Even More Christmas

These Christmas gifts really are flying off my needles, which is probably good since I'm starting classes in TWO DAYS!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Yes. :ahem: Back to knitting. This is my brother's gift, or at least part of it:

Rugged Camper Cookset

He's a tough one to shop for, but he has recently moved out and got a place all of his own. I think I'll send along this oven mitt-like thingy along with a (yet to be started) double-knitted trivet in the same colours. I just need a small piece of leather for a handle, and this will be complete. I'll think of some other little kitchen goodies to send with it.

And I told you I had some more pink in the crock pot last night, right? Well, when I pulled it out I decided I wanted something with a little more zest for Lila's Brain Monster , so I added 7 or 8 drops of red food colouring and put the yarn back in the crock pot for about an hour. Here's what I have so far:

I'm really a huge fan of the variation that I got in this ball! I think this is going to be SO FREAKING CUTE!! Now... I need to find some big googly eyes...

Contributions

I've learned not to cast on one project directly after finishing another. My brain is normally a little shot and I'm still on a cool high from finishing. hehe So yesterday, after completing the Kimono, I decided to get right on some dying that I promised my Mom. She's crocheting a baby blanket for my baby niece and I wanted to get some of my hand dyed yarn in there! :)

Since the rest of the blanket is in solid colour stripes (and I didn't think a multi-colour yarn would look right) I immediately thought of the crock pot, a method I hadn't tried yet.

Yarn Soup

I used a single packet of grape for one ball, and then a single packet of an off brand strawberry lemonade for the other. After soaking the yarn I just plopped it in to room temperature water along with the entire packet. The thing I liked about the crock pot method was that after turning it on, I could walk away for hours and not have to worry about accidentally felting or anything. I pulled it out after a bunch of time (when I remembered that it was still going in the kitchen... lol) and hung it to dry outside.

In the end, I got a pretty semi-solid colour:

There's some light and dark in these that aren't very apparent in the photo. I think they'll both look great in with the yellows and greens in the blanket. Now let's just hope that Mum's allergy to wool doesn't extend to crocheting with it. ;)

I have another ball of pink going now that will end up as a Brain Monster for Chris's niece, Lila.

Another Christmas Project Done!

This one for my brand new baby niece, Alora. The. Cutest. Eva.

Do you remember just a week ago when I finished the V-neck pull over sweater for my dad? After that was finished, I had a TON of the rich chocolate brown acrylic left over. It's Caron's Simply Soft Eco, and it really is soft! So I thought to make something kinda matchy for Alora just 'cause I find it amusing that my dad and his grand daughter will have matching sweaters. hehehe!

Comfy Kimono by Lion Brand

It came together so quickly I didn't even get a chance to post anything in progress! The funny shaped little brown pieces wouldn't have meant much. lol The pattern is pretty much exactly the same as the one on Lion Brand's website (oh, and you need to login to get to the pattern) except for the single crochet edging which I did in a pale pink. The tie goes all the way around her back to make the bow.

Here's a detail shot:


According to Ravelry this one took me 5 days to complete. I think baby clothes are my favoritest thing to knit!! :D

Next up I think will be a bit of dying. I have some balls of mercerized wool from my knit picks order that are still naked. But first lunch and some clean up. :)

Find a Deal Fridays!

It's that time again, Ladies and Gents, where I shop with the rather flimsy excuse that maybe someone else will want to buy something! hehe

The Twice Sheared Sheep has a ton of stuff in her Etsy store, including stitch markers, row counters, stationary, and recycled yarn!


This beautiful sage green cotton ribbon is only $3.45. I betcha that would make great dish clothes... hmmm... ;) She has so many other yummy recycled yarns for super cheap. Go visit her!

This unnamed Etsy store is having a destash sale on some of her hand dyed yarns! This one is an angora blend, about 500 yards, for $7!



Have you guys heard of Herrschners.com? They are new to me. It looks like they're a yarn manufacturer website, similar to KnitPicks.com . Well, they sell 180 yards of acrylic for $1.99, their own name brand. They even seem to get good Ravelry reviews. There's tons of pretty colours and even some ombres dyed to match the solids. Brilliant!

Home at Last

This is the main building on campus, located right on front quad where I'll walk every morning and every afternoon. I can not tell you how much I'm in awe of this school and the people that run it. Today was hot, sweaty, and oh so satisfying. Everyone who spoke to our small group of adult students today was amazing, letting us know how we have an entire support group behind us to help us through these next few years.

