Since I work downtown, I’m often responsible for shuttling knitting related objects between Naperville and Chicago residents.  As the people who rely on this service knows, its, well, slow.

Unfortunately, that has often led to very slooooow Wow! Shipments.

This post is both for Barb’s Simba and mine July Wow Shipments.

First, Simba.   Simba signed up for the club.  He had all this to pick from.

So, he looked and sniffed and wandered around…

And picked out a lovely skein of Lucy Neatby!

Simba is super excited!

Now, for me, I got a lovely skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight Calico!

Note:  This post was made under the influence of half a bottle of Lynfred Winery Cranberry Wine.

Monica, otherwise known as my Evil Yarn Pusher, had sent me a link to Rohrspatz & Wollmeise, a German site.   The Wollmeise side is full of absolutely gorgeous handpainted yarns, by Claudia.  We immediately needed all of them.  

She dyes a variety of yarn weights, but of course, we wanted sock yarn.  Especially after going through the flickr group and seeing all the yarn that other people had bought.   In particular, this picture shows the basic color range.  What’s great about Claudia is that you can request all of her colors in light, medium and strong.

So, since the exchange rate sucks ass right now, and shipping for just a few skeins would have killed us, Monica and I decided to do an order together.   Lynette jumped in, and Monica convinced some of her California knitting friends that they also need ze german yarnz.  We ordered 10 skeins all together.  Claudia ships 5 per package, for a total of 12 euro shipping per package.  I believe once we split up the shipping cost, each skein cost us 21 dollars US, which is quite reasonable.

She also packages them gorgeously.

I really did try to get a picture that didn’t include Hunter’s head, but he was very very very interested in the packages.  He stole all the feathers off of them immediately, and then went for the mini skeins.   It was like wild animal kingdom, but with cats and yarn.

Honestly, I knew the yarn was going to be gorgeous, but I didn’t realize how gorgeous until I opened the packages.  These pictures in no way do the yarn justice.  If you click on each picture, you’ll get a larger picture.

The colors aren’t quite as dark as this picture.   The Lowenzahn (in strong) is for me.  I fell in love with the Rhabarber and Brombeere (in strong), despite not particularly liking red.  Sadly, they have other homes.

The Iris sibirica and Dornroschen (in strong) are mine.   The Dornroschen is to make Aimee the Sis a pair of socks.   I’m totally in love with the Iris skein - it reminds me of the Irises we had at our old house in Colorado.

Claudia has a blog which shows a few limited edition colors she is dyeing this summer as well.

I came into the household as a birthday gift from my owner’s son.  His name is Ben.  My owner had recently lost another cat to cancer and was very sad.  Ben wanted to make my owner happy so they went to a pet store in our town.  This particular pet store is where their other cat’s had been purchased and was very nice.  I remember meeting Ben.  I had just arrived at the pet store, and I was only eight weeks old.  They had given me a yucky flea bath, and I was wet and cold and very afraid.  Ben held me close on his chest as I shook and made me very happy.  We did have a little problem with determining if I was a little boy or a little girl since I was so tiny, but they assured them that I was a little girl.  Everyone was happy, and they took me home.  They named me Bonnie Blue since my mom absolutely loves the movie, Gone with the Wind.  She already has Miss Scarlett in the house, and since I had the Siamese blue eyes it was the perfect name.  All was fine until I went to the vet for my first check up.  Some guy was poking me and poking me and then said I was not a “she” but a “he”.  The name Rhett Butler just didn’t stick, and Ben loved The Lion King movie so that is how I became Simba and entered the household. 

As I grew up I began to explore.  I would see these bags come home filled with yarn and then disappear.  One day I was in the closet exploring, and there were these Rubbermaid containers stacked up in the closet.  Soon I was able to jump on top of them.  She had them stacked real high. 

Shadow filled me in on what was inside.  My owner also had these decorative trunks in her living room.  The trunks I could peak inside of and I saw yarn!  Then she had more containers stacked high in her bedroom with what she said were her special “sock yarn containers”.  So now I knew where all those bags went that she bought home from the store that just disappeared.  We have one big problem now.  Some of her “sock containers” are overflowing, and she can’t close them properly.  I almost hurt myself jumping on top of them.  Either she needs to use this yarn soon or get another container so I can jump higher onto the bed.  Can someone please talk to her? 

Until Next Time . . . Simba

While Laurel was on vacation, I took care of her cat, Alexei. I didn’t do much - I dropped by every day, gave him food and water, scooped the litter box, and played with him a bit. But, he was highly appreciative, because he gave me some very very special yarn as a thank you gift. He thinks its the best yarn ever. His mommy had never seen any yarn like it.

