Spring is in the Air and a Middle-Aged Woman's Thoughts Turn to Prom

At long last, it seems that spring is beginning to peek through the gray, rainy days here in Oregon. The sun shines from time to time and there's a scent of all things green beginning to pervade the air here. Only one thought can enter the mind of a middle-aged woman when spring pokes through. Prom time!

Okay. Not really. I had no interest or thoughts of prom even when I was a teenager. I was one of the few girls in my high school who chose not to go to my prom. (Perhaps that's because my boyfriend at the time was a stockbroker in his mid-twenties who probably would not have enjoyed a high school prom much, but that's another story altogether and so far in the past that it seems like another lifetime.)

My mind is on prom time because my oldest niece has her prom coming up in May. Needless to say, during my visit to see my sister and her family in January I found that prom was a topic of constant conversation amongst my three nieces. At the time I didn't think of it, but after finishing knitting the Faux Russian Stole a week or so ago, it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps my niece would like a shawl to wear to her prom. I promptly e-mailed to find out and indeed she jumped on the offer.

And so, after having only just completed the seemingly never-ending Faux Russian Stole, I am already knee-deep in another lace shawl project. And this one has a DEADLINE! The prom is May 18th, which means I really need it done by the end of April so I can ship it off to her and still leave her enough time to find an alternative if she doesn't like the way the shawl works with her dress.

I chose the Print O' The Wave Stole from Eunny Jang's site. It's a free pattern (you'll find the link on the right side of her site) and just lovely. If you haven't discovered Eunny Jang's site yet, you are in for an amazing treat. When I first visited her site 9 months ago or so, I was nothing short of stunned by her work. Looking at the photos of her knitting - particularly her own designs - was to me like gazing at a work of art in a museum. She is extraordinarly talented and her taste is impeccable. Her designs are intricate and detailed, yet have a classic simplicity that appeals enormously to me. Although her designs have a classic and timeless feel, there is also a modern and innovative feeling to them. I've been visiting her site regularly since discovering it, watching her grow in popularity, reading about published patterns and book deals coming her way, and then earlier this month learning that she has now been named the new editor of Interweave Knits! I'm so excited to see how her fingerprint will translate to IK. If you haven't visited Eunny's site before, set aside a nice chunk of time to explore, go get yourself a cup of coffee, sit down and prepare for a wonderful experience. Go to the links at the left and scroll through her posts by date and you'll see an endless array of the most amazing work.

Alright. Enough hero worship from me. On to more about the Print O' The Waves Stole for my niece.

The stole is knit beginning with the center motif. The pattern is very simple to follow, as it's only a 12 row repeat and each row of 80 stitches includes four repeats of the same stitch pattern. This is infinitely easier to follow than the 81 stitch X 96 row pattern repeat of the shawl I just finished. The chart for that shawl looked like schematics for the space shuttle!

I'm knitting the Print O' The Waves Stole in my FF Laceweight Merino in the Hush colorway. My niece's dress is an ice blue color and so the gentle, slightly silvery gray of the Hush yarn should work nicely.



The center motif pattern is knit first, with two pieces knit separately and then grafted together at the center back of the shawl. It's done this way so that the two sides of the shawl will flow in the same direction when worn, creating mirror images of one another. I cast on for the shawl one week ago today and I've already finished one side of the center motif and just cast on for the second side. Here's side one:



It may look small now, but I think the size will work out fine. It's curled on the edges in the photo, so it looks a bit smaller than it is. Once the two center motif pieces are grafted together, I'll need to pick up stitches all the way around the edges and knit a few rows of an eyelet pattern for the inner border. Then, the outer edging will be added, knit in horizontal rows with each each row joined to a live stitch from the inner border. This will add a few inches to each side of the shawl and then, of course, blocking will further increase the size.

Here's a closeup of the pattern detail:

I'm really excited about this project. I haven't knit anything but a little test piece with my Laceweight Merino yet and I find that I absolutely love it! It's just the weight that I like in a laceweight: definitely a "laceweight" but also not a cobweb. It has just enough weight that knitting with it is a breeze. I have none of that feeling that I'm creating "The Emperor's New Clothes" as can sometimes be the case with a cobweb yarn. The finished shawl will be light and airy, but not impractically diaphanous.

That's all I have to share with you today. I actually finished another pair of fingerless mitts that turned out very nicely, but I packaged them up and shipped them off to their intended recipient without thinking of taking a photo for you. Ah well. Not to worry. I think fingerless mitts will take the place of socks for me for a while, with a pair almost always in progress. I have a list of folks I'd like to gift a pair, so there will be more coming soon.

Everyone have a fabulous day and get some knitting done!

The Envelope Please . . .

Today is drawing day for the blog contest drawing I announced a week or two ago. Thank you to everyone for your entries. I received an even 100 entries for the contest!

The winners were drawn this morning by my husband and I sent each winner an e-mail to let them know and to get shipping details. First prize (sock yarn, tote, pattern) goes to Kris. Second prize (felted bag kit) goes to Tonia. Third prize (Manos del Uraguay yarn) goes to Jocelyn.

Thank you again for your entries. It was great fun watching them roll in and reading some of your funny notes about your head-standing antics!

Congratulations to the lucky winners!

Socks and A Creepy Creature

For today's Monday customer projects, I have some socks to share with you, along with a rather creepy (although very cute) little creature.

