FO Friday 93

Hi everyone! I was so hoping to finish the shawl I showed you on Wednesday, but unfortunately I hurt my neck earlier in the week and it just keeps getting worse. When the Advil kicks in, I'm able to knit (and work), but when it wears off it isn't pretty...at all.

That being said, I'm going to keep this short. I hope you all have a great weekend and I promise to have a FO next week for you!

If you haven't checked it out yet, I revealed the July colorway yesterday! I love love love it and hope to get to knitting it soon.

Candy Skein July '12 colorway, Bomb Pop! On sale and shipping now!

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Candy Skein- July '12 Sock Colorway Bomb Pop!

It's that time again! It's time to reveal the new Candy Skein monthly sock colorway!

I've been waiting for the calendar to turn to July since I started the sock club just for this one colorway. I have great summer memories as a kid running through sprinklers, swimming until my fingers were wrinkled and enjoying one of my favorite cold summer treats, a Bomb Pop Popsicle. That's why I picked Bomb Pop as the July 2012 colorway! This yarn would be perfect for a shawl, socks, hat, gloves and more!



Colorway: Bomb Pop
Fiber content: 75% Merino Wool, 25% Nylon Superwash
Weight: Fingering Weight
Yardage: 465 yards
Unit Weight: 100 grams
Care: Machine wash/Tumble dry low
Price: $20
BUY


And still available through July 1st, Lemongrass Sour!

Work in Progress Wednesday 99

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week and had a great weekend. This past weekend we took my corgi, Milo, to the dog beach. He had a great time and it's so fun to watch him play in the sand, water (though he is scared of it so it's more like him playing in the wet sand) and with other dogs.

Today is actually my 5th wedding anniversary so I wanted to say happy anniversary to my husband! We're going out to dinner to celebrate tonight! It should be a great time.

Now to WIPW (can you believe we're at number 99???)

I've been working exclusively on a new project you have yet to see! Yes, with all of my WIPs, I decided to start another one. I hang my head in shame, but I have a good excuse!! I'm participating in the Yarniacs Podcast's KAL. The requirements are to use fingering weight yarn and start after June 15th. The KAL goes until August 31st. You can get all the details on their Ravelry group!

So, I had to start a new fingering weight project to qualify and a good friend of mine had just finished her Trillian. I fell in love with it and since I've had the pattern in my queue for a very long time, I decided to give it a go. It's a fun, fast pattern. Though it's simple, it's not too boring but it is kind of mindless if that makes sense. I had to curl it a little to get the whole thing in the picture but it's kind of a crescent shape. I have a little over half the skein left, and you just work until you use the whole thing (leaving 7% of the skein for the finishing border).

As mentioned above, the pattern is Trillian and I'm using Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Lemongrass Sour. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this is knitting up and am so glad I decided to use it for this project. I think I'm going to dye another skein for myself before the end of June to make socks as well. The colorway is just so fun and cheerful! Don't forget, if you were thinking of grabbing a skein of the colorway, July 1st it will be gone forever!

That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week!

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

FO Friday 92

Happy Friday!!!!!!! I'm happy it's Friday. It's been an okay week, but who doesn't love the weekend? The weather has been gorgeous in San Diego lately, in the mid 70's F. You can't ask for much nicer than that, though I do wish it would warm up a little for the weekend so that we could go to the beach and not be cold! The last few weekends we've gone, I've ended up in a cardigan sitting on the sand. That's no fun. Are you doing anything fun this weekend?


I didn't plan to finish this shawl so quickly. I guess I started it about a month ago, but I didn't really work on it that long. I didn't start the lace until Sunday afternoon and only did a few rows Monday and Tuesday. I did a lot of it Sunday and Wednesday.  The pattern was really fun, as just when it was getting boring with the garter stitch top, the lace pattern started. It's a 4 row pattern repeat and it flew on the needles once I dug in and memorized the pattern.

This is the shawl finished and unblocked. I'm mad at myself as I forgot to measure it before blocking. I always love to hear people tell you the wing span before and after blocking. Next time. :)

This is the shawl while being blocked! To show you how much bigger it is, you can see the puzzle piece part of the boards in the top picture. I was just standing over the picture with my camera as it sat on my living room coffee table. The blocked picture, the middle of the shawl is at the same point, the puzzle piece connection part again, but this time, to get the whole shawl in the picture, I'm standing on one of my dining room chairs! I'd say it over doubled in size. Crazy right?

This is my first time blocking a lace shawl. I think there's a few areas now that I look at the pictures that I could have fixed, but overall I think it looks okay. I don't have blocking wires, so I just used a LOT of T-pins. I'm excited to see it dry and fully blocked in the next day or so!

