Oh, the gifties!

I've been having some lovely yarn days these past few days. Two days ago, I got the box of yarn from Cascade for the afghan for Lark:



Squooshy, yarny goodness delivered right to my door! The ease! The convenience! The sheer magnitude of 24 skeins of yarn in one massive box!

Abby, ok, ABBY, the 2-year old who is obsessed with my knitting and crochet, went into spasms of giggles and gleeful squeeling. She is 2, guys. I am sensing a stash addict emerging. Kai was excited, too, but more because it's fun to get stuff from the UPS man. Abby was in total bliss over the yarn. She was standing on the chair next to the table while I checked the color numbers and snagged two hanks and started waving them around over her head and squeeling, "Look, Mommy! Look at the yarn! Are you making something for meeEEEEEeee?!"

So, yeah. Abby will get the afghan when it's done and photographed and returned. Green and brown aren't exactly little girl colors, but she is always just desperate to get something I made, and it's been a while.

Then, yesterday, I got the box of yarn from Patons for the kitchen set. This one came in an itty-bitty box, but was still just as thrilling to get.



Paton's Grace in Champagne and Cardinal. Oooh-la-la. This arrived during Quite Time, so Abby doesn't know about it yet, and so there were no hysterics when it arrived.

Also, the day before yesterday, I received my box from my No Sheep for You partner.



Elsebeth Lavold's Cotton Patine in a lovely purple. I love EL's yarns, and hadn't used this one yet, so it was quite a treat. She also included some lovely cube beads and two little green kitty face beads. The latter are totally becoming stitch markers! For me! For me! The former, I'm going to incorporate into some wire jewelry, I think. I got Annie Modessit's wire jewelry book at TNNA and there are quite a few designs I've been wanting to try. I've done a bit of wire crochet, but haven't tried any wire knitting yet.

So, THANK YOU, NSFY pal! It was a lovely suprise and completely perfect! :)

Then, to top off the Week of the Yarn, we had knit club last night, and Linda totally spoiled me for my birthday. She gave me two of the light up crochet hooks from Crochet Lite that I'm totally in love with. (Not only are they great for using in the dark, but when working with dark yarns, too. I tried to find an F at the Fiber Factory for the pillow covers I'm making, because black Cotton Fleece is so difficult to see, and it was the only size they didn't have! Oh noes!) And then, to top it off, two hanks of Misti Alpaca Chunky in a sort of pea soupy/lime color.



Oh man, can I just remind you all how much I long for sheets made of alpaca and a maid to clean them for me? I believe that it is the fiber used to make the angelic robes of the saints. (Some might think cashmere or silk, but I think God is more frugal than that. Why pay the big bucks when alpaca is so fabulous and affordable?) I keep holding the hanks against my head and smooshing it. You know what it feels like? Boobs. I'm going to say it. Hanks of Misti Alpaca Chunky have the same smooshability and softness of boobs. Resting your head against one is like being 4 again and snuggling against your mom when you get a booboo.

They should use that as a marketing point somehow. I wonder if describing a yarn as boob-like would increase sales to men? They'd want it packed in brown paper bags for the trip home so no one would know they'd bought the boob yarn.

And in the interest of full disclosure, Linda told me they had other colors and she wouldn't be offended if I swapped it out. While the lime is LOVELY, I thought I'd take a look, because it was kind of pale for coloring, and I wanted to see Tempe Yarn and Fiber now that it is in its new location. So, I packed up the girls and we went over and they had some RED that was amazing! So, I ended up switching colors after all, because I figured if it was for my birthday, I was definitely going to use it on ME and the red looked better against my skin. So, THANK YOU, LINDA for thinking of me and for the smooshy goodness of alpaca!!

Who has got the button?!

Buttons are crazy expensive. $3.50 doesn't sound bad until you need 9 of them. I tried contacting a wholesaler even and that was only slightly better, because they have better buttons, so their wholesale prices were about as much as the plastic round ones at Joanns anyway. I wish I'd know this when I was in college, because I would have taken some classes in button design and manufacture. (I don't know that Smith offered it, but maybe I could have found it at UMass through the 5-college exchange?)

