Mystery yarn and lots of rain

It has rained nonstop for a week in New Jersey, where I have been during that time, after not seeing rain for quite awhile. Here on the tree stumps in her back yard, mushrooms are going crazy. Alongside this broken stone bird head it looks like we planned it, to look rustic. But we didn't, we just haven't been keeping up with the yard. I was hoping to get some outdoor work done up here, cleaning out the shed and organizing my possessions that are stored therein.

After a mostly dry season last year I am starved for mushrooms to photograph! The strangest thing in the back yard though was the fact that all of my boxes in her wooden shed seemed to be full of Rose of Sharon seeds. The things grow like weeds in the yard, but there weren't any IN the shed. There weren't any ABOVE the shed. How on earth did the seed pods manage to worm their way into my shoes, boxes and any sort of containment device, in the shed? It is a mystery to me. More on mysteries in a moment.

Now, on to blue things. Isn't it interesting when you can see the moon during the daytime?

Last week I got some mill-end yarn at AC Moore, a bag of five skeins of this stuff. Here's where the mystery is...I can usually identify any mill-end yarn because I spend an irrational amount of time in yarn stores and I know what brands usually wind up in the mill-end bin. I even recognized that they had Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! there, which was surprising since they don't even have Hobby Lobby around here. Which is a store that I love, because how can you not?

So here is the mystery yarn. Help identifying it would be greatly appreciated! Each skein is pretty hefty, and I've test knitting enough to know it's probably fingering weight. Using #4 needles I got about nine rows to the inch, and 29 stitches on the needle made it 4 inches wide. So that is 29 sts x 36 rows = a 4-inch square. But that was unblocked, stretched slightly.

The mill-end bags say it could contain anything from acrylic to nylon to wool, and I think that judging by the way it feels and knits up -- and sticks to itself I'm untangling it -- it must be at least part wool. I couldn't get it to "spit join" when I tried to felt it by rubbing the ends together wet, but to be fair I've never been able to get 100% wool to do that either.


Oh pretty skeins, what are you? How much of you is there? If this is fingering weight, then these are about the size of a ball of Noro sock yarn, which would mean there could be 300 or even 400 or more yards per ball.

So to test it out I am knitting the Out of My Head Shawlette -- or at least starting it, we'll see how it goes -- which uses less than 400 yards. So it won't take long and will be a good test of how the colors stripe out and if it blocks. If I can wet block it successfully to make the lace pattern set neatly, then I will be pretty sure it has wool content and I can make a larger, more complicated piece out of the rest. And I will know if I have 2000 yards of the stuff!

ArtFire sale extended, new items

I'm extending my 25% off sale at my ArtFire sale through the week, which includes lots of art and a couple of knit/crocheted items. The autumn tree painting you see above, and the crocheted fingerless gloves below, are among the items that are for sale at a considerable discount.
Adorned with a red flower and a little robin. I definitely prefer crocheting, I've decided, after fighting with dropped stitches on a different project this week that was knit...but I will continue to do both. I think everyone who does this stuff has one method that they prefer, so I'd have to say that crocheting appears to be my preference.

I visited Woolbearers in Mount Holly, NJ today and got some beautiful yarn, including this below, a variety called Cornucopia in the color Provence. It made me think of something regal -- like a queen in a palace overlooking a cloudy cliff at the edge of the sea. I have no idea what I'd do with it but I have to have some.

And continuing my fixation on rainbows, some beautiful rainbow yarn...I wish I had an endless supply, everything I owned would be made of it! Another thing I prefer about yarn crafts to sewing, is that you don't need to plug anything in -- you don't need a machine. I hand sewed garments for years, but it was very time consuming, and the end results weren't quite as neat as I'd like them to be. Knitting and crocheting seem to come out very neatly. And you don't have all these little pins falling all over the place too. Oh I still sew, don't worry -- I am going to set up a machine in a permanent spot and use it whenever inspiration strikes me, but the rat-a-tat of the machine is something you can't do in bed at night or in a waiting room. Wouldn't it be interesting if you DID do it in a waiting room though?

Knitting adventures

I did a little knitting and crocheting when I was a child but didn't pick it up again until two years ago, and since then I've just done a little during the months of October to January usually -- I get sidetracked by other things for the rest of the year -- but the madness is upon me again. So far I had really only done knitting and purling, though I started trying to use double-pointed needles to make socks, but lost my place and moved on. This year though something has clicked into place. In the last two weeks I've done a ton of things -- completed gifts for seven people (plus tiny little extra things to throw in with them) as well as several things for myself, which when I think about it is complete madness. I guess I haven't been doing anything else!

Pictured above is my first attempt to use circular needles. Although it called for a 40" circular I realized later they meant the Magic Loop, and the 32" I got was about as big a size as could accommodate it. What I'm trying to make is this:

The Brainmonster hat

I also don't know how to pick up stitches or do half a dozen other things, but the only way to do stuff is just to bloody well do it!

I also learned a new stitch -- which took a couple of tries to get right, but I think looks really nice, for this Nook/Kindle cozy which I can show a picture of even though it's a gift, because my friend already knows she's getting it! ;) This pattern is on Ravelry though you have to be logged in to see it.

It is surprising to learn that these two colors are actually the same -- the Cinder color from Loops & Threads at Michael's, in the Chelsea striped roving variety. It changes from one to the other throughout the skein -- I like both on their own so I think it would look lovely in anything. I might make myself a Nook cozy with that. I don't know why, I just think they need a cozy!
Doesn't EVERYTHING need a cozy??



And finally, from Pins and Needles yarn store in Princeton, I got a couple of skeins of really nice yarn -- the colorful one is by Punta Yarns, and the other by Manos del Uruguay. I usually just buy Vanna White and Red Heart yarn as I learn how to do stuff -- or the Michael's brand, Loops and Threads, so this is all very exciting, I assure you! It's too nice to use! But I will use it...just like fabric, I can't resist...

Autumn yarn cravings

Every year for the past couple of years around October the yarn starts to call me. After a month (October) in Texas, where the temperatures were usually around 90 and the leaves do not turn quite as noticeably, if at all -- I am in New Jersey in November and catching a glimpse of golden leaves here and there. And the cold temperatures mean...the yarn is coming back out.

I had not knit or crocheted since I was about 12, but two years ago I relearned the basics and made a 12-foot-long Dr. Who scarf (below). Since it's 12 feet long the only way I could photograph it was to drape it over my curtains.

Well that was knitting, but I am equally fond of crocheting -- in the past I made some little animals and things, amigurumi, but I don't seem to have the knack for it this year. I do appear to be able to make scarves with a double crochet all of a sudden though. I am not trying to post a how-to or anything, but I must say that the patterns that Lion Brand puts out with Vanna's Choice yarn, have the best instructions. I've never had a problem following them. Here's a photo from one of their $5 pattern books that caught my eye because I like the idea of sunny hues in the winter:

And here are my inexpert, unmanicured fingers attempts to do a double crochet for the first time. Since taking this picture this afternoon I'm all the way up to the dark, brick red yarn. This is a 2-day project if you have nothing better to do with your time!

I love this rainbow yarn though, I keep buying skeins of the larger one and forgetting what I've done with them, so I bought more today. I'm not sure what to do with it. The smaller piece, called Mardi Gras, makes me think "wrist warmers!" because those are easy and a nice way to display something colorful.



So....back to the hook!