february be gone!

I think I’ve had quite enough of February. I hereby banish it with the love and kisses…

…of the GIVEAWAY LLAMA!

Live it up! Let someone with a lot of hair on his face kiss you.

Yes, folks, I think it is time for another Deep Winter Kindness Fairy giveaway.

This is a skein of merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn hand-dyed by Ontario yarn artist and smart-ass knitter Kim McBrien, AKA Indigodragonfly. The colourway is TARDIS, in honour of the Doctor’s fabulous little blue box.

This beautiful skein of sock yarn will soon be on its way to one of you lucky readers, randomly chosen from whomever leaves a comment.

The Rulez:

• Leave a comment on THIS POST.
• Comments will stay open until 12 noon EST, Thursday, March 4.
• I’ll use an online random number picker to choose a winner on Thursday afternoon.
• Winner will be announced in Thursday’s blog entry.
• Anyone can play.

NOTE: It is entirely possible that I might have a second surprise waiting for a second randomly chosen person from the comments, because I am wicked that way.

While you are waiting to see who wins this particular skein of sock yarn, I highly recommend going on over to the Indigodragonfly site to click a few links and feast your eyes on her colours. They are playful, deep, rich, and besides: She has the best colour names EVER.

(No affiliation, no envelopes passed under the table, just an honest fan of Kim’s work who loves to spread good yarn around. Really.)

Working through the WIPs

I’m kind of bemused by the fact that, despite the past couple of weeks being rather, uh, challenging in terms of events and personal stuff, my knitting and weaving is actually progressing faster than ever.

I suspect that there is actually a direct relationship between Life Is Challenging and the quick progress of my WIPs. Like any sensible crafter, I knit more, craft more, when things are stressful, because knitting is an excellent way to deal with stress. And, if I can get myself to focus enough to spin, spinning is an even better stress-relief.

I’d like to get myself to take the ten-minutes-a-day spinning challenge, but it’s been a wild ride this month and I don’t want to put more pressure on myself just now. Which sounds silly…because spinning is really the best medicine for The Craziness That Is Life that I know.

Here’s just how crazy my crazy life has been, gauging by stitches knit and yards spun…

I have half a hat:

Pattern: Ysolda’s Rose Red. Yarn: My 2-ply handspun from fibres dyed by Spunky Eclectic.

I have half of a sparkly sock:

Pattern: Bettie’s Lace Stockings. Yarn: “Precious” in Evergreen by Shameless Twist.

I have more progress on a cardigan that I can’t show off yet (secrets!).

I have spun so much of the coral (? salmon ? pink ? red ?) Cormo fluff that I keep thinking the bobbin MUST be full by now…but it isn’t. It’s one of the big Schacht bobbins, and I can’t seem to fill it up.

The label on the bag of Cormo says it is only 4 oz…but I am beginning to wonder, as I’ve spun at least half of it already. It’s like a bottomless bag of Cormo.

I kind of like that idea.

I need more needles. Really.

The one thing I have been noticing is that I actually need some new needles. This is a bit shocking to me, as I always feel like I have ALL the needles, in all the sizes. Lately, however, some of my older needles have been breaking from sheer age and overuse (mostly the Crystal Palace circulars and some of the very very thin dpns from Brittany). I’m very low on size 6 anythings; I had a very hard time coming up with size 5 anythings for the Prayer Flag motifs.

And then, I hate to admit it…but some of the needles must be yummier than others, because they have become Cat Snacks. One of the furry folk has chewed on the ends of my wooden dpns and circs. (I suspect Zoe, despite her innocent little face and big eyes.)

Who....me?

I’ve managed to keep my Super Really Good Best rosewood Dyak dpns away from harm, by keeping them in little labelled tubes up high on a shelf and instantly putting them out of reach if they are part of a WIP.

But I haven’t been so good with my workaday needles, the ones I have at my desk for sudden swatch attacks, for example. Those have been…sampled. I’ve sanded some of them back to usability, but some were (apparently) extra-tasty and thus are no longer good for their original purpose.

I really can’t believe I might need to buy more needles. I keep thinking there must be a secret tribe of circulars, living under the stairs, or possibly on the top shelf of the linen closet. I’ll discover them the day we move out of this house, after I’ve bought three more sets in all the sizes.

This is all yet more evidence that what I really need is a Nanny. Except, as a compassionate individual, I cannot imagine asking anyone to keep an eye on me; that would simply be too much for anyone to bear and maintain normal levels of sanity.

Random Goods and Sillies

By an ancient London law, way back from the 11th Century, the Freeman of London have the right to drive a herd of sheep across London Bridge. Some knitters got hold of that one, and did what knitters do:

Well, no one said they couldn’t be hand-knitted sheep, right? Read all about the Handmade Herd, view close-ups of the little sheepie guys…and watch out for the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing!

And finally…I think we all need to take lessons from Bob in how to chill out.