For those who plan to do this shawl, I'll give you a few tips as once I got to the lace part, I was a little confused with row 3 at first. It's actually an 18 sts repeat. At first I thought it was 12.

I put markers at every 18 stitches of the repeat so that I knew I always had the correct amount. I also put different color stitch markers at the middle area that isn't a fan/feather until the end and then another color that was the middle 5 stitches, as well as the end sts markers. That way it's easy to see when you get a ton of stitches what is feather/fan and what isn't.


Materials:
Pattern: Multnomah shawl
Yarn: Alexandra's Crafts Merino/Tencel yarn (400 yards) in colorway Sea Anemone
Needles: US 4 (3.5MM) Knit Picks Harmony
MANY stitch markers

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Work in Progress Wednesday 98

Happy Wednesday everyone! I've been working super hard on my shawl so that I can start a new one, so I'm going to get right to that. Before I do though, I wanted to mention that I added some new colorways (and some classics) to the shop in Yummy fingering. I blogged about it this week here.

So about that shawl. I shared it last week but I'm pretty far long with it now as you can see. It's hard to photograph this as this point, as my cable isn't long enough to spread it out. This is the Multnomah shawl by Kate Ray.

I'm using a yarn I bought at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival, a skein of Alexandra's Crafts Merino/Tencel yarn. The picture above shows a closer up version of the fan and feather lace pattern at the bottom of the shawl. I've knit half of repeat 4, and there are 10 total. I can't wait to finish it as I'm loving how it looks so far!


That's it for me today! I hope you have a great rest of the week!

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Candy Skein: New Yummy Fingering In Stock!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! We had a perfect few days as we hung around the house, ate good food (including S'mores over an outside fire!) and re-landscaped our deck for the summer. It's always so refreshing to get new plants and to clean up after the winter and spring season, isn't it?

I thought I would let you all know that I've added some new colorways and a few classics to the Candy Skein Yummy fingering selection for the shop! To see all the skeins in full view, as well as purchase them, you can go here.

Here's a sneak peak of a few of them just added!

Also, don't forget that the June colorway is still available, Lemongrass Sour!!! It's perfect for summer! To learn more about the Candy Skein Sock Club or this specific colorway or to purchase, click here!

FO Friday 91

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I'm hopefully home when you read this and the car made it back. ;) I'm ready to shock you all, as I actually have a FO WITH a picture. Crazy, right? HA. Unfortunately it's a cheating FO as the second sock is about 1/2 finished, but what can ya do. You have to take FOs where you can get them.

This weekend is going to be hopefully be nice and relaxing as my husband is back in town now for at least this next week. This will be his first full week at home since the beginning of May, so we're very grateful. We hope to spend the weekend working in the garage (it doesn't sound fun, but it is when we get to work on our own things, me Candy Skein and he is building a guitar, but side by side), going to the beach and possibly the San Diego Fair. I have to say, I love going to the fair each summer and last year we missed it! The best part of the whole thing? THE FOOD!!!! If we're not too tired it will be on our list of things for this weekend and if not, next. Do you have anything planned coming up?


Now onto why you came, FO Friday!

I'll give you all the major details when I finished the second one, as I did change a few things. I will say now that this is the Horcrux sock pattern on Ravlery done in Candy Skein Sock Club May '12, Candy Skein 1st Birthday! The color is a little off in this picture, as the yarn is a little less blue and a little more green. When I finish the pair, I'll try and get a more accurate picture. :)

That's it for me today! Share your FOs!

Work in Progress Wednesday 97

Hi everyone! I know this isn't knitting related but I have to get it out of my system. I've been a Los Angeles Kings fan since I was 10 years old, the 1990-91 season. When I say I've been a "fan", that doesn't explain half of it. I don't miss a game on tv, I had season seats when I lived in LA for 12 years and even in the off season, I'm on the hockey forums following my team, the players, etc. I LIVE hockey, almost as much as I live the fiber arts and that's saying something. I've waited a long time to say this.....

THE LOS ANGELES KINGS ARE THE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!!

::SIGH:: I can now die happy. I never thought I'd be able to say that.

Now onto the reason you came here, WIPW!!!!!

If you don't see a picture above (other than the WIPW pic), it's because I couldn't get my phone to upload a picture from blogger. I'm currently at my mom's house in Los Angeles, who has dial up and I'm without a car. My car is in the shop, as it decided to crap out yesterday. I'm going to try and get to a Starbucks to post a pic of I don't before then.

