Zibeline Knits & Interweave

You may have noticed the two right sidebar buttons from Interweave.  Beginning today, Zibeline Knits is an official affiliate of Interweave.  I think that's pretty awesome, don't you?

But what does that mean?  It means that from this blog you can go directly to Interweave for patterns, books, DVDs, fiber, emags, etc.  How cool is that?  I know that not everyone who reads my posts is a knitter, so there's a separate link for the crochet superstars out there, too.  Did you know that Interweave offers online spinning classes?  They have a gazillion resources for quilters and beaders, as well. You can access those via this blog, too. 

So, try it out!  Just click on a sidebar button or on this link to go to Interweave:

Something New Afoot

 Socks!  I love socks, don't you?  What I love even more than socks is sock yarn!  Not all sock yarn is equal, though, as I have discovered over the years.  Cotton yarn makes saggy, baggy socks.  Wool from some companies, especially the German ones, is scratchy and a little like having an on-going argument with a crabby neighbor to work with.  But merino ... ahh, merino!  I love merino.  As a matter of a fact, two of my sock lines are all about merino.  But there's a new line, just introduced in the shop, that I love equally well:  superwash BFL (Blue Faced Lester wool), which is easy to work with and great fun to dye.

There have been some significant changes in my shop over the last few weeks in terms of sock yarn, so I wanted to introduce the new and re-introduce the old.

First, there's Rocket Sock:  A new name, but the same wonderfully squishy superwash merino in dazzling, wild multis and self-striping patterns for both the beginner sockenista and the expert who want to knit happy with simple stitches and excellent stitch definition.  Totally machine washable.

Second, