I'm Moving.....

to Isobel's house! This is not the cutest yarn shop you've ever been in..............this is Isobel's knitting room. And I'm moving there - this is so much better than my dresser stuffed with my stash - this room celebrates Isobel's collection of yarn and books and anything knitting related. There's a TV, a comfy chair, a beautiful view outside and YARN! All kinds of yarn! Way to go, Isobel - this room is beautiful and you deserve it.

Today is my youngest daughter's 8th birthday - we are taking her to East Side Mario's for dinner - she wants all the servers to sing to her and get a chance to spin the wheel. Funny how when you're young those kinds of things seem like fun instead being horribly embarassing!

My husband is decorating the house for Christmas - it's driving me batty! It's his family coming this weekend and I say it's too early for Christmas decorations and he says it's a Christmas party. So I'm being the scrooge and he's being an elf!

The Yarn Exchange boxes went out yesterday to the US and today to Canada. I'm sure everything will be received in good time for Christmas.

And how is your weather? Ours is strange, very strange..............so warm you don't even need coats. It's rainy today and the temperature is supposed to go down...........I hope it does because some of my plants are coming back. Everything's all confused.

Seacoast Finished Socks

I finished these socks for my daughter on Sunday night and just managed to pry them off her feet this morning. I did the leg part in a twisted rib stitch which makes it thicker so it will be nice and cushy for her skates. The foot I did in stockinette so it wouldn't be so thick.

I got a horrible cold after all the Harlot excitement last week and could barely lift my needles. My husband said that I must really be sick if I wasn't even knitting. I was holding it but no stitches were moving.

Yarn Pirate has created quite a flurry of activity - last night and today. I just placed another order for her Superwash Sock yarn - her colors are really, really good. Oh and VvS 2ply merino should be back in stock on Friday so keep checking! The Yarn Exchange Boxes are all ready to go and look very festive if I do say so myself. I had to change colors of yarn in a couple of cases because lots of participants were choosing the same colors. Seems like there was a theme going on!

This weekend I am having my inlaws for dinner - 25 of them - I'm so happy :(.......................
What possessed me to agree to such a thing? I'd rather be knitting than cooking!

So here I am!

Wowsy-wow-wow-wow! You know, we all know the Yarn Harlot is famous and that knitters from around the world read her blog but man! who would have thought that so much activity could be created from a picture and a few words! From the time the shop got mentioned until last night, I have virtually done nothing but print, pack and wrestle with the tape gun! My husband says I have to work with that stupid gun - Connie, let the tape gun do the work! - right!

The good news is that all VvS 2ply Painted Merinos sold out except for one lonely skein of Winter Pales (any takers? better get to the website before too many people read this!) and that there is more on the way of all the colors. Virginia van Santen considers herself a colorist and it shows! She is talented and the yarn is beautiful! Spinning Bunny also sold out in the most popular colors so Susan is working on a new batch for me this weekend. Yarn Pirate is en route! I'm also restocking in Applelaine Apple Pie and more Sweet Georgia is on the way too! Felicia is a bit behind because of all the rain in Vancouver and the boil water advisory!

I have no pictures of knitting - I haven't seen my needles in two days! Today there will be some major knitting done - I am making no progress on my Christmas knitting and I will not give up on it!

Thank you to everyone who visited Pick Up Sticks! Thank you to Stephanie Pearl McPhee for putting my little shop on the map! And thank you to all of the Indie Dyers who make this so much fun by giving me unique, gorgeous yarn to sell! I'm a very grateful girl today!

Hello,heeelllloooo!

I'm here, I'm here - behind this tower of boxes! Don't have time for much blogging - this is what happens when the Oprah Winfrey of yarn talks about you.......more tomorrow! Promise!

Well, well, well!

Stephanie Pearl McPhee has paid a visit and I just have to say thank you! thank you! thank you! My website is busy, busy, busy!

I found this amazing art today - it speaks volumes about the community of knitters! What a great group of people you are!

That's all I have time for today!

Another idea!

Pick Up Sticks Christmas Sock Yarn Exchange!

Don't you love a surprise?
Don't you want to find yarn under your tree this year?
How about a Sock Yarn Exchange?

Here's how it works:Purchase any of the following yarns in the color of your choice on the Pick Up Sticks Website. Each selection provides enough yarn for a beautiful pair of socks:

Claudia Handpainted (2 skeins)
Mama E's Ceyeber Fiber (1 skein)
Seacoast Handpainted Yarns (1 skein)
Spinning Bunny Yarn (1 skein)
Sweet Georgia Handpainted (1 skein)
(these yarns were chosen because they are all of similiar value)

Please choose the least expensive method of shipping - I will upgrade all shipping to air or expedited for no extra charge!

Add YARN EXCHANGE in the comments section of the invoice when checking out.

Here's what will happen:
The yarn you select will be sent to another yarn exchange participant (they will receive yarn selected by another participant and so on and so on) along with a FREE Wildhorse Designs sock pattern that I choose to go with the yarn. It will include a gift card with the sender's first name and email address. This way everyone can thank everyone else properly!

It's a "Secret Pal" exchange without all the work!

Deadline for ordering will be November 29th and all gifts will be mailed on December 1
in hopes that everyone gets the package in time for Christmas!

Each YARN EXCHANGE package will arrive in festive wrapping -- just open the box and your gift is ready to go under the tree!

