Eat.Sleep.Knit's Yarn Sale

My apologies for not blogging about this sooner, but EatSleepKnit is having an overstock sale.  They've still got some colours left, if you'd like to check them out.

The reason I remember this today is that my order came today with Shibui Knits Heichi, in "column".

It's not something I would have usually bought, but it was a Power Boost yarn at 20% off.  I can find a use for it, I'm quite sure. (And I got 5 dollars of store credit on the Yarn Lotto that came with it too, so that makes it even better.)

I still have on order from their overstock sale a skein of Claudia Silk Lace in "Argyle",  6 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Maxima in "Fire" for a next year's Christmas Present (see, I -do- plan ahead sometimes, I swear!) and a skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes in "Mullberry", also for a next years Birthday. 

It's only some colours that are on sale, but their sale list is here, if you want to check it out.  A lot of their yarns on sale are also power boost yarns, and that does stack, if there's something you want.

My other current knitting challenge is revising my Ravelry Queue, tagging it all, and moving most of it into my Favorites, so that it's all sorted for next year.  My queue's just gotten too unwieldy. 

It's KAL time!

So, I mentioned in a previous post that I'm doing a knit-along. 

Well, I started yesterday.

Here is my Evening Star Cowl in Malabrigo Sock.

It's kind of deformed right now, because it's jammed onto a 9-inch circular.  But it's working out ok, for the most part.  I am finding it hard to do a ssk with a YO with the Aero needles, just because they really are not pointy.  But I can work around that.  Otherwise, it's working out really well. 

The deadline is the 6th of October.  It's going to be tight, but I think I can make it -- and even if I don't, it's still a major push to actually make this pattern.

. . . but wait, there's more!

I've signed up for a Sock-Along that EatSleepKnit is running on Ravelry. It looks like it'll be a lot of fun.

There are two patterns:  One is Froot Loop (non-Ravelry link here), and the other is Elementary Watson.  They're both free patterns; so all I have to get is the yarn.   It starts October 1rst and runs until December 15th.

In order to be eligible for prizes, the yarn has to have been bought at EatSleepKnit, either previously, or as part of the sock-along now.  If you're buying specifically for the sock-along, you can let them know and they'll take 20% off of the sock yarn you're buying for the sock-along.  This post has all the details.

Anyway, I took advantage of this and bought two skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label.  One Skein in "Peacock" and one skein in "Natural."  I also bought a bunch of Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted (to make the free shipping and it's a power boost yarn, too).

What makes this really awesome is that this purchase brought me to the point on their Yarn Lotto that I get a free subscription to a magazine of my choice for a year!  I'm going to choose Interweave Knits, which I've heard really good things about.  I've still got to sort the details out, but that shouldn't take too long.

So, I'm going to have lots of knitting to do!  But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Back from Lettuce Knit

So, I'm back from my day around downtown, and my trip to Lettuce Knit.


It was actually pretty cool.  Smaller then I expected, but hey, that's ok.  I don't know how often I'll be there, as it's a bit off the beaten path for me, (but if I do get that job, they're super-close by!)

So I hung out there and knit on my Mercury Socks, (which are new to this blog, I started them ages ago as part of a previous test-knit).

That's the first sock, I'm almost done the second.

I also found a bunch of new yarn.  I always like picking up a skein or two of yarn when I'm in a new-to-me yarn store, so. . . .

This is Northbound Knitting's Merino Superwash DK in "Conjure".  This just looked awesome to me.  I wish there had been a second skein of it, but no, no luck.

Then, one skein of Blue Moon BFL Fingering in "Neptune".  I'm hoping this will hold up well enough to make socks, I generally hear good things about the durability of the BFL fiber. 

And though I didn't originally intend to get these, I got three Blue Moon Silk Hankies on sale (they had an overstock).  One is "Sky Blue", the other two are "Sky Blue Pink."

Finally, after all that, I came home to a parcel in the mail from EatSleepKnit.  My skein of Malabrigo Sock, (from my winning yarn lotto ticket), arrived!

So, this is Malabrigo Sock, in "Solis".

Lucky Lotto!

Wow.

So my final order (for now) from Eat.Sleep.Knit came today.

I got 6 skeins of Sweet Georgia Merino Silk Aran in the Saltwater colourway.  It's another yarn currently on power boost.

It's a little brighter then I thought it would be, but it's still a gorgeous colour.

However, tucked away at the bottom of the box was a Yarn Lotto ticket that ended up being worth 100 dollars of store credit!

This is awesome.  I'm going to send this out tomorrow.  It takes a while to get to them (international mail and all that), so I want to get this out as soon as I can.