I really really made the right choice. I'm going to love being at Hollins University.

School Tomorrow

Well, there's not much to blog about today. I'm making progress on the baby sweater, in fact I have two of the five pieces complete, but they really don't make a good photo. lol Just brown stockinette shapes on a carpet, you know? hehe

But that's not what I've spent most of my time thinking about tonight. I'm much more preoccupied with my school's orientation tomorrow. Here's the schedule:

Thursday, August 27, 2009

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Welcome Making the Transition 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Campus Tour with students 11:30 a.m.. Lunch 12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Center for Learning Excellence 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Navigating Your Academic Path Dr. Patricia Hammer, Dean of Academic Services 3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Tour of Wyndham Robertson Library 4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Paying for Your College Education Business Office /Financial Aid Office 4:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Wrap-up of the Day Before you leave, we’ll check on required paperwork, next steps, and questions and answers. Optional Activities: 5:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. Looking Ahead: The Road to Commencement. Front Quad (rain location: duPont Chapel). 5:45 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Picnic. Front Quad (rain location: Main Dining Room, Moody Student Center). 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Welcome Reception. President’s House.

So I'll be leaving my house at about 7:45am tomorrow morning and arriving home about 9:30 pm. It's a day just chalk full of awesome stuff ! I'll get to meet other students and professors, eat in the cafeteria, and have a reception at the President's House! How crazy is that?

Mostly, I'm excited that tomorrow is the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Dabney Lancaster Community College is now behind me and I'm taking the step in to a much wider world. I'm so looking forward to being around a totally new group of people.

Registration is Monday, then classes start Wednesday and I'm torn between chomping at the bit and wanting to savor the anticipation.

I guess I found something to blog about tonight, didn't I? ;)

What's Up Next?

Next up on the Christmas list is Alora, my brand new niece. She is the sweetest thing you have EVER met!! I got to go home to visit about a week or so after she was born and I really did not want to leave!

She and my dad are so dang cute together that I got this idea that I would make them matching tops. hehehe! I still have a whole bunch of same chocolate brown yarn that I used for dad's vest, and I found a super cute and easy pattern!

Comfy Kimono by Lion Brand

Too much cute, right?? To make it a little girlier, I'll crochet on a pink edging, and maybe make the tie pink too. I'm way to pleased with myself on this one. LOL

My Swap Package Came!! YAY!

This was my second month participating in the $10 Swap Group on Ravlery.com. The first month was pretty disappointing, but this month I got to meet a super cool person! And Holy COW have I been spoiled! It’s like she’s known me for years! First of all, a woman after my own heart, everything was wrapped with numbers and listed on a seperate sheet like an inventory. There were 16 numbers!!

I Received:

-a Project Tote in a gorgeous orange fabric with a very funny little picture on the front. (“Mom?” hehehehe!) She made it herself!

-A circular Needle Holder! Matching beautiful orange fabric that she also made herself! It’s so incredibly perfect! I've already got all my circular needles hanging from the back of the office door. Awesome!

-Some Peachy O’s - my fabric candy. ever. I'm serious when I say I think I've made myself sick off of that candy already. lol

-An orange laundry bag in a mesh fabric - totally usable and practical in a fun colour. I love that! Orange Rose soap blossoms, just like my bridal bouquet!!

-Orange retractable tape measure - I don’t have one yet and I needed one!!Candles and candle accessories! They all smell amazing and I’ll definitely be putting them out for the fall!

-Mini cookie cutters shaped like leaves and acorns and stuff for fall! I love cookie cutters!! I have so many, but none like this! YAY!

-Mini Address Book - complete with HER name, address and phone number! Too Cool! (Hey, you have a message waiting from me! heeh!)

-Cat toys for Popeye! He’s already playing with his crinkle balls! And he loves carrying around his little orange monkey in his mouth. hehe I tell him "Carla bought that for you."

and... MY FAVOURITE!! 1 Ball of Knit Picks Pallette in Marsala, a gorgeous burnt orange colour! YAY!!!!!!

Thank you thank you thank, Carla from PetiteVacheDesigns.blogspot.com!! And you know what the best part was? I made a friend!! YAY! :D

Another One Done!

