stash enhancement | Little Miss Drama Pants

October 30, 2011
by lilMDP 1 Comment

Girls' Trip!

A couple of weeks ago I went on my annual trek to the mountains of Asheville, NC for SAFF and stayed in a rustic cottage of mostly awesomeness with my girls Evil Science Chick, Evil Julie and Nytefalle.

Drinking Is Srs Bizness

Evil Science Chick

Zombie Nytefalle

We learned that if a bear shits in the woods, it definitely stinks. (A bear may or may not have shit outside our cabin. Or possibly the drunk boys 2 cottages down. OR there may have been an issue with a septic tank. We went with bear.) We pretty much blamed that bear for anything remotely stinky. Strangely enough, I think that bear may have followed me home.

Moving along!

We ate lots of tasty, tasty food.

Caramel Sea Salt Mocha Chocolate Cake

Spring Ridge Creamery Ice Cream (Pumpkin Pie & Peppermint)

Acropolis Pizza

Saw lots of cute animals:

Heeey, Baby!

Communing With the Sheepies

Check Out Those Horns

How You Doin'?

This Is My Good Side

I made several purchases. Again.

Corriedale Fleece

It is both awesome and dangerous to be friends with folks who on a fiber mill. I had 2 alpaca fleeces and also wool from Sugar Ray (I hope he’s getting plenty of tail in bunny heaven) that I wanted to blend and Jen picked out this gorgeous Corriedale for me. Then Jared took in my order. I’ll be getting a beautiful DK weight yarn out of the mix. I can’t wait to see what they do with it all!

Supporting My Friends

Sugar Skull Stitch Markers!

Gale-dar in Full Effect

Stash Enhancing

Because Everyone Needs A Ball Sack

You Can Never Have Too Many Project Bags

Oh Yeah. I Went There.

And the coup d’état :

Loom!

I blew my Vegas wad on a loom! [Sidenote: I won a grand in Vegas on the penny slots and my first thought was "OH MY GOD, I WON!!!" and my second thought was, "SAFF MONEY!!!!!"] I got a Kromski Harp 24″ Rigid Heddle Loom. As you can see here, I set it up as soon as I got home and started warping almost immediately. I think this is an excellent starter loom. You have the loom on one side, flip it over and the warp is on the other. Which is what you’re looking at. (The pegs are removable. Also very awesome.) I will be going through my used stash to find the rest of my sock yarn remnants to play with this baby on my first run. I imagine it will become a scarf that only a first-time weaver can love. But I can definitely see how easy it will be to use up a lot of yarn quickly. Maybe even some of my handspun. Also? It has the option of adding a second heddle, which means I can get fancy with the designs. Lots of options.

This was my 6th year of attending SAFF. I can honestly say that it never gets old. Asheville in October is absolutely gorgeous.

Scenic Drive

We usually see interesting things along the way:

You're Not Reading That Wrong

Let's Stop and Ask for Directions!

And I get to spend time with my tribe.

Bunch o' Weirdos

I can’t wait for next year!

February 21, 2011
by lilMDP 5 Comments

Field Trip!

This past weekend I went to go hang out with Evil Science Chick. We spent Saturday knitting, drinking wine, eating cupcakes, knitting, snacking on cheese and crackers, knitting…you get the idea. Also, there may have been a pitcher of margaritas in there somewhere… but I digress.

Sunday we went out for Dim Sum for lunch with these hoars.

And then we all went on a field trip to visit Fleury Sheep and Wool.

Where we get to see Jen & Jared in their natural habitat.

And met up with a few more friends.

We got a tour of the mill which was really cool. I’m always so impressed by Jen’s fund of knowledge. And Jared kicks ass, too.

We saw the cutest yarn dog evar, Wyatt.

Sad Panda Puppy Is Sad That You Want to Take His Wool

And then we picked up our award-winning fleece turned yarn.

I declare the weekend a HUGE SUCCESS.

April 25, 2010
by lilMDP 6 Comments

Stitches South

First, there are some things you should know:

Zauberball is the new “It” yarn.
The Citron Shawl is the new Clapotis.
The smart knitter will knit a Citron shawl out of the Zauberball.
I started this phenomenon.

Stitches South was just as much fun as last year minus the Pepsi dancing by Julie. She was greatly missed, but we did our best to make her feel like she was there by sending her pictures of the goings on:

With really sweet messages. I’m quite sure she didn’t feel left out at all.

Continue Reading →

March 18, 2010
by lilMDP 4 Comments

I Am A Knitter, Hear Me Roar

The last time I went to see my friendly neighborhood vampires I wore my Knit Drink Tink shirt I got at Knitch when Julie came down south and went to SAFF with ESC and me. At least, I think that’s when I bought it. But I digress. Wearing the shirt is the more important part of this story because my infertility nurse saw, asked me to explain it and then asked me to teach her to knit. Just like that.

So of course I said yes!

