The Adventures of Woolgirl and Abby

It's Monday....thoughts of a winter blanket

It's Monday and Yarntini is supposed to arrive today....so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that UPS actually delivers today. If it does arrive today, Yarntini will be posted in the shop tomorrow morning (Tuesday) at 6am PST.

Additionally, we received in a new Woolgirl "exclusive" colorway in the shop...this is from Lavender Sheep, and it's absolutely gorgeous! When you're in the shop next, be sure to check it out! We currently carry this in fingering weight, but we plan to have it available in sport and DK weights also. Thank you Yvonne!

Also not sure if you noticed, but we have a few new Union Center Knits colorways in the shop. Because Joni is expecting a baby this winter, she is dyeing on a very limited basis, and we get new colors in so very rarely. But, we did get a few in this past week, and I just posted them in the shop this weekend. The Dried Roses is one of my absolute favorites...really gorgeous!

So, what's on the knitting  needles? Well, I have been working on test knits for the upcoming sock club non-stop it seems, so not much to post there, as I don't want to ruin the surprise! :) I did, however, start on my Flutterby socks, and will post about those later this week or early next. I have decided also that it's time to knit Woolboy a winter blanket...the winter blanket that I promised him the first year I started knitting several years ago. I have been perusing through patterns and keep coming back to the Mitered Square blanket in Mason Dixon Knitting. I've always wanted to try this, and I think with a variety of colors involved and the mitered squares, I can keep my interest up with this blanket. Now, to just make a decision on the yarn to use....any ideas?

As promised on Wednesday, we have posted Zen String in the shop!  We currently have the Serendipity fingering weight and Lotus Toes, as well as a very small amount of Serendipity sport weight. We will be getting some additional sport weight and Harmony, as well as Bulky weight, so that will be added in the weeks to come.

So, we all know that Zen String is perfect for socks...comfy, perfect, colorful (and did I mention perfect?). But Zen String also creates many other pretty knitted things, including a wonderful Chevron scarf.  I recently started a Chevron scarf in two of my most favorite Zen String colorways....Iris and Woolgirl. See for yourself how these two mix....

I've named this scarf IrisGirl, as it combines the best of both of these colors into one fantastic scarf. These Chevron scarves are definitely on my gift giving list this year! Simple and beautiful...a combination I love!

Also as promised, it's time to announce the Yarntini Color Contest winners.......drum roll please......

The correct color was Purple, for all of you out there who selected Purple...that was an excellent choice and it was the correct guess! We selected two winners randomly out of those of you who chose the color purple, and the winners are Allison and Stephanie. Each of you should have received an email from me separately regarding your win.

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest, and for all of the wonderful entries. I love some of these color choices and would love to use them for our next Woolgirl exclusive colorway.

Yarntini will hopefully arrive here next Monday, August 1st, and we plan to have it posted in the shop sometime next week. I will post an update here on Monday.

Happy Weekend!

Happy Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Why, you ask, am I so happy?
Three reasons....

1. Zen String arrived yesterday in 2 large boxes! (We will be posting it in the shop on Friday morning) But in the meantime, I get to go through these 2 large boxes. Heaven!!! I can't think of anything I'd rather do right now.

2. We just found out about a new Indie dyer we will be carrying in the shop but we're only giving one tiny hint about it....she's overseas! Her yarn is delicious...and we're so thrilled that we're going to be carrying it in the shop! More on this in the weeks to come....

3. This is mine now.....

This is Flutterby in Speedster from Spunky Eclectic. I have been wanting to put this in my own shopping cart for months now, ever since we received the very first shipment of it in. Now, it's mine! I am not letting it go this time...it's going to make the most gorgeous pair of socks - 360 yards of sport weight goodness! And you all know how I love me some sport weight!

Other Happy News for Wednesday....