First up are these stripey socks by Valerie. She knit these with FF Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Kildare and Citrus colorways. Absolutely darling socks, Valerie!



Here's a photo of the socks off the foot, where you can see the detail around the cuff a bit better.



Valerie also used some of her FF yarn to create a creepy little twist on a Knitted Babe from Claire Garland's book.



To learn more about Valerie's adventures in knitting, pop on over to her blog.

Next up we have these Monkey Socks by Michelle. These are knit in FF Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Sublime colorway. Great job, Michelle ... and I love the socks posed in front of the sock monkey!



For all the scoop on her knitting fun, you can visit Michelle's blog.

That's all the news for today, other than one last reminder to get your contest entries in to me! Tomorrow is the deadline for entries and the winners will be announced on Wednesday.

Everyone have a great day!

BOOMPH!

When I was a teenager, we used to use the word "boomph" in much the same way you might hear the word "score" used. We used it as a verb (ie., "I boomphed this great sweater at 70% off!") or a noun (ie., "I got a real boomph with this sweater at 70% off!"), but most often as an interjection of sorts (ie., "I got this sweater at 70% off. BOOMPH!")

In the past week or so, I boomphed twice. Yes, that's right, I got two boomphs. Boomph, boomph!

The first boomph came in the unlikely setting of the supermarket. I was standing in the checkout line with my cart, minding my own business, when a checker came along and hijacked my cart and pulled it into the self-checkout line. I really hate it when they do that! The self checkout line in my supermarket is almost never used. In fact, it is so universally avoided that the new store practice is to have a wandering employee hijack people from the regular lines and bring them to the self checkout, where the employee then does the checking. Not much of a "self" checkout line at all. This irritates me to no end as it would be so much simpler to just give up on the idea of the self checkout and use that wandering employee to open another register. But I digress . . .

I was situated in the self checkout line, quietly watching my alter-ego-checker-self scanning my groceries in the inexplicably small and awkward self-checkout area, when out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a table of discount books. Normally, I wouldn't even glance at them, since most of the books I've seen in the supermarket are either romance novels or books of 25 Ideas for Meals to Prepare in Under 90 Seconds, neither of which is of interest to me. There was something on this bargain table, however, that drew my eye instantly. Poking up a few inches above the tops of the other books, I saw this:



Could it be? Was it possible? Right here in Albertson's? I plucked the book out and found that indeed it was!



I've long been intrigued by Kaffe Fassett's work, but not enough to buy one of his books. The patterns and colors are fascinating, but I've never seen one pattern that jumped out at me as something I would really want to knit. I would have to really, really, really love a pattern to go to all the trouble of an intricate exercise in intarsia. The last time I knit intarsia was around two years ago when I made this jumper for a friend's baby:



There are sixteen intarsia chickens around the bottom of that little dress ("little" dress with something like 350 stitches around the bottom if I recall correctly!). It's very cute, but it was a pain in the rear to knit. And please don't ask me where I got the pattern. I know it was online and free, but it was so long ago that I have no recollection now and I just searched but couldn't locate it again. But again, I digress from the boomph I was telling you about . . .

The printed retail price on the back of this Kaffe Fassett book is $24.95. I picked it up at Albertson's for $3.99! Yep. That's right. BOOMPH!

The other boomph I recently experienced was this set of 10 skeins of Anny Blatt yarn. I picked this up from someone who was destashing and I got all 10 skeins for $30! The retail sticker on the yarn is $8.95 a skein. BOOMPH! It's 60% viscose and 40% cotton. I can't say I'm crazy about it though. The ply is sort of uneven. Not intentionally and obviously so, as with a thick-and-thin yarn, but just rather sloppy. I do like the coral color though and I think it might make a nice little spring/summer sweater. I just need to come up with the right stitch to use that won't highlight the unevenness of the yarn.

And so, those are my two boomphs. Very good indeed!

In the meantime, now that the Faux Russian Shawl is complete, I've cast on for a new project that I'll tell you about next week when I have a bit of progress to share.

Wishing you all a grand boomph or two this weekend!

Call it a DONE!

My Faux Russian Stole from Meg Swansen's A Gathering of Lace is complete! Now if only I knew what to do with it! Perhaps I should wear it to the supermarket?



Or maybe the bowling alley? Will this be the view of me from the rear as I head toward the approach?



Maybe I'll spread my wings a bit so the detail is visible as I stand in line at the Post Office.



I suppose I could wrap myself in it for a bit of warmth as I watch my husband's softball games this spring.



I really enjoyed knitting this shawl and I do like it very much, but I fear I don't have much of a shawl lifestyle. It may end up as a gift. Who knows? Whatever its fate turns out to be, for now I shall simply revel in the satisfaction of having completed it.

At Long Last!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I've finally finished knitting the Faux Russian Stole from Meg Swansen's A Gathering of Lace. Well, at last I found a moment to block it. Once dry, it will at long last be done!

Pardon the odd cropping of the photo, but I couldn't bring myself to show you a picture with my piles of boxes stacked as a backdrop.



Here's a closeup that shows a bit of detail. Of course, I obviously didn't think this through enough to use a solid white towel so that my photos would show the detail nicely! Instead, I used a striped towel and the photo-implications of that didn't dawn on me until it was too late. Sigh. But you get the idea.



