Yarn cake! (And some other stuff.)

As of 2 days ago, I am "officially" back at work, which makes me very happy. :)

On to the crochet-related stuff! I got my yarn ball winder in the mail a few days ago, and finally tried it out last night. Ooh! YARN CAKE!! :D It is so exciting. I want to post a picture of my first yarn cake--perhaps I will get to it later today. I took out this skein of variegated turquoise and dark blue sport weight yarn from MCY (also a gift from my fiance--yes, he IS the best ever). I put it around the backs of two chairs, set up the new yarn ball winder, and cranked it up. ;) It was easy! What a wonderful surprise after dealing with so many tangled yarn "muppets."

I am still working on untangling my other MCY yarn (the cotton chenille one), and it seems to be coming along quicker than expected. I cant wait to make that one into a cake, too. Heheh! I am now obsessed with yarn cakes. Well, at least I won't gain any weight from it (sorry, I had to go with the bad pun there).

I found a whole lot of Lion Suede on sale the other day, including some in Ebony, which I had never seen on sale before. ♥ I bought enough to keep some, and sell some on ebay. ;) I do have yarn in my ebay store, if anyone wants to check it out. Right now, I just have a bunch of auctions for Lion Boucle (in blueberry, rose, and parfait colors) and Bernat Sox in 4 different variegated colors; but I got more Bernat Sox to sell because I was able to get it cheap, and it seems that lots of people are looking for it. Same with Lion Suede. (Heck, there are certain colors of Lion Suede I'm still looking for--I don't have any in rose, ecru, or marine blue (at least I think that's what the blue is called), and I only have one skein of taupe and am sort of fiending for more. Haven't found the right price yet or the extra money, though!)

I am debating getting some Lion Trellis in "Night Life" to sell (yes, I have a source, and I'm not telling!! LOL), since some recent auctions for it that I've been tracking have gone very well. I really don't have the money to get it in the first place, though. Argh. I don't know.

I'm enjoying this ebay "side job" of mine--can you tell? :P

Not much to tell about WIPs, since I really haven't gotten any farther than I had the last time I posted. I've mainly been concentrating on untangling the cotton chenille. It is so pretty--I can't wait to use it! It's a beautiful mixture of purples and browns. Yum.

YARRRRRN - acquisitions and, um, de-acquisitions?

I went yarn shopping yesterday. Bought too much, as usual; but oh, was it fun. :)

I finally got my hands on some Lion Chenille (not Thick & Quick, the regular chenille). I am dying to make the vest pictured on the label--so much so, in fact, that I want to make it in all 4 of the colors I bought! *giggle* I will have to see how the first one goes before I really decide to do that, of course. I'm going to start with the red. I don't wear red very often, but this particular shade is so beautiful.

I got many other yarns, too. I bought a good deal of Lion Boucle, which I am now unsure about using because I didn't realize at the time that it was 20% mohair. Argh. I could probably work with it, and probably make something that wouldn't be worn right next to the skin...But I don't think "probably" is good enough. I did find a cute sweater in a back issue of a crochet magazine that I might like to make from it, though. And there's a capelet that uses it as trim that I really like. (I'm not sure I particularly like the capelet, but the trim is awfully pretty!) I guess I won't make a decision about that yarn just yet!

I am considering selling a lot of my Bernat Sox yarn. I am a spoiled brat and don't really want coarse yarn on my footsies. ;D If I sell some on ebay, perhaps I can justify buying something a little nicer. I don't know, though...I've been ebaying a lot, and trying to save that money. I won't sell all of my Sox yarn, of course; I'll probably still want to make some socks out of some of it, since the colors are very pretty. And maybe the socks I am working on now will turn out to be more wearable than I currently think they are.

I'd really love to get some hand-painted sock yarn. Yum.

Oh, I found another sock pattern! It's in the Dec. '06/Jan. '07 issue of Crochet Today! I bought the magazine for a buck at a yarn store a few months back. Well worth it, I'd say.

first finished sock

first finished sock
Originally uploaded by saintlex

WOOHOOOOO! I finished a sock! :) Didn't take all that long, either--I just hadn't been working on it for a while. I'm not totally thrilled with it. The cuff is a little big, and the seam at the toe isn't great (I think maybe I made the sock just a little too long?). But my mom and my fiance think it's pretty, and some nice people on Flickr do, too. ;D

Guess I'll just have to make another one to match!

I don't think these will be the comfiest socks. I realized, in the course of trying these on, that Bernat Sox isn't the most comfortable to wear. I'll wear them anyway, of course. (Proudly!)

I have a TON of Bernat Sox yarn, so I'll use it and like it, dammit. Heheh.

Here's a pic of it on my foot:

Sock progress and blanket progress

I finally picked up my sock again tonight. I am now almost finished with the first one; I just have the heel and a little bit of the toe left to do. I am pleased to report that it seems like it will fit! :) I've been trying it on at all its various stages. If it does fit, let's hope I can make one that matches. Heheh.

I am not overly impressed with the Bernat Sox yarn I've been using. Yeah, I know, it was cheap. It's probably not the best quality stuff in the world. But the center-pull skein keeps getting all tangled up in itself. I can't get the other end of the yarn to stay awaaaaaay from my WIP! Grrr.

I am also still working on the baby blanket. It's getting close to being done. I had no idea it would take this long! Anything for the baby, though. ;) I got to hold her for a while the other day. ♥ ♥ ♥

I confess that I have been terrible at keeping up with others' blogs lately. I've been selling a lot of things on ebay (mostly jewelry-making supplies), and trying to take care of some health problems. I hope to get some good reading time in soon.