I found some yesterday at Fiber Factory that are smaller than I wanted, but will work in a pinch. I wish the wire crochet buttons I attempted would work, but like Jenny said, when the wire is thin enough to work with, it's not durable enough to hold it's shape. I'm still thinking of getting some round, flats in the wood department of Michael's and having Adam drill holes in them for me. A layer of spray sealer and voila--button!

The nonstop work on the projects caused a bit of tendonitis or bursitis or just general wrist pain the other day, and I had to go get a wrist splint. I've been taking it slower and it seems to have left me for now. I need to get cracking, though.

I remembered to take Kai to her class yesterday. I had to speak with the TA afterward, because apparently, she just had melt-down after melt-down the whole time. Her cousin was in the class with her, and I drove her home for my SIL, and the whole way, she was telling me in great detail what Kai had done wrong and I couldn't get her to stop. By the time we dropped her off, Kai was feeling pretty low, and I spent the rest of the day pumping her up again. I thought she was cool again, until she wandered out of her room after bedtime and I sent her back telling her we'd had a great day and it was time for bed, and she turned around and said, "Mom. I had an awful time today." *sigh* Being 4 is hard.

Slacker, slacker

I know I haven't come through on the photos, but what can I say? I've been a bit over whelmed. I would love for this to be a blog that is updated daily with photos and quips and information, but srsly, this deadline is looming in a big way. And if my priorities are really family/life/work, then blogging about those things is going to be the least of my worries when things are nuts. I don't have to have the most spiffilicious craft blog on the planet. It's mainly for my own records anyway.

I've been crocheting at least 6 hours a day for the last week. The projects I'm making for the book are very time consuming. I'm so very pleased with how they are turning out, but man are they taking a long time. I'm leaving the afghan for last, not because it's the biggest project, but because it's on a large hook and should go faster than the smaller projects I have planned that require construction time, too.

The bathmat is done. I have to weave in 2 ends and that's it. I've started on the pillows, and they are the project that is taking so much longer than I had planned that I'm getting nervous. But I am making progress and I'm hoping that by the time I run out of the yarn I have, the yarn Brown Sheep is sending me will have arrived.

I know I've gushed about it on my LJ, but allow me to gush here, too: Yarn companies? Are sending me yarn. For free! To use for the projects I'm making for the books! That little lesson was the best thing I heard at TNNA. Yay, yarn for free! Patons, Brown Sheep, and Cascade are all graciously providing yarn. So, go buy lots from them for supporting designers!

Anyway, enough for now. Back to hooking.

Yarny goodness from TNNA

Michelle wanted to see pictures of what I picked up at TNNA. I will take those today and hopefully have them up by tomorrow. I wasn't allowed to take photos at the event, because there was quite a bit of stuff that hadn't been "released" yet. And some of that stuff I have samples to play with, but some of it they weren't even giving away yet. So, I'll tell you about those first and you can start seeing pictures tomorrow.

First of all, SWTC has some gorgeous yarns coming out. One is called Yin/Yang. The Yin yarn is a standard yarn in some lovely colors. (I didn't get a handout on the yarns so I can't tell you what the content was. Darn!) It looked like a merino, but since it's coming from SWTC, I'm guessing there is some soy or corn mixed in. Anyway, as I said, lovely colors, very soft, nice handle and drape. Beautiful. The Yang version is the same as the Yin, but it has sequins. And I know what you're thinking--AHH! NOVELTY YARN! But no! The sequins were small enough and placed well so that it wasn't sequin over-load. The plan with the yin/yang combination is that they can be used together so you can make a sweater in mostly Yin, and then use the Yang as accents and not have to deal with attaching sequins yourself. I would give you a link, but this yarn is so new it's not even on the website yet.

Along the same lines, The Alpaca Yarn Company had this beautiful yarn called Glimmer. I'm trying to remember now if it was a lace or a dk weight, but the thing about it was that it has a strand of holographic fiber spun with it. And some yarn companies who shall remain nameless *coughcoughLionWoolEasecoughcough* have used this poorly in the past. The holographic strand is too thick and ends up being glaringly obvious to the eye and pokey against the skin. Glimmer's holographic thread is so thin that the samples they had knit up for display looked like they'd been danced upon by Tinkerbell. They had a very understated sparkle to them that looked like pixie dust. I was completely smitten with that yarn. It's perfect for evening wear items or a formal piece or a out-on-the-town item for people who still want to shine, but don't want to look like they coated themselves in Elmer's glue and rolled around in the glitter. And the best thing was that because the thread was so fine, it didn't interfere with the softness of the alpaca.

