Sock Hop - Wild Thing

After my successful spinning last week, I just couldn't help myself... I had to knit.
There was some "leftover" yarn from skeining off the Wild Thing colorway into 6 hanks of yummy-ness, and it just hopped right into my sock yarn bag! There wasn't enough for two more full skeins, but just enough to make a short sock. All's I can say is that it certainly lives up to it's name.

To all who are patiently waiting for the yarn to be back in stock... thank you ! As of Monday, we will have sent out all the backorders from the first go around - and we are spinning as fast as we can to generate stock. We'll be opening it up on our website in a few weeks. In the meantime, if you're interested to know what the 24 colorways look like, you can go here. (and for all you spinners, don't hesitate to spin your own. It spins like a dream!)

Have you ever wondered where all the fiber-dyeing folks find their inspiration? Well, here's a small tale for you. I have a great affection for the displaced people of Tibet. Their beautiful faces, their kind hearts touch me deeply. About two years ago, I dyed up this colorway in our corriedale pencil roving, and named it "Tibetan Dreams" in honor of this nation of people.

My daughter, Erin, had once attended a great summer camp, that taught leadership skills to highschool students. One of the instructors was a buddhist monk named Yusan (who was about 30 yrs old). I will never forget the absolute delight in my daughter's eyes when she came home and told me stories of watching him break dance ! "Imagine, a monk break dancing !!", she said. We had such a good chuckle about the possibilities of how monks truly might live (grins)
Then, a few months ago, I found this greeting card and sent it off to her, all the while remembering our friend, Yusan.

And the new colorway called "Wild Thing" was born. (It is partly Tibetan Dreams colors and there are a few new variations thrown in)
Can you tell that I'm having some fun with this whole dyeing fiber thing?? Yup.

Okay, and I admit, once I got started on the knitting thing again, I couldn't stop. Here's the newest completed project. I bought 8 balls of "Glam" by Cyrstal Palace, and 2 balls of Cotton Classic made by Tahki. The pattern is from my friend Lauren who owns So Much Yarn in Seattle. She will send you the pattern free, with the purchase of the yarn. Please hop on over and say hi to her from me. She's working on setting up her web-sales page, and it should be 'live' very very soon. In the meantime, feel free to give her a call.
The shrug is one that totally compliments us older women - (read that hides the love handles). It is one of the best fitting, most comfortable garments I have ever made. Thank you Lauren!
As you can see from the background, I wasn't joking in my earlier posts about the wild nature of our hillside right now. The first photo is one of me about to crack up - sometimes it's hard to post a photo of yourself that is zooming all over the world.. Perhaps one day it'll stop drizzling, and we can get out to mow (ha ha... like I'd stop dyeing fiber in order to mow... go figure)

Last, but by far not least - if you haven't been to Cara's blog lately, it's time. She's organized a huge Spin Out fundraiser for Heifer International. This is a great business that gives animals to families, so that they can make a living for years and years. Go ahead, make a donation.. you will be doing a good thing. (We donated towards a goat - of course) AND, there are fabulous prizes that you can win. thanks for listening to this plug.. :-)
P.S> be sure to send Cara an email about your donation, so that she can add you to the prize drawing.