4. We have chosen winners for the Yarntini color contest, and if you are a winner, you will be notified by email before we post names on Friday. We will also announce the color addition on Friday of this week. For all of you Yarntini fans out there, we just found out yesterday that Yarntini is scheduled to arrive here on Monday of next week, so we will most likely post it next Wednesday, August 1st.

5. We will be adding a couple of new lines of stitch markers to the shop in the next few weeks...so stay on the lookout for those!

6. It's sunny today! That's always such a positive here in Oregon!

Have a Happy Wednesday!

Which yarn is your favorite?

I am just pleased as punch that the Madelinetosh yarns have arrived! I can remember perusing Amy's site for the first time, drooling over the gorgeous colorways, and thinking...I must have that Chamomile colorway....must...have....right....now! Especially since that particular colorway was featured with this particular pair of socks (and yes, we will be carrying this pattern in the shop soon!)....

So this makes me wonder, what must you have right now? I would love to hear which yarn is your favorite, which yarn you continuously drool over, which yarn you just can't live without! As you  know, we are always looking for new Indie dyers (and non-Indie dyers) to add to the shop, and we would love to hear from you as to which yarns are your favorites. Which yarns must you have right now?

PS. Don't forget to enter the Yarntini color contest (Friday's post), as the deadline is the end of the day today!

Yarntini Color Contest

As you may (or may not know), we will be receiving Yarntini in next week, and because of this, we felt it only fitting that we hold a contest so that some lucky person has the opportunity to win some free Yarntini! Ohhhhh...free and Yarntini...don't those two words sound so beautiful together?

Jessica at Yarntini has put together a scrumptious Woolgirl colorway for us that is slightly different from our other Woolgirl colorways, with a different color added to the mix of our  traditional Woolgirl colors, and this created a gorgeous new colorway that's fantastic! This contest is all about the new Woolgirl colorway.

We would love to hear your thoughts and have you harbor a guess as to which color YOU THINK may have been introduced into the new Woolgirl colorway. Just comment directly to this post, and on the end of the day Monday, July 23rd, we'll take all of the correct guesses and throw all of those names into a hat to pick a few lucky winners! What will you win, you ask? Well, a skein of Yarntini sock yarn in the new Woolgirl colorway, of course! There will be 2 winners, so start your guesses now, and good luck!

Happy Weekend!

Pink

What's pink, with a touch of pink, and a dash of pink on the side? The new Dashing Dachs yarn (in the Choco Straw colorway) that arrived at our doorstep yesterday! This yarn is delectable, let me tell ya! One of our customers recommended Dashing Dachs to us not long after we opened in April, and as you may have already figured out, we love to please our customers (so of course we decided that we must carry this yarn in the shop!)

Hillary from Dashing Dachs is fantastic to work with, and she has the most gorgeous colorways to choose from - even the names are too good to resist!  From Choco Straw to Caramel Apple to Pumpkin Stem, there isn't a color that doesn't float our boat, strike our fancy, or sound good enough to eat! We should have Dashing Dachs available in the shop by Friday of this week!

Also, while we're on the subject of shop updates, we just received a large shipment of Spunky Eclectic in the house, so we'll be posting that in the shop on Sunday of this week! We have some fantastic colors that arrived, so be prepared to have your socks blown away by this gorgeous stuff! (no pun intended!)

Also, we have a July Woolgirl contest to announce this Friday, so be sure not to miss Friday's post!

Happy Wednesday!

Shop Updates

It's Monday and we have several shop updates today!

Mama Llama is back in the shop with some new self-striping sock yarns and gorgeous one project knit bags...

Also, we received a large shipment of Oceanwind Knits, including fingering weight, sport weight and Suri Silk Lace Weight...

Shop Updates Happening this Week....

Zen String
Whimzy Pinzy
Traveling Knitter "Hold My Socks!"

Have a wonderful Monday!
 

Test Knitting...

