…with photos…..

1. I finished a sock

It’s made from 3 ply Pumpkin Juice from Enchanted Knoll. Yes, I’ve cast on for the second and may actually make the second sock this year.

2. I’ve made headway on the February Lady sweater

3. This is my favorite new gadget (it’s a milk frother so I can make soy lattes at home)

I know the window looks dirty, I swear it’s clean, it’s the screen that’s messed up and I really should remove it…..

4. I spun and plied some yarn

It’s from The Electric Sheep and it’s way prettier than the photo suggests. Yes, the window behind it is broken. I just saw that this morning when I went to do the photographs. All I want for Christmas is a brand new window.

5. But mostly I’ve been working. The shop has been organized, cleaned and stocked. So well stocked that there are extra bins of Handpaint here and there that wouldn’t fit on the shelves. We’re just about ready for the sale this weekend. I hope everyone in the US has a great Thanksgiving and everyone else, have a great Thursday. If you can make it for the sale this weekend, I’d love to see you.

David set up the Cricket for me when he was visiting. I finally got something on it and even finished on it.

Well, I didn’t even do most of the work.

The pattern and yarn for this one is in the Shop as a kit. It’s super soft and squishy Merino goodness. It ended up as a shop sample, I need to make a green one for me.

I did get something else warped onto it.

Again it’s not for me. It’s another shop sample. It will be pretty once done but it will take a bit more concentration. I’m not sure if Miss 8goingon20 can do this one and keep the selvedges even while carrying colors up the sides.

I warped the Flip as well. I had finished spinning some Merino from Come in Spinner and immediately warped the Flip for another scarf. I love how it’s coming out stripey and tweedy.

But I don’t love the little design element I was weaving into it. This morning after I took the photo I realized how much I disliked it and I “unwove” and wove a new element in. If I like it enough to keep it, I’ll post a new photo later in the week.

Magazines.
They pile up and up and up. Magazines are plentiful all year long but this time of year it’s just downright crazy. We got in a glut of magazines the other day. All with Christmas ads. Magazines that will just end as fire starter or going to recycling. But there has to be a better use for some of it….right?

Right.
And you’re going to help me come up with creative ideas of things to do with all these holiday magazines. Why would you want to do that? The winner will get a $40 to spend at Spunky Eclectic. And you get to decide the winner.

Here’s the scoop:
Take all the magazines you have lying around and that you are willing to tear into and get creative. Do something good with them. Something decorative for the upcoming holiday season or something lasting, something that you can gift. Anything cool that doesn’t mean the magazines are heading into the trash pile.

Have it done by December 5th. Come back to this post and post a link to what you did. If you used a known tutorial please post a link to that tutorial. If you came up with the idea yourself, a tutorial would be awesome so we all can recycle too.

December 10th’s Want Not Waste Not Wednesday post will have a link to all the entries and a way for every one to vote. Why does anyone want to vote? One of the voters will be chosen at random to receive a prize as well! Everyone will get one week to vote and then I’ll tally up the winner. Not to get all sappy, but if we participate we’re all winners because we’re recycling.

Get going.
I wanna see what you come up with

Here’s mine (though my entry doesn’t count in the contest, I’m just bringing you some inspiration)
We cut out strips of yarn samples in yarn magazines:

Then we looped them all together in one of those chain garlands.

Miss 8goingon20 helped me put it together. It was a fun activity for the 2 of us to do together. Now it graces the doorway of my shop.

The box was completely full this time so it took a bit to get it all plied off. But the singles box is almost full again. I can’t show you this time because it’s got a few bobbins that are club test colors.

Hello Yarn Club - Red Velvet Shetland
Navajo 3 ply coming in around 180 yards.

Spunky Eclectic Route 66 in Romney
2 ply and I’m clueless about the yardage.

Merino from Abby’s Yarns
2 ply coming in around 360 yards.

This is from a blended Batt. I have a sweater lot of it. Unfortunately it has felty pieces in it and it wasn’t a joy to spin. I struggled for a little bit to get an even yarn and decided instead to just let fly and let the felty sticky pieces be and make a rustic woolen thick and thin yarn. I wanted to make it into a stockinette sweater anyway so it will work out just fine. I do rather like it, I like most all yarns. I’ll finish this off and have a rustic lovely yarn for a sweater. And the other lots of fiber I have from this company will be put through the carder before I use it.

Hi, my name is Boogie and I’m a Wool Whore.
Through and through, there is no doubt about it. I’m a wool whore. I get panicky when I’m feeling low on wool. I get anxious when I can’t get my suppliers to answer me immediately or if they’re out of a wool I NEED. What’s even worse is the feeling that happens when I think I’ve run out of a wool I didn’t keep for myself.

This happened to me last week.
I have a limited stock of CorriePaca. I spun a bit up as a sample before I decided to buy the entire lot my supplier had. When it arrived I quickly proceeded to dye tons of it to share. It’s a glorious fiber and I needed to share it. I may be a wool whore but I know how to share.

I was measuring wool for dyeing and came to the end of the bump…end of the bump….
END OF THE BUMP!!!

I don’t have any for me!

END OF THE BUMP!!!!

I scurried around. I had to have another one somewhere. Somewhere…..
At the shop, I had the last 40 lbs.
Then the whore part set in and sharing wasn’t as important as making sure I had enough for a couple of sweaters for me.
One:

Two:

Three:

And I still want more…..
To prove that I’m worthy of more, I have been spinning.
8 ounce of Corriepaca for a sweater yoke. It’s a worsted weight 2 ply in the colorway - Riverwalk.

And here’s a sweater I’m working on.

I really want to be working on large lots of fiber but I have a ton of small lots. I’ve made a new deal with myself about spinning. I spin one bobbin for a sweater yarn and then one bobbin from a small project. So far so good. I have a bunch more yarn that I’ve made recently. Now I need to get to plying it.