The vest is DONE! I feel like a knitting machine! hehehe It's not 100% perfect, but I'm still so impressed with myself right now. Without further ado, some pics:



I really really hope my dad likes it and, oh yeah, it fits him! It's difficult to knit for someone so far away that I couldn't measure him. It's totally covered in cat hair too. lol I'll have to roll it before Christmas. ;)

It's been finished for about oh... 10 minutes, and I'm already itching to cast something else on. If you need me, I'll be scrolling through my favourites on Ravelry!

I Have A Friend! YAY!

Today I met Lisa from GroggyFroggy.blogspot.com! What a sweetheart, both her and her hubby! We met up today at a book store coffee shop to knit and chat and drink coffee and it was so much fun. Conversation was easy and we had a lot to talk about, which is always what I'm most worried about when I meet someone new.

Here she is with the evidence of a finished Oreo Brownie and my empty Chai tea:


After a couple of hours of me staring in awe at her crochet and her staring in awe of my knitting, we packed it up and went to the Michaels close by because neither of us usually gets a chance. We had coupons, you see! My purchase was a bit of a splurge because I really don't have a project in mind, but it was such a good deal! I got two balls of Bernat Alpaca in a beautiful greyish greenish colour, (and it is so incredibly soft!) for $5. I keep wanting to rub it against my face! hehehe

The most popular pattern on Ravelry for this yarn is these cabled mittens:


And even though they're totally beautiful, I'm not sure about them. Opinions?

All in all, it's been a GREAT Saturday and I hope that Lisa and I manage to get together more often once I'm going to school in Roanoke all the time. :)

Find a Deal Fridays!

I've hardly worked this week! It can't be Friday already, can it?? :) We'll start with some awesome Etsy promotions from Sock Yarn Spinner.


This beautiful sock yarn is a merino/ bamboo blend and I LOVE the subtle colours! At 400 yards of fingering weight, the regular price of $21.00 isn't all that bad, but it looks like she's closing up shop! If you have this coupon in your cart when you purchase your yarn, you'll get 40% off plus there is always free shipping!

This orange colourway (below) from Bare Yarn Sheep Company is exactly what I'm thinking of for my next dying experiment! Fall is my favorite season, and the colours are all so scrumptious.


Superwash merino skein with 400 yards of a fingering weight for $13.99. I think I've featured this store before because they have soooo many yummy yummy yarns.

My next recommendation isn't really a yarn per se, but is related to knitting. Did you know that bargainyarns.com offers a Damaged Books section? I'm a total sucker for this kind of stuff. I don't care of a corner is bumped or someone has written in the margins, as long as I can read the patterns and see the pictures! 101 Designer One Skein Wonders is only $9.47!

Find more books like this here.

I've heard that Alpaca yarns are super duper warm, so when I stumbled across this sale on Plymouth Suri Merino at AlpacaDirect.com I thought I'd pass it along! We're all starting to think about our winter knitting, right?? :)


It's on clearance over there, you get 110 yards for $4.49. There are 28 really pretty colours (including a dark green I'm coveting), or choose the white or vanilla and dye your own!

The Thing With Pink Shirts

My Dad is what you could probably describe as a "Guy's guy." Years and years ago when someone gifted him with a knitted sweater that had one tiny sail boat with an even tinier pink sail on it, he wouldn't wear it. This is why my Mom's comment on the last post is so funny! He would never ever forgive me if I was to knit him a vest that even had a pinkish hue! So Mom, as funny as that would be, I would really like Dad to enjoy wearing what I make him. LOL This photo has a much more accurate colour.


I'm really very happy with how this is turning out! This is my first time doing arm shaping like this, so I'm stoked that I got it right the first time. Also, I'm really excited that this is my first garment that is 100% perfect with NO FROGGING! This is a FROG FREE piece of knitting right here! YAY! ::Knock On Wood:: I hope it keeps going this easy! It's been a breeze so far! Now all I have to do is the front, which is basically exactly the same as the back just with the v-neck part added in (also a first for me). Then I sew together the two pieces before I pick up and knit the ribbing around the neck and the arms. Not bad at all!

I Knit Like The Wind!

The Pattern: Peter Easy by Berroco

The back of my dad's vest is almost done. I just cast this on the day before yesterday and I'm already doing the decreases for the arms! I can not tell you how excited I am about this. I'm getting fast!!

I'm knitting this in Caron Simply Soft Eco (dark chocolate brown) which is made partially from recycled plastic bottles. You wouldn't think that's it's as soft as it is! Such a pleasure to knit with, really! The stitch definition is nice, has a nice drape to it, and it's 100% acrylic (so my dad can wash it normally). I'm really happy with how this is working out so far.