Well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with cheap/free yarn. :D

More yarn!

I just got my second order from Eat.Sleep.Knit.  I ordered 3 more skeins of Lady Godiva, to take advantage of the power boost (you get extra credit for yardage on certain yarns there when you order.)

  

So, this is Lady Godiva in 'Ocean.'

I also got the Welcome Package from Eat.Sleep.Knit.

Inside was a pattern for a mini-sweater (it'll make a good key-chain or Christmas ornament), as well as two mini-skiens.

The first is Malabrigo Arroyo:

and the second is Shibui Knits Linen:

Both are yarns I wouldn't have necessarily gotten on my own.  I do like the malabrigo in particular, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I'm suspecting they might end up in the Sock Yarn Blanket I'm working on. (It's not just sock yarn, but the point still stands).

I also won 5 dollars of store credit on their Yarn Lotto!  I'm having really good luck with that!

Only point of annoyance is with Canada Post.  Though the yarn doesn't have duty, thanks to NAFTA, I do have to pay the taxes on it.  That I don't mind.  I don't necessarily like taxes, but I recognize their use and necessity.

Canada post charges a handling fee of 10 dollars, to process about 10 dollars in taxes.   That is not so awesome.  There's no way to not pay this handling fee that's the same cost as the taxes.   That's the part that annoys me.

However, my annoyance didn't last long when I turned to take the box out to the recycling and was faced with this:

Like most cats, my kitty likes boxes.  She's actually gone to sleep in the box at the time of my typing.  I have to eventually disturb her to take the box out, but it can wait for the moment.    I have new yarn to put away first.

Procrastination and Project Ideas

So, you know how I said I would drop off my Yarn Lotto ticket from EatSleepKnit on the Monday?

Yeah. . . I only did that today, and only because the Post Office is on the way to Knit Night.

I could give all sorts of excuses, but the honest truth is that I procrastinated on it.

However, I think I've at least figured out why it didn't rate as important in my immediate perception (because seriously, free yarn?  Why was this not more exciting!).

I think it's mostly because I don't have a project idea for anything using Malabrigo Sock (even though the colours look -gorgeous!)  Nothing's inspired me yet.  I am, however, very glad it's superwash.  But reading through the reviews of the yarn on Ravelry, although the description gives enough yardage for a pair of socks, I'm not sure how well it will hold up in socks without nylon or silk. 

I'm probably going to make a. . . something else.

And that's where I pull a complete blank.

I love the colourway I chose, Solis:

I really do, even if it is my usual colour palette.  But I just don't know what to -do- with it.  If' I'm not going to make socks, I don't know quite what else it will suit. I'm not a huge scarf person, and I already have (or have plans for) several hats and mittens, so I don't need more of those.  I would do a shawl, but it's 440 yards to a skein, so there's not enough for a big comfy wrap-around shawl (which is my personal preference.)

So, right now, I'm stumped.   The only thing I have a vague idea to do with it is a pair of Little Arrow Fingerless Mittens, but then I feel bad because I had those queued up to use up some stash yarn.

It's all alright in the end,  the yarn won't be arriving for a while anyway.  It's going to take a bit for my mail to get down there in the first place, and then they ask for 4 weeks to process your order. . . and right now, Solis is out of stock there anyway.  So it's not like this yarn will be arriving quickly (and I'm totally ok with that.  It's free, it can take as long as it needs!).  I have lots to work on in the interim, so it's not like I need it at all.

So yeah.

On the plus side, I got to the heel of my Birthday Socks at Knit Night tonight!    I don't have pictures yet since it's getting too dark, but they should be coming soon.

Fun news!

I figure I should also include the happy news in my early posts, too . . .

I put in a yarn order at Eat.Sleep.Knit, which arrived on the Friday. (I love these folks for stuff my LYS doesn't stock, and shipping has been nice and fast so far!)

Anyway, one of the things that they do is include a scratch-and-win card in every order.  So, I won a skein of Malabrigo!  They even are nice enough to let you pick the base and colour, so I'm going to get a skein of Malabrigo Sock -- I wanted something where 1 skein was enough for a project. 

Even better -- I've yet to use Malabrigo.  I've got 2 skeins of Silkpaca that I got at the Toronto Knitters Frolic stashed away, but I haven't had a chance to try any of their other yarn, so this is perfect!

I've got to mail back the filled-out card, which I'll do on Monday when the post office opens.  So it's going to be a while before I get my yarn, but that's ok -- I don't mind in the slightest.  I can be patient when it comes to free yarn. :)