iiiiii'mmmmm baaaaaaack

wow! that long ago? ok, my comp was slowly dying, i was out of work and the depression was almost overwhelming. most of that is sort of fixed now. the comp croaked and i now have a shiny new green laptop. i did get a job and i love it, even though it is considered seasonal, but that is ok, and i do have a job. the depression...getting through, getting through.

my hooping still sucketh, but mostly because the depression says when i get home, go to your room and do not leave until it is time to get up for work. i need to work on that.

i am still knitting but not as much as i would like to. that is the ADD because, of course, i hate being stuck in one place and not moving. my answer to that is to have a number of wips going at once and work on one thing for a bit, change to another....yeah, not a lot gets finished with any semblance of timeliness, but things do get finished. since i prefer to think of myself as a process knitter, not a project knitter, this is just fine. and with the comp now, maybe i can run some dvd's while knitting and that might help.

on the knitting note, i was just getting interested in a UK mag called Yarn Forward because the amazing Ysolda had a pattern i liked in it, when everything started slowly unraveling. and then everything hit the fan and good gods, the publisher/owner/whatever of that mag (along with a number of other titles) has the morals of.....nothing, apparently. i cannot link things so if you are interested, try googling KAL Media, ACM, All Craft Media, HipKnits, or Kerrie Allman. there is a lot of stuff out there, and if you belong to Ravelry go to "The Friends of the group known as..."  all i can say is, thank the gods the majority of yarnies are so not like kerrie allman. my major yarn supplier, Sundara of Sundara Yarns, is one classy lady and i thank the fates that she is the indie dyer i first started with.

one good thing i learned about from that debacle is Posh Yarns (ok, my cc does not agree, but ~shrugs~ all i can say is "oooohhh pretty yarn...WANT!"). Posh Yarns is owned and run by another very classy lady Posh Dee, aka Trudie, and her husband Tony. she is like Sundara in the early years, in that they do limited runs and omg, lol it is gonna be like the Sundara Updates...feeding frenzy! she does have specific dates for her updates, and puts up a preview the day before. Tomorrow's update will have cobweb, lace and sock yarns and there are some "me" colours up. i really think i would like to try some cobweb yarn. lol, yeah, tinier yarn than my lace. but all of my lace, except the 100% wool one i got from The Knitterman at Knitivity, is 100% silk lace. the cobweb is a merino wool and silk blend. Posh lace is mulberry silk and baby camel, superwash merino and bamboo, superwash bfl wool and silk, baby alpaca with silk and cashmere, silk and merino, and organic merino. ok, ok, i won't do the sock but, oh, my....i want. oh, Posh Yarns are also UK based so there is the exchange rate, which i think is 1.6 right now, in favor of the pound, but she is still in my balllpark range. ummm, hi, my name is kittiekat and i am a yarn snob. Sundara, some Madtosh, some SG Bugga!, Sundara, some Jaggerspun Zephyr, a bit of Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver, Sundara, some Dream in Color Smooshy, Cascade Handpainted.... uh, huh. So, lol, now i want another snobby yarn, of course i do.

oh, my, it looks like i have missed my blogging. this is a tad long. for now, then, time to go. all the little voices in my head are starting to get noisy so i need to do something to shut them up. not sure what, but something.

love and light,
kk

drama, drama

my yarn subscription provider, Sundara Yarns, has run into some problems with this last subscription. in spite of all her checking and follow-ups, a problem has occurred at the mill. and her provider only got the notice from the mill recently. yes, this does create problems and causes unhappiness with the subscribers. in order to try to mitigate the problems, Sundara has replaced the yarn originally offered with another of higher quality, but of less yardage. she has also offered a rebate to be used on the next purchase.

and the complaints began. yes, i am disappointed. no, i am not unduly antagonistic about said substitution. one of the complaints was that if she is substituting a "higher quality" yarn, it was felt that we were originally getting "substandard yarn." i don't see that. there is always going to be a "higher quality" yarn somewhere, with a comparative "higher price" and i like the quality of yarns i get from Sundara. I don't want to spend gods-only-know-how-much to get an even higher quality yarn, because what i am getting suits me. it is high quality enough for me. and it is gorgeous yarn. a number are asking for a chance to have full refunds. ~shrugs~ their choice. i can see the problem for those who ordered a specific amount for a specific project. that does bite. i am lucky in that regard, since i had no real plans made for this yarn. these are "surprise" dyeings, and i wait to see just what colours they are before i decide on a project. i would have subscribed to the collection anyway, no matter which dk yarn was being used, as long as the price were the same.

my only complaint with the whole thing was a time limit on using the rebate coupon. we are given until the end of august. with me still on ~sob~ unemployment right now, i cannot save enough money in time to make a purchase by then. i have written Sundara about that, though i may have to wait til monday to hear from her. i am not really worried. she has one of the best customer services i have dealt with, and hopefully she can extend the deadline. best of all would be if she just gave us a third skein to make up the difference in yardage and tossed the rebate out. i know, not very practical from her side, but...dreams, ya know!

Ysolda Red at Eat.Sleep.Knit

Just a quick drive by post to give the knitters and crocheters some exciting news. Lorna's Laces has a new colourway, called "Ysolda Red," named after the fantastic young Scottish designer, Ysolda Teague. You can see and order this delightful colourway at http://www.eatsleepknit.com/cshop/category/yarn_lornaslaces/, either from this link, or click on the ESK button on the right.

I had so been looking forward to being able to order this yarn, but - i no longer have my old job, am desperately looking for a new one, and WH is trying to keep me from drawing any unemployment. SO! In the meantime, all who can, go ahead and order your "Ysolda Red" from Erin, and enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GYPSY GIRL!

you rock!