TNNA, baby!

Well, THAT was an experience!

I got to Columbus in one piece and settled in to the hotel no problem. When I arrived, there was a massive mixed-flower bouquet, candle, and jar of bubble bath waiting for me from Adam. (Did I mention I was traveling on my birthday? He's such a sweetie.) I had dinner in the hotel restaurant and took a piece of cake back to my room to snack on later. And then ate it right away. *ahem* It was my birthday, people! Cake!

The mall was right next to my hotel and I had had plans to go get a new shirt to wear to TNNA the following day, only to find that the mall closed at 7. (My flight arrived at 7:15.) Seriously. Columbus is the state capitol and everything was closed by 7. Made. No. Sense.

I called Jamie and talked to her while I finished putting the lining in my bag and sewed in the handles. I think I finished at about 11 and tried to go to sleep then, but didn't actually fall asleep until 1. Curse you, time change!

At 6 am, someone dropped a breakfast tray in the hall and I couldn't fall back to sleep. So, I gave up at 7 and got up and got ready. At which point, I realized I'd forgotten to bring socks. I got myself together, took my bag downstairs and checked it at the front desk and asked if they knew where I could buy socks.

Sure! But none of the places open until 10!

Le sigh... So, I went out and got a taxi and headed over to the convention center in sneakers with no socks and a boring ole v-neck shirt. Oh, the humanity!

But wait! I had been dropped off at the wrong corner of the convention center and had to walk through the building and found an Ohio State Spirit shop! And they were open! I scored myself a sweet pair of bright red knee socks with large, white Os all over there. Sha-weet! I said a silent prayer of thanks that my pants were long enough to cover my socks completely and made my way to the convention itself.

Oh. My. There was a wall of fiber. A wall of yarn, mine for the stroking. And then there was a long double row of tables with mini-exhibits of different products and yarns. So many things to touch... But I was hungry and needed fuel and there were mini hoards around both of these exhibits, so I grabbed myself a smoothie and sat down at a table and was soon joined by a handful of women from a yarn shop in Indiana who were there to order. The owner didn't seem like she knew what to make of me, but I had a nice time chatting with her sister, who came with her every year for the heck of it.

When 10 rolled around and the doors opened, the mini-hoards made their way in and I took the opportunity to go through the mini displays and grope yarns and poke at gadgets, then I headed in to the event.

If I had to estimate, I would guess the floor space at about 2 or 2 and a half football fields large. Having never played football, I can't be expected to be completely accurate about that, but that's what it seemed like to me. Half of the space was for needlepoint things and the other half was for yarny things, with a few booths from each discipline mixed in on the other's side.

The first booth I sidled up to was the Mission Falls 1824 booth. It was staffed by an older man who looked like he was still getting settled, so I almost passed it by. But I went back and stepped in and had a looksie at the back wall of yarn and mentioned to the man that I was a designer. His response was, "Oh! Well, grab a ball and see what you can make of it!"

!!!!!

Crack to addicts, people. Crack. To. Addicts.

I made my way down that aisle, which happened to also house SWTC, who had a 6-stall space set up with GORGEOUS displays and holy dookie this amazing yarn they are coming out with that has SEQUINS, but they aren't insane sequins, and they also sell a version of the yarn without the sequins, so you can use the sequined version as just an accent if you want. I told them the lady who approached me that I was from Mesa and we chatted a bit and I handed her my flyer with my designs on it and she got very excited about one of them, and took it over to another lady who also got excited about it and came over and said she wanted to buy the pattern and she'd send me the yarn when she got back to make it up for them in Karaoke.

!!!!!

15 minutes into the event and I've learned that I can get whole skeins of free yarn AND I've sold a pattern.

