Stash Enhancement 2016: Last Post of the Year!

Happy Saturday!

As today is the last Saturday of 2016, I thought it would be appropriate to show you the last of this year's stash acquisitions/enhancements (that I know of - I don't think anything else will come in today).

Firstly, I had a StevenBe Inappropriate club box show up a couple weeks ago (warning: inappropriate is part of the name...).

This box included patterns (of course), my inappropriate gift (the socks), and a wonderful skein of yarn.

The yarn is Supersquish DK from Celestial Strings in the Naughty List colorway. The pattern is for a cowl, which I may or may not make. We'll see how I feel about it later.


In addition to my StevenBe box, I also picked up a few skeins in a destash. Story of my life.

This is a skein of BFL/Silk DK from Northbound Knitting in the Livid Entoloma colorway. It's not as yellow as it shows in the picture. Bad lighting will do that.

From the same destash, I picked up these two skeins of Little Red Bicycle Tandem Sport in the Leonidas colorway. The color is mostly correct. There's maybe a yellowish tinge but it's so faint for this one that it doesn't matter much.


And then, a few days after Christmas, a friend and I went to a yarn store. It seems like every yarn store I've set foot in recently closes within a year or two. Seriously, since moving to California, I've seen four close (two within the last year). I'm kind of scared to go into yarn stores. But, I needed time away from my children and she wanted to go to a yarn store. So, off we trotted to Uncommon Threads in Los Altos, which is about a 20-30 minute drive from my house.

One of the things I'm trying to do is to find yarn that I don't have in my stash. In other words: new to me yarns.

I came up with a few lovelies:

This is a skein of Phydeaux Yarns Beurre Superwash DK Merino Wool in Calypso. I've heard of the company but this is the first I've actually seen it. It's got about 230 yds of squishy goodness. I have no idea what it's going to grow up to be but I have a feeling it will be something like Whitman or another Trusty Hat (see my Year of Projects post for more information about those). Or maybe I'll make it up as I go along. That's not unusual for me.

I may or may not have fallen into some sock yarn. Again.

These are all Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM), which run about 175 yds each - so I need two for a pair of socks).

I found one of these first. I dug through the entire shelf looking for a mate. There were stackable boxes with diagonal dividers and there were probably 5 filled with KPPPM. I went through each one, pulled out everything, went around to the other side and dug through the back from the other side.....could not find a mate. Obviously I found one but only after I discovered the overstock way up high and saw it.

This one had plenty of mates. It called to me. It came home.

And then there's this one. I searched high and low for a mate, even checked into the overstock.....no mate to be found. But, I couldn't just let it sit there, destined to be unloved because it didn't have a mate.....I have enough neutrals I could stripe with it (I'm thinking black), I should be able to stretch two socks out of it. Right? If you don't agree, hush up and let me have my dream.




With that, my year of transparency of yarn acquisitions ends. I may or may not have acquired a lot of yarn this year. I hope to acquire less in the coming year and work from stash. Hahahaha. I might have to continue this trend, though. It's nice to know what I brought in. Also, it forces me to get things entered into the Ravelry database.

I hope you're having a lovely New Years' Eve. I'll be back tomorrow with a shiny brand new Self-Imposed Year of Projects update :)

Stash Enhancement: No, seriously, I'm on a yarn diet....

Happy Saturday!

It occurred to me this past week that I may have neglected a StevenBe Inappropriate shipment. And then there were the.....other items that showed up.

So, let's have a chat about my stash acquisitions :)


Firstly, let's get to the items that came in *mumblemumble* several weeks ago *mumblemumble*

I participated in a swap on Ravelry. I've done plenty of swaps, including a previous year of this one. Anyway, this swap is known as the Claudio Sanchez Swap in LSG. It's inception stems from one of our beloved members of LSG getting a random package with a bunch of random....well, random shit, really. I think this was three years ago now. Just weird things from someone's house. If I remember correctly, one of the things she got was one of those packages of Affy Tapples with one of them missing (Affy Tapples are caramel-covered apples...taffy apples, basically, and you can buy them around Halloween in packages of 3), a tea towel, a little tin of soaps or something like that...just bizarre stuff that people have around their house that they may never use but just, you know, have. The box didn't have a return address other than "Claudio Sanchez" where the return address would go. Based on the contents of the box, there were a few "rules" that came about, including one known as "The Holy two-thirds" wherein you get 2/3 of something (because Affy Tapples), and you can't go out and buy anything for the swap; everything has to come from your house and be not gross. In other words, we don't want your old retainers or anything. Yarn is customary but not a hard-set rule (but, really, we all send yarn). For example, the box I sent contained a couple of those travel-sized toothpastes you get from your dentist, an unused pregnancy test, a notebook, an old copy of Lord of the Flies that I bought at a garage sale intending to read but, really, I didn't read it...uh, what else was in there...some Proactiv bottles, Halloween stickers, a pin from Mexico....oh, and of course, yarn.