Back Again

wow! long time, no blogging. blame it on family crises, christmas and the job. speaking of christmas, my newest pressie from Lissa was a skein of Cascade Handpainted fingering yarn in Londonderry colourway. my beloved aurora borealis colours, brighter yet still the deep-toned shades. i THINK i will do Veronique Avery's Lace Ribbon Scarf. saw one in the same yarn, different colours on the Ravelry yarn pages. it, too, was a darker colour and i liked it. AND i can do it, lol. pattern is now scrunchable scarf!

not been hooping too much. i am more of a tropical weather type person and it has been COLD here. and don't tell me it is much colder in other parts of the country, 'cause i think 70 degrees F is rather chilly. but, oh, man, there is a hoop i sooooo want! it is called ~She Works Hard For The Money~ from Hoopnotica.com, of course, and is my fav green colour AND it glows in the dark. 'nuff said! now to hoard the money for it whilst also hoarding money for more Sundara yarn...oh yeah, and paying the bills ~shakes head~ soon, i hope. still stuck between the 43" and 39" sizes but atm i work better with the smaller hoop. thank all the gods that the traveling hoop can be adjusted to either size.

anyway, short post just to let people know i am still alive. finishing laundry so i can dry it and go to bed for work tonight.

k~

hooping?

from my twitter ~HOOOP!!!! shiny and blue Hoopnotica Fitness TravelHoop. uh, i can actually hoop with it, but methinks me gotta grow up to use all 6 sections~ http://www.hoopnotica.com/index.php?cPath=3 ~ copy and paste cause i cannot get it to link!!

yes, i got a hoop. my niece is a bad influence...made me start knitting again and had so much fun and peace with her hoop, i thought i might try that. said hoop arrived, was put together at the 39" size {also comes in 43". being on the short side, i choose the fitness hoop, since it encompassed both sizes ~ damn good thing, too, cause if i only had the 43" hoop i might just make a trip to texas to hit someone over the head with it...in the hoop tote! i would then give it to her but, still.....}

so, trial runs. being somewhat ambidextrous, i had to work out which side was dominate. i still have no clue but spinning to the left works. spinning about 5 rounds or so and then ... i dunno, i just lose it. down to the hips and then i manage to grab it before it lands. so. much practice. at least i am down to a 50 hour work week, so that does give me a bit more time to play.

i wanted to try this to tone up. i am ... older ... and the mirror shows flab! i don't WANT to be old and flabby. old i am gonna be no matter what, but FLABBY? thus, a solution was in order. hooping seems to fit the bill. well, eventually, when i actually learn to hoop.

knitting and hooping.....yeah, that pretty much describes my ocd/add.

~a little pick me up~

i generally try to stay up long enough for the mail to come - which can be anytime from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm - just because, lol. monday was no different, but i had decided to hit the bed early. i had stayed over at work for about 2 hours and i was t i r e d! i knew it was early but i checked anyway. oooooo, a package sitting there staring at me. hmmmm, from lissa, and squooshy. once i finally got INTO the package, i do believe i learned to squee. and that was even before i saw the BIG blocks of hershey's special dark chocolate {my favorite!!} and green & black's organic dark chocolate {my gods, it is dark and delish!} because what first fell into my hands was a skein of Dream In Color Smooshy Sock Yarn. i looked, i squoooshed and then a squee emerged. i didn't think i had that in me! but if i am gonna begin squeeing, this was the perfect item to start with. her card said she thought i would like a little pick me up. it did do that.

i stopped fondling long enough to look at the name of this gorgeous yarn and discovered i was holding a skein of Dusky Aurora. Lissa is an ENABLER! i got back into knitting when lissa turned me on to Sundara Yarns {and told me i could knit my own hogwarts scarf ~sniff~} and that is what i buy, almost exclusively. Lissa tries to broaden my yarn outlook and will send me skeins of some of her favorites. i frequently put up background Webshots of the Aurora Borealis because it is colourful and fascinating and i just like night shots - NASA, northern light night shots, even just starscapes. hell, lol, look at the colours i use here! so imagine the borealis in muted shades and you are close to what i was holding, fondling, even snuggling with a bit. of course, i HAD to start looking for patterns. i don't do socks yet. chicken of me, i know but, there ya have it. sock phobia. i do have two yarns i am saving for when i get enough courage to do socks {another lissa gift, MadTosh Sock in Ink and my Sundara Sock in Candied Violets LE,} but it isn't happening at this moment. i wanted a pattern that would showcase the colours and i also wanted it to fit my impression of the Aurora Borealis. Anne Hanson's Tudor Grace was the first pattern i picked, but it wasn't quite what i was looking for, even though i do plan to eventually make it. then i hit my OceanWind Knits patterns and i saw Waving and that was it. with the staggered yarn overs it flows, rather like the Borealis. i think i have enough yarn that i can increase the repeats to make a 12 inch wide scarf that should still be almost as long as i am tall {ok, we all know that doesn't take much. about the only things shorter than me....besides my sis, hehe... are small children and pets. ~sighs~ lissa started looking down at me when she was 12}.

if i didn't have to work tonight, i would be winding and casting on NOW! i had to make myself bag the yarn and put it close to me so i wouldn't start winding and at least swatching yesterday or i would have had no sleep for work last night. tonight is my friday so ~grins~ i have wednesday and thursday to play with it. my ~weekend~ is spoken for. yarn love, fuck the housework! and if this pattern doesn't do what i want, i think i will try Saccade's Red Skies at Night from Ravelry.

just in case i have not mentioned it, i think i have the bestest niece in the world. and she has the coolest blog, so if ya wanna, check the link on Swampwater Debutante or lissa_angeline on Twitter. {if i weren't so tech illiterate, i would link her here, but, well, i am, so this is the best i can do.}