Knitting in pink

2 weeks ago, I fell in love with something I saw over at Lotus Knits' blog. She'd just had a contest and the winner had won a skein of her Aura sock yarn in the "Walking with a Ghost" colorway. She'd also mentioned that she would post more of this yarn on her etsy shop that evening.
After a brief exchange through her blog and email, she listed a skein of that yarn especially for me and a few days later it made its way to me.

By now I bet you're wondering why I fell in love with the yarn, right? Well, first of all, Aura is a blend of Merino, Silk, Nylon and ... wait for it ... Silver strands. Furthermore, this particular colorway was silver colored so it was just beautiful!

You want to know what it looks like now, don't you? (Make sure to click on the pictures so you can see them bigger)

Can you see the shimmering of the silver thread?

The yarn is super soft and the color is just gorgeous. I've been thinking that I should make a pair of Snowflake Lace socks with the yarn. That would be a quite appropriate match I think. Now if I could only knit them in time for Christmas...

I've always known I didn't like yellow. Can someone tell me what happened?

How did all this yellow yarn make it into the stash? And why do I like it so much?

I'm pretty convinced I like pink too, I think that much is obvious.



Feel free to click on the pictures to make them bigger. Don't forget to wipe the drool off your chin when you're done! : )

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Does anyone have the Tree Jacket pattern by Zephyr Style that they'd like to trade for Wicked by the same ladies? I bought the pdf a few months ago and I just know I'll probably never knit it. But the Tree Jacket, I'm pretty sure I will! ETA: Found one!

Message to my Sockapalooza pal: I've been trying to reach you but I don't think you check your anonymous email. I'm concerned that my pair of socks might have gotten lost in the mail. You said you sent them to me almost 2 weeks ago and they still haven't arrived. Can you contact me with your regular email so that we can see if we can find out what happened? Thank you!

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I've been waiting for something to arrive in the mail to write this post. The last item I was waiting for came in today so now I can!

Here are a few things I ordered in the last couple weeks from etsy.

First I ordered a circular needle wallet from Piddleloop.

I special ordered one to match the project pouch and the zippered case that I already had bought from them.



It came with a few extra goodies; cute pencils, stitch markers, a little notebook and cute little tags.



I also found this cute necklace by Mack Handmade Goods. I thought it would be a fun addition to my jewelry box. I think that all knitters should get one!



Closeup on the pendant here.

Last but not least is this:



What is it you ask? It's a brand new camera strap from here, for my new toy.



It's a Pentax K100D bought after reading about it on Chemgrrl's blog. Using this fancy DSLR required quite an adjustment from my tiny 3 megapixel point and shoot camera, but I'm really enjoying it and I look forward to taking much better pictures with time and practice.

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On the knitting front: I'm 75% done with my second Yarntini sock and should be done within the next couple days. Next up will have to be my first pair of Monkeys for my Monkey Sock Swap pal out of the cuties on the right



The yarn is ShiBuiKnits Sock that we just got in at yarn4socks.

I've been making progress on the second Child's First sock. Only a few more rows of ribbing, bind off, weave in ends and done!

Here's a shot from earlier this morning, when there was a little bit of sun outside:

I should be showing finished pictures tomorrow if I have time.

I have also cast on for the second Hourglass sleeve. I will devote myself entirely to it after the sock is finished and until the beginning of next month when Sockamania starts.



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Fun things happening in the next few days:

One of my best friends is visiting from Iowa (she's a knitter... imagine the possibilities)
My wheel arrived yesterday at Twist of Fate Spinnery. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow! : )
Next week is my one year blogiversary!

2 days ago I went to the post office. In the mail box were 3 little cards promising 3 packages. Much to my surprise there actually were 5 packages!

First I got my first package from my Secret Pal:

Look at it all! Isn't it awesome? In the middle is some sock yarn that she dyed herself with kool aid and 2 balls of Rowan Tweed 4 ply. In the beautiful hand knit red bag were the buttons, the beads and the lip balm. She also got me some candles, soap, little notebook, chocolate bars, sticky notepad and a little kit with tape measure, safety pins, mini emery boards and some salve. I wish you could have seen the box when I opened it, everything was wrapped in pink tissue paper with pink ribbons. I am a really lucky girl to have such a great Secret Pal. I do hope that she has one too! Thank you!

The second package was my special order from Vespers' Julia:


AquaMelon, Strange Little Mama and Astro
Now I don't have to be worried at missing her next update! I got the 3 colors I wanted!

The third package was my order from Piddleloop. Go and give them some business, they are really awesome! They make these really pretty small project pouches perfect for a sock or 2. I also ordered a matching zippered pouch for my knitting accessories. My order came with some extra goodies; 2 stitch markers, some cute little sheepy tags and some matching note cards.