I thanked them muchly and exchanged info and then moved on to the next booth that was taken by Conjoined Creations, which is a yarn producer in Cave Creek. So I said hi to them, too, as a valley local and we talked. They had some gorgeous yarns and when I told them I was the head of the Mesa Stitch'n'Bitch, they offered to come over and sell us some of their discontinued yarns and seconds. Yay!

From there I moved on a bit more methodically through the yarn side of the room, stopping to see who had crochet pattern support and offer my flier to all who would take it. The smaller yarn companies were very open to crochet submissions, and the large yarn companies were very eager to provide yarn support for any patterns that were to be published in a book or magazine. Both bits of information were excellent to hear!

I saw amazing things. Wonderful yarns that are coming out that have a "normal" yarn base, with a bit of sparkle or sequins or beading. They weren't "novelty" yarns, but they added a bit of sumthin-sumthin to the projects. I touched acrylics and acrylic blends that felt like fine merino. (There is no reason for acrylic to be harsh and scratchy and plasticy in feel. That is all the result of yarn companies pandering to the tastes of knitters of the 30's and 40's for whom rough, coarse wool meant projects would be durable, and they created their acrylics to appeal to people who thought things had to be coarse to be long wearing. They are FINALLY catching on to the fact that people really aren't interested in that any more and want SOFT and durable yarns.) I saw a lot of yarns with soy and corn components to them. Lost of exotic fibers; yak, qiviuk, buffalo, all trying to increase their footprint. (Did you know that buffalo doesn't felt OR stretch?!)

I saw Amy Butler bags suitable for knitting projects, a new bag from Namaste that looks like a yoga bag, book mock-ups (Saw the Crochet Me book!! It is BEAUTIFUL!), lots and lots of product distributors who appeared to be selling the same sets of things. Clover has these cute little "critter" pouches coming out that are rubbery animal shapes that have a zipper around their equator. They killed me.

Just before my meeting with Nicole from Lark, I found a book distributor that was giving away free books! Well, that just opened a whole new door of possibilities. ;)

I meet with Nicole and it was very positive. We talked about what was missing from the crochet books on the market and how gaps could be filled (more intermediate and advanced, kthx!) and she picked my brain on resources and what I saw as the up-and-coming trends. She then told me how to pitch my own book proposal to the company and asked if I had any ideas. I didn't have anything, like, OMGEXCITING in mind. I'd been thinking about it, but nothing wonderful had been cropping up for me in the last week or so.

But that changed later in the day...

Anyway, we ended the meeting and I went on my way for a few minutes before spotting a knit designer and had my first gap-jawed celebrity spotting of the day. Then I had to call Amanda, at which point I turned into a stupid, giggling 13-year old for about 10 minutes. It was the first time in 4 hours when I didn't have to be "on" and the whole "holy crap, I can't beleive I'm at TNNA!" swept over me in a big way.

When I was finished gushing, I pulled myself together and headed back out onto the floor. I stumbled upon Kim Werker doing a book signing and stopped to say hi real quick. She was at the book with the woman who taught Teach Yourself Visually: Handspinning and I got a little geeked out by her, too.

Moving on, I found myself at a book signing for Annie Modesitt's new book, but had to run off before I got a copy, because I had my meeting with Kim. Still, slack-jawed gawping occured from my spot in line while I was there.

I so need help.

Kim and I went out to the coffee klauch and got some food and I met 2 other designers (Amy Swenson & Robyn Chachula) in the line. Kim and I sat and chatted for a while and then headed back in. She was in high demand, so I said goodbye and went to check in with some people she recommended that I go name-drop with. Oh, but before that, on the way in she sidled up to a group of 4 people and introduced me.

And, folks, they were... huge. I got a "hi, nice to meet you" out, but all 4 of them were people I'd seen on TV or recognized from multiple author-bios on various books. Big books. Books with major publisher backing and signing tours. I nearly shriveled up into a little piece of fluff before bursting forth into a burst of gushing and twittering and self-idiot-making. Luckily, we moved on tout-suite before I was given the opportunity to either shrivel or burst. I left Kim at the Interweave booth and went and made a few contacts she had recommended.

I had enough time to make it to the last of the yarn booths that were intermingled with the needlepoint booths before moving outside to catch the cab back to the hotel.

So, what was my overall impression?