Anyway, I'm working on my Horcrux socks out of the May '12 colorway, Candy Skein 1st Birthday. I finished the first one (coming on FO Friday) and am at the heel flap of the second. I hope the second fits a little better than the first, but I think they'll both be wearable, luckily. I hope to have this pair done soon as I'm starting to feel all of my WIPs starting to cave in on me.

I've also worked a little on my Multnomah shawl. I'm almost to the lace pattern repeat which I'm very excited about. The garter stitch is getting a little boring if I'm honest! LOL

Basically I guess I'm just ready for all of my current WIPs to be finished so that I can start on new ones. Do you ever feel that? I wish I could just wave a magic wand and have them all complete. I feel like I'm drowning in them, and I'm guessing with all the traveling I've done lately, that's where some of the unsettled feeling come in. I feel like they will never be complete. Please, do NOT let me start anything new anytime soon until I finish at least 3 projects I have on the go. LOL

That's it for me today. Like I said, if you don't see pictures above it's because I'm having issues and my phone and blogger don't like each other. I'll get them up at some point Wednesday, that I promise. Thanks for sticking by me lately when I haven't been posting a lot. I promise to bring you new yarn (including another new mini skein set), Life as an Indie Dyer posts, etc soon.

Have a great day!

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Candy Skein 1st Birthday Contest Winners

First off, I wanted to thank all of you for being awesome and entering the contest many times! You have all been so supportive of Candy Skein and I couldn't ask for more awesome knitter friends! I appreciate everyone one of you who not only have bought Candy Skein yarn, but also have posted lovely comments and participated in WIPW/FOs each week. I wish I could give each one of you a prize, but unfortunately that just can't happen for obvious reasons!

Before I announce the winners, I wanted to remind you of the prizes that are at stake and how I picked each winner.


Grand prize winner (a $62 value):

A set of the Green Collection Mini Skeins (saved just for this contest!)

A set of the May Mini Skeins (not yet released so there is no picture)

A skein of April '12 colorway, Butter Mints

A skein of the NEW May '12 colorway, Candy Skein 1st Birthday

The second prize winner (a $40 value):

A skein of April '12 colorway, Butter Mints

A skein of May '12 colorway, Candy Skein 1st Birthday

The third prize winner (a $20 value):

A skein of May '12 colorway, Candy Skein 1st Birthday!

Now how I picked the winners. Throughout the month of May, I kept track of all comments on the original post, Candy Skein yarn purchases, comments on the thread in the Candy Skein group and links sent to me in which you all blogged about Candy Skein yarn. I then added up the amount of times each person did each of these, and included their name that many times in the drawing. That meant, the more you entered into the contest, the better chance you had of winning. I then assigned numbers to each entry in my Excel spreadsheet, and then pulled numbers via a random number generated. I figured this was the most fair way to do everything.


Now to the winners:



The third prize winner is: Sue from Kittens with Mittens (Ravelry name: willow4)


The second prize winner is: Hege from Cloudberry (Ravelry name: Hege)


AND

The grand prize winner is: Michelle from College Knitting (Ravelry name: Gnomesbeatfaeries)


Congrats Sue, Hege and Michelle!!!!!!!!

If you are one of the winners, please contact me via my email at candyskein@gmail.com with your name and address so that I can send out your prizes. All prizes will be sent to the winners no later than next week.


Thank you again and congrats to the winners!!!!!!!!

FO Friday 90

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great week and will have an even better weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't get as much knitting as I had hoped on my trip so no FO for me today. I promise to have one next week. I did however have a great time on my trip, but it's always good to be home.

As I mentioned in my short post yesterday, I will be announcing the winners of the Candy Skein 1st Birthday contest this coming Tuesday. When I had set the original date of the 7th, I didn't know I would be out of town for the week before that. I want to make sure I get everyone accounted for so that it's done fairly. I hope you understand.

That's it for me today. Again, have a great weekend and happy knitting!

Candy Skein Birthday Contest!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give you an update, as today was the day I was announcing the winners of the Candy Skein 1st birthday giveaway. Don't worry, the winners will be announced, but the date has been pushed back to next Tuesday. Since I was out of town for the past week (which wasn't planned when I set the date), I hope you can be patient with me. I want to make sure everyone has the right number of entries as they should, etc.

Thank you for your understanding!

Work-in-Progress 96

Hi everyone! As mentioned last week, I am back in town, but won't get a chance to upload picture this week. I'm hoping to get the pictures up for you at some point today! I wanted to get this post up so that you can all share your links!

Have a great day!

FO Friday 89

Hi everyone! Happy Friday. As mentioned on Wednesday, I don't have a FO this week, but I wanted to make sure I posted so that you can all share your FOs with each other!

Have a great weekend!

Share your FOs!