Purls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Yarn P0RN Friday People!

Hi Folks,  I haven't showed you any pretty yarn in a while... Today I bring you pictures of some lovely yarn babies I received from the Knitting Ranch.   More Handmaiden in Camelspin in the Pewter coloray.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...  I agonized over getting this yarn  'cuz IDONOTNEEDANYMOREYARN!   As you can see, I do still trip from time to time...

 
Its amazing to me how after all these years pretty yarn can still intoxicate me, and dull my senses with color, texture. The yummy look and feel still gets me every time!  These next ones are Verb yarns: On the Left we have Alpaca Silk in Chartreuse's Sister and on the right: Metamorphosis in Jade.

Don't they look pretty together?  They are for two sister shawls that I itend to make. I have chosen The Arcadian shawl by Krisen Hanley Cardozo.  Available on Ravlelry here.   There is a version there made in these exact yarns and its abosultey gorgeous! This is what the fabric will look like:
Here is another pretty version:

 

and a shot of my newest yarn babies:  Just lovely:)

Also included in my package was the loveliest row counter which Suzi made.  Believe it or not, this is my very first row counter... I have for 7 years always used pen and paper...little tic marks...

This bracelet allows me to move the beads back and forth to count my rows.  It also doubles up as pretty jewlery... I LOVE jewlery:)  It makes me happy....

What do you think?  isn't pretty?  Feel free to add your comments/thoughts about the row counter. Do you use row counters?  What are your preferences and why?

And then... there was Virtual Knitting

Dear friends... First and foremost, the HAPPIEST of NEW YEARS to you all!  From the looks of it I have been keeping myself busy....  New goals, new spinning, new projects... yes... quite a few new projects in the works!  You'd think that after all that crazy, busy, stressful holiday knitting...I'd take a break. 

Nope. Not this time... from the looks of it, the Selfish knitting mindset has set inn and with a vengence... really seriously out of control....

As mentioned in my last post, on New Years Eve I was casting on for a Lacy Prairie Shawl designed by Cheryl Oberle.  I did just that and had a wonderful time.  I spent the evening with family and friends. Zipping champagne, munching on yummy food and delighting my senses with this decadent Handmaiden Camelspin yarn. The color is Smoke. Its is soo pretty:) 

 

If you are interested, you may find it here at my friend Suzi's shop: The Knitting Ranch "Where Suns Set & Dreams are Knit"

This is the type of project you can take and knit anywhere, or do anything... Straight forward garter stitch lace... Love these types of projects!

The following weekend after new years, Suzi launched the first of many more to come... Virtual KALs.  What a fun and inventive way to hook up with your knitting buddies across the country.  Many of us have met through ravelry, knitting conventions, retreats, blogging, etc.  We wish that we could live next to one another so that we could have a buddy to knit with..    Well my friends, through virtual knitting and tools like your computer, a simple web cam, and online apps like Webex...    The Knitting World is your Oyster:)  

The first Virtual KAL for the Knitting Ranch is Veyla by Ysolda Teague.. you know the ones... these pretty little things:

 

The pattern is very well written.  It is one of my first Ysolda patterns.... I had to pay attention at the beginning.  But then quickly got the hang of it. 

For these I am using yarn from A Verb for Keeping Warm. The color is Tidepools.  LOVE it!  I heart these so much, I am going for the gold and knitting two pairs out of the one skein of floating that I purchased--also from the Knitting Ranch. 

The cute buttons were found today at my LYS Imagiknit.  They had 16 buttons exactly. Yay!

You'd think these two projects were enough...  Nah....

The third project I cast on (also within the first week of 2012) is: Kristen Kapur's TTL Mystery Sock 2012. My dear friend Raquel sent me a little Christmas prezzie<3  

For this one I chose one of my pretty skeins of Bugga in: Sharpshooter Leaf Hopper. Very nice twisted stitch action going on with this one:)

 

Thank sooo much dear Rocky!  This is going to be an awesome pair of socks.. I think it may actually go quite nicely with my February Lady sweater from a few years back.

and lastly...  because a girl needs more than one shawl per year:)  when another Ravelry knitting buddy Knitwitch39 mentioned Susanna IC was also starting a  Mystery Shawl KAL... welll heck... I jumped on that band wagon too!

For this shawl I decided to steer away from my happy place.  Venture into another color way. Something reminiscent of spring. So stashdiving I went into my beloved Sundara stash.  In my Fingering Silky Merino stash i found some orange. Yes orange:) The color of Marigold. 

 
As you can see.  This one is still in the baby shawl stages.  I have some catching up to do this weekend:)

No more knitting on the Veylas....  I love those dearly, but must push forward and give all of these lovely knits the love and afection they deserve ha ha.....

So what's on your needles?  How is this fresh new year treating you so far?

Cheers and once again Happy New Year my friends!

 P.S.:  If you are interested in the virtual KAL and or the verb, or handmaiden yarn above contact Suzi at the Knitting Ranch.  She is awesome!  Not to mention all the amazing, luscious Offhand Design Knittng bags she carries... Yes as you know I do have... ahem.... shall we say a tiny bag problem:)