People in the knitting/crocheting/yarn world? They are nice. Now, this might seem like an odd revelation. I mean, knitting and crochet is inherently a kind thing to do. Taking the time to make something by hand, for yourself or for someone else, is an act of kindness. But it's never really sunk in for me before this even how open and kind and helpful the people in the industry are. I was at the Karabella yarn booth(s)... Ok, now if there is a yarn company out there that says high-end, New York Couture to me, it's Karabella. I started by speaking to a rep, who was very New York Chic, but insanely nice, offered yarn support anytime, willing to chat with this new-to-the-industry designer, and then waves... oh my gosh, I'm going to type this... Berta Karapetyan over to show me the sweater she designed in the company's yarn. And Berta then went on to whip out her brand, spanking new book, and flip through it with me and show off little details and yarn choices.

Ok, I'm there in my boring, v-neck t-shirt, sneakers, red Ohoi State fan store socks, a bag bulging with freebies, hair that's all out of sorts because I forgot my products at home, clutching my little "I'm a designer, Love me!" flyers in my hand, and

Berta Karapetyan

Is flipping through her book with me and talking to me like I know what the hell I'm doing there.

A few minutes later, I was walking down the aisle again and feeling a little misty about it all, to be honest.

To see someone like (yes, I'm typing it again) Berta Karapetyan so excited and eager to show off what she's done to a little fledgling designer like me and to realize that all around me everyone was behaving this way was just overwhelming.

Because design isn't supposed to be that way. It's supposed to be competitive and cut-throat and you guard your techniques and you scoff at those beneath you, right?

I just didn't know how to process all this. Jane freakin' SOWERBY was at a booth near there chatting with a lady about lace like they were long-time knit club pals.

I had the owner of Alpaca with a Twist turn into a giggling 16-year old as she told me about Kim Werker buying a crocheted shawl off of her at an event to publish in Interweave Crochet!

The freebies were great. It was nice to get away. But the number one BIG THING that I took away from this conference is the realization that industry people WANT designers to be successful. They want you to be doing good work and they are open to seeing your ideas and willing to support you on the way. It's not an imposition to contact publishers and yarn companies with patterns. They are hungry for it. It all sent my brain to swirling, to be honest.

And then, it was time to leave. And leave I did. But the story does not end there. I made it to the airport about an hour before they started boarding (I could have stayed longer!) and called Adam and talked for a bit. He had to go to a homeowner meeting and I started flipping through a magazine.

And WHAM! It hit me. A book idea slapped me upside my skull. I whipped out my notebook and in about 5 minutes, I'd jotted down 18 projects. By the end of my first flight, I'd gotten it up to 22. When I think about it, I can see the photography and layout in my head. (I know not to get married to that, though!) The projects include a few beginner, but for the most part they are intermediate and advanced projects. I know what yarns I want to use for about half of them. But, it's big and I still have a few things to learn about the process of designing a whole book on my own before I take this to a publisher.

I arrived home sore from the knees down, with bruises on both shoulders and my left inner-elbow from carrying a couple of VERY heavy bags all day, tired like whoa and badly in need of a shower, but I am so very, very glad I went.

So, yeah. I VERY nice 36 hours.

I will survive! Please, please, let me survive!

I swear, it will be a miracle if I make it through the next 4 days without my head exploding.

But one bit of the oh-my-gosh-please-don't-let-it-get-me stress is over, baby. OVER!

That particular bit of stress being the relaunch of my crafty little selling site. My major source of pride in this relaunch is the addition of these awesome tile magnets. I so don't want to sell them, but, seriously, how many magnets can my poor little fridge hold?

Check it out! http://www.thisisspiffy.com

Now I need to:

Finish knitting a bag strap.
Assemble the bag.
Go to Joanns for fabric.
Line the bag.
Prepare a portfolio for TNNA.
Prepare mini-portfolio, self-promotional hand-outs for TNNA.
Pack.
Read up on what I can't take with me on the plane.
Try and find an itty-bitty bottle of saline for my contacts, because I really don't want to have to check a bag.
Get the order in to Webs for the yarn for the projects for the publisher.
Keep the house chaos at bay.
Not go crazy.
Not make children crazy.
Not make husband crazy.