In other news, I want to let all of you who have expressed interest in the new Superwash Sock Yarn colorways that I posted last week know that there will be more coming soon. Most of the initial stock I had available sold within the first day or two of listing, but I have more drying in my workshop that will be posted in a few days.

In the meantime, here are a couple of others to keep you warm . . .

This is a new one called Lavender Whisper. I just added the first skein to my Etsy shop today.



And here's another that is simply labeled as "Limited Edition" in my shop. This one will not receive a name nor will it become part of my standard colorway options. It's very similar to the popular Marrakesh colorway and so I decided that it would just cause confusion to add it to the line. It's particularly difficult to distinguish between the two colorways in a photo on a computer monitor, but in person this Limited Edition colorway has a bit more of a heathery, sage color that's slightly less intense than the rich olive of the Marrakesh colorway. The highlights throughout are also more of a golden bronze than the somewhat mustardy shades in the Marrakesh. The two colorways are definitely very close to one another though, so once the four skeins I've listed in my shop today are sold, there will be no more of this colorway listed.



That's it for today. I hope to have the blocked shawl photographed and ready to share with all of you in a few days.

Oooohhh . . . and of course, don't forget to get your contest entries in if you haven't already!

The Sock Marathon Continues!

Before I dive into today's "Monday Customer Project" I want to remind everyone to be sure to get your contest entries in. Scroll down to my prior post for contest details.

Also, for those who can't get enough of blog contests, pop on over to SockPron for a great contest with tons of prizes, including a gift certificate to my Fearless Fibers Shop.

Alright. Enough contest talk. Now on to today's project! Here we have Lynne's version of the Heartstrings Rainy Day Socks. She used FF Classic Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Saltwater Taffy colorway.



What a great pair of socks! Lynne also reinforced the toes and heels with Woolly Nylon to help ensure a long life for her precious socks. Fabulous job, Lynne! The socks look terrific!

As usual, I'll close with a plea to all of you to keep the project photos coming! Just e-mail your photos to me and I'll post them in a future Monday Customer Project Feature.

. . . 3, 2, 1 . . . PATTERN + CONTEST . . . LAUNCH!

Guess what?! It's about time for another contest! This contest is to celebrate the launch of the Simply Elegant Sox pattern by Tess of Polar Bear Patterns, designed using Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn.



I shared a photo of Tess' Simply Elegant Socks with you a few weeks back, but the pattern was still in the test and finalization phase. It's available for purchase now on the Polar Bear Patterns website and I'm helping to kickoff the launch with a contest.

Before I dive into the contest details, let me take a moment to tell you a bit about the pattern. This pattern is just what the name implies: simple and elegant. For those of you who are very experienced at knitting socks with complex, minute and intricate cable, lace, stitch, and color details, this pattern is probably not for you. But for all of you who have been sticking with pretty basic socks or who are fairly new to sock knitting in general, this is a wonderful step toward more detailed and interesting sock knitting. The lace pattern is straightforward and easy to follow and is a great way to build your confidence in taking a step forward in more varied and interesting sock projects. It also comes with a handy tracking sheet, that I personally just love. No more hash marks and odd notes to decipher to keep track of where you stand in your pattern and to ensure the second sock matches the first! Instead, you easily track your progress as you move through the pattern using the nifty tracking sheet provided with the pattern. And, of course, the pattern is designed for Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn. (Any comparable, lightweight sock yarn may be substituted, of course.)

And now to the contest details:

First Prize:
One copy of the Simply Elegant Sock pattern from Polar Bear Patterns, one skein of Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the winner's choice of colorways, and this fun, reversible sock knitting tote bag.



Second Prize:
A felted bag kit that includes 8 ounces of Fearless Fibers Worsted Weight Mohair/Wool Yarn and 2 ounces of FF Small Loopy Mohair Boucle Yarn, both in the Stormy Night colorway, along with a pattern for this felted bag (shown here in the Fruit Pop colorway). If this looks familiar to you, it's because I gave one of these kits away in a contest many months ago. The winner, Melissa, contacted me a few weeks later to let me know she had not received her prize. I, of course, sent her another. Well, about SIX MONTHS later, the Post Office returned that lost package to me with the original kit in pristine condition. It was marked as "unclaimed" which leads me to think that Melissa was not home when it was delivered and her mail carrier neglected to leave a notice in her mailbox, leaving the package sitting at the Post Office for months. Anyhow, Melissa received the second kit I sent to her long, long ago and now I have the first one back in my hands and ready for someone to take as a prize. I guess the inefficiency of the postal system is your gain!


Here is the bag shown in the Fruit Pop colorway. It's an extremely simple design and pattern, but of course, many of you may choose to do something much more interesting than this with the yarn!




And here's a picture of the Stormy Night colorway which is the colorway that will be given in the kit for the contest prize:



Third Prize:
Two skeins of Manos Del Uraguay Yarn. These are extras from what I bought for the Red Sweater KAL a couple of months ago. I never did finish my project for that KAL, but I have plenty more yarn if I decide to complete it in the future and still have these two extra skeins. It's definitely not my favorite yarn, but it is very good for felting and the colors are beautiful. It would make a lovely hat or perhaps a small felted bag.



In addition, each prize recipient will receive one of these buttons. I had a batch of these custom made for FF as part of my plan to aid knitters in taking over the world and making it a better place.