I, in turn, received a box from someone else. I'm not going to go through the entire contents of the box but I will show you the yarn and knitting magazine I received :)

This is the magazine. It's the first, and from what I can tell, the only edition ever printed. It was apparently a UK start-up knitting magazine that just didn't take hold. But, I can knit my own Medusa if I want. It's actually something I might use so I added it to my Ravelry library.

I was also gifted a Clover Kritter Case, specifically the crocodile, which is difficult to find. I had no idea what it was but now that I know, I might have to hold onto it for awhile.

In addition to many other things in the bag, I found a ziplock with yarn. I didn't delve in until a few days weeks later. Upon initial viewing, I thought it was a bag of the same kind of yarn...and I was mostly right.

The four purple skeins are Berroco Flax, which run about 65 yds of worsted weight linen/flax each. So, I have about 195 yds of the violet and 65 yds of the purple...and I have no idea what to do with it. The fifth skein, which I thought was going to be a blue color of the same kind of  yarn....yeah, it turned out to be Malabrigo Finito, which runs about 200 yds of fingering weight. So, there's that :)


But that's not all!

In addition to the Claudio Sanchez swap that I participated in, I also had a shipment come in from StevenBe for my StevenBe Inappropriate. This was my 4th shipment and it came about the middle of November and with everything going on, it just slipped my fingers.

But, let's share now :)

Firstly, the box came with an "Unsolicited Dick Pic" which was a photo of Dick Van Dyke from Marry Poppins. I had a giggle.

Inside the box:

That's the pattern(s), yarn, goodie, and the code for the special area of the StevenBe website.

The book is of Pickups & Come-Ons. I've found quite a few entertaining ones in there.

And, of course, delicious yarn! This one is, again, dyed by Three Irish Girls on their Springvale Worsted base and, as you can see, the colorway is Organ Grindr (which spell-check amazingly did not underline...but it underlined "colorway" ::sigh::).


But wait! There's MORE!

I know, I know. I have a problem. The sad part is that there are at least two more skeins coming. That was 100% a deal I couldn't pass up but I'll tell you about it after they arrive. Anyway, more things have come in...

These first two speak to my love of Hunger Games and, really, my love of Three Irish Girls. These are both Springvale DK. The top is the District 12 colorway and the bottom is the Girl on Fire colorway. I bought them from the same person's destash and I think I'm in lurve.

The second two were also purchased from the same destash. The top is a skein of Wollmeise 80/20 and it was so so cheap. I couldn't pass that one up. Seriously, I think it was $18 (FYI, if you're not familiar, this Wollmeise usually goes for around $32/skein). I don't know the colorway (it's got the "We're Different" label) but it's a dark burgundy. The second one came from home. It's Sun Valley Fibers MCN Fingering in the Cinnamon colorway. I say it came from home and that's not a lie. Jeanette, the purveyor of SVF, is back in Wisconsin and I adore her (and miss her - she was quite fun to sit and knit with). So, that one had to come home with me, too.

These last four skeins all arrived last week. I don't even want to talk about it.


I expect I'll be back again because I already know I've got another two skeins coming.....

Stash Enhancement: Erin Lane Bags Indie Yarn Carnival Club

Happy Saturday :)

In the spirit of keeping it real (or transparency, if you want corporate speak), I bring to you today's edition of Stash Enhancement Saturday (Stash Acquisition Saturday is also appropriate).

Last weekend, I discovered a box outside my door containing my last (sob) Indie Yarn Carnival club shipment for 2016. It was the October shipment and it was lovely. The yarn came from Mrs. Crosby in the Train Case base and the colorway is called "Carnival After Dark."

In addition to the lovely skein of yarn, we also got two bags, one of the large project bags and then a little DPN project keeper type of bag (I think - it's got buttons so putting notions in there would be silly as stitch markers would fall out). You can see the keeper bag under the skein in the photo above.