According to this blog entry, Tuna refers to the town in Sweden where it was made, not its composition. It’s a 100% wool yarn, probably fingering weight. But don’t tell Alexei!

I never did post my Stitches stash. I went very light this year, thanks to moving. Plus, I still have a ton of yarn from last year’s extravangza yarn buying blowout.

That’s a skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight in Cracked Canyon. I also bought their Summer Breeze tank pattern. I found Vogue Knitting on the Go: Vintage Knits on sale for 5 dollars at the Yarn Barn of Kansas. I also bought some more size 0 needles, but that’s because I go through size 0 needles the way other people go through chocolate.

So, I’m sitting in Knitche on Saturday, knitting with Lynette, Nancy, Dee, Jennifer and Kristine. There were also two other nice ladies there who was sitting at the back table when we invaded. I tried to adopt them into our group, but with limited success. It might have been that I was a little scary and over the top. I know, I know, me, over the top? Hahahaha.

Anyways, after using my 20 dollar off card (I filled up my yarn yearnings or whatever card) on two skeins of Sea Maiden 8-ply Cashmere in Green. No, the 20 dollars didn’t quite cover it. For some reason, spending 60 dollars on two skeins seemed obscene, but I guess spending 40 dollars is just fine and dandy. I swear, I’m insane. But its soo nice and soft and I pet it and hold it and….

ANYWAYS, we’re sitting and knitting, me with my favorite Inko’s Blueberry White Tea, when tragedy strikes.

One of my size 0 Brittany Birch needles snaps in half. I think its the pressure I end up putting on them when I do the k2tog on the toe. I whine. But, I’m in a yarn shop! I can buy more needles! Except that they don’t carry size 0s. The nice yarn shop ladies let me borrow a size 1, since I was almost done with my sock.

Which I was, until I realized I had totally hosed the toe. My counts were way off. It’s possible that when I ripped the toe last time (I ran out of yarn), I kind of randomly stuck stitches on the three needles, and then didn’t remember how the final count was supposed to go. I was on a train, dammit. You can’t expect detail when you are on a train!

So, I ripped again, and went home. I started working on the sock again this morning, but, well, we’ll just let this IM conversation between Monica and I stand in for the rest.

Gail: And I totally destroyed one of my size 0 brittanys
Gail: And I couldn’t find my fifth one, so now I”m knitting with 3 0s and 1 1
Gail: My life is very sad.
Monica: oh!
Monica: does it make a huge difference?
Gail: Well, I’m just doing the toe, so it doesn’t matter.
Gail: I’m bending the other ones pretty good too - mainly when I do the k2tog, so I’ll just buy some metal ones instead.
Gail: what’st henameof meg swanson’s yarn store again?
Monica: they might bend too
Monica: schoolhouse press
Gail: I don’t mind the bending, just the snapping in half
Gail: Which then leads to the pouting
Monica: oh
Gail: and then to me missing my train due to the execessive searching
Gail:
Monica: oh no!
Monica: that’s why you were a little l8
Gail: Yeah
Gail: Because its important to wait until its time to leave to search for a tiny size 0 five inch needle
Gail: If you do it, say, the night before, its cheating
Monica: i know
Monica: u need that morning adrenaline rush
Gail: Otherwise you are sleepy all day

So, I ordered a new set of size 0 needles from Schoolhouse Press, this time in metal.  I know Brittany will replace my snapped 0, but I don’t even think they are making the size 0 ones anymore, so its not worth the bother.
What sock am I making? It’s the Gentleman’s Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks : New Twists on Classic Patterns by Nancy Bush.  I’m using Heirloom 4-ply Argyle yarn, in color 487.  Two balls are not nearly enough to finish these socks, if you size them according to the pattern.  Which is what you’d expect, given that the pattern calls for like 600 yards of yarn.  I’ve cut down on my socks a ton to get one sock out of a ball.  But the Argyle yarn is sooo pretty.

I’d show you a picture, except that Aimee the Sis has my camera still.  Violet the bunny/monkey is still refusing to go to Colorado.   She likes the sleepy time afternoon snuggles on the couch.  Maybe if Aimee promises sleepy time snuggles… 

Anyways, here is one picture I do have.  It’s of the blossoms of a Red Bud Tree.  I took this picture at the Morton Arboretum a few weeks ago, and its the one recent picture I managed to get off my SD card.

Oh, and finally, I’ve finished chart 1 of the border on my wedding veil!  Woo!  Two charts to go.  Every other line increases 4 stitches, so I’m not even a 3rd done with my border.  It’s looking really nice though.