Oops I Did It Again

I blame it all on Tina. I had just put away my latest batch of yarn purchases, and was thinking virtuous thoughts about not buying any sock yarn for a while, and Tina from Blue Moon Fiber Arts put up a blog post about some of the STR colourways going on vacation. There were a few that I thought would be nice for gift socks and socks for me, so I put in an order for a few (seven!) skeins, thinking I'd be good for sock yarn and wouldn't need to place another STR order until late in the year. Big mistake.

Just a couple of days after I placed my order, Tina put up another blog post about STR Rare Gems coming up for sale. Rare Gems are the creme de la creme of sock yarn. They are one of a kind colourways, that are almost impossible to get unless you happen to live in the U.S., and can get your fix in person. They have only come up for sale on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website once before, and I managed to pick up some skeins then (see here), and I'd been hanging out to get more since Tina started hinting about it late last year. Hence my other order of another eight skeins of STR, and all those virtuous thoughts of cutting down on my yarn buying habit went flying out the window.

This is what arrived this week.

First we have my initial order of seven skeins, in colourways L-R: Mmm, Mmm, Good; L.L. Cool Sock; STORM large; Femmebot; Jubilation (x2); Deep Unrelenting Grey

Then we have my other order of eight skeins, L-R: Earth (1 x mediumweight), Fire (2 x mediumweight, 1x lightweight), Water (2 x mediumweight, 2 x lightweight).

That's fifteen skeins of sock yarn that arrived in one week. A years worth of yarn arrived in one day! I have no idea when I'll end up knitting it (some of it's earmarked for gifts, so at least some of it will be knit up this year), but on top of the usual sock club shipments (Cookie A & Vesper), that is a phenomenal amount of yarn that has come in the mail this week, and I have no idea where on earth I'm going to store it. I'm almost to the stage of putting it in the roof as insulation, except then I wouldn't be able to admire it's squishy yumminess. Somebody save me from myself and my yarn buying addiction quick, because unless my sock yarn starts to knit itself, I'm in serious trouble!

Cause for celebration ..... or not?

I was lucky enough to pick up four Socks That Rock Rare Gems skeins at the start of the year (see here), and they had been languishing in my stash ever since. So in order to celebrate getting a temporary job (hey, when you're unemployed, even a days work is good news), I decided to celebrate by casting on a special pair of socks. The job fizzled out, but the socks turned out much better than I had hoped.

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight - Water
Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
Duration: Started 28th August 2010 - Completed 1st October 2010

The colourway of this particular Rare Gem didn't initially appeal to me, but I'm really happy with how these turned out. Apart from some pooling on sock number one, the textured pattern really brings out the best of these colours. I'll definitely be using this pattern again for some of my other Socks That Rock skeins.

In other news, I had to redo the Smooshy Winter Gloves I made for my mother. It turns out that Sanguine Gryphon Bugga stretches a lot, and the pair I made for my mother's smallish hands now fit my father's giant sized ones!

Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Bugga - David Attenborough

Pattern: Fingerless Gloves - One Pattern Three Looks by Clare Vallans

Duration: Started 8th October 2010 - Completed 15th October 2010

Modifications: Cast on 50 stitches instead of the 60 the pattern calls for. This way when they stretch, they'll actually end up being the perfect size.

Other than these, I've actually been working on some of my old WIP's, tyring to finish them so that I can start on Christmas knitting with a clear conscience. (I figure I might as well actually finish my niece's jumper while she can still fit into it.) We'll just ignore the little slip up I might've had with the latest installment of The Loopy Ewe sock club. Brown is not really my colour, but somehow before I knew it, this had happened....

Oops!

Rare Gems Loot

Recently I was lucky enough to buy some of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts/Socks That Rock Rare Gems.

I've lusted after these for years, but as Tina usually only sells them at the U.S. fibre shows, I figured my chance of ever scoring one of the elusive skeins was nought to zero at best.

So imagine my delight, when Tina announced that to celebrate the Blue Moon at the end of '09, she was going to have a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Rare Gems sale! Lightweight and mediumweight skeins grouped into elements, ie. Earth, Air, Fire & Water. Basically a lucky dip of what you could end up with, except that you could choose which element you wanted (with a limit of how much you could buy to ensure that everyone got a fair go).

I chose one skein each of lightweight and mediumweight in the elements of Air and Water, and overall I'm impressed with what I received.


Of the four skeins that I purchased, there's only one that is not really 'Me', but I'm sure it'll be great to do some gift knitting with.

Overall I'm just thrilled to have scored not one, but four of the Rare Gem skeins. Now I just have to find the perfect projects which are worthy of them....