I finally got my act together and took pictures of my destash yarns and put them up on Ravelry. Again, it’s probably not all that great to people in the US due to shipping.

http://www.ravelry.com/people/BockstarkKnits/stash/trade

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Spinning, fiber and handspun have taken over my life. I have decided to get rid of yarn to pay for my car repair as well as money for more fiber (ok, it is probably going to the latter). So basically I am getting rid of almost all my yarn. But wait, don’t get too excited, I am keeping all my fiber/handspun, Wollmeise, Hazel Knits, seasilk/silk (laceweight) and gifted yarn, but mostly everything else is going. Take a look in my Ravelry stash (ALL yarns except the ones mentioned above, not just the “to trade” yarns) and let me know if you want anything. It probably isn’t a deal for anyone in the states due to the exchange/shipping. Generally selling for what I paid for it for example, US Sock yarns will run anywhere from 15eur - 18eur.

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Finally! Pictures!

Can you believe this gorgeousness?

OK, so remember last year when I got my final package from Heli, my SP11? I was supposed to post pictures but didn’t get around to it until NOW. I am a super bad SP11… Better late than never I say! So here it is! She got me several balls of really soft bamboo yarn, some handspun(?) yarn that is good for felting and a ginormous (150g) skein of baby/sock yarn. I had to buy an extra bin of yarn storage for all the yarn she has given me! Thanks again, Heli, I am so sorry to take forever posting these pics!

Then from my previous post about handspun, I traded some of my Wollmeise for some of Micki’s fingering weight handspun. I think I got the better end of that deal! She is a really great spinner and produced some really gorgeous yarn! I also have some spinning friends who have volunteered to spin up some stuff for me! I am so lucky! Shopping for roving has been so much fun, there is a LOT of gorgeous stuff out there!

I thought long and hard about if I should get a wheel or not and financially, it’s not in the cards. :( I will have to rely on trades and spinning friends to feed my handspun appetite for now! Just as well, it probably wouldn’t keep my interest enough to justify the cost. Hmpf!

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So, I have piles and piles of yarn in my room that I still haven’t integrated into my stash. I went through my Ravelry stash page and put some up for “will trade or sell”. Take a look! It’s probably not worth it for those of you outside of the EU (unless you buy some of the german yarns) since the shipping is so high. I’m looking to sell and not trade since the Wollmeise spring market is coming up in April and I need to be prepared! Oh yeah, and also, I have kids to feed. But that’s not quite as important. ;)

I think as I dig through my stash and put them up on Ravelry, I will probably have more. But this is the first cut.

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So I arrived in Seattle last night and my sister picked me up from the airport. Awesome flight - on time and super empty. I even rented one of those “dig-E-whatevers” (ON THE PLANE!!!) and enjoyed knitting to whatever movies were on it. I got a LOT done on the clapotis on the plane. It was my hope to finish or almost finish it, but sadly, I also took a little nap. Why can’t all airlines have these movie players? It would help A LOT with the kids.

This morning I went back to the airport to get my rental car. Basically, they had a “4 day special” so if I rented it last night, it would’ve been $20/day but if I rented it this morning, $7/day. Go figure! So my sister works right next to the transit center so I just caught a ride with her in the morning and caught the bus to the airport. I really miss the trains of Munich! But I got the car and I was forced to purchase the freakishly expensive insurance because I don’t have insurance in the US (the credit card kind doesn’t count). So at least I had a $7 car.

Anyhooz, guess where I went first? No, it was NOT a yarn store. RED MILL BURGERS! (ok, I went to a friend’s house and we went together, but still) Still THE BEST burgers in the WORLD. I’m not exaggerating. I wish I could go every day! :) After that, I went to Weaving Works in the University District. While they had a fine selection of yarns and an EXCELLENT selection of Koigu (I walked away with 4 skeins of that), nothing else really struck my fancy. Maybe I’m yarned out. Nah!

After that, I had what could only be described as a yarn-gasm-tastical few hours with Wendee of Hazel Knits. We met in an unusual way (you’ll have to listen to the next podcast episode to find out how), but only today met in person. And I think we talked non-stop. She has a market coming up on the weekend so I didn’t want to take out time from her day, so I volunteered to help. OMG, being with all that gorgeous yarn was the best thing ever. ever. ever. She has a specially spun merino yarn that is fantastically squishy, very similar to STR. And the colors, oh the colors! Chocolatier is relatively new and ooooohhhhh to dye for!!! And did you see these mittens??!!! Holy crap, to DYE for! She is the nicest person and we never ran out of things to talk about. I learned so much about dyeing and how much love and attention she puts into her work, I have so much respect for indie dyers. She gave me the “tedious” task of reskeining and rinsing, but I had the time of my life! It was a blast and I’m glad that I helped at least a little! Thanks so much Wendee for taking the time out of our busy schedule to visit with me!!!

