If officially ended Saturday around 1:30 pm my time. We justified this by saying that it was Easter sunday in Australia and the yarn store wouldn’t be open on Sunday anyway. Considering that I had bought no fiber in any form since Ash Wednesday I have to say, I did well. Particularly for someone who doesn’t really observe Lent anyway. And to my complete surprise I didn’t go crazy buying everything I saw or had on my wish list. I hadn’t been to Village wools since the large koigu shipment had come in so I was happy to sift though the shelves.

So I bought four skeins of a pretty color of koigu to make myself some kneesocks

And, social dork that I am, I did succumb to peer pressure and purchase the yarn to make a shadow shawl with my abq snb girlies. Hey, without them I never would’ve tried the Jaywalkers pattern especially as my first sock and to my utter surprise I’ve become quite the joiner. The pattern calls for three skeins of koigu kppm and three skeins of E Lavold Silky Wool (which I’ve eyed several of the last times I’d been in the store) in contrasting colors. Several people have been getting dark silky wool and bright koigu. I kind of went the other way.

So those and I paid Mama-E for her project spectrum sock yarn subscription and that was pretty much my discretionary portion of our tax return. But I’m very happy and really looking forward to those kneesocks and casting on for another project with my snb buddies.

All the purchases (including my April mama e sock yarn) involves yellow orange so I suppose it qualifies as Project Spectrum. I’m way WAY behind on my PJ project but I’ve finished the ugg booties and ironically cabled socks.

In Dye-O-Rama News, which i’m sure you read at Scout’s anyway Cody and I are putting the finishing touches on the signup forms and the Swap website tonight. SIGNUPS WILL BE TOMORROW NIGHT AT 6PM MDT - THEY WILL END SATURDAY NIGHT AT 6PM MDT. Number of participants is unlimited but only one swap per person. There is a group blog and you’ll be sent to the group blog signup form after you finish filling out the swap form. It’s all very complicated and stuff for us but (hopefully) easier for you.

My Albuquerque-related project is on hold until the signups are done but I’ve pretty much paid for and finished part one of the big indescribible project. I really wish I could go into it more but that one’s seriously top secret.

Back to the salt mines with me. Where the hell are my glasses.

I had a blast at Crafty Friday. Yay!
Cody found my digital camera in one of my project bags. Yay!
He found it when it fell out onto the garage floor when he was bringing my project bag in from the car. Boo!
The camera’s still ok. Yay!

I was ubergirly last night. Yay!
I dyed my own hair dark strawberry blondish. Yay!
I used that cool depilitory Veet squeegee stuff on my legs and underarms. Yay!
I missed a spot and found a “soul patch” smack in the front middle of my ankle. Boo!
I also got a chemical burn on the underside of my left upper arm. Boo!
I found some neosporin for the healing and found some monistat topical cream (the stuff that comes in a little tube for numbing your hooha before the internal medicine works) for numbing the pain. Yay?
We got some real medicine and bandages today. Yay!
I don’t make much of a girly girl do I? Yay.

We finally made it to Trader Joe’s today! Yay!
It was unbelievably crowded. Boo!
They have good pet food. Yay!
It was comparatively cheap with higher quality than Smiths. Yay!
We didn’t buy a whole lot else. Boo!
We did get a pot of daisies…Yay!

To bring to my mother-in-law when we went for a visit this afternoon. Boo?
We got free haircuts from the mom-in-law! Yay!
The father-in-law and I did not argue about politics once. Yay!
He made a compliment (I think) about Cody looking like “the president” after his haircut. Boo
I joked “Ok Cody now you have to make a face that’s simultaneously dumb and smug!” Yay!
My mother-in-law gave me free Tupperware! Yay!
Alas, we did not get a free meal. Boo!
But I did finish the second ugg baby bootie. Yay!

My Tivo DVR thingie is acting up. Boo!
But it taped the new episode of Huff. Yay!
I’m going to go watch it now so this post is ending soon. Boo!
And eat some hummus and Pitas from Trader Joe’s. Yay!
But first I’m going to show you all these photos. Boo? Yay?

Here are the long-awaited Noro Stash photos.

All the Noro
with bonus puppy lying in the dirt!

Silk Garden

Kureyon

Iro

Cash Iroha

Transitions

With bonus Fiesta Yarns porn!

La Boheme and Gelato in “African Violet”

Kokopelli in Turqoise Trail and Watermark in Taos

La Boheme and Chamisa in Arizona

This is a neat handpainted yarn from a local artist in the East Mountains, Robin Pascal. I used her yarn to make the craaaaazy scarf.

And this is my current Project Spectrum project yarn. I’m in the second repeat on the front of my Sprout tunic with this Giotto yarn. I’m going to use this pretty gold Fiesta La Luz silk for something this month as well.

And this is the puppy wearing the glam punk rock neckwarmer

Lots of photos. Lots.

First we have my third installment of Yarn Stash Appreciation Sunday. This week? Amazing handspun yarn (usually) bought from the artists themselves.

There are closeup photos in the Flickr Set so I’ll just briefly tell you about each yarn. Clockwise starting from the top left: Two hanks Raspberry Tea by Maisy Day from Hello Yarn, Three different yarns (Pink thick and thin, blue thin, Santa Fe Rainbow thick and thin) from Sandstone Ranch.
Bottom Row from the right: Three big skeins of yarn (two green, one pink) from the Jitterbug shawl kit from Hello Yarn, in the bottom left corner are three skeins of lovely wool and silk from Greenwood Fiberworks, and above that is the unbelievable light sensitive yarn from Material Whirled.

Aren’t they beautiful? I highly recommend each and every one of those spinners. And yes, there seems to be an awful lot of pink there. This wasn’t exactly done on poipose but I certainly don’t think it hoits.

Next, I finished the little collar project for Winter. I ended up just sewing the fabric inside and not making it a collar cover - just a collar itself. We never use her collar for the leash anyway, we always use a halter for that.

It’s soft and it fits her nicely.

Oh, and here’s something else I finished last night..

Yep! Finished my Jaywalkers! I even sewed the ends in. Go me!

Even though I made them a good bit taller than the original pattern, I still only used one skein of that Cherry Tree Hill Birches. Less than a yard to spare but just one skein. Which means I can make another pair of socks in this fun color.

Now, there’s this backyard meme going around but to be honest. You really don’t want to see my backyard. It used to have trees (that had to be cut down due to a fungus or something), and it had a big yard of grass with built-in sprinklers. But we both believe that having a yard is both a pain in the ass and completely an irresponsible thing to do in the desert so now it’s mostly dirt with weeds and a lot of dog poop. So I’m going to show the parts of my backyard that I like.

This gargoyle that guards our back door.

Our only remaining full-sized tree

And this.

No, not the arroyo drainage construction that’s been going on behind our house since last May. Nor the gross red wooden fence. But my little desert savannah camoflage dog.

Of course she makes the den pretty fun too

If you’re curious about what the rest of the house looks like (with a few changes since this was made in early 2002) check out my eerily accurate Sims recreation of our house.

For this week in Yarn Stash Appreciation I took photos of all my yarn from South America. Mostly from Manos del Uruguay but one pair of skeins from Malabrigo.

Both companies sell yarn made by women in rural Uruguay - selling their handspun and dyed wool so they can support themselves and their families. They use wool from local sheep, spin the wool by hand, and dye it using a special technique. Their yarn is famous for having beautiful, deep colors and being extremely soft. Their fibers are used in their own in-house designs and company stores as well as by major manufacturers like Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, and Marc Jacobs.

So this is all my handspun yarn from Uruguay.

(counter-clockwise from bottom left)

Three skeins of Manos Granite Multi
I bought them with a multidirectional scarf in mind.

Two solid light pinks and a multi (I think the multi is Bramble)
No specific project in mind for these I just liked them.

Three different Multis (I think it’s Autumn, Agate, and Prarie)
I bought these on Friday at my lys. I liked them because each one is a different colorway but each goes together. No specific project in mind.

Two skeins of Manos Wildflowers
Bought to make a pair of fuzzyfeet. Probably still will

Two skeins of Malabrigo Autumn
Also bought to make fuzzyfeet. Maybe. Not sure now.

I’m open to any suggestions you have for projects with this yarn! It’s a dream to use so I’m always happy to knit with it. I might make a “so-called” scarf and matching hat set from one of the three-skein groups since I finally got the copy of “Creative Knitting” with the crosshat-ch pattern in it.

And I’ve been using some leftover Manos (among other yarns) to make Cody’s patchwork fuzzyfeet.

I just finished this sock last night

Tomorrow or Tuesday I’ll take a photo and post the pattern for the flower Beverly was talking about earlier. It uses the leftover yarn from le clap and an interesting little technique I’ve made up.

Theme days are great if you’re not sure what else to post. As long as they don’t get stressful about keeping to the schedule. So. I might consistently post yarn photos on Sunday. I might not. When I do I will call it Stash Sunday. I might even make silly buttons for it what do you think about that?

My sock yarn stash (not including the two skeins I bought of this the other day)

click on the photos to see notes on each yarn

Yarn that isn’t technically sock yarn but I bought specifically to make socks with

Less than some people more than others. I’d love to dive right in and make a sock with each right damn now.

But, alas, I have those darn decreases in my Clapotis to start today. Which means that I might even be done by tonight. Wow!

If you’ve noticed I’ve been more commenty on your sites lately I’ve been making an effort to give feedback to the sites I visit. I’m still a big lurker but I’m trying!

Ok, I’m off to clap. Clapotis as a verb now. I’m getting carried away but there’s just so many times I can think about this word without playing with variations in my head. To clap, Clappypants, the Clapster..I’m sure none of them are original.