Heh. If you skipped over that first paragraph and only read that sentence, I’m pretty sure you’d do a double take and then go back and read the first paragraph. (Also? In case you can’t tell, I’m a little scatter brained, which is what happens when I drink caffeine at night besides the fact that I’m awake and have more energy than I know what to do with, but now I’m getting ahead of myself and I’ll get back to that later. Are you confused now? Because I’m a little confused. Ending this tangent…NOW.)

ANYWAY. I told her I’d be happy to teach her to knit. But first, I gave her homework. And this is where I am either an evil genius and/or the greatest enabler on the planet. I told her that before I could teach her to knit, she had to go to In the Making, my local yarn shop and buy one ball of yarn and a pair of needles. Because we all know that unless you have the proper tools for the trade, you are not going to succeed. She was a very good student and went to the LYS and bought yarn and needles.

We met today at Barnes & Noble. We got some coffee and sat down to knit.

OK. Really quickly, this is where I ordered an iced sugar free caramel macchiato and forgot to say decaf. Hence all the random tangents and why I’m up past my bedtime.

Back to the topic at hand.

Internets, this woman took to knitting like a fish takes to water. She learned to tie a slip knot, do a long tail cast on and knit continental style in an hour – hour and a half, tops. The majority of the time was spent with her knitting and me encouraging her because she was just terrified that she would forget everything I showed her once she got home. I have a feeling that she went home, maybe fed her family and continued to knit. She’s probably still knitting right now.

I also lent her my Stitch ‘n Bitch book in case she forgot something or drops a stitch. She only dropped a stitch once at the very beginning knitting the cast on row. She ripped it back and started over and despite being worried she couldn’t remember how to cast on, did it perfectly. Also? her stitches were so much more even than mine ever were the first time I knit. I was a little jealous, but mostly extremely proud of her.

I even tried to get her to go to knit night with me when we were done, but she had to get home, but said she wanted to come to the next one. I really think she might be hooked on knitting.

So I went on to knit night, had a fantastic time (as usual) and may have spent the money my uncle gave me to buy myself a shirt on sock yarn. Which, really, when you think about it, yarn is just clothing that hasn’t been made yet. Right?

Malabrigo Sock Yarn and Zauberball

I may very well be the last person on the planet who has not knit (yet!) with Malabrigo yarn, but that is going to change very very soon. Also, apparently the Zauberball has also been around for awhile but I only just discovered them tonight. Either that, or I saw it one someone’s blog once, couldn’t find it locally and promptly forgot about it in my angst at not finding it when I looked for it before. But I don’t remember. So it’s new to me!

April 27, 2009
by lilMDP 5 Comments

Mad Recap

Stitches South was this amazing whirlwind of knitters and yarn and roving and fun. So. Much. Fun. I don’t have pictures of anyone, just loot. I ended up not carrying my camera around because I needed the yarn space. Also, I only have my big camera. (Looks like it’s time for me to invest in a point and shoot.) I finally got to meet and hang with Evil Julie. Turns out? I’m more evil than she is. Mwa ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Julie learned the hard way that it is totally Yarn first, Friends second at a fiber fest.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to mah loot:

It’s really not as bad as it looks. Honest.

This is my beloved Brooks Farm Acero. Every time I visit their booth, I pet all the yarn and then leave with Acero. I lurves it so much. Julie, unwittingly came between my Acero and me so I politely asked her to step aside and gently guided her away from my intended. She, however, did not take kindly to this. And, in hindsight, I can understand that. This yarn is so luscious and silky smooth. Who wouldn’t want to basque in its glory? I know I do.

It also turns out that Julie and I have similar tastes in color. We were both admiring the Jack in the Pulpit sample shawl and were both admiring this particular kit. As you can see, I ended up with it. But only after we discussed which colors best suited our skin palates. I gently directed Julie to a similar, but lighter colored yarn that was more suited to her fair skin. I know she’ll look great in it. (She’ll also try to tell you that I “stole” this from her, but what are you going to expect from a Yankee? Bless her heart.)

You can see all the rest of my stash below.

[flickrset id="72157617409666210" thumbnail="square" overlay="true" size="medium"]

We had such a great time. I even didn’t really mind at Evil Science Chick‘s lame attempt at trying to kill me with margaritas. I caught on and stopped drinking after the first margarita. But you know, if I’m going to go, I think I’d prefer death by margarita.

Julie and ESC introduced me to Dr. Horrible. I really don’t know how I missed seeing it when it all first aired, but I’m DEFINITELY making up for lost time now. I showed Julie the Pepsuber shorts. Next post? You’ll get to see? Julie doing her soon to be famous Pepsi dance.

I got to see so many knitters that I normally only see at SAFF! That made me a little giddy getting to see them more than one time a year. I also got to make some new friends who may or may not have pictures of me with a certain skein of yarn down my shirt. I had a blast and I’m so glad to have the knitting friends I do. You guys rock.

Now I just need a week to recover.