That's the big bag. We also got a pattern (socks) to go with the yarn. I've not decided if I'll knit them yet or not...maybe someday. I mean, I have the pattern and all :)

So, that happened.

And that's it, I swear!


I hope you're having a lovely Saturday. I'll be back tomorrow with my Year of Projects update. Also, take some time out of your day to celebrate Guy Fawkes and watch V for Vendetta. It is, after all, Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night.

Stash Acquisition 2016: Not the last one of the year...

Happy Saturday :)

I've had a couple of items come in recently and, because I'm trying to be crazy transparent about how much yarn I actually buy/acquire, it's time for an update.

Now, to be fair, two of the five items are not my fault. And two I forgot about until I got an email saying, "oh hai, we shipped your things." And the last one...well, that was a purchase for me.

But, let's get on with it already!

Firstly and foremostly, the two items that are totally not my fault:

Two skeins of Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Dove Heather. I have two skeins already so now I have four.

What's the story? Well, maybe a week and a half or two weeks ago, I got a random email from someone via Ravelry inquiring about two skeins of Swish Worsted in Wonderland Heather (which is an aqua color) that was hanging out in my regular stash. She wondered if I'd be willing to swap my two for her two as I had the dyelot she needed for a sweater she was making and the two she had had enough of a difference that you could see the stripe between dyelots. So, obviously, I can do that. She shipped me the two skeins of Wonderland Heather she had.....and these two. Totally not my fault! I'm not complaining.

In addition to that, I had a couple of project bags show up from Slipped Stitch Studios (for those of you keeping track at home, these were the "oh hai we shipped your things" surprise).

This is one of the Bag of the Month Club bags (BOM Club) when they did Severus Snape a few months back. It was a pre-order so I was going to have to wait anyway. It's the Two Skein bag, which is listed as "medium" and I have several. I lurves them.

This one, on the other hand, was left after the BOM Club for Labyrinth had finished and was available "on demand."

I bought them in two separate transactions but I emailed them and asked if they could hold onto the Labyrinth one until the Snape one was finished. So, they arrived together this week and I 100% forgot that they were coming.

Happy surprise?


And lastly.....

Ever since Artfibers closed their doors, I've been snapping up bases that I like. I came across this one in a destash. This is Sylph from Artfibers. It's classified as a DK weight silk, mohair, and wool blend (hence the halo effect you see). This is a full 700 yds, which is more than enough to make a shawl but we'll see how things go.

No idea what it's going to grow up to be....but I have it.


Now, between today and the end of the year, I should only have club shipments coming in (StevenBe Inappropriate and the last few of my Erin Lane Indie Yarn Carnival...October and December...and October is en route)......no other yarn. No nothing.

Hahahahaha. We'll see how that goes.

Have a lovely Saturday!

Stash Enhancement: StevenBe Inappropriate (box #3)

Happy Saturday!

I have a Stash Acquisition update for you. My StevenBe Inappropriate box came this past week. This is the third shipment, I think...yeah.

This shipment included a pattern for fingerless mitts, an inappropriate tea towel, and a beautiful skein of Dreamy DK superwash yarn dyed by House of a La Mode in "I Wanna Bob For Your Apples." There's also a little pattern for the leftovers on the back (not shown). Oh, and the code to get into the Inappropriate section on the StevenBe website (but I'm not telling so don't ask).

In case you can't read it, the towel says, "Twinkle, twinkle little cup...how'd my life get so f***ed up?"


It was a lovely box and I'm seriously contemplating buying more of the yarn...but I really shouldn't. So, there's that.

I swear that's it, though. I hope you're having a fabulous Saturday!

Stash Enhancement: Things just keep on coming in...

I keep trying to be good.....and then things happen and then the next thing you know, I have packages arriving at my house with yarn and I don't even know where they all came from or how I got them and my fingers did the buying and.....



Well, let's just see what new stash has arrived at my house already!

In my quest for all things Hunger Games, I got ahold of one of these:

This is a skein of Lorna's Laces Solemate in the "Catching Fire" colorway (November 2013). I'm a little curious about this one as it's a 55% superwash merino, 30% rayon, and 15% nylon blend. I've heard it will hold up well for socks. We shall see.

I also participated in a trade with someone wherein I received this (and they got a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock from me). This is a skein of Vesper Sock from Knitterly Things in the "Love Stinks (Yeah Yeah)" colorway. I'm suddenly reminded of "The Wedding Singer" and Adam Sandler singing this song.