After that, I went to the West Seattle knitting group and they were a lot of fun too! It was a smallish group - maybe around 7 or 8 people but all very nice and they were so inviting and 2 of them actually listened to the podcast! I think when we were discussing what we talk about with the other knitters (who haven’t listened before), they were in shock. Heehee! But it was all good, they were a great bunch of folks to hang out with!

Now I’m headed off to bed (before midnight!) with a smile and a suitcase full of yarn! :) The rest of the weekend I’m going to be visiting with some friends and then go to one more yarn shop (Hilltop). I think that will be the end of my “US yarn crawl”. I wish I could go to one more knitting group, but unfortunately, there are no meetups on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays!

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Yarn binge! Mom’s new tabi socks La Digitessa…masterpiece in the making! Ugliest baby sweater EVER! Poisonous Firestarters are done! I know, I have been super horrible with pictures. I get them up on flickr and then forget about them. Let’s see…I went on a yarn binge in Houston, I finished up the Firestarters that I’ve had on my needles since October. I also finished up tabi socks for my mom for Christmas. I have also been chugging along on Yarnissima’s La Digitessa. Gorgeous!!!! It is a little snug, and I’ve considered frogging. But now that I’m on the gusset, I think frogging is out the window. I think I’d rather give them away if they were too tight. Who am I kidding though, as much work as this sock is, I don’t think I could part with it. It takes an amazing amount of concentration to learn the pattern, but once you learn it (it only takes 1 repeat), you can chug along. The gusset is a little tricky, I hope I’m doing it right, I guess I’ll email Yarnissima herself and make sure. Notes on the Firestarters, the pattern is changed quite a bit. I did a magic toe, I didn’t do any ribbing except for a 1×1 twisted rib cuff, and I did an eye-of-partridge heel. This sock fits very, very nicely. It’s a little snug and I like it. It’s like buttah. And the best part is that I have enough yarn for another pair, I may even do Firestarters again! I also included a picture of the fugly Striped Lily the Pink. It is awful. and ugly. And I cry every time I look at it since I believe I will have to chuck it. I am putting it on the side for now until maybe I learn how to put things together properly. Other than that, I’ve been enjoying my time in the islands. The weather here is perfect. It has rained every day, but just for a minute or two and then the sun comes out and rainbows are everywhere. I thought it would be a lot hotter and humider than it is. The breezes are really nice. The whole family is enjoying going outside without having to put on a sweater, jacket, socks, shoes, mittens and hat. This year Rowan really enjoyed the beach. In previous years, they have been too scared to go into the water. Elijah is still scared to go in, but we’re going to try again at a different beach (one without waves) and I think that will go over better. I have also been eating all of my favorite foods (ono grinds) and probably gained about 5 pounds in 2 days.

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I was reading the German Ravelry posts and came across this little gem of a store called Die Wollbox. They have Noro, Peaches & Cream, Sublime, Trekking (have you seen the hand dyed sock yarn - only 3 colors but daaayyyuuuummm!), Cascade 220 and some others. Not an indie dyer, and not the greatest yarn - but it’s stuff that is NOT NORMAL in a lot of german yarn stores and the prices really aren’t that bad. It’s expensive if compared to the US (esp with the exchange rate) but if you only want a little sumthin’ sumthin’, it’s a great place. Must…not…place…order…AND THEY HAVE KNIT PICKS NEEDLES!!!! I’m about to pee my pants.

Also, I got a shipment of malabrigo worsted in…can I just roll around in it now?

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OK, so I was going through my stash today and decided that I will never, ever use my 6 skeins of Mystical Creations yarn. Anybody want it? I am too lazy to take a picture. It is a light fingering weight - 10 sts to the in kind. Ugh. If you do a search on this site or my flickr site, you can find pics. Unfortunately due to high shipping costs, I will have to limit it to someone in Europe. OR if you want to pay shipping to anywhere else, then that’s fine too. Leave a comment or send me mail at bockstark.knits at gmail dot com.

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South Tyrolean Mankitten in Lederhosen!

Scout, of Scout’s Swag, loves