This is my third or fourth blog post this week. I'm on a roll. And so is Canada Post.
I've already blogged about a bunch of stuff which I received this week, but I got a metric crapload of mail today, so I feel the need to blog again.
But before I go into the world of mail goodness, here's a photo of the soup tureen / yarn bowl empty. See what I mean? The motif on the handles just does not match the rest of the pattern. It's bizarre. I wonder whether someone in quality control at the Mason factory was asleep at the switch. Anyway, it's funky eclectic.
I promised you that I would show pictures of the Tanis Fiber Arts and my project bag from Satomi at JapaneseHandmadeEtc.
The Tanis Fiber Arts was a double parcel because I got both January and March together. January's parcel contained a blue tote bag with the TFA logo on it. The yarn is a beautiful brown with purples and greens. It's kind of reminiscent of a Raven. The colour is Truffle, and it's the Blue Label 80/20 MN blend. The pattern is called Formation and it's a scarf by Hannah Fettig.
The March offering is a new blend which is exclusive to the club. It's an 80/20 Merno Silk blend. The colour is called Sprout and it's just beautiful. It almost glows from within. The pattern is a scarf named Sencha by Julie Crawford. Sencha is a premium green tea. The scarf measures 6" x 70" without the tassely fringe.
Someone explain to me how a skein of yarn makes 2 socks. They aren't all that big. So how can the same skein of yarn possibly make something 6" wide and 6' long? It amazes me. Anyway, I thought it might be nice to make this 9" wide and a little shorter (? what would that be? 48"?). We'll see.
The project bag from JapaneseHandMade is just gorgeous. It's also pretty big. It fits at least 6 skeins of yarn. (I know, because I filled it when I came upstairs). So I think it would be good for a larger project. But I can also use it for socks if they're feeling a little claustrophobic.
Check out the zipper pull. It's an intricately braided knot. It's beautiful.
When I got to work today, I had one of those tyvek envelopes waiting for me. It contained my two project bags from ZigZagStitches. They arrived flat.
But when you pull them up, they become little project bags. They're about 8" long by 3" high and 3" wide.
When I got home from work, there were two more parcels waiting for me. One was from Dye Hard, and the other was from Christine! So I opened Christine's first.
For those who don't know her, Christine is Mapleweave on Ravelry. She has an amazing blog and amazing projects. Check her out.
This is what she sent.
The mysterious green thing is a skein of yarn. And the pink thing (because I am Pinky and she is the Brain) is a GoKnits pouch full of goodies. And on top of it is one of her cards and stitch markers. They're great because they're no-snag.
Inside the GoKnits pouch (which I have been eyeing at the Loopy Ewe for a long time but have never actually purchased) was a ton of cool stuff.
There's highlither tape (in pink, of course) for charts. I live in such a backwater that we can't even get highlighter tape here.
She sent a frog tape measure. She must have known that the dogs ate the turtle tape measure.
She also sent some Nudibranch eyeshadow. Where did she get that???? I assume it's from the Verdant Gryphon, but it's Nudibranch colour. It didn't come with any of the Nudibranch yarn this year, so it must be a special thing. It's a silvery grey colour, very pretty.
She also sent some samples of mineral eyeshadow from SweetLibertine.com. I think there are 4 different colours in all.
And there's a little crochet hook / cable needle combo (also in pink), which will be a lifesaver while knitting.
The yarn is a skein of MN from Stricken Smitten. It's a beautiful purple colour. The photograph of it on its own is too washed out. It doesn't really look like this.
It looks like this.
Amphibiajunior wanted to be in the photo.
So a great big thank you to Christine for the parcel! It's fabulous.
The second order of yarn from Dye Hard arrived today.
I am so going to be awash in stripey socks soon.
And I discovered that Princess loves the afterthought heel. It fits her foot perfectly. So she'll get some afterthought heels and I'll get some sweet tomato heels once I figure out whether I can add a couple of plain knit rows between wedges.
The final thing that arrived this week was my monthly installment of pencil crayons from Felissimo. You'd think they'd be Italian. You'd be wrong. They're Japanese.
They have 500 different colours. And you can buy them, but only 25 at a time. So if you subscribe for about 18 months, you eventually get them all. I decided to treat myself to that for my birthday last year, although I think I probably pay monthly. I don't ever actually bother to read my credit card statements. Anyway, this month's offering is pinks.
Check them out. Each one is named in English and in Japanese. I'm only showing you the English side.
Take a look at them a little more closely. Specifically, take a look at B00907.
It says "Scarlet." Um, no. It's not Scarlet. Scarlet is red. Mistress Mary might in fact be scarlet. But B00907 is not scarlet; it's a variation of pink.
Whatever. Maybe it was just an error in translation.
Happy knitting, folks. TGIF. Tonight I am going to beat the dogs into submission finish the first Crocus Vernus sock and maybe wind some yarn.
