the use of black in yarn) from DyeabolicalYarns.etsy.com. And Deb's still having a (RARE) sale on some of her yarns at FearlessFibers.etsy.com.


I found out about the porcelain knitware on etsypickoftheday. Another way that I have found great shops was during the weekly "saturday night specials" sale run in the etsy forums: Every Saturday night, starting at 5 pm EST, there is a thread in the "promotions and critiques" forum where LOTS of etsy sellers (like maybe a hundred shops) post sales that are good only from 5pm Saturday to 5 am Sunday... I've bought soap, cards, jewelry... lots of stuff from stores I'd never have found otherwise. I haven't run a SNS sale in a while, but since I'm pimping it to yall (and you made it this far!) I'll have a SNS sale in my shop this weekend. I'll post the special to the thread and do a quick post here on my blog w/ the details... I won't run one again for a (long) while, so it'll be a good one :)

miss you! and enter Nicole's blogoversary contest for some good etsy lovin', too.

colors and numbers

"blake's tyger"


"blake's lamb"


"the color"*


"one hundred years of solitude"


"desert solitaire"


"snow falling on cedars"


"glass tyger"*


"glass ocean"*

the glass series were a fun experiment for me... i may dye more in this style (around the world-- twice over), but i'm not sure for sale in my etsy store. they take longer than the others (twice, and i dye each of the runs individually)... but i like the way they look and the ocean is spinning up nice, even though i'm not keen on blue & greens. i think i'll keep "the color" as well, perfect since i'm no longer afraid of purple.

and numbers?


exclusive freshwater pearl stitch marker colorways for yarn4socks.com


¿¡will regular blog posting ever return?!
...stay tuned...

break from breaks

sometimes its good, taking breaks





watched wool never dries.


superwash merino wool roving for zero.etsy.com... new row counters up later today and over the next few days, too.

now i have no excuse to not knit on my german stocking :)

wednesday filler

I thought about dedicating a blog day weekly to the wonder of Etsy and its sellers (still don't know if I'm going to)... I had a lot of comments surprised at the cool stuff on etsy from my last posts, and that people enjoy personal recommendations since finding stuff can be a bit of an ordeal when browsing there. Combine that with the fact I have no knitworthy content but the time* and urge to post-- and there you go.

First up, I'm a member of the etsyFAST.com street team-- "Etsy Fiber Arts Street Team." A bunch of like-product sellers (or geographical, or whatever) join a street team to help one another promote their repective craft disciplines... its a cool idea. etsyFAST is new but there are a lot (and varied, really) people working in the fiber arts arena-- their website compiles all of the member shops. I put together a "treasury" on etsy to feature some of them (including a skein of Fearless Fibers sock in a shocking, droolworthy yellow), you can see the treasury here:

etsyFAST treasury
(expires in less than a day)

Treasuries are lists of 12 items chosen by etsy members around a theme; mine was etsyFAST-- there are some for colors, for shapes, for types of items, etc. Its a great way to get a sampling of things without having to rely on search functions or categories... sometimes you don't know what you want til you see it. Lists expire in 48-72 hours throughout the day, so there's always something new to look at.

I'm also a big card fan, so there's always some new cards making their way to my mailbox...



Left to right, top to bottom:

Quilt postcards from Lucys Postcard Quilts, dotd skeletons & snail
Chicken butt screenprint from Young and With It
Heart Attack postcard (set) from Magic Jelly
Koi and Butterfly digitally altered photograph cards from Alicia Bock

Its hard to tell, but the postcard quilts are just that-- double sided fabric with interfacing inside, with threadsewn edging and quilting stitches on top (I'm obviously not one with a sewing machine... forgive my slaughter of sewing nomenclature!). They're blank on the back for writing, and Lucy assures me I can send them thru the mail... I've sent stranger stuff, so I know she's right :)

I had no idea before etsy that I could like so many different types of cards... hand stitched, screenprinted (one, two, three... I could go on!), photography, letterpress, reproduced art prints, art postcards, hand drawn, digital mashups... too many types & yall won't look at the links! I've bought from all these shops before and they do great stuff. No hallmark, no mass production... as special as the person you take time to write.

Most of my purchases come from the US... but a few neat ones came from overseas recently:



Japanese fabric, "shinkansen" sanrio and red fugu blowfish from dreamrains
Print of original art, "Godzilla"-- signed & numbered from monstergallery

Dreamrains is a seller in Japan, specializing in Japanese fabrics. I bought these 2 to send to Satomi (from JapaneseHandmadeEtc) for new pouches when she is settled into her new US digs. You guys know what a train junkie my kid is, and my little kid nature loves Sanrio (though if you met me in person... I'd never admit it!)-- her shop was sold out of it but she relisted some for me, yay :) I found monstergallery thru their adorable zines... shipping takes a bit longer for both (monstergallery's in Singapore) but both were packaged well and arrived beautifully. (The fabrics are wrinkled... my fault. Kiddo wouldn't let go of the train one, eventually I had to hide it with the blowfish one... you know, cos it reminded him of his missing train cape/blankie/scarf/etc...)



* why do i have time? i'm dyeing some more superwash merino roving for my store... and in the middle of making some stitch markers for Yarn4Socks.com! i'm putting together some exclusive "colorways" for y4s... a peek:





there's more, but a girl has to have some mystery. or knit really rad socks.

fridays

Friday nite. Age 17.
Sneaking out of my bedroom window, thru the dog run, over the chainlink fence, past mom's window and thru the side gate... rolling the car out of driveway without turning the engine over, hoping i wouldn't run into the bushes and cable tv box like mom did the time the cops came. Picking up friends, sodas, sampoerna extras for the 2 hour drive to an la warehouse... anonymous speakerhumping in pantlegs always heavy with club and desert scenes. Back in again at dawn, stinking and glittersmeared, asleep almost as fast as I drove down that pass every weekend.

Friday nite. Age 21.
Unisex bathrooms in the dorms, the perfect place for rounding up and down with soon-to-be ex-boy and girlfriends. One campus bar, then another, then another... stumbling into Blondies or the food ghetto on Durant (the closest many of us public school kids would get to the gourmet ghetto, on the other side of campus), praying a slice or a burrito would calm the rage in our stomachs and mouths. 2 deep we fell into the ancient couches in the lounge, leaving some to play Jerry Springer drinking games... hoping there was enough time to pair up and down while our roommates curled up and took a shot with each passing profanity.

Friday nite. Age 25.
Big pregnant, accidentally pregnant... cradling my stomach in my arms, whispering secrets to my son still inside. Secrets I'd never share had he been able to understand, loving the whispering in the reeds possibility of life, of the biggest littlest love of my life, the biggest sweetest trap. Terrified that nothing would be the same, savoring the new, sharp understanding of what it is to be alone... and that I had been for a very long time. No more time for the existential drama, postmodern angst of self. Time to do something huge, be the best, become a better, stronger person than I'd ever imagined possible.

Friday nite. Age 29.
Sneaking out of the room where the love of my life sleeps, finally no more protests for nursing... just a sweet profile lit with my opening of the door. Alone, but not the alone of youth, rolling fingers and hands thru and thru. Silence broken by the gentle rocking of the Joy, the whir of singles off of the Kate, my own heart as I allow my mind to wander over everything... especially those places I dare not wander in the daytime.

Its a good life.







navajo plied yarns. greyish pinkish: 70/30 merino-tussah silk, red/black: fiberfiend.com superwash merino in "mars". both rovings purchased at stitches west 2007.

not a german stocking.

Handspun socks
"Crying of Lot 49" roving, superwash merino (from my shop)
Started: March 22, 2007 (?)
Finished: April 12, 2007
US 3 (3.25mm) dpns, 4

I think I will keep spinning my superwash merino sock yarn at a dk weight... I love how bouncy and squishy these turned out. I spin too finely in general, but somehow hit that sweet spot with this roving.

Not really a lot to say... I used PGR's Simple Socks formulaic heel & short row toe, toe up. The formula has a # of stockinette rounds around the ankle once you complete the heel-- it resulted in that bunching you see (usually, I just start into ribbing after completing the heel). I don't think I'll use the stockinette again like that; it may also just be more pronounced as its a thicker yarn. Also, I did more of a squared off heel and toe, less pointy... just because :)

Y just because again, more pics...









Not to say the German Stockings aren't keeping on.


German Stocking #2, Cookie A
Fearless Fibers' superwash merino
garnet/pearl and iolite/pearl stitch markers

Just a few more repeats and I'll be on the heel-- the decreases are done for the leg. I'm a little sidetracked by spinning though...


Pouch by JapaneseHandmadeEtc.etsy.com (see review here)
70/30 merino/tussah silk inside

I thought I'd be able to spin the silk/merino at a thicker weight, but its an effort. We'll see :)

Have a good weekend! :)