Doesn't this sound like fun? Everyone loves surprises!
Ensure there's yarn under a knitter's tree this Christmas, and Pick Up Sticks will ensure there's yarn under your tree......just for you!

I'm desperate!

Fall Birches











Black Knight











August Berries

Do you see these 3 colorways ov VvS 2ply merino?
Do you know what I'm doing with them?
Carrying them around in my knitting bag!
Logically, I know I cannot cast on one more project BUT.....this yarn is just screaming to be combined into a "Charlotte's Webby" kind of shawl. I've even decided that if I wanted all five colors I could add in Winter Pales and October Viburnums! Now I ask you, what is a girl to do?????

Oh!Oh! I'm in trouble.....

Look what came today - 2 boxes!








This was in the top box! Virginia van Santen 2ply fingering weight sock yarn.....you want close ups? Go here! Since knitting my Clapotis out of Painted Yarns Salome I am a true blue fan of Virginia's dyeing. Now this arrives, in a Louet box, which can only mean she's using Louet yarn which is unbelievably fantastic - think Claudia Handpainted base yarn.






This was in the second box - 8 more colors of Seacoast Handpainted Yarn. You can go here for a close up! Holly does an amazing job!


You'd think that all this yarn would start to look the same but nnnnnoooooooo - each skein is just as lovely as every other skein on my shelves and they all beg loudly to be knit.

It is now official, I do not have a hope of knitting with all the yarn I want to - there are not enough months in a year, days in a month, hours in a day - it's official! I'm finished! I have to go lie down....I'm getting a headache.

I'm a busy, busy girl!

The sock clubs are ready to go and will be sent tomorrow! All the yarn for charity knitting has been spoken for! Thanks to everyone who's participating!
Did you know it's cheaper to send the same size package to the United States than it is to send to another province in Canada? Isn't that weird? Seems to me it should be cheaper within the country! Oh well!






Now onto my addiction - sock yarn! Everytime new yarn arrives I cannot help myself! I MUST, MUST, MUST cast on. This is Spinning Bunny in Clematis - lovely, lovely stuff! I'm a new fan of Merino/Tencel. On Saturday, I actually had another color on my swift and talked myself out of it. Apparently, my self control didn't last for long.

I have done nothing to solve my single sock problem - in fact, it's worse than ever!





Here's my progress on the Seacoast Yarn in Afterglow - these are for my daughter to wear with her figure skates. They come up nice and high and are very cushy! It's my second try on the foot - the first one was too big! I decreased from 72 stitches on the leg to 56 stitches for the foot.

Here's the finished Blackberry Chocolate Mind's Eye. Just to show, that I am really, really trying to knit a second sock I've done the ribbing.

I should have flipped both the above pictures but I was so intent on getting them uploaded after 2 previous tries I forgot!

Wow!

Thank you to all who've agreed to knit socks/mitts and even hats for children! It gives me a big lump in my throat to think that there is so much kindness in this sometimes crazy world!

There's no deadline for finishing and returning the stuff to me - although if it could possibly be by Christmas (which I know is very, very optimistic given how much Christmas knitting we all have to do) it would be amazing. More realistically, sometime in January would be great!

Isobel from Pennsylvannia had the idea of felting the items so they'd be extra warm and almost waterproof! If you'd like your stuff felted but would rather I do that part - just let me know!

Again, thank you so much! Just goes to show that knitters have big hearts!

I have an idea!

I have some yarn - some worsted weight hand dyed yarn - that is not really selling but would make lovely socks and mitts - especially for kids who are in need. So here's the plan - if you promise to knit either socks or mitts (or both) I will send you the yarn for free - then you send the finished products back to me and I will donate them to the Yellow Brick House, which is a shelter for battered women in Aurora. How does that sound? Any takers?

Write a post, lose a post, write a post, lose a post!

This blogger seems to be an exercise in frustration. I tried posting on the weekend -nope, can't upload photos, just had a post almost completed - Microsoft Explorer needs to shut down????What? No, you can't! But you did, so here you have my third try!

Check out Monika's blog to see an amazing pair of socks finished in Sweet Georgia Angel. Wowee!

Here's the almost completed sock in Mind's Eye Yarns. I'm working straight on the foot now and hopefully will have it completed in a couple of days.

Here's a close up of the stitches. It's a K2, wyif sl2, k2. I love the color and the texture of this yarn. Yarn Harlot actually mentioned this yarn on her blog in April 06 after visiting Mind's Eye and meeting Lucy!

Now this - what could I possibly say about this to do it any justice at all? This is Seacoast Handpainted Yarns in Afterglow. The color swirls around the work like a candy cane and makes it a feast for the eyes. I'm in love!

And I'm going to press publish so I don't lose this post again!

Yummy!

Here is the Blackberry Chocolate Parfait from Mind's Eye Yarns - the shine from the merino/tencel blend is amazing. I'm thrilled with the color distribution too! I'm using a stranded stitch pattern of my own design - I got the idea from Vogue Stitchionary Volume 1 - great book!

I'm wearing my Clapotis today and even tried to take a picture of myself wearing it in the mirror - it did not work out - how do people do that anyway? Suffice to say, it's lovely and I'm feeling kinda French!

This post has taken me all morning - I've tried to upload the picture about 20X and finally it worked! Errrr!