I've been test knitting out my ears these days, so don't have much in the way of knitting to post about (or anything that I can reveal just yet!). I do; however, want to give a sneak peek of a free pattern that will be available soon! This last weekend we added one of my favorite yarns to the shop...Curious Creek Fibers! Curious Creek is all about the fantastic color...each and every one of their colorways is so vibrant and rich, just stunning really, and I'm so thrilled that we have been able to add them to our wonderful list of vendors. The Anemone (shown above) is one of my absolute favorite colorways ever!

Kristine is the talented dyer from Curious Creek Fibers and she has such an amazing eye for color, AND she has some great patterns to go along with this gorgeous yarn. The newest pattern is a cute anklet pattern knit with the Omo yarn, which is 50% Silk/50% Merino. These adorable anklets only take one skein of Omo - how cool is that? Kristine knit these out of various remnants of Omo to create a magnificently cute pair of anklets...

Also, we will be adding an additional sock yarn from Curious Creek in a month or so, which is called Wasonga and is a 2-ply 100% Superwash Merino fingering weight yarn - 493 yards of pure pleasure!

Have a happy weekend!

Harry Potter is back in the House!

We just received the Harry Potter Sock Yarn back in the shop, so stop on over and check it out when you get a chance!

My personal favorite? Gryffindor all the way!!!

Is it Friday Yet?

Oh my goodness! This week seems to drag on and on, and I know part of that is due to the extreme heat, which my body detests, but just end it already! It was over 100 deg here today, and yes, I know that is not very hot compared to other parts of the country, but in this part of the country it's hot! I hear that it might be cooling off near the end of the week and into the weekend, so I'm hopeful that Friday will be here before we know it and the cooler weather will drift on in.

Woolboy is gone this week also - he just left today for a business trip to California - so we are Woolboy-less until next Wednesday. I miss him already! A good friend of mine, who I have not seen in quite some time, is coming to visit this weekend, though, so somewhat makes up for Woolboy's absence. I still miss him already! We've been married for 17 years - you'd think that I could live without him for a week, right? Well, we are like 16 year-olds in that respect - it seems that we can't go a day without talking to each other 15 times a day on the phone and I still get goosebumps when I hear his voice on the phone. Oh true love. :)

It seems that last weekend was the weekend of roosters and chickens! I went to visit my mom, who happens to be infatuated with roosters and I think it must be turning into an obsession (a serious obsession) because everywhere I turned in her house there seemed to be a rooster or chicken! No exaggeration here! I think it all began when I knit her the little chickens a couple of years ago...

It then seemed to snowball into what now seems to be a rooster on everything she purchases!

Cabinets full of roosters and chickens....

And more cabinets full of roosters and chickens (and this does not include the other 2 cabinets that I did NOT take photos of!)...

Roosters hanging from the wall (and if you look really, really hard you can see a faint rooster pattern on her blinds!)

Roosters (and chickens) above all of the countertops....

Rooster plates, salt and pepper shakers, and even a little chicken kitchen timer (which I will admit to buying her, but I am not taking the blame for this obsession!)

Oh, and did I mention the rooster clock?

Even above the fridge she has roosters hidden away!

I calmly explained to her that she needed to get this OBSESSION UNDER CONTROL! My goodness! Roosters were literally coming out of the woodwork!
She calmly explained to me that it was no different than my yarn obsession AND she was quick to point out that I had yarn in every room of the house. BEFORE I could deny that fact, my mind seemed to do a quick scan of the house and each room and what I had in every room (and I do recall some yarn in each and every room, except the kitchen) so I was just about to say "I don't have yarn in the kitchen!", when lo and behold Woolboy spouted out "You do remember you have those couple of skeins on the kitchen counter, right?" What?!?! I slowly let out a sigh, because, in fact, I do have a couple of skeins of yarn on the kitchen counter - I could not deny that fact. But yarn, an obsession? NO WAY! A necessity, I explained. She calmly pointed out that roosters were a necessity also. I guess each to his own.