A Month of Favorite Things

It's October and we're officially ensconced in the Autumnal season. I absolutely love Fall and I always look forward to pulling on my wool sweaters, the changing of the leaves, and all of the yummy comfort foods that abound. It just so happens that my birthday is in October - maybe that's the real reason I love this time of year so much!

For the month of October I'll be sharing some of my favorite things on this here blog, including a couple of giveaways. In fact, I'm going to kick off October faves with a giveaway.

<via Velvet Hippo on Etsy>

I stumbled across Velvet Hippo via Andi's blog this year and went straight to her shop to purchase a set of stitch markers. In the past I've always gone for those plastic locking markers you can purchase at your LYS but these are so pretty that I just can't resist. My current set of VH markers are in constant rotation and I can attest to the fact that they're snag free and slip easily from one needle to the next. Most of Velvet Hippo's markers are customizable to fit up to size 7, 9, or 11 (US) needles.

To win the above stitch markers, leave a comment below with your email address or Ravelry name (I need a way to get your address!) telling me what type of stitch markers you usually use when you knit. You have until Tuesday, October 8th to enter to win!



Zombies + Yarn

 I've been feeling a bit stressed out lately and I'm not quite sure why. Passing the one year anniversary at my temp (yeah, right) job and getting my ducks in a row for my last quarter of school seems to have drained some of my energy. Guess what that means? Yep. Yarn. This isn't just any yarn folks, this is zombie yarn.

I found this etsy shop, Out of Step Dyeworks, via Erin of the Anatomy of Knitting videocast and scooted over there to poke around. Poke around means buying two skeins because I just couldn't help myself. Both skeins are an MCN (merino/cashmere/nylon) blend and enough for a pair of socks. That crazy bright one up top is called Atomic Zombie and it's BLACKLIGHT REACTIVE! I'm excited to knit up some socks and track down someone with a blacklight so I can take creepy zombie sock photos. 

 Below is a skein of self-striping sock yarn with the lovely name of Zombie Apocalypse Stripe, it will make 8 row stripes of red followed by 8 row stripes of red-flecked gray/green.

 Both yarns dovetail nicely with my reading of late which is Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy. I finished the first book last night and requested the second from my local library - hopefully I'll get that before school starts again and I'm stuck doing assigned reading. In the meantime I'll be rewatching some Romero films and knitting away on my new yarn.

Sock Summit - Part One

Technically this is not part one since I already glossed over the madness that is Sock Summit previously but I thought I might share a few things that I bought. A few, since there were way too many! I had to hit up Tactile since they are my number one favorite at Madrona and for natural dyeing. Plus the ladies that work there are so nice! I picked up this skein of red (the color is Brick) merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn and had to buy it since it was the last one. Duh. I just finished knitting up some red sock yarn so this one can take it's place in my stash.








I also got these super-cute ceramic buttons at a couple of other booths. The ones with the fancy packaging are from an etsy shop at really great prices and lots and lots of sizes and colors. It was really hard to make a decision. The larger green button is from Jennie the Potter and I thought it would be great for one of those single button hats or sweaters. I also bought a nifty pair of earrings from her with knit stitches on them. Cute! Everyone at the Ravelry meet-up was sporting their Jennie-ware on Saturday night. Seriously, there were so many vendors at the marketplace it was hard to make decisions. Knitters aren't the best people to keep you on a budget either. Rebecca and I co-enabled although she did keep me from purchasing duplicate colors of yarn. I would have walked away with a whole bag of gray-blue-lavendar sock yarn if it weren't for her. This is just the tip of the iceberg, more to come in the next few days.

Covet! Wednesday

I'm back from the friend-in-town funk (having any amount of time off from work makes me ambivalent about returning) just in time for a long weekend. From here on out I've decided to stay out of shopping centers and department stores. It's just too crazy and as I get older I get less tolerant of other people (and their children) and pretty disgusted over the mass consumption and gluttony that goes on during the Holiday season. I plan on spending lots of time browsing Etsy. This is what I've come up with so far. Pretty colors and it looks incredibly squishy and twisty. This is from Karen's Heavenly Creations, she's even got some Christmas theme yarn up in her shop and it all looks pretty drool-worthy. While you're over there trying to resist snatching up all her yarn take a look at Handkraft. Oh. My. Goodness. She's only got a few things in her shop right now but man, are they gorgeous! I love the muted tones and color combinations. They remind me of faded William Morris tapestries. Yum.

Wednesday's are for Sharing

Let's talk about sin shall we? How supposedly deadly they are, how we're not supposed to indulge in any of them, and how frickin awesome these plates are! I found these on Etsy and they hail all the way from New Zealand. She's got all kinds of kitschy goodness on her shop and even a disclaimer for adult content. Love it! I would love a set to hang on my wall granny style. Thanks Trixie Delicious for being so totally sinfully awesome.

Yet another Etsy shop is Fearless Fibers for all of you fiber-obsessed readers. She's got some gorgeous yarns as well as patterns, sock blockers, and kits. Totally pettable. I like that it's kind of an all-in-one shop what with the sock yarn, the pattern, and the blockers available from one vendor. Roll around and drool on that why dontcha? *I think I'm renaming Wednesday's are for Sharing to Covet this Wednesdays. How delightfully sinful of me. mwa ha ha.