Dye-O-Rama Meme

Okay, so this is really, really late and for all I know my Dyeing buddy has already decided to dye plain black for me out of spite for my laziness, but here it is.

Your favorite colors? Green, blue & purple. Brown, rust and reds are nice too
Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)?sock
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?I like both, lace looks better without lots of colors and less ornate patterns look good with color variations.
If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn? I love it all!
Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)? Only if the yarn isn't too stiff to work with, some yarns hurt my hands.
Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it? Too hard to name just one colorway, I love so many.
What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along? Create new yarn and meet new knitters/bloggers

General yarn/fiber questions:
Have you dyed yarn/fiber before? yes
If so, what’s your favorite dye and method? I'm not experienced enough yet to have a favorite method as I've done so little dyeing.
Do you spin? No. I own a drop spindle, but my hands can't get the knack of making it go the correct direction.
Have you knit socks before? I love to knit socks, and yes I have.
Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too?I use sock yarn for shawls and gloves too.
What are some of your favorite yarns? Wools and silks, no particular brand
What yarn do you totally covet?Koigu is delightful but too expensive for me.
Favorite patterns? I'll try anything.
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? I can't choose just one.
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? Bamboo or wood, or addi turbos. Straight and circs both.
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Something with lots of colors, but warm and comfortable, like wool.

Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Chocolate is always wonderful.
What’s your favorite animal?Cat
Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages? Tasha/Cat/16+, Bonny/Cat 9 months, 4 chickens, Spotty, Raven, Ariel and Peeper, all about 3 years old.
If you were a color what color would you be?green
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s)..plain white cotton t-shirt
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? I don't know
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. "I don't know what weapons will be used in world war three but world war four will be fought with sticks and stones." Albert Einstein.
Do you have a wishlist?No
Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? I'm easy to please and I'm really looking forward to receiving some special yarn!

No rants, I promise!

In the words of Larry the Cable Guy, "Lord I apologize for that, heh, heh". Sorry about yesterday's soap box tirade regarding the federal Veterans' programs.

I called my neighbor and we both were relieved to postpone the garage sale until after school is out. Hooray!

I mailed my Dye-O-Rama buddy's yarn two days ago and I can't wait for her to receive it! At the slight risk of her seeing it here before she does receive it, here it is...

She specifically asked for blue and brown together. This is Kona Superwash Merino from Wool2Dye4. It was very soft and nice to work with. It does seem slightly thinner than other sock yarns I've encountered though so it may require using size 0 or 1 needles only and adjusting accordingly for the correct guage. And because she is traveling with her new pal, Purl the Beaver, it is named "Purl's Delight" and it features Purl on the label. There are also lots other goodies in the package too that I hope she'll enjoy. This was a really fun exchange to participate in. Some of the yarns shown at the Dye-O-Rama site are really pretty. Well, back to my housework. Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Stop the ride, I wanna get off!

Towards the end of each school year there seems to be a mad dash by the schools, teachers, etc. to fit in as many activities as possible. These activities range from end of the year parties for all of the kids who celebrate summer birthdays, to end of the year performances and field trips to use up allotted PTA money. This week we have three performances at two different schools. two birthday parties, a garage sale and there was one field trip. Next weeks' schedule is even crazier and I'm supposed to have a garage/yard sale this weekend.




Needless to say, I've not had much time for knitting, blogging, etc. But I want to thank Aija for the lovely sock yarn she gave me for winning a contest she held last week. It's beautiful Lisa Souza hand dyed yarn. I love it. Thank you Aija!

Did I mention I have a garage sale to prepare for?

The extra big socks for my Dad's Christmas present are completed... finally. The Sockotta yarn looks nice, but it isn't as pleasant to knit with as 100% superwash. I hope they will fit him.

I hate having garage sales.




I cast on a pair of Evelyn Clark's Blossom socks in some Socks that Rock yarn in the Fire on the Mountain colorway. They are bright and happy and the yarn feels luxuriously soft after the Sockotta. This yarn came from Jessalu . It looks completely different in person than it does on the STR ordering page.

