CraftyME: Prepping for Stitches East....

CraftyME decided to prep for Stitches by actually using some of the fiber-y goodness I acquired on my visit to Maryland Sheep & Wool Fest back in May. I mean I did kinda splurge a bit, so I should at least know if those were good purchases or not, right? They all pass the pretty test, but how are they to work with and will they make a pretty FO as well.

 Let's start with the biggest splurge, shall we?

Tess Designer Yarns MicroFiber Ribbon

Had I not purchased this yarn, I would have probably stayed pretty close to my MDS&W budget. It was a bit pricey. But I had I not purchased this yarn, I would not have been able to make the awesome-ness known as my RockStar Coachella. I loved working with this yarn. If $ were no object, I would def add this to the SE list.

Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino Lace

Um yeah, no. I can't say that I care for this yarn. But it has nothing to do with the quality of the yarn. I just came to a realization after trying to make the famed Citron. Me and lace weight yarn do not equal a match. It is entirely to light for my tastes. I felt like I was gonna break it the whole time. I considered adding beads to try to weigh it down a bit. But yeah, I tossed this project in the "Sure I'll finish this....one day..." basket with the quickness.

Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock & Baby Yarn

I like this yarn. I like the way it feels to work with it. I like the color. I don't love the color. That's the only thing. I'm not a fan of variegated yarn. I wasn't sure how this was gonna knit up, but it was so pretty in the skein. Luckily, it's not uber-pool-y like some variegates. So it gets a like. Maybe in another color-way it could get a love. Now as for this project, it's in time out. You know how I posted about life lines? Yeah, well some how one of my life lines didn't stay put like it was supposed. And it just happened to be discovered as I was finishing up the last row in a chart.  The row that as soon as I finished it, I would have been adding a lifeline into the next one. Yeah that one.  So instead of a FO we've got a TO until I feel like frogging back to the previous lifeline.

Miss Babs Windsor Handpainted Sock Yarn

I LOVE this yarn!! The color is beautiful and working with it is a dream. It's slightly heavier than the other sock yarns that I have used to knit sox. And that makes the sox just fly off my needles. Had I not taken the time to work on some other projects, I would have been finished with my Iris Ivys. I'm definitely buying some more of this stuff.

Tess Designer Yarns Super Socks & Baby

The color of this yarn is so pretty. And I have 2 skeins. I just don't know what to make with it. But in the efforts to sample, I did go ahead and wind it up. I'm torn between making the Revontuli wrap or just casting on some sox. I don't really know if this yarn is gonna be stripey, variegated, or some where in between. Hmm what to do, what to do? We'll come back to this one.

Creatively Dyed Yarn Beaches

Ugh this yarn is the bain of my existence right now!! I love the colorway. Such a pretty green. So much yardage. And I even have the project picked out for it. Well 2 projects that I can't decide between, Fizzi or Multnomah . But IDK what happened. After I wound up the Tess SuperSocks, I put this one on my swift. Very quickly it became apparent that something was amiss within the skein.

 And now I'm left with this. I spent a whole night trying to detangle and wind by hand. Dude if I didn't spend damn near $30 on this yarn, I would so be throwing it in the trash right about now. So it too is on TO until I feel like diving back into the detangling process.

As it stands right now, I will be adding Miss Babs Windsor to my must purchase list. And Tess MicroFiber ribbon will go on the splurge list. Next up we'll see what vendor list stalking will turn up. Stay tuned.

WannaME: Gearing up for Stitches East.....

Good Morning YOUs,
 What a beautiful, crisp, sunny October Saturday. I say this as I lounge in bed, with absolutely no plans to venture out there. Today will be filled with laundry, knitting, blogging, and prepping for Stitiches East 2010. I think WannaME and TouristyME may be just a tad bit over-excited about Stitches. This will be my first time attending and I can't wait. It will also be the first time in years that I will be traveling all by myself. No MOH. No MiniME. Just ME. Calgon has finally responded to my pleas and will be here in 2 weeks to take me away on a mini-vacation to be filled with yarny, fibery, goodness. Ahhhhhhhh.

 Luckily, Stitches is taking place in Hartford,CT. Have I mentioned that I am FROM CT?!?  And that all of my family is in various parts of CT?!? So yeah I get to go visit my Mommy and Sis, and cousins etc. This also means that I don't have to worry about lodging. Although Mom  & Sis live about 45 mins to an hr away, I have tons of cousins who still live right in HTFD. So if I don't feel like driving I can crash somewhere.
 
So how exactly does one prep for an event like this? Well if you are crazy like ME, that means making lists and lists and lists. Lists of where to go. Lists of what to bring. Lists of what to make. Lists of lists to make. lol. See, crazy right? No,I'm just trying to keep WannaME in check. Cause I know as soon as I get there one of two things is gonna happen. I'm either gonna want to buy like everything I see. Or I am going to get soooo overwhelmed at the amount and variety of stuff and then not know what to buy or not want to buy anything. So I am researching and researching some more.

I've been all over OCS trying to find patterns that I'm really interested in making. Reading forums, looking at O.P.P. (Other People's Projects) seeing what yarns are getting good reviews. I've stalked the Stitches website for months waiting for the vendor list to be posted. Then I'm on the vendor sites, checking out pricing and yardage. Seeing if I can just order from them online.

 Dude, I'm so hyped about this trip. By the time it gets here I am gonna be missioned out. I'm going into that convention center with a plan, man. Armed with a budget and a shopping list. And I will stick to it! WannaME will not lose her frickin mind like she did at MDS&W, where I may or may not have spent double what I brought with me to spend. No sirree Bob. Not this time!  I'm gonna put my plan out there for you all to see. And when I get back I'll compare what I got to what I said I would get. I'm issuing the challenge to WannaME...control yourself. Will she be able to?.......Stay tuned.

CraftyME: SpinME Got me going in circles...

So, Remember way back when I went to MDS&W? I got a little intrigued with the idea of spinning.

But then I tried it in a demo and was like nah maybe another time.

 Later in the summer I got the idea again. This time I ordered a couple of spindles from Etsy. I keep trying it and I keep not getting the hang of it.

And then I keep trying some more. This time the try came courtesy of a chance finding on OCS (onlinecrackspot aka ravelry.) I had been taking a little bit of a time out from OCS just because I wasn't feeling particularly crafty/sociable. But one Sat morning when I was determined to put myself back out there in the world, I saw a single post on a local board. Come spin with us today for WWSIP day. That's World Wide Spin In Public day for my non crafty friends. There were only 3 people signed up for it. I decided to take a walk on the wild side and drive on down to Franklin Square Park.

So I get there and all I see are kids playing in the playground and riding the colorful carousel.

 And a bunch of teenagers gathering around the beautiful fountain. Yeah no spinners. I sat and waited and waited and sat. After a while I started to give up on my chance to learn from some real life spinners and began to walk back to my car. Well sitting there at the far corner of the park was a lady with drop spindle spinning away.

 And she was talking to another lady who had a spinning wheel folded up on a little cart next to her! Yay! I could get some help after all!

Soon we 3 became more. And just as one hopes when you have a WWanythingIP event, people were intrigued. Some even shyly inquired about our activity.

I got some really helpful tips on getting started with my drop spindle. Come to find out my spindle may be a little to heavy for the type of roving I was using.

That's why I kept having such a hard time drafting. So you know what this means right? I get to add a new spindle to my shopping list for Stitches East!!! Now to find some $$$ to pay for it. lol. Hey man I've gotta master this here spinning thing. I just gotta.