Oh, my. It is all possible, right?

UGH! I just remembered that Adam is cutting the hole in the wall today. And I need a haircut. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Well, it's official!

I am (or will be as soon as I get the contract printed out and mailed in) an Official Crochet Designer.

I heard back from the people at the publishing company today and they picked up 4 of my designs for an upcoming household crochet book.

Yay! I would like to thank my husband for his patience at finding yarn all over the house, being shushed while I count, and willingness to engage in sidetrips to yarn shops while on vacation. The kids have been great at not touching mommy's work and only doodling on the blank pages of my design journal, so thanks for that. The wonderful people at Crochet Me, who gave me the foolish notion that other people would be interested in my designs in the first place. The ladies at knit club who put up with my incessant chatter about it all, especially Miss Pink and Linda who have hooked me up with yarn and encouragement countless times. And, of course, The Academy!

New Dishcloth Group

I, like many knitters I know, can be rather obsessive about dishcloths. I like them mainly because they are a great way to try out stitch patterns. I don't really NEED dishcloths myself. I prefer sponges, truth be told. But still. They are fun and quick. At first I enjoyed the dishcloth mailing list where you get a few lines of the pattern at a time and get to see the pattern unfold as the days progress. It's a mini mystery and the small doses can make overwhelming patterns seems much more doable.

However.

And it's a big-H However.

For some reason, dishcloth mailing lists are plagued with off-topic posts. I occasionally end up deleting bits of the pattern on accident when I'm trying to get rid of all the fluff emails, which is so very frustrating. I mean, I'm glad that some people out there have found a bit of community on the list and that's all well and good, but, really people, I just want to knit some funky swatches, and 20+ off-topic emails a day gets old fast.

So, I'm starting my own list. C'mon and join in if you like. Looking at my schedule I think I'll be able to start sending out patterns in mid-August. (Summer is crazy, and I'm going on 2 trips between now and then, so I'm trying to be realistic.) In the meantime, I'm going to be sussing out the first few patterns and spreading the word. Feel free to spread the word yourself if you like. This group will have zero fluff. The only emails you will get from the list will be the bits of patterns. A dishcloth list that is JUST dishcloths. The patterns will be available in the archives after the knit-along is over. The first pattern of the month will be a knitting pattern, the second a crochet pattern. We're going to start easy in both areas, so if you are a beginner in either area, this should be good practice for you.

Incidentally, I don't plan on doing many, if any, of the knit/purl picture cloths. I, personally, find them kind of boring to work on, and I get really annoyed when I finish one only to find that it's something I care nothing about. The vast majority of the cloths on this list will be ones that strengthen your technical abilities: lace, relief patterns, cables, etc.

You can find the group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JustDishcloths

You'll need a yahoo id to join the group. If you don't already have a yahoo id, you can sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com It's free and easy to do, and once you've gotten the id and told them what email address you want your group mail sent to, you won't have to log on again if you don't want to, so it's not a big, scary techno-thing you need to learn how to navigate. Just follow the links and do what it tells you to do.

If you are oh-so excited and want to start stocking up on yarn, I'll tell you now that while many people prefer kitchen cotton, I personally prefer a dk weight cotton, as I find it dries faster and isn't as big and floppy while I'm working with it. I get my DK cotton from recycling cotton sweaters, but Patons Grace works well, too. Some standard worsted weight kitchen cottons are peaches and cream or sugar'n'creme.

So, there you have it. Join up! Spread the word!

Well, it's official.

I'm going to TNNA this year. Woohoo! It's part business related travel and part birthday present. It's going to be a whirlwind trip, flying in Friday and leaving Saturday evening, but it's 36 hours of me-time and that's a good thing.

Knit club was fun last night. Jenny made it and Linda was there and we had a new face in the form of Tristan. Tristan has been undergoing a lot of education recently on the existance of local knit clubs and other yarn stores. So, she found us! And then we had someone walk by while we were there and she crochets and needs help, so she's going to be coming next week.

Crap is relative.