Is it possible to knit too much?

I didn't think so, but after my knitting marathon last weekend (20 hours between two days!) I came away with a blister and very achy hands. I suppose that's what I get for pushing to get finished with mum's scarf AND starting my first sock!

All of this amounts to the fact that I didn't do much more knitting last night other than the gauge swatch for dad's vest. Oh, and then I cast on the back, but that's it. hehe

So what was my newly free time being spent doing, you ask? Reading! I got a hold of a few great knitting pattern books from my local library! Feminine Knits, Knitting in the Sun, and Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters were all very informative and I've found a few patterns that I'm dying to start, but the last one I read really impressed me, Knits to Fit and Flatter.

(photo from Knitpicks.com)

There were a couple of patterns in this book I think I'll be knitting (including the one on the cover) but they weren't the highlight for me. I love the way Ellison explains why she chose all the elements of her designs and then goes about showing us how to change them if we'd like. All of her patterns in the book are made once with her main preference, and then knitted and photographed a second time with an alteration. She changes a sleeve length, a colour, a fiber or a collar and shows us how she did it and how it changes the whole look of the garment. I love this book! I have to say that I've found the information at the exact right time in my knitting education.

On the school front, orientations start in a little over a week and I'm getting really. really. excited. I'm sure I'll be writing more about that as it inches closer. :)

Scarf is DONE!

Here is the link for all you Ravelry people to see.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Nalamienea/summer-stream-scarf

I'm sorry I can't post the picture in the blog, but Mum might see it! :P

#1 Almost Done!

On my long haul to the toe! I think seeing that video yesterday really made all the difference. :) That, and I'm a little obsessive. lol This sock is far from perfect, with it's little holes in the sides that I have to learn to avoid and I'm not quite sure about the sizing around the ankle either, but I'm super excited!

I have knit a LOT this weekend. lol About 12 hours yesterday (with food and pee breaks. hehe) and then today for about another 4 *so far*. I've been knitting on the scarf like crazy, as you can see here:


It's being blocked! I saw this blocking method on another blog and I think it's working out great! Should only be another couple of hours and the two halves should be dry and ready to be sewn together. YAY!

Which means tomorrow I'll be casting on the vest again, but this time in two pieces instead of in the round.

Casting on More?

Oh yes I have! No more of this being scared crap! A week ago, knitting socks seemed like an insurmountable fear - but not anymore!

And it's no thanks to stupid sock patterns either. I think I may have read about 20 of them and I just couldn't get it to click. You want to know their advice for first timers? "Just follow the directions. You'll see." Well, I don't work like that. I feel most comfortable when I understand what it is I'm trying to accomplish. I don't do very well when I just blindly follow directions, you know?

So I went on to You Tube and searched for "Knitting socks" to find my savior. She came to me in the form of Dorret and you can find her at http://www.youtube.com/user/dorret. I took the brave step last night, with hand dyed yarn in tow, and cast on my first sock:


The things that I really like about her videos and what made me feel so comfortable with them is that she was knitting exactly how I knit, and explaining as she went what she was doing and why she was doing it. She was knitting english style, and on a set of 4 double pointed needles. I could never figure out why you had to have 5 of them, especially because all of mine are sets of 4. Why would they make sets of 4 if you needed 5 for socks?

I still wish I had someone here in front of me explaining how this works though, that I coudl ask questions to as I go. For instance, I think I'm knitting this sock inside out. I did about 2" of 2x2 ribbing for the top of the sock and then starting on knit rounds, but it's making the purl side out, you know what I mean? The photo up above was taken a couple of hours ago and by now I'm starting to knit just the flat heel part. All I can think of is that I'll have to turn it right side out later, or purl instead of knit, which I seriously don't want to do. Why hasn't anyone mentioned this yet? Way weird.

I am absolutely *LOVING* my yarn for this though. The long repeats make it absolutely perfect for socks. I love how I'm getting a blue row every few rows, then followed by some green now and again. It's perfect!

Wish me luck with that whole "turning" thing.

Find a Deal Fridays!

Man, Fridays are good for so many reasons, aren't they? :)

In perusing Etsy for this week's deals, I stumbled upon Bare Sheep Yarn 's shop because of this beautiful yarn here:


They have a bunch of bulky weight, 100% Merino Wool, hand painted skeins for just $9.99! I thought this was a neat colour, but there are lots more!

