News and Gossip (spoiler)

So... news? i'm done with the S&S socks. They are little shorty cuff socks and i've been wearing them ever since i got them blocked. i LOVE them. someone who likes a bit longer socks may want to increase the length of shaft by an inch or so. I had 35 grams of the 100 gram skein left, so there'll be plenty of yarn, if somoene so chooses. They are super comfy... and cute! I've gotten a ton of compliments... from strangers in restaurants... and friends! I think i've convinced about 8 people to start knitting because of these awesome socks! The sock kit is for sale in my store, so even if you did not purchase the club up front, you can now buy it month by month (limited number of extra kits--i'm thinking 8 or 10--i'm not sure, but hurry if you like them, they'll go quick!)

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spoiler coming

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MORE news: the Rough Yarn is ready for people to pick their prize. After some thought i'm also going to allow people to pick $10.00 of other yarn instead if they prefer. If you won, look for emails... here's the yarn!

OK, so juicy gossip... and a bit of fun news! This week the gossip that MommaMonkey of Socktopia fame is NOT dead. there is quite a lot of evidence, apparently, that she ducked out of commitments and such by pretending to die of complication related to lupus. Moreover, it is likely that she created a sockpuppet account or two on Ravelry, before she did it, so she could watch the fallout. People lost money... people were hurt... This all coming out in the wake of the MCY scandal...

so, the options are get mad, get even, or point and laugh. I choose the latter. I'm starting a new line of yarn. It's called R.I.P. (Undead yarn)... i have the first colorway dyed up. It's going to be called "SCAB". it's actually really pretty... dark dark reds.... Coming is "I'm Dead"... it'll make it hard to hide. Old Mummy... anyway... I'm pointing and laughing. it's better than crying! SCAB... don't pick!

Jessica sent me these fab pictures of my kids doing Archery....

Brenden's awesome hat!

I've been playing with hat ideas... and intarsia... and Brenden needed a hat... so here's my 1st practice hat...



he loves red so, he's pretty happy with it.. and i'm pretty happy with the practice i got...

here he is with Tuck... ok, you can't really see the hat, but isn't he a cutie?

The winning name is....

After much agonizing and arguing with myself and my husband, i have picked the following two names... neither of which is QUITE what the winning people picked... but they will each win a skein of Rough Wool (I'll be sending out pictures of all colorways they can pick from soon)...

So Mrs. Feasance (MsFeasance on ravelry) suggested Anne (as in Green Gables)... which i changed minutely to "Anne with an E" for this one


and dobarah suggested Demeter (the greek god of the vine)... the thing is Demeter is actually the Greek goddess of the harvest, but Dionysus is the Greek god of Wine... so I'm calling this one Dionysus...



I am also, in the grouping of "random winners" going to send the people who suggested the following "runner up names" yarn...


Rusted Dreams
Celtic Copper
Dragon Scales
(for the first )

and
Frozen Fresia
Nordic Night
Lady of the Lake
(for the second)


other random winners will follow when my son gets home from 1st grade to pick "random numbers".

Good Luck!

I'll leave comments on teh contest post open a couple more hours... then i'll shut them. Just so everyone knows how i handle this. (i've done contests like this before... i've never gotten quite this many responses, so THANKS!!!) I'll read through the comments, i try NOT to look at who suggested anything, so i've not read through the suggestions yet. I open the pages without avatars, and just read name suggestions (and related comments). I write down my favorites... usually about 10 a piece, but with 430 suggestions, i suspect there may be more than average, and then i spend awhile considering, usually i cross out those that are not my faves as i go... eventually coming down to 1 name for each skein.

for random winners, of course, i use a random number generator... my 6-yr-old! hehehehehhe

good luck!

Free Yarn--DON'T POST COMMENTS ALLLL DONE!

I have two lovely new colorways and no names. I'm feeling a bit brainless i guess. Post suggestions for names and I will be giving several skeins of Castle's Rough Yarn away for free. (Rough Yarn is a slightly rougher yarn than my typical sock yarn and would work up lovely for felting purses or such. You can see pictures of some colorways here in my etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=11974&section_id=5002440).



Here's the yarn! What suggestions do you have? Be sure to post a name so i can identify who you are if you win. the names will be picked by me, but the winners will be picked at random, as well as those who pick the winning names. I will be giving away 1 skein of yarn (past the winning two) for every 25 people who post suggestions. So invite your friends and neighbors! (up to about 15 skeins cuz then i'll run out!)

Also visit my new website: http://castlefibers.com/ for more yarn to look at!

Contest will run through Jan. 23rd.

SPOILER WARNING...

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I have one of the Sense and Sensibility Socks done. I love it. I blocked the lace on the cuff... yesterday, which made a big difference. Lace just looks so darned much better when it's all blocked. As typical, there will be a tiny bit of pooling on the gusset. I sort of think that all hand paints (or virtually all) will do this. When i do spaghetti dyeing, there is NO pooling. NONE. But, spaghetti dyeing takes hugely more time, and i can't do colors like this with it, since the yellow would get muddied up :-(

anyway... pictures!

I'm absolutely loving the cuff and heel. I really like the top pattern as well. I put the sock on for pictures... and it was so hard to take it off. It felt so comfy. i just wanted to keep wearing it. But, unfortunately, the other sock is only in the lacey-cuff stage. I have 4 repeats of the 7 done.

More Dyeing...

I'm trying to get my new website all full of wonderful new yarn. i dyed this yesterday using my newest most fun technique of dyeing! it creates wonderful gradiations, and marvelous colors! come on over and visit: http://castlefibers.com

Today is the very last day for purchasing the Jane Austen yarn club... if you haven't yet, you should get in on fun! invite a friend!

more yarn...

yesterday was a good day, i dyed some sushi yarn and some fabulous other yarn... i love this orange/red/purple colorway...mmmmmm

this particular technique leaves some light/white strands behind... and i LOVE that.

the colorways look bright and clean because of the shade variation, i think...

Prairie Soliloquy... was dyed with the same technique

I also dyed this: No Room For Cream Yarn with the same technique, only i over dyed all the white parts ... love it! i love the orangey and carmely shades... looks yummy!

I also dyed some Sushi Yarn! these are just fun, with long color stripes

two turned out surprisingly similar... even tho i thought they would be much different than they are...

and then there's this lovely orange-y one:

they're all dyed so that one could knit a sock from each end, and they would match!

overall it was a good day...

and tomorrow... there'll be more to show! some yummy teal and purple, and more!

dyeing day

so-- i spend today playing. i'm generally pleased.

I dyed this yarn which is a lot different than my typical, highly saturated colors... I believe i'll call it Prairie Soliloquy. I dyed it with the picture in mind...

I wanted that sense of isolation... I'm not sure i quite captured it, but i like the yarn anyway!

then i played with other yarn... none is dry enough to show yet, but i'm really thrilled with some orange and red and purpley stuff. it is gorgeous.

i picked up kids, and then the sun set... it could not have been a more lovely, productive day...

and as days often do here... it ended with beauty. this, this is why i live here...

between the isolation of that rundown house and the gorgeous color of this sunset... it is worth it. totally worth it.

SPOILER ALERT

so... don't look at this if you want to be surprised by the Sense and Sensibility project/yarn!
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I've been working away at the design for the S&S socks. I'm loving how they look--i particularly love how the heel flap looks... and the cuff... ok, i'm loving it all.

I've gotten past the fussy parts... the shaft/heel flap are sensibility--and the foot will be sensible--so it's going much faster now!



i'm still debating about whether to change the colorway somewhat. if i do, the yellow and dove grey will remain the same, and the pink and rose will sort of move UP a step... leaving rose and maroon instead!

SPOILER ALERT------Sense and Sensibility socks --the beginning

so, i'm not a big lace knitter, but when i started thinking about socks for Sense and Sensibility, i immediately thought they should be a bit lacy. I decided after lots of thought that i wanted a turn down anklet with edges that had points. I looked at numerous lace patterns, didn't find precisely what i wanted so i launched off on my own...i cast-on and frogged entirely too many times to discuss, but have now reached this point

which i quite like. it is not too lacy. the yarn would obscure any significant lace. But a bit lacy. and has the edge that i wanted.

this shows the edge a bit better.

the wonderful and amazing thing is those needles. I got them for Christmas from my wonderful husband. I have asked for fiber related items in the past but never gotten any. I guess he has given in. I am officially (in his mind) truly an unrepentant fiber geek. i WIN!!!! heheehhehe.

Daria is coming over later to dye yarn for the shawl/cloak design that she is working on for the JA Yarn Club. Can't wait! i'm excited to get started dyeing.