A little while back, I signed up for a Crap Yarn Swap on Swap-Bot. The premise of the swap was, I thought, genius. You send $10 of yarn that has been loitering around the edges of your stash so long that you have come to loathe it. You can't think of a single thing to make with it, and you're sick of the sight of it. Off it goes to your partner. In the meantime, you get crap yarn from your upstream pal. And you, with your fresh eyes, look at your upstream partner's crap and make it into something for your downstream partner.

Brilliant, right?

RIGHT!

This was such a fantastic swap. I can't even tell you how pleased I was with the whole experience.

For my contribution of yarn, I sent of a partial skein of mohair/acrylic blend and a mystery mohair that I'd used to make a poncho for Kai last year and had no idea what to do with what was left. That yarn was seriously starting to feel like a noose, because there was a LOT left and I was feeling some major yarn guilt for not putting it to good use. So, yay, I got rid of guilt yarn! Joy!

My upstream partner was extremely generous. She sent me way more than $10 worth of yarn. She sent a skein of elann Sonata, Sinfonia, Elsebeth Lavold Angora, Bernat Boucle and Nora. (I can't remember the manufacturer of Nora, but it was that train-track style yarn with a squiggle of multi-colored wool in between.)

I poked through my downstream partner's profile and saw she needed a bag for her knitting, so I thought that would be a safe project. I thought I'd use the boucle paired with one of the cottons, but I didn't like how it looked with the colors I had, so I did some stash diving and came out with two balls of Cotton Tots in black and used it with the boucle. I just knit a large rectangle on 10.5 needles until I had a yard of the Cotton Tots left to use for seaming. I folded the bag in half and seamed up the sides and added gussets 1" in on either side of the bottom of the bag.



(Ooh, look! Renovation mess in the background!)

While diving for fabric to line it with, I came up with a flour sack I'd been saving and after reseaming it and lopping off a few inches from the top and bottom, it fit the bag perfectly with the design lining up exactly in the interior. Eeeexcellent... My plan was working... I attached some rattan handles with a bit of grosgrain ribbon, added a snap closure and called it good.



I had tried using some of the Sinfonia and Nora to make a dragonfly motif to go on the front of the bag, as my partner said she liked dragonflies and I thought the Nora would work well for the wings. However, it didn't work with the bulky yarn and looked like dookie, so I left it off. Instead, I used to Sinfonia and the Sonata to make star shaped washcloths for her.





I used the pattern for Beth's Little Star Afghan with an h hook and stopping at the 7th row of the pattern. They came out cute, if I do say so myself. I think I may whip up a bunch for my girls to use with the yarn from the sweater I recycled. They took all of maybe 30 minutes to make each of them. I heart crochet.

With the Angora (oooooh, angora--even as a blend--was so lovely to work with!), I decided to make up some fingerless gloves--another thing my partner had on her wish list. So, I started googling for patterns. Only I couldn't find any that would work with the limited yardage of the Angora. And then I found these. I double stranded the Angora to get the proper weight and used some of the remaining Boucle for the wrists. It was a simple pattern and they worked up easily. I'm not in love with the Boucle. It looks ok, but the difference in feel from the Angora was very noticeable. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything in my stash that would be any better, so they went off as is. I wouldn't be the least bit offended if my swap partner decided to snip the cuffs off and rework them.



So all of those went off the other day and should arrive in the next day or two if they haven't already. In the end, I couldn't figure out anything to do with the Nora. I never really "got" the whole novelty yarn craze and my lack of experience working with the funky stuff ended up kicking my butt. I sent it along with the FOs and figured that the 2 balls of cotton tots I pulled out of my own stash made it ok that I didn't use one of the balls of crap yarn that was sent to me.

And what did I get for a finished item from my upstream pal? Dress-up clothes for the kids!



An apron, 2 crowns and a clutch for them to use to play Cinderella. She left the crowns unfinished so I could size them to their heads, which I thought was very clever. She had quite a challenge with the yarn. I know I wouldn't have come up with anything half as cute. The apron is especially adorable, I think, and it's large enough that it fits them more like a skirt at this point. They LOVE their crowns. Abby went to get dressed this morning and came out with a t-shirt, a long skirt of Kai's that touched the ground on her, and her crown. A little princess, ready to head to Target!

Thank you, partner!!

I would absolutely do another swap like this again. It already has me looking at my own stash with a more discerning eye.