Entering the contest:
In order to enter the contest, you must stand on your head in a public place such a shopping mall or perhaps the public library, for a period of at least 2 hours and 47 minutes chanting the words Make Gloves Not War. Of course, I have no way to verify that you've done this, but I'm just going to trust in advance that all of you will surely have no problem doing this. Hee, hee!

Actually, the entry is simple. No standing on one's head or guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar required. Just send an e-mail to fearlessfibers@comcast.net with a subject line reading "Contest Entry." The winners will be selected by random drawing.

Deadline:
All entries must be received by midnight pacific time on March 20th. I will announce and notify the winners on Wednesday March 21st.

Mailing List:
On a side note, I've been thinking of putting an FF e-mailing list together for some time. If you would like to be included on the list, please make note of that in your contest entry e-mail. I will NEVER use your e-mail address for any other purpose and will NEVER sell or share the e-mail list with anyone. The e-mail list will only be used in the event that there is hot news related to Fearless Fibers to share. I cannot imagine that I will ever use the list to distribute news more than once per month and likely much less frequently. Note also that entering the contest will NOT put your e-mail on the mailing list. I will only add folks to the list who specifically make note of that and request to be added. No spam coming from me, I promise!

Alrighty then. That's all for today. Everyone have a wonderful weekend and get those contest entries to me!

WooHoo! New Superwash Sock Yarn Colorways!

My exciting news for today is that I've added six brand-spanking-new Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn colorways to my Etsy shop! I have just four skeins of each colorway listed for starters. If you pop over to my shop and don't see any of these six colorways listed, it means that they've already sold, but never fear! I'll be whipping up more in the coming week.

The first - although new to my shop - will be familiar to some you who read my blog regularly. Remember the neverending lace shawl project I've been working on? You might recall that the colorway for that shawl was one that I dyed specifically for my own use and was not part of my Fearless Fibers line. Well, by popular demand, I've added it to the line.

It's called "Inner Sanctum." If you wonder why on earth it would be given such a name . . . well, I'll tell you why. It's just a little nod and a wink to those in the inner sanctum who read my blog. Nobody else will understand the name of the colorway, but you will!



There is a rich tone-on-tone purple called Royalty:



And a bright, lively blend of orange, tangerine and yellow called Vitamin C (no need to explain that name!):



Then, there's this delicious Butterscotch:



And how about a popping blend of tone-on-tone brilliant, rosy pinks?



Last is my absolute favorite of the bunch, called Venerable. It's a deep, dark, rich, subtle blend of royal purples and almost-black charcoal shades. In poor lighting, it might look like a solid dark charcoal, but with a hint of light the subtle variations of tone shine through.




Hmmm . . . perhaps the Venerable deserves a close up to give you a better look at the variations of tone:






In knitting news, I am ever so excited to report that at long last I have finished knitting the above-mentioned never-ending shawl in the now-named "Inner Sanctum" colorway!! I'll be blocking it when I find a moment in the next few days and will then have pictures to share. Oh Happy Day!

Everyone have a fabulous day!

The Sock Addiction Continues!


This Monday morning, I have more sock photos to share with you. Wow! We all love our socks, don't we?!

Here are two completed pair of socks and a work in progress, by Suzy. The pink and brown socks are made with FF Superwash Merino Wool Sock in Chocolate Pink Cherry, the bluish green socks are made with FF Mohair/Wool DK Yarn in Hudson with complementary details in a coordinating yarn, and the sock in progress uses FF Alpaca/Wool DK Yarn in Wisteria. What a lovely array of goodies for the feet! Fabulous job, Suzy!





You may also want to take a moment to visit Suzy's Etsy shop, Dragons Chest. She's having an inventory clearance sale right now, so there are bargains to be found on little handmade treasures. These are not knitted goods in her shop, but rather necklaces, pins and other small handmade items.

Thank you, Suzy, for sharing the pictures of your lovely socks! Everyone keep knitting and keep the photos coming. Have a great day!

Faster, Faster . . . The Lights Are Turning Red!

Sometimes, I'm quite a dolt. But hey, I recognize it, so isn't that sort of like the concept that you can't be crazy if you're sane enough to wonder whether you're crazy?

Why am I dolt you ask? Here's an example for you. I've started working on another pair of Delicato Mitts from the fabulous KnitSpot pattern. I mentioned in last week's post about the mitts I already finished that I really wanted to make another pair using a slightly heavier yarn and size 2 needles as called for in the pattern, so that the beautiful details of the lace pattern would be more pronounced and visible.

The gorgeous handspun that I won as a prize in the Red Sweater KAL was just crying out to be turned into a pair of mitts. I knew going into it that I might not have enough yarn to complete the mitts. Normally, I wouldn't risk it, but the wonderful Anne of KnitSpot had actually mentioned to me when she sent the prize that there might not be enough for a pair of mitts and that she would be happy to send me a bit more if I needed it. (Yes, she's an angel!) But still, I really hoped to have enough yarn.

And so I began. The first mitt progressed quickly and I found myself beginning the second mitt within a day or so. I won't show you the first mitt yet, as that would be spoiling the punchline for when they're complete, but here's a photo of the second mitt-in-progress.