And lastly, I ordered a skein of Slash Self-Striping from Mudpunch in the "Wet Blanket" colorway. She was having an "I got a nasty email" sale that I caught via Instagram and I picked this up. I've been eyeing things for months and finally pulled the trigger.




So, all that happened. I might have more coming. I don't remember. Also, my fabric order arrived from Spoonflower but as I still don't have a working washing machine, I can't wash it and send it off to Lindsey at Erin Lane Bags. So, once that's sorted out, I'm having Lindsey make some project bags for me. Woo.



Anyway, I hope you're having a lovely day :)

Stash Enhancement: All the things!

Happy Saturday :)

I've had more yarn coming in and I should probably share...and none of these are club yarns.

Two skeins of Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock. The top is in the Gale colorway and the bottom in the May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor colorway. Obviously, I'm still stuck on my Hunger Games needs. It's fine. I'll get there someday.


And then, this one was totally unexpected:

This showed up in a box of fun things for the boys from one of my surrogate Mamas back in Wisconsin. I'm apparently the daughter she didn't have. So, there's that. But this is a vright...seriously BRIGHT neon green color called Neon Ocean from Schachenmayr Regia, which I've heard is a workhorse yarn. No idea what it's going to grow up to be, other than socks...but that might just be enough.



So, there it is. I'm keeping up!

I have more yarn coming soon...a couple more destash items (further fueling my need for all things Hunger Games) and a skein from MudPunch...maybe another Indie Yarn Carnival. I can't remember.

Anyway, wandering off for now. I hope you're having a lovely Saturday :)

Stash Enhancement: StevenBe Inappropriate

Happy Saturday :)

I have a recent acquisition with the arrival of my second StevenBe Inappropriate box.

Oh, what's inside, what's inside?!

And upon opening up the tissue paper, I found:

A beautiful skein of Pinnacle DK from Wild Hare Fiber in "Once You Go Black..."

And for the inappropriate part we had the above notepad :)

The yarn, of course, comes with a pattern, by DrawFour Designs. There's a secondary pattern for a little finger puppet, which probably means this little cowl is going to use up almost all the yarn, which is absolutely fine.

Anyway, clubs don't count but they're still stash :) Hope you're having a lovely day!

Stash Enhancement: Another LYS closed and I have no self-control

Happy Saturday :)

Today, we're here for another stash enhancement update. Oops. I fell off that yarn diet wagon so frickin' hard these last couple weeks.

Oh well. Yarn is pretty and it makes me happy.



As I mentioned in the title, the Bay Area has lost another yarn shop: Purlescence Yarns. It was a bit of a drive for me (30 minutes in good traffic - over an hour or more if traffic was crap) but so worth going down there. I have been there a couple times over the last 5 or 6 weeks and each time, I came home with all the things...but apparently not all the things because I kept coming home with more. ::sigh::

Anyway, let's see the pretties!

Five skeins of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in Shamrock. I purchased this with a project in mind: Park Slope by Laura Aylor. I have more than enough (I think my size only calls for 1100 yds and I have something like 2100 yds). Oh well, I could make a long-sleeved one. Or 3/4 sleeves. Or...something. I don't know.

Two skeins of MJ Yarns American Worsted. The top is "Ether" and the bottom is "Soul Fissure." I have another skein of the black, which I totally forgot about but, you know, it's not a big deal.

Two skeins of MJ Yarns Opulent Fingering in "Yang Fa" (top) and "Party Punch" (bottom). No idea what these are going to grow up to be...I suppose we'll see.

Apparently I wanted all the yarns from MJ Yarns. This is the Silken DK in "Blue Magic."



In addition to those purchases, one of the people I follow on Instagram does a yarn sale on Thursday and Friday late afternoons (well, it's late afternoon here) and I picked these up:

LYDIA Yarns Sock in "Prince of Purple," which is, of course, an homage to his royal highness, Prince.

And lastly, a skein of Knitted Wit Victory Fingering in "Velvet Elvis," because why not? It spoke to me and wanted to come home with me.



I might have a problem. Of course, this blog isn't titled, "Confessions of someone that appreciates yarn and only buys it when she needs it."

I suppose it fits well :)



I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully, with my Year of Projects update. Today, we may or may not be at ComiCon San Francisco. Maybe we're doing both.