September 24, 2008
by lilMDP 8 Comments

The Big Reveal

I have promised Himey Kitty for weeks that I would flash pictures of my stash enhancement from, well, a couple weeks ago. I was tired of all my good intentions paving my personal road to hell, so I got it all together last night and photographed it for you. Well, technically not all of it, just representatives from all the yarn nations. Minus the sock yarn I gifted to a friend. Though, is it technically a gift if she picks it out with you in the yarn store and then you promptly hand it over once you pay for it?? But I digress. Here are the newest members of the Chez Drama Pants Stash:

If you click on the picture, it’ll take you to the flickr page and you can read all my notes about the different yarns.

And here are the pictures of the alpaca roving that got dyed. I promised to tell the blog that BAD Boy helped me with the beige alpaca roving. He picked out the colors and directed me where to color the roving. That kid has a great eye for colors. See?

And this is the black/grey alapaca roving after I dyed it.

I absolutely love the way this turned out. There’s 3 ounces of the beige and 6 ounces of the grey. As soon as I get my carpal tunnel under control (I see the chiropractor tomorrow and I’m abstaining from fiber arts until the pain & swelling subsides) I am spinning this stuff up. I mean, it’s practically begging to be spun.

March 14, 2008
by lilMDP 8 Comments

Fiber Crack

I have a tendency to gravitate towards merino roving.?I decided that I needed to branch out. And I?almost did all right. While all these batts have merino in them, they also have fiber I haven’t spun before. I’m looking forward to Merino wool and bamboo drum carded batt. Electric. 3oz.?(Picture from Hanks in the Hood)

Merino, silk, and bamboo drum carded batts. Miss Priss. 3oz. (Picture from Hanks in the Hood)

Merino wool drum carded batts with added sparkle. Bubbalicious. 3oz. (Picture from Hanks in the Hood)

They are all from Hanks in the Hood, a seller I found on Etsy. They arrived in the mail yesterday and I walked around the house for a little while just squeezing them to my ample bossom. I’m not sure which one I’ll spin first, but I do know that I won’t be doing any spinning until I tackle the giant mounds of laundry in my bedroom. Both the clean AND dirty piles are threatening to smother us in our sleep.

*sigh*

December 31, 2007
by lilMDP 6 Comments

Consumerism at Its Finest

Saturday, B and I got up early (for us) and went shopping! Normally, I hate shopping, but when you are shopping with gift cards? SO. MUCH. FUN. First, we went to In The Making, my LYS where my step mother-in-law gave me a very generous gift card. I also had some needles to return, which they don’t normally take back, but since I hadn’t opened them, I got in store credit for them. Score! AND on top of that, there was a 30% sale off of $150 of merchandise. I got a TON of stuff and paid a whopping $14 and some change out of pocket. Here’s just a small sampling of what I got:

5 balls of Rowan Cotton for Trellis. I have a lot of friends who are having kids. I finally broke down and decided to do some child-related knitting for friends.
2 skeins of the pink & grey
2 skeins of the blue & grey (it’s?more of a torquoise color than true blue)
4?skeins of?Alapaca Silk?(2 blue & 2 red)??
Twisted Sisters Sock Book (not pictured)
2 small project bags (not pictured)
BUTTONS! for CPH. (I am so in love with these buttons.)

Then, we went to Belk and I bought a pair of boots that were on sale %60 off with my gift card from the MIL and…drum roll… we bought a KitchenAid mixer! Yippee!!!!! Gift cards are a wonderful thing. That mixer was on sale for $299.99 and it’s the big 5 qt chrome one. We paid: $0.00 because we had enough gift cards to cover the whole damn thing. SCORE!!!!!

Yesterday we made cookies and cupcakes to break it in. Yeah, we’re not going to be 500 lbs any time soon.

Anyway, when we got home from all the shopping, these were waiting for me in the mailbox:

They’re from Stick! She is such a sweetie. I saw that she had made some for another friend and I squeed over them so much, she made me some!!!! SQUEE!!!!!! Thanks Stick!

October 31, 2007
by lilMDP 8 Comments

Whoopsie

I may have accidentally forgotten about some other purchases at I made at SAFF. Just a few little itty bitty things that are so small, they practically don’t count. Really.

Yesterday I turned this

Into this

You know a 1 oz silk hankie is practically nonexistent, right? Well, it is, so this really doesn’t count.

Also, there may or may not have been some Creatively Dyed sock yarn that I may or may not have bought for myself with which ESC totally converted me to the toe up sock method.

This picture is not proof of said alleged purchase.

Also, The Boy needed his own roving to spin, so these two little balls of roving somehow jumped into my bag. Seriously. I don’t know how they got there. It must have been the aliens. Really.

Oh yeah, and some dye. But that’s it! I think.

October 30, 2007
by lilMDP 9 Comments

SAFF 2007

This is going to be a really long post. I thought about breaking it up over a couple of days, and I don’t think I will. Instead, I think I’m just going to hit the highlights of the trip. If you’re not interested, I suggest you not bother with the jump. Because all I’m going to talk about is this: