how to make someone's day very special...

take a goodly amount of this...

dye it up in shades of someone's favorite color...



add a label like this...



and send it off to that person for no particular reason...just because...

thank you susie...it worked :-)

(if you're in the market for yarn or fiber, take a look at her etsy shop...she's got a real eye for color and the prices are reasonable, especially considering the quality of her base yarns...well worth the visit :-) and i happen to know she dyes to order as well...imho she's got the july "project spectrum" color down pat! edit: she's got some freakin' beautiful purple yarns up now in the shop...go take a look before i get tempted into buying them all for myself lol)

a midsummer night's dream of rosehips...

a few weeks back, i went for a wander through astrid's dutch obsessions, the webstore of a seller from whom i'd purchased some Opal Rainforest yarns (through eBay). it's pretty impressive--she's got loads of yarn, particularly for socks, and a nice selection of addi turbos; the prices are very reasonable (low even), and the shipping rates are phenomenal. she's in the netherlands (as you might guess from the name of her shop), yet the cost for shipping is less than i've been charged for shipments within the US. i've gone with the lowest rate (which i think she lists as taking 1-2 weeks), and it's gotten here in just over a week both times.

i was looking for something in particular that i'd seen (and missed) in one of her eBay auctions, and luckily she still had it in stock in her store :-)

this is the popular (well at least in michigan it seems to be...i know of at least two knitters in the state who have purchased a skein of it) "Hagebutte" (which apparently translates as "Rosehips"):

per usual, click to get full sized photos


it is lovely, however it is definitely on the neon side ;-) i don't think i quite managed to capture the brightness in this photo...it'll make some pretty spiffy socks though.

then i noticed this link on the hagebutte page...not fair astrid! ;-)

i had to ended up ordering a skein of it too:



in my defense, this appears to be a limited colorway--i couldn't locate it on the Opal website, and astrid herself says she doesn't know if she'll be able to get any more...works for me lol

this is "Sommernachtstraum", which (after some googling) i determined translates to "Midsummer Night's Dream", after finding references to the Shakespeare play of the same name on German websites...this photo is also a bit duller than the actual yarn (it's much prettier...very 'rich' colors--i'll try for a better shot), though not as bright as the picture on astrid's site. the colors suit me a bit better than the first yarn, and i can't wait to see how it knits up :-)

and in other news:
even though i look like i've been dead a week lousy in yellow...



...i joined ;-)

bloglines is trying to mess with my head

[EDIT: apparently i'm no longer among the forbidden (thanks sharon! ;-)) but the destash blog is still at [!] status...there have been a ton of new postings over there: books magazines and yarns...so if you're looking for a great deal, it's definitely the place to start! :-) ]

now i grant you...it's rather easy to mess with my head...but this is getting ridiculous

when i check my list (lots on there--i read but seldom comment...which i suppose might say a lot for why i don't get many comments), it's telling me that a large number of the people i read regularly have made 10+ posts since my last viewing.

i can understand perhaps one or two might have done this (occasionally happens when someone republishes their blog or revamps their page) but 20 or more?? i don't THINK so :-| and of course, me being the nosy so-and-so that i am, i have to go and check each one...where, also of course, there are no new posts or changes since my last visit. *hmmph*

then today, when i went to check and see how many more had been added (or re-added) to this list of multiposting bloggers, i was greeted by another lovely sight: the dreaded [!]...next to MY blog! (yes i know i'm pathetic...i've got my own blog on my bloglines...it lets me see how long it takes for the feed to be picked up doesn't it? shut up and let me have my delusions wouldja lol)

bloglines claims: Bloglines has encountered an error trying to fetch the latest version of this feed. Bloglines handles errors automatically,no action is required by you. The error was:

The server hosting the feed returned a Forbidden message. If this error continues, you should check the feed URL and, if it is wrong, subscribe to the correct URL.

gee thanks...that makes me feel loads better. blogger says i'm forbidden.
i suppose the positive side is that the few brave souls who subscribe to my blog via bloglines will likely miss out on this rant, at least for a while.

it still feels like a conspiracy to send me over the edge :-| not that it's a long distance to the edge...




*i shouldn't complain...there were quite a few [!]s on my bloglines list today...but i always take things a bit too personally...and it gave me a good excuse for a rant instead of processing pictures and writing a proper blog post ;-)*

"the rumors of my untimely demise have been greatly exaggerated" **

i was ever so gently thwacked reminded yesterday that it's been a month since i've posted here....

oops

i've been keeping up with my blog reading, but somehow it didn't register that i hadn't posted anything in ages...and apparently the blog refuses to write itself...silly blog

if anyone is still out there reading, i'll get back into the swing of this again soon...i've got a little something keeping me occupied at the moment:

per usual, click to get full sized photos



for some reason this color didn't photograph well, so i had to do some adjustments in Paintshop...it's better than the original, but the true color is a tad more "gray-ed"...hopefully i can get some more accurate shots once it's finished.

imho this yarn is incredible to work with (i am such a sucker for soft yarn, as certain persons are very well aware lol) and is very aptly named! the pattern is fun and well written, with more than enough 'detail' to keep my interest up...but more on that another time

anyway...in case you were wondering...i'm still around...and i'll try not to wait so long to post again ;-)


**deliberately misquoting Mark Twain--i know this isn't quite how he worded it...but i like this variation better ;-)