I just love it! I've never worked with handspun yarn before and I must say it's really a treat. The yarn is beautifully spun and yet still has those very subtle variations of thick and thin that add a bit of texture and a true "handmade" feel to the knit fabric. Yes, yes, my husband frowns and says that I'm knitting sloppily, but he just doesn't get it. The yarn is alive and full of character and it comes through in the knitted product. I'm not sure who the recipient of these mitts will be (they're normal size, so they won't fit my tiny hands properly), but I hope it's someone who can appreciate the life of the yarn and not just think, "Hmmm ... Deb's not a very good knitter."

As I progressed into the second mitt it became apparent that Anne was correct and I won't have enough yarn. It's not a big deal, as I will certainly take her up on her offer and humbly ask for a bit more. However, before I do that, I am first displaying my doltish-ness.

The more obvious it becomes that I won't have enough yarn, the faster I knit. I've done this before. Why do I do it? It's as though my subconscious believes that yarn is consumed at a fixed rate per hour and so if I can only knit quickly enough, I won't run out of yarn. Obviously, I'm not such a complete moron as to believe this . . . and yet, I continue to knit faster and faster as if I may be able to outrun the inevitable.

Of course, when it becomes absolutely undeniable that I will indeed run out of yarn, I suddenly slow down to a snail's pace, again thinking that maybe the yarn will somehow last. Perhaps it won't notice that I'm using it up if I just pull small quantities at a time from the diminishing ball? That's where I stand right now. Three quarters of a mitt to go and a tiny ball left. Maybe if I just knit one row at a time, it will hold out?

Perhaps I'm not the only one who does such ridiculous things. Please, someone out there tell me that I'm not the only dolt!

Delicious Socks to Start the Week

For this morning's customer project feature, I have a pair of delicious socks knit by April. She used FF Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Chocolote Pink Cherry colorway. Great job, April! They look good enough to eat!



For more information on April's knitting endeavors, check out her blog.

In case you're wondering whether the Chocolate Pink Cherry colorway is gone forever, the answer is NO! I have none in stock at the moment, but there will be more before too long. As mentioned in my previous post, I'm working furiously to replenish my stock of Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn. There are already several colorways back in stock and lots more on their way, so keep your eyes peeled for more to come.

Everyone have a great week and keep those great photos coming to me by e-mail!

Knit Talk with Deb

At long last, I have some of my own knitting progress to share with you, but first I want to take a moment to get a bit of business out of the way. Many of you have noticed that my selection of Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn has been a bit scant of late. This is because the base yarn I use has been on backorder. I'm usually very good about ordering well in advance, but my vacation in January caused some timing issues with the delivery and so I waited a bit longer than usual to order. I got a call from my supplier while I was on vacation with the bad news that the yarn was on backorder.

There's a rather long story here about the nightmare and magnitude of the backorder, but suffice it to say that I now have a whopping 150 pounds (that's enough for 600 skeins!) in my hot little hands. The truly miraculous part of this is that the supplier actually only had a total of 400 pounds, with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds more on backorder. This supplier works with just about every big name in handpainted yarns out there, but through some miracle of good fortune little ol' Fearless Fibers was first priority on their list for filling the backorder. (I know the reason for my priority position is almost certainly because my order was likely the first one on the backorder list, but I would prefer to think that I am The Chosen One. Ha! I know I certainly felt that way when I learned that I was getting such a large chunk of such a scarce commodity!)

I received the yarn on Monday this week and have been dyeing furiously ever since. You'll start to see the Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn filling up my shop again in the coming days and weeks. Once I've replenished the stock of my standards, you can count on some new colorways coming. I'll be sure to highlight a few here for you.

And now, on to Knit Talk . . .

Some of you may remember the Red Sweater Knitalong that I joined some months ago. I started with plans for a sweater, which then dwindled down to a simple felted vest when I found myself not loving the yarn I selected. When I got close to finished with the vest I had to face the fact that I just hated it. It's been draped over the back of a chair for ages now. I keep thinking that one day I'll be inspired to finish it, but that's looking less and less likely each day.

Given that I totally abandoned the project and then snuck quietly away from the KAL hoping nobody would notice, I am totally undeserving of the reward I received. That's right! I won a prize! I am so thrilled to have been chosen to receive Anne's (of KnitSpot) handspun yarn prize. If I were a truly good person, I would have meekly and apologetically declined and allowed someone more deserving to receive the prize, but I have to admit that getting my hands on some of Anne's handspun was too good to pass up.

I received the yarn, along with a copy of the KnitSpot Cloverleaf Mitts pattern (available in the catalogue on the KnitSpot site) and a bar of chocolate to boot, earlier this week.



I'm really looking forward to knitting with this yarn and also trying the Cloverleaf Mitts pattern. Last week, I began another of Anne's patterns: the Delicato Mitts. I meant to post a work-in-progress photo but have been so busy that I never got around to it. And now, the Mitts are done!



This photo definitely doesn't do justice to the wonderful pattern detail, but you get the idea. The Delicato Mitts pattern is a real gem! It's a small project and so you get that nice sense of satisfaction in completing something in a relatively short space of time, but it's not something I would categorize as a "quick knit." The pattern has just the right amount of detail and intricacy to make it interesting and to give it a more substantial feeling than most quick projects. Just as you become comfortable with the lace rib portion and can see the pattern emerging, it's time to move on to the main lace pattern. As that portion of the pattern begins to take shape, the increases to shape the thumb gusset begin. A bit further and it's time to return to the ribbing to finish the edge that wraps around the fingers. A little more work to finish the thumb and Voila!

The detail of the lace really is lovely, but it's not as visible in my mitts as it could be. Part of that is my rather blurry photos, but part of it is also that I used a different yarn and needle size than the pattern recommends. My FF Classic Merino Wool Sock Yarn is one of the recommended yarns for the pattern and I did play around with that a bit and it worked perfectly. I decided to go with the Superwash, which is a thinner yarn and I knit on a size 0 needle, because I have rather delicate hands (OK, OK . . . they're freakishly small) and I also prefer quite a snug fit on any handwear. The yarn and needle size worked perfectly for fit, but the smaller needles meant the yarn-over details of the lace are smaller and more closed so you lose some of the beauty of the pattern. I'm thinking of knitting some of these mitts for my nieces and will look forward to seeing the pattern detail as it was meant to be with slightly thicker yarn and a size 2 needle.

In other knitting news, I've been making slow and steady progress on my Faux Russian Stole from Meg Swanson's book, A Gathering of Lace. I'm too lazy to take another photo, particularly since it looks the same only about twice as long, but here's a reminder from the last update on this project a month or so ago:



I've now finished 4.5 pattern repeats out of the 5.5 the pattern calls for. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I used a smaller needle than the pattern recommends (yes, I do that a lot!), so I may have to go a bit further than 5.5 pattern repeats, but I am definitely nearing the home stretch. Now if I can only get myself to knit more than a few rows in one sitting maybe I'll actually finish it!

In yarn news, I should let you know that I've added a couple of the colorways designed for my new Laceweight Merino Yarn to the Worsted Weight Merino options. The Worsted Weight Merino would be an absolutely divine yarn for sweaters. It's also great for hats, scarves and the like of course, but the soft, plush feel of the yarn just screams SWEATER! to me.

The two colorways I've added to the Worsted Weight Merino options are both rainbow dyed, while the other colorway options I already had available on the worsted weight are handpainted. As with my sock yarns, the rainbow dyed yarns won't pattern or stripe when knit. On the worsted weight yarn this makes for a nice option for a project with a bit more detail to the stitch work since color patterning won't mask the detail of the stitches.

Golden Olive is now available on Worsted Weight Merino:



And so is Hendrix:

Alright. I think I've rambled on long enough for today. Everyone have a wonderful day!

It's Customer Project Time Again!

This morning, I have a great pair of Embossed Leaves socks to share with you. These socks were knit by Sara for her KnittyBoard sock exchange pal. She used Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Raspberry colorway.



The detail on these socks is just lovely! Since they're a gift for someone else, we don't have the benefit of seeing a picture of the socks on the foot, but you can easily imagine how pretty the lacey leaves will be when stretched around the calf and foot to reveal the details. Wonderful job, Sara! To see more of what Sara's up to with her knitting pursuits, check out her blog.

Please, please: Keep the photos coming! You can e-mail them directly to me.

It's The Responsible Thing To Do!

In perusing blogland lately, there has been much talk about de-stashing. This got me to thinking about the term "stash" when referring to one's yarn supply. I'm sure others have said it, but I'll say it as well: I really don't like that term. I admit, I use the term myself, but I need to break that habit. It brings to mind images of a junkie's hidden supply of his or her drug of choice. That's not the image I want to associate with my cherished yarn!

There's a new movement afoot to think of one's yarn not as a stash but rather as a "collection." This is certainly a more pleasing term than stash, but it still doesn't quite hit the mark for me. Although there are some positive connotations to a collection, such as a collection of art, rare books, or something else of value, there are still some unpleasant associations that come to mind. Many "collectors" are people who hoard items of no real value. You know the people. When they eventually die, those who care about them spend weeks or months of their lives sorting through giant stacks of newspapers or endless sets of NBA-themed plastic cups from fast food restaurants. I'm satisfied enough to have my yarn viewed similarly to a priceless collection of art, but not so happy to think of it on a par with thirty years worth of TV Guide magazines!

I prefer to think of the accumulation of yarn as the responsible thing to do. I am knitter and that will never change. Just as any responsible person will do their best to build a nest egg for retirement years, shouldn't a responsible knitter build a fiber nest egg? My plan is simple: To accumulate enough yarn so that in my golden years I can happily knit whatever I choose without consideration to whether I can afford to spend money on yarn.

My idea of a beautiful retirement dream is to have a room in my house entirely filled with yarn. When I want to start a new project, I want to be able to view my stash . . . uhhhh, collection . . . I mean nest egg . . . and select the yarn I will use just as I would if I were in a yarn shop. I want to be able to lavish knit gifts on people I care about without having to dine on canned dog food to afford it. I want to smile as I reminisce about that beautiful spring day when my husband and I went for a drive on the coast with the convertible top down and the radio playing, and we stumbled on a yarn shop where I bought that gorgeous laceweight alpaca in colors that reminded of the ocean we had been enjoying all day.

Some may say I have too much yarn. I say that I'm planning ahead and doing the responsible thing. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Gentleman's Fancy Socks for a Monday Morning

For this Monday morning's customer project photo, I have a wonderful pair of socks to share made by Micki.



Micki made these lovely socks with FF Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Deepest Forest colorway. The pattern is the Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

Here's a closeup of the lovely detail where you can see Micki's perfect little stitches. Fabulous job as always, Micki!



If you'd like to see more of what Micki's up to with her knitting, pop on over to her wonderful blog, A Thing for String.

Keep the project photos coming. I never tire of seeing the fabulous things you're all doing with your Fearless Fibers Yarn.

Now go have a wonderful week and get some knitting done!

Spreading the Word

Instead of my usual knitting and yarn content, today I want to introduce you to an Etsy shop that's well worth a look. The shop is California Crafts. Now I know that all of you either knit or crochet yourselves and likely wouldn't normally have much interest in a shop that sells knit items, but this is a very special shop. Remember the wonderful machine-knit scarves by Sandy that I featured a few times on my blog? Come on kids . . . you cannot have forgotten the spectacular Elephant Sampler, for exampler!



Well, Sandy now has her own Etsy shop full of lovely scarves as well as a hat or two, ranging from simple and elegant right up through the famous Elephant Sampler! Even if you have enough knit items of your own to last a lifetime, this shop is definitely work a look just for the drool factor, or perhaps you might know someone who doesn't knit but would love this shop. If you know someone who might be interested and want to help spread the word, the direct URL is http://californiacrafts.etsy.com.

Sandy's California Crafts shop is going to be my new standard Go To when I receive those inevitable requests from people I barely know to knit them something. You know the ones? Your friend's cousin who you met once and encounter in line at the movies. She comments on your lovely scarf and when you tell her you knit it yourself she responds with: "Oh! Can you knit one for me? I'll pay you for it." Flattering, yes, but there's no way you have the time or inclination to knit for a stranger. My new response will be to refer them to Sandy's shop!

Congrats and good luck to Sandy on the opening of her new shop!

Now I'm off to start another day of dyeing. My supply of the new laceweight merino yarn I added to my shop just two days ago is already almost gone, so I have lots of replenishing work to do. You may also have noticed that my selection of Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn is rather limited these days. Unfortunately, that's because the undyed yarn is on backorder right now and I'm running frightfully low on supply. The new yarn should be in any day now, so it won't be too long before stock is replenished and the usual sprinkling of new colorways returns.

Everyone have a fantastic weekend!

New Yarn!!

At last the day is here to unveil the new yarn added to my Fearless Fibers line! You will find a new category in my shop for Laceweight Merino Yarn.

I am absolutely in love with this new yarn. It's a top quality 100% merino wool that's soft and lovely with a wonderful drape. It weighs in at 410 yards per 2-ounce skein, which is (in my opinion) I perfect laceweight. It's not so thin and unmanageable as a cobweb yarn, yet it is most assuredly a laceweight. It makes for a comfortable knitting or crochet experience and the finished products are light and airy without being so diaphanous as to be impractical.

Although you'll want to check your own patterns for yarn requirements, the rough guidelines for this yarn are: 1 skein for a scarf, 2 skeins for a very wide scarf or shoulder wrap/stole, 3 skeins for most triangular shawls, 4 or 5 skeins for a square shawl.

In addition to being a lovely laceweight merino, this yarn is priced for value at just $9 per 2-ounce skein!

To get started, there are five colorways now available. There will be more coming, but these five are a nice start to this new shop section. I love these new colorways so much that several of them are also now available on FF Classic Merino Wool Sock Yarn.

Without further ado, here's a sneak peak at a couple of the colorways. Visit the Laceweight Merino section of my shop to see the rest.

Here's Hendrix (midday update: the Hendrix laceweight has sold out, but don't worry . . . there will be more listed soon!):



And Golden Olive:



I'm so excited to offer this new yarn to all of you who love to knit lace! For those of you who have been contemplating your first lace project, it's also a perfect opportunity to give it a whirl without much of an investment of your yarn budget.

The best part about this yarn for me is that I love it so much that I can't wait to knit with it myself. That means that I have a new motivation to get my butt in gear and make some progress toward finishing the Faux Russian Stole that I'm knitting now. I won't get a new project on the needles with this lace yarn until that's done and now perhaps I've found the motivation I needed!

Everyone have a fabulous weekend!!

Polar Bear Socks

For today's Monday customer project, I have a pair of lovely knee socks to share with you. Don't let the post title fool you. These are not polar bear themed socks. Rather, they are socks by Tess of Polar Bear Patterns.

Before I show you these grand socks, let me introduce the maker. Tess is the knitting instructor extraordinaire at my favorite LYS. She also designs, writes and sells her patterns under the name Polar Bear Patterns. Unfortunately, Tess is having technical difficulties with her website at the moment, so if you pop over to buy the pattern, you will find that the Polar Bear site is temporarily down and in its place for the moment is her local website with class information and such. You can, however, click on the "About Us" link on her site for contact information. I'm sure if you would like to purchase the pattern, Tess would be happy to provide you with information or notify you when the site is up and running again.

Without further ado, here is the lovely sock made with FF Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Marrakesh colorway:



If this sock looks familiar to you, that's because it is a collaborative effort between Tess and me. Some months back, you may recall the similar knee socks I knit in the Deepest Forest colorway. I wore these socks to knit club one day and Tess fell in love with the elegant simplicity of the socks, which is very much her style. Since I'm no designer or pattern writer and also had taken very poor notes when knitting the socks, I passed along what I could recall about the pattern to Tess, who then reverse engineered them and turned them into this polished version, with one of her well-written patterns to boot. Tess is an engineer by training and this comes through in her patterns, which are known for being straightforward and easy to follow. As with most good engineers, Tess leans toward elegance and simplicity of design.

Wonderful job, Tess, on both the knitting and the design!

And to all of the rest of you: PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR PHOTOS OF FINISHED PROJECTS TO ME! The steady flow of photos I've been receiving for the past several months has suddenly dried up. I get so many notes saying how much you all enjoy seeing the finished project photos, but I need your photos to keep it going!

Before I sign off for today, I want to be sure to let all of you know that I have some exciting news to share later this week. Well, it's exciting to me anyway and I hope it will be for you too. Okay, okay! I'll tell you a bit more: It's a new type of yarn coming to my FF line! I am rather ridiculously excited about this new yarn and very much looking forward to the unveiling later this week. The first batch of colorways will be ready for listing in a few days, so tune in later this week for details.

Everyone have a wonderful week . . . and get some knitting done!

Oasis Socks

I know many knitters can juggle multiple projects at one time and in many cases even thrive on it. I'm not one of those knitters. If I have too many projects in progress at any given time, I'm destined never to finish any of them. Perhaps it's because I enjoy the beginning of a project most, when I'm just getting a taste of how the finished product will look. Or perhaps it's because I tend to stray from patterns or not use a pattern at all, which - when combined with my lack of good notes when knitting - makes it difficult to pick up a project after a hiatus. Whatever the reason, I know my weakness and so I try to stick with one larger product and one or two smaller projects on the needles at any given moment.

The larger project I've been working on for what now feels like an eternity is the Faux Russian Stole from Meg Swanson's A Gathering of Lace. I won't bore you with another photo, since it looks pretty much the same as last time, except a wee bit longer. Progress on this project has definitely reached my least favorite part. It's that point where the excitement of the early part is gone, good progress has been made, but the end seems a million miles away and not getting any closer despite continuing efforts.

The truth is my "continuing efforts" have not been all they should be, to say the least. I do love the pattern and it's not difficult at all, but it is painstaking. The center motif is 81 stitches by 96 rows, so there's no way to cast the book aside and roll forward falling into the blissful rhythm of knitting-on-a-roll. The chart must be referenced continually and stitches counted frequently.

I've now finished 3.5 of the 5.5 chart repeats that the pattern requires. (I may actually have to go to 6 repeats since I used a smaller needle than recommended, but I'm not going to think about that right now.) I've reached the stage where I become a math machine. With each mini milestone in the pattern, I beginning calculating. "I've finished 3.5 repeats out of 5.5. That means I'm 63.63% of the way through the pattern, excluding the edging." These are the kind of thoughts that go through my head.

Then there's the bargaining. "I can only watch Top Chef tonight if I work on the shawl while I watch." Or perhaps ... "I don't have to clean the bathroom until later if I complete 10 rows right now."

When I reach this stage in a project, the only solution is to give it a rest and allow myself to knit something small and quick to give me that sense of satisfaction and reminder that it is actually possible to complete something! I started a pair of dark brown socks with a textured rib a week or two ago, but I ended up ripping those back as the pattern just didn't show up enough with the dark yarn. I also realized when I started those socks that what I really needed was a small project that takes absolutely no thought whatsoever. Enter the Oasis Socks.

I think of them as my Oasis Socks because they call out to me and lure me in like a mirage in the vast desert of endless, eye-strained, chart-following, intensely-focused lace shawl knitting. They are the simplest socks imaginable with a 2X2 ribbed cuff and stockinet body. If there were a power outage, I could probably have knit them in the dark.

For the Oasis Socks, I used my FF Classic Merino Wool Sock in Sand and Sun. I haven't knit with the Classic Merino Sock Yarn in a while and had forgotten how much I love it.



I know most of you are diehard fans of my Superwash Merino Sock Yarn, but I must admit that I actually like the classic merino better. Yes, the socks must handwashed, but that's not such a big deal. The yarn itself is just a tad heavier than the Superwash. The superwash has 550 yards to 4 ounces while the Classic Merino has 410. For me, it's a perfect knit on US #2 needles. I think my knitting is quicker with this yarn than any other I've used. It's just a perfect weight for me and the knitting flows effortlessly. The knit fabric itself is also absolutely wonderful. Look at the perfect little stitches, so neat and straight and lovely.

The knit fabric is in a way even softer than the Superwash, although at the same time it's also a bit sturdier. It's soft in a different way than the Superwash. The Superwash has more of a squishy and slightly silky feel, while the Classic Merino has a matte finish and more of a traditional wool softness. It feels softer in the finished knit form than it does in the skein.

I began the Oasis Socks on Friday and here it is six days later and they're done. Admittedly, they are short ankle socks (I used a partial skein of the Sand and Sun yarn and wanted to be sure I had enough to finish without breaking into another skein), but still six days from start to finish, while continuing to make some progress on the lace shawl and spending a great deal of time working is pretty good.

Without further ado, here they are! The colors in this photo are totally off, as the sun is not cooperating with me today, but you can get the idea. The actual colors of the sock are far more accurately represented in the photos of the yarn and stitch closeup above.



And now I'm faced with the decision of whether to bite the bullet and dive into the lace shawl again with renewed vigor or whether to allow myself another small project on the sticks as I continue to make slow progress on the shawl (which I do still love, by the way!).

Knit On!