:Yarn Love :

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Nicky2 Comments

This week wasn’t without its challenges but a change in attitude and mindset made everything alright!  This week I’m grateful for:

  • Putting my feet up!  I came home on Tuesday this week; I put my feet up, exhaled and got jiggy with some yarn!  😀
  • A great hair week!  So many compliments and a long conversation with a stranger on the train about natural hair care.
  • Having the baby shower I planned with short notice turn out awesome for the young woman I supervise.  She was supposed to leave work in the next two weeks but I found out this week that her leave start date got changed to yesterday (Friday).  She was really touched and surprised and I’m so happy that the staff came out the way they did for her.
  • Dinner plans with a friend later tonight.
  • Receiving a record on vinyl that I have been looking for for the past two years!  Booyah!!!  Jamaican saxophonist Dean Frasier covers some Bob Marley tracks — totally awesome Sunday evening or any time relaxation music!   I found cd copies too and got both volumes 1 & 2.  The vinyl record was a treat to find so I HAD to get it! 😀  This collection is very special to me.  I initially got the set on cassette tape from my friend Deirdre.  I remember her and home every time I listen to it.

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  • The laundry-mat in my building has been closed until further notice so I had to find an outside one to go to.  Because of the distance I have to walk now to the new one it means that I can’t run home after the wash cycle while my clothes are drying.  I’m not looking forward to that in the winter … but …  Today I realised that I could either knit, crochet or practice my spinning while I wait.  That minor inconvenience gave me 1.5 hours of uninterrupted knitting, hooky and spinning time.  Awesome trade-off is what I say!!!  #fistpump!!!  Today gave me time to work on my first KAL/CAL item complete with a captive audience of three eight year old boys! LOLOL!  😀
  • And of course, new yarn always makes my weeks better.  LOLOL!!  I’m still on my sheep even with these.  I’d ordered these when I stepped off my sheep a few weeks ago.  The seller took some time to get them to me; she wasn’t happy with one of the skeins and decided to redo it.  The finished skein was worth the wait!  They both were!  The vibrancy of the colourways cannot be described.  Not even the seller’s photos (that I used below) captured how awesome they are.  And what’s even better, is that the colourways are from one of my favourite series — Downton Abbey!
    Dowager Countess Inspiration
    The Amy Lee Show: Dowager Countess Sock Yarn
    Lavinia Swire Inspiration
    The Amy L ee Show: Lavinia Swire Sock Yarn

Good Mail Days

Nicky10 Comments

I’m going to steal Andi’s title since both our posts reflect the same thing — good mail days aka NEW YARN!!!!!  Booyah!!!! 🙂

And before anyone asks about my cold-sheeping efforts, all the new acquisitions below were as a result of trades!  Oh man!  Trades are one of the best ways to enhance or change up a person’s stash without having to spend money (except for mailing the packages of course.  😛 ).  So I’m still ON my sheep!  😛

First up:

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I placed three skeins of my Madeline Tosh DK Twist in Neon Peach up for “Trade or Sale” on Ravelry and within ten minutes I was contacted by Betty.   She wanted them all and was willing to trade two of her DK Twist in Rose Gold (first picture) and one skein of MadTosh 80/10/10 in Tidal Basin (second picture).  The MadTosh junkie I am didn’t waste time … I agreed to the trade and got my goodies from Canada in record time.    They were here by last Friday!!!   Yummy!  😀

Next up are trades I made with my friend Erica.  I had two afghan lots that I wasn’t using and she had some sock yarn mixed bags that she got from her MIL.  Now that I’m turning into a sock junkie, I couldn’t say no to that so we worked out the trades.  Now I gotta say  — this chick is crazy!!!!  😀  When I trade, I like to consider the cost paid for the skeins in addition to the yardage.  This nut, my friend, promised me that the trades were fair based on my criteria and I stupidly believed her.  🙄

On Friday, I get a call from Reception that I had two medium sized boxes downstairs. In the boxes were these:

Madeline Tosh Sock
Madeline Tosh Sock
Madeline Tosh Sock
Regia Blitz Colour
Regia Blitz Colour

This woman sent me Regia and Madeline Tosh sock yarn!!!  In my mind, the trades weren’t even but her rationale — she got them free from her MIL so it’s more of a win for her than me.  I disagree but I wasn’t going to argue with her!  😛  I can’t wait to work with these!!!!!  Gotta love her!

I also got my roving for the quarter from indie dyer, Two If By Hand:

Mixed Fibres Grab Bag
Two If By Hand — Death Valley
Two If By Hand — Aqua Velvet

Although some events of the day weren’t so pleasant, Friday was a great mail day and I can’t wait to get started using these.  I have another trade in progress — some of my Gloss Fingering for Kathleen’s Palette.  She needed my fingering to finish a shawl for her BFFs birthday — I couldn’t say no that.  Great BFFs are treasures but my thoughts on that are for another post.  😀

Hope you each had some awesome mail days recently.  😀