Stash Enhancement Sunday

Since I didn't have much to share as far as FO's go this week, I thought I would share my most recent splurges.  This week was a busy one for my mail carrier so there is about to be lots of enabling in this post.

Vickie of Bird Leg Bags designed some new project bag styles, one of them being the S'Medium.  It's a wide mouth wedge bag with a smaller base.  When I saw she made one with S'Mores fabric I knew it needed to be mine.  I started stalking her shop 5 minutes before the update and as soon as it was listed I had it in my cart.  For this being a small/medium bag, let me tell you, it must have some TARDIS genetics because it's bigger on the inside.  I tested it out and had my socks in progress along with the half skein for the heels/toes, my hitchhiker AND my notions pouch in there and was still able to zip it closed.  Not only is it big enough to carry all of my WIP's but it's also very durable and stand up on their own.  

S'Medium wedge bag from birdlegbags.com

Two weeks ago, moonroveryarn posted a photo of her gorgeous merino/nylon fiber she dyed up in Muted Rainbow.  I tried to resist but a week later I was still dreaming about it, so I caved and headed over to her shop to buy myself a braid.  When it arrived and I opened the package, I gasped.  The colors are so gorgeous!  She also enclosed a sachet that smells so good.  I will definitely be shopping there again in the future.  

Moon Rover Merino/Nylon in Muted Rainbow

Instagram enabled me again when I saw that Rijel of Black Market Wool had an update.  I never tried her yarn before so I went to her shop and checked it out.  I saw this beautiful skein of fingering weight yarn MCN in pink, yellow and light grey.  Somehow it landed in my cart and is now living in my stash.  It feels super soft and I'm looking forward to knitting it up.

Black Market Wool Costello in Coffee and Cupcakes

Finally, I have been drooling over Opal Sock Yarn in the van Gogh colorways.  I searched Ravelry destashes and almost bought from there when Jen informed me that our LYS had some in stock.  She was going over there that week and said she would let me know what they had.  Our LYS had 3 colorways in stock, one of them being my favorite, Cafe at Night.  She picked it up for me and I am so excited to have this in my stash!  I have only knit with Opal one other time and at first I was hesitant.  It didn't feel as soft as other sock yarn I used and I was worried that I would hate the feeling on my feet.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that nearly 2 years after knitting that pair of socks, they look exactly like they did when I finished them.  

Zwerger Garn Opal Van Gogh in Cafe at Night

Since Maryland Sheep and Wool is just a month and a half away I am going to try to behave until then.  I have a couple more skeins of yarn I am waiting for in the mail but other than that I should be good until May. 

So I also have a few stash enhancements to share.  My brother has a birthday early in March, and I finally got a hold of him less than a week before to find out if there was anything special that he wanted.  Last year I made him a fused glass Amulet of Talos from the game Skyrim.  

This year he had a different request.  He wanted a handknit, but thought that I probably wouldn't be able to make it in time. No matter what he was asking for it was going to be impossible to have something knit and mailed across the country to him in time for his birthday.  The request he had was "Hey you know that scarf from Dr. Who?", my response "The 12 foot long one that is all the different colors?", "Yeah that's it!" I told him that that was more on the order of a Christmas present so I would actually have time to make it. So after some research, I ordered the 7 skeins of yarn to make it. I decided to get Cascade 220 superwash.  It is a soft yarn, that is easy to take care of. Plus, I wanted something I could block if I needed to.  This order of yarn benefited me though.  This just happened to be my 6th order from The Loopy Ewe.  When you order 6 times, you become a Loopy Groupie!  That means you get a bag of goodies along with your order.  So I have this great project bag, a free skein of yarn, a great sheep calendar and a bag of tootsie rolls. I also hit their first level of rewards for the year and received a little pattern with the yarn to make it.  

So excited to be a Loopy Groupie!

Bonus skein as part of my Loopy Groupie Rewards - Dream in Color Perfectly Posh Fingering - "December 2012"

My cat Athena, or as we call her Ch-Chomps, got ahold of my sock in progress, and chomped my Addi Sock Rocket cable in 2.  I headed to my LYS, Conversational Threads, to get a replacement.  While there I purchased two skeins of Zwerger Garn Opal Van Gogh yarn.  The colorway for Jess, and Sunflowers for me. 

I really wanted Starry Night, but that colorway wasn't available.  Jess is so sweet that she ordered a skein for me online, so now I have two skeins of the Van Gogh yarn!

Van Gogh yarn in Starry Night and Sunflowers.
Ch-Chomps found the skein of Starry Night already....

So 10 skeins of yarn in a week is quite a haul for me. This should be it for now though heh.  I am also trying to hold out for Maryland Sheep and Wool.  Well I may have ordered some fiber this week, but it isn't here yet, so that doesn't count :-) 
~Jen