Poppy Flower Creations is having a Customer Appreciation sale! I particularly enjoy this roving here (for anyone who wants to try their hand at some spinning!) Only $14!


This is 4 ounces of 50/50 merino wool and tencel. She says it should be soft and shimmery! The colours are just beautiful too.

I've come across so many very cool Etsy shops since I've started this blog. I've even made some friends from there! Syrendell is near the top of my list, I think. They sell a lot of hand made natural items, but their yarns are my favorite (of course!). They are all hand woven and naturally dyed.

This one is 155 yards of DK weight wool dyed with indigo and brazil wood to make this beautiful light blue colour. Available to you for $11!

I've also been back to Smiley's Yarns to see what's new. In their clearance section I found some Panda Woolbale, 100 yards of 100% wool in DK weight for $1.

No excuse not to try some Kool Aid dying now! ;) Enjoy your weekend everyone!

What To Do... What To Do...

Now I have all this very cool yarn, right? You saw that from yesterday? My problem now is it's all in small amounts. So I was thinking and pondering some patterns today.

For the brown and blue....


Maybe this headband pattern?

Nordic Headband (ravelry)

I would use the brown where the pink is now because it does that cool gradient colour thing, and then use the blue-green where the brown is. Might be cool.

For the red and purple...


Maybe this little girl dress for my niece?

Little Sister's Dress (ravelry)

If it turns out I don't have enough for a dress, it'll be a little top instead. hehe I have to skein up all this yarn so I can see how much I have before I finalize any plans.

As for other updates, the rainbow scarf is moving along very nicely and I foresee completion this weekend.

In other exciting news, My stitch markers came from Cliodhna's Etsy Shop! I won them on a give away on her blog.


Aren't they pretty! Go on over to her Etsy store and look at all the other gorgeous stuff she has!

I've Been a Busy Girl!

OH my gosh you guys! Today was the last day of my long weekend and I got to spend the whole day at home playing with yarn! First of all, let me back up to last night.

I didn't mention my new ball winder in yesterday's post because I thought it deserved a post all by itself. I can not tell you guys how cool this thing is and how easy it is making my life! Here's the picture of the version that I bought from Knit Picks. This was about half the price of any of the others I found, but I knew I'd have to pay shipping. I thought I may as well buy yarn too and get up to $50 so the shipping is free 'cause it's kinda like you're getting free yarn then. hehe


It's sitting mounted in it's permanent location on the side of my desk. And boy has it been broken in! hehe I started last night with the large skein of yarn I had dyed successfully a few days ago. This was probably a mistake because the skein itself was pretty messy and very tangley. Mr. Pie ended up getting a shot of me creating my first "cake" :


That took a long time and was very tedious. lol Going around and around in a circle on my desk chair, foot on the yarn so it didn't pull up and get tangled worse. BUT it was worth it, because it turned in to THIS:

Num num num.

After that success, there was no holding me back! I started turning anything in sight in to a ball. Then I got out one of the two identical red turtleneck sweaters that I bought and went to town. It was so thrilling to watch the yarn from the sweater flying out and in to a ball! I have no idea how many yards I have from that sweater, but it's a LOT. AND I have a second sweater the exact same colour still yet to frog! I was on a roll, is what I'm sayin'. Not to be stopped, Mr. Pie and I put on a pot of chai tea and I started taking apart that cream coloured angora/nylon blend sweater that I bought for 50 cents from the neighbor's garage sale. By around midnight, this is what the stack beside my desk looked like:

After reading up on the subject a little, I learned that nylon behaves very similarly to protein fiber and therefore can be dyed with regular food colouring and kool aid, like my other yarn. An idea was hatched. I finished taking apart the angora blend sweater in to pieces but waited on frogging it, deciding to try my hand at some garment dying. This is where you dye a finished piece of fabric and then frog it afterward. I was looking for a way to get a really cool light to dark gradient through an entire skein of yarn and not as a pattern repeat in stripes. Does that make sense?

With that idea in mind, my day ended up here, with all parts and pieces of the recycled sweater dyed and hanging to dry:

I took this liberty to experiment a whole lot with different dyeing methods and also with both food colouring and Kool Aid combined. As much for myself and my own records as for your benefit, I'll tell you what I did and how I did it. hehe


This was the first of the gradient garment dyes! I haven't skeined up any of the others but I wanted you to see the colour differences. When it's in a ball, it just looks like this:


You can see that it's the darker green in the middle and then it goes to lighter green on the outside, but you can't really see the different shades side by side.

