Fiber Fridays in Effect!

She's a Carnival

Just under the wire - I've added a few new grab bags to the mini skein shop - She's a Carnival and Red Apple Falls for your hexipuffing pleasure! As always - free shipping to the US, fun surprises in every package, and lovely yarns from a variety of quality sources. Thanks for looking (be sure to bookmark my mini skein shop - fresh listings weekly!)

In knitting news, I'm very close to finishing my Metheglin Cowl - a few more rounds and I'll be ready to bind off! I think I may have skipped a few rows....I did the bulk of the work on Tuesday night, when I was knitting at the bar....and well, these things happen when I've had many beers. Oops.

Metheglin

Tyler's sweater is starting to really shape up - the sleeves are just about elbow-length now! The rounds are coming faster, and the closer I get to the end, the more excited I get. I'll be over the moon if this is done by the end of next weekend, but perhaps a more do-able goal is my birthday (then I can cast on a sweater for myself - what a good birthday present).

One last note before I sign off for this week - I was really saddened to hear that Kitchen Sink Dyeworks is calling it quits. I wish Mercedes the best in her new endeavors (which, lucky for us, will involve a greater focus on designing!), but I'm really bummed to see another cool hand-dyed yarn company go so quickly on the heels of The Sanguine Gryphon. I highly recommend stocking up - everything's on sale in her online store.

And so it goes..

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Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...

App Review & Giveaway: Stash 2 Go

The developers for a paid Ravelry app for iPad and iPhone called Stash 2 Go contacted me earlier this year to see if I was interested in writing a review or their app on their blog. While I don't own an iPad or iPhone, I was able to gift a download to a knitting friend who had an iPad and was willing to let me play around with it for the purposes of this review! This is the first time I've ever accessed Ravelry via an app (on my Android phone, I typically use the m.ravelry.com site), and I found most of it to be easy to use. Some of the features weren’t intuitive to me at first, but once I got the hang of the idiosyncracies, it was smooth sailing. Stash 2 Go makes the most of API functions Ravelry has opened up to developers (there are still several areas which have yet to be completed in the Ravelry programming interface, so developers can only implement what is available through www.ravelry.com/api ). Most of the app's functionality allows the user to view the ...

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her. We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

handmade by stefanie

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