Now for a rant... okay, so my DH is still unemployed thanks to corporate layoffs at Verizon. He's been actively looking for work for almost 5 months now and by actively I mean that he is busting his ass by applying for jobs, sending out resume's, doing follow-ups and going to interviews. All the while he's been looking he has managed to serve some active duty days with his National Guard unit. He has been in the Air Guard now for almost 23 years and he served in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Desert Calm as well as traveling to the Philippeans, Denmark, etc. Stateside he's participated in forest fire aid, flood aid, and most recently he was in New Orleans following Katrina. So here's my beef. He went down to the Veterans' Affairs Office in Tacoma to see if there were any training assistant or education opportunities available. There are some great packages available for Vietnam Veterans... which is too little too late in my opinion as many of these people needed help earlier. There are also some wonderful education grants, etc. available for soldiers who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, there again, rightfully so. But there is NO aid or assistance other than the standard Montgomery GI bill for those who served in the first Gulf War. WTF! About 10 years ago a friend of mine laughingly made a comment that "It wasn't a real war". That comment pissed my off then and the attitude shared by her at the time and apparently congress to this day still pisses me off. We have about 30 more days of health insurance left and I'm getting nervous about finances, etc. DH has even said that he'd consider a middle east 6 month tour just to help us get by. I do NOT want his 42 year old ass over there a second time, he's not physically up to it. But hey, then maybe he'd qualify for retraining assistance since he'd then be a veteran of a "real" war. That's the end of my rant.

Off to cook veggie burgers before tonight's fourth grade performance! Oh, and I have to set up and price for a garage sale too.

Thank you PoMo Golightly and KitKatKnits!

Today was another fun mail day (if you don't count the bills)! I received three packages. First was my yarn so that I could start dyeing some up for my Dye-O-Rama Buddy. Nothing much to see.

Second was a package from the delightful PoMo Golightly. I won a contest for helping her name her new traveling companion, Purl. Purl happens to be an adorable stuffed beaver who came all the way from Australia to live with PoMo. I was just honored to have the name I picked chosen, but I also received a package of "Tub Tea". I have never heard of this before, but I'm excited to get A1, A2 and A3 in bed tonight so I can take a bath! And there was a card with a knitter on the front (that is so cool to find something with a knitter). But wait, there's more. I also received a skein of Merino Frappe Crystal Palace Yarn! It is a lovely shade of blue and PoMo says that it's enough to make the cobweb capelet from SNB Nation! I have another project. Thank you PoMo, I love everything and I hope that you and Purl have a safe and exciting (rather contradictory) trip back east!



And finally, I received a consolation prize from KitKatKnits for guessing that the private airplane loo belonged to a first lady (I guessed the wrong first lady though). I believe she was afraid that my strange obsession with trying to guess whose toilet that was might mutate into some kind of stalking so she bought me off! Ha ha. From KitKatKnits I received a really cool, really pretty knitting tote. It has Monet's Water Lillies on it and the top zips shut. I can carry my pattern books, my new sock bag and several WIP's all at once! Thank you very much.

Oh, I almost forgot(sorry). Miss Aija won a gift certificate to KnitPicks for taking the quiz. Happy shopping Aija!

Contest Winner.

Thank you everybody who took my quiz! First off, here are the correct answers:

1) What is my favorite animal?
b) Cat
2) What is my natural hair color?
d) All of the above (Brown, red & gray)
3) What musical instrument did I play in high school?
a) Clarinet
4) What was my major field of study in college?
d) English
5) If I were stranded on a deserted island what luxury item would I want (assuming I had water, food and Shelter)?
d) All of the above (knitting, pictures of my daughter & something else I can't remember)
6) Which branch of the military did I serve in after college?
b) Air Force
7) Which of these jobs have I NOT done?
b) Elementary School Teacher
8) What is my favorite camping activity?
a) Fishing
9) I once left my car in the middle of the road because there was a ___________ in the car with me.
d) Spider
10) I met my husband while taking a class in college. What did he teach?
c) Fencing

Now I believe some explaining is in order. My hair was a mixture of red & brown naturally. It was never quite auburn though. In recent years I am finding more "platinum" hairs. As far as the jobs that I have NOT held. I don't know what to say about this one. I fully expected that a mother of three who knits and drives a mini-van would never have been suspected of nude modeling. But no, you all believed that I took my clothes off, nobody chose that as unbelievable from my past. What most of you said was that I had never been a tax collector. Indeed, I did collect taxes for the City of Bellingham for almost three years. I love fishing, but in recent years the sleeping on the ground thing hasn't been very appealing, so camping isn't even a real issue. So this was probably unfair to ask. I am an admitted freak about spiders. And finally, although I did take a fencing class that my husband taught, we did not date, etc. until a year later.

Without further ado and in no particular order, here are the contestants:

Karen O, Katt, Cindy, Aija, Jennifer, Trek, Ferg, Emy, Truckrlady, Karen, Fitknit, Karyn, JessaLu, PoMo Golightly, Brian Your Husband, Tisha and Holly.

And here is our state of the art method of selection:

And the winner is...

Aija!

Congratulations Aija! Please contact me or leave a comment so I can get your prize to you.

Also, here is a picture of my new sock bag that I bartered with Trek for. It rocks! There are little paw prints all over the outside and the inside is Green, my favorite color! Thank you again, Trek!