Okay, so for this one that I started out (after letting it soak, of course) with the whole sleeve of the sweater in my pot on the stove along with one pack of lemon-lime kool aid. I let that get up to temperature (just before boiling, no bubbles) and let it sit for a few minutes, then I pulled the whole thing out and put it on a plate. The water was almost clear. I added a few drops of green food colouring, then put most of the sleeve back in, leaving out the tip. I repeated this process, lifting out the sleeve, adding more green, and then putting in a little less of the sleeve than was in before. I got the darkest green by adding just a touch of grape kool aid along with more green dye for the last step.



I really like these colours together, don't you? The brown reminds me of a great worn in leather, and the blue-green really reminds me of turquoise. Anyway. lol The brown I garment dyed with straight food colouring exactly like how I explained above. I followed the recipe for the brown colour on the package: 5 drops green, 3 drops red, 6 drops yellow. The turquoise colour I did just an all over dye by putting a tad more blue than green and submerging the whole thing and just leaving it alone. I'm thinking I might want to try some "fake isle" technique with these.


With this one I tried something totally different. This piece of the sweater was the cowl neck part and it was very long and knit in the round. I put half the fabric in a drinking glass (about 8 oz) with one pack of grape off brand kool aid, and the other side in a glass with a pack of dark cherry kool aid. I had to dip the center part in a bit of both so it was wet and coloured, then I put it in the microwave for two minutes. I waited for it to cool almost completely (that took quite a while) and then I rewetted the center section and went for another two minutes. The results are very pretty, I think. In person I don't think it's nearly as purple as the photo came out and much more reddish. I don't know what I'll use this for but I like it.

Now I just have to see if there's room in my stash for all this yarn! SQUEE! :D

It Has Arrived. And it is Glorious.

Need I say more? We got home from visiting my new school this morning ( to buy textbooks. Ugh.) and my box from Knitpicks.com was waiting for me when I got home!! YAY!! That shipping was way fast!

It was hard to remember to not just rip the box open and play in everything. But don't worry, I remembered to take a picture for you guys first so that you may live vicariously through me today as I love to do through all of you! hehe


Isn't it all so neat and tidy in there?? My goal for this order was to be able to knit with some new yarns that I hadn't had a chance to buy, so I ordered a big variety and only one or two of each. Here's what I got, closer up:


The first four along the top are for dying. They are: Merino Style in colour Fog, Wool of the Andes in colour Cloud, and then two balls of Telemark colour Cream. I'm surprised at how soft the merino is. I guess I thought that anything with the word "wool" in it meant it would be at least a little scratchy, but it's really soft! The Telemark is the next softest... kind of feels a bit like the cotton yarns I've been using... not soft but not scratchy either. The Wool of the Andes one is a bit scratchy like you'd expect. Maybe socks with that one? I don't know what colours are calling to me for these yet, but I plan on lots of experimenting. Mr. Pie is already okay with odd-coloured socks that don't match if the dying doesn't go well.

Along the bottom of the pic you see: Shamrock in colour Quinn, Shamrock in colour Fitzpatrick, CotLin in colour Coffee, Cotlin in colour Harbour, and then City Tweed DK in colour Chipmunk. These will be for gifts, I think. The Shamrock I was thinking would maybe be socks but now I don't know if I'll have enough for two that match. Maybe two coloured socks? It's in a heavy worsted, so I'll have to look around for a pattern. Maybe a scarf? The Cotlin was going to be dishclothes, but now that I feel how very soft and see how shiny it is, that may have to change too. Maybe some colourwork?

And lastly, the only one I haven't mentioned is the beautiful shiny green one in the top left corner. It's one ball of Gloss DK, 70% wool and 30% silk. Man oh man is this stuff nice! I'm going to be making something for me with this, mark my words! It was the most expensive of the bunch, but still less than $5. So shiny and oh so soft!

Overall I'm very happy with this order. Picking them out without being able to feel them first was kinda rough, and then the waiting... but the payoff was great. All the yarn I just listed when added together were under $30, including tax.

AND it all fits in to my stash bin, but just barely. There will be no more new yarns for me until at least after the new year, or this situation is going to get out of control awfully quickly.