Yarn Destash SALE!

It is finally time to destash... I have way too much great novelty yarn!

The following yarns are up for sale in my Etsy shop. Just click on a photo you will be taken to its listing. Message me if you have any questions! Hope you find something you like at the market...

      

 

 

 

    

 

 

hello spring break...

aahhhh... spring break!  I only have a few school-related tasks to do this week (grading...), but otherwise I am free!  I have big plans for the break... especially for my crafting and blog... but I will be sure to be a bum for at least a little while.  First thing tomorrow (oh.. it is after midnight, so I guess today) I will roast and brew some fresh coffee and get started...

I ordered some yarn from Knit Picks.  I am a bit weary of buying yarn online without ever seeing and feeling it, but I decided to give it a shot because of the price and selection of colors.  I ordered these fingering weight, 100% Peruvian Highland Wool yarns...

for use with... my loom!

My mom and dad gave me this loom for Christmas.  I haven't had a chance to really try it out yet, but I am so excited to try something new.  A few years ago, during the Earth Week events at my university, I bought a woven scarf made in Bolivia from alpaca fiber.  I absolutely love the woven look... and I wear the scarf all the time.  So when my mom and dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I asked for the loom.  My mom searched everywhere for one, but every time she asked a salesperson if they carried it or something similar, they looked at her like she had three eyes or something (I certainly know that look... when I was looking for squeakies to put in dog toys a while back). They finally had to go to the internet to buy it... so wonderful to go through all that trouble just to get me a Christmas present.  I do love my family.   :)   Maybe the yarn will get here before spring break is over so I can attempt to weave a scarf!

So I have made a goal for my spring break... to launch my Etsy shop.  Fingers crossed... hope I can make it.  Here is a close-up of what I am currently working on...

night! ...

from the local yarn shop...

Took a visit to the local yarn shop, Mustard Seeds & Dreams, the other day and picked up some goodies. I was amazed at the selection of colors and fibers... all so beautiful. It was hard to stop myself at three skeins... but my hubby was there with me... the voice of reason, I guess...

This is one is an 80% Mohair • 20% Acrylic blend by Kraemer Yarns. I am currently making a lace-type scarf for my mother-in-law for Christmas. It is more of a green... the photo doesn't quite do it justice...

This one is a painted 50% Llama • 50% Wool blend by Cascade Yarns. This hank is destined to become a scarf for my sister-in-law for Christmas... which is really right around the corner (I better get started, huh)...

This one is for me... it is a 79% Wool • 21% Linen blend by Cascade Yarns. I haven't quite decided what I will make with this one... probably a scarf... it is cold and I am loving scarves...

yarn barf...

I lightly tug on the yarn end peeking out from the center of the skein and feel some resistance... uh oh, I pull harder and....

blech... yarn barf... all over my lap.

I just loathe the notorious yarn barf, especially when I am itching to get my hook around a new strand of fiber. This seems to be a common problem and, for me, quite a nuisance... winding the mess into a ball and the sometimes laborious unknotting and untangling. Though this most recent incident was by no means the worst I have experienced... imagine skeins spilling their guts so badly that only a thin outer shell remains... this was not the first and likely will not be the last. What to do... what to do... I think I will have to visit my trusty friend Google to see if there are any tricks out there to avoid the yarn barf...

confessions of a yarnaholic...

Hello... my name is Whitney... and I am a yarnaholic.

I have been lovingly asked to address this issue and informed that I cannot buy another skein until 50% of my collection has been used, and not a skein sooner... and what did I do today... bought 3 hanks of hand painted wool. "I... I... I just couldn't help myself, they were so beautiful" said I to my hubby, all while making my best pouty face.

Yarn... so many different kinds, all so full of potential. I love the look, the feel, the menagerie of colors, and sometimes even the smell; so many different choices that the eyes cannot take it all in at once. Needless to say, over the years I seem to have accumulated quite a bit of yarn... yarn gathering dust from all those neglected projects, scraps (I am no stranger to the term "pack-rat"), random skeins I just had to have for the unique color or texture, others left behind from overestimating the needs of a project, and a staggering amount of clearance novelty yarn. And when I mean staggering, I am not exaggerating... but at $0.25 a ball, how could I pass that up, right?

Just today I finished organizing my yarn smorgasbord, filling two large plastic totes and the inside of my craft ottoman... but even with this large surplus I found myself only being able to part with a couple skeins. Well I call that progress, and after running my hands across each lonely skein, project ideas rapidly moving through my mind's eye, I look towards the future... excited and eager to delve into my heap and hook my next skein of yarn...

Joey wants to keep all the yarn for himself...

comfy...