I also received a package from Amazon with some books on spinning and a package from someone that I traded with from Knitty with some Patagonia Nature Cotton.

The next day, I went back to the Post Office to mail something and I had 2 more packages waiting for me! 3 balls of Cascade 220 in a beautiful reddish pink color and some more Mission Falls for my Ripple Afghan!

I haven't been to the post office today... But I am expecting at least one more package! Lol! What a week! I love receiving packages!

Look what I got to play with this morning...

You want to know what it is, don't you?

These lovelies are all Fleece Artist's new Sea Wool that we just got in in the store. ETA: The Sea Wool yarn is 70% Merino and 30% Seacell.

I couldn't resist so I kept one for myself



Here is another shot next to another Fleece Artist I own



On top is Fleece Artist Merino Sock in Moss. On the bottom the new Sea Wool in Ruby Red.

Out of all the beautiful colors I picked the red because: 1. It was a color that has appealed to me for a while and 2. It's a color I don't have in my sock yarn stash yet! : )

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Regular knitting pictures will resume tomorrow. I've got lots to show you!

Today I'll just share this with you:

This is yarn that was waiting for me at the post office when I came back from vacation.

From left to right:

Gorgeous One Sheep Hill* won on a contest on Pam's blog Flint Knits. The yarn is super soft and the colors are really, really pretty, I love it! Thank you again Pam!

2 skeins of Duet sock yarn in Army Girl and Merlot from A Swell Yarn Shop. The day after I purchased them I learned that their price would be raised $2 per skein, so I'm glad I scored some more before that! I really loved knitting with that yarn. Knitted up, the socks are super comfortable and soft on my feet. So I look forward to knitting a couple more pairs out of this yarn!

* According to Pam, One Sheep Hill is an artist that handdyes sock yarn exclusively for Yarnzilla. The color above is #463. It comes in 500yds skein and is superwash merino. If it is not available online yet it will be in the near future.

Last week I won a contest over at The YoYo Knits. The contest was about why I loved being a girl, and her fiancé got to pick the comment he liked the best.
I wrote this: "I love that as a girl I can wear all sorts of pretty clothing, dresses, skirts, cute jewelery and cute sandals but that at the same time I can wield a screwdriver and build IKEA furniture too!" Yeah, I'm a big IKEA fan!

So I got my package today...

A skein of Lisa Souza Sock! in Pacific, 2 skeins of Patagonia Nature Cotton in a very pretty pink color and last but not least a bottle of "Le Vernis" by Chanel in color Noir Ceramic. Apparently is the new super hip color for spring and everybody is going crazy trying to get a bottle!

The color of the Lisa Souza sock yarn isn't quite coming out right, it's brighter and totally the colors I like right now. I'm thinking it would make a great shawl if don't make socks with it.

The Nature Cotton is really cool, but I could use some suggestions as to what to make with it. There are 210 yds of it altogether. Let me know what you think!

All in all, thank you Alyson for this contest and this wonderful package!

More sock Pr0n...



On the top you see a skein of yarn handpainted by White Willow that I bought on Etsy. The color is called Alice's Garden. I troll the knitting section of Etsy a lot and I usually restrain myself a lot. But when I saw that color I had to have it. And it is even more beautiful in real life. She even sent me a little sample of Eucalan and a cute little sachet of lavender.

The skein at the bottom is Sunshine Yarn in Mocha. I think I bought it off of someone destashing. I loved the brown color with the little streaks of lavender. I think it will make great lace socks.

Getting to play with this...

This is sock yarn from the store that I have at home so I can take pictures of it. Pictures for an ad that we are going to place in Spring IK and Summer IK of next year. It is a really pleasing experience to be able to touch, pet and feel those lovely skeins of yarn. Sadly, they will not remain with me but will go back to join their mates on the shelves. But at least I had them for a little while.

Working for yarn4socks.com is has been, and is, a great experience for me. As a two women business, I got to participate from the beginning. First was searching for sock yarns, knitting them up and picking our favorites. Then it was choosing colors and ordering them. Then came the part that took the longest time, loading all the yarns unto the website. Now that the bulk of the uploading is done, my job consists of adding the new yarns on the store and updating inventory when we get more of the same color. I am also in charge of updating our blog with things like the new sales and new yarns. I also do a bunch of other things like advertizing and research. I'm always on the lookout for interesting new yarns that we could carry. Right now we are in the process of trying out a new yarn and I'll get to knit it as soon as it arrives!

So this is what working for an online store is, at least for me. I consider myself really lucky to be able to work in something I love so much. And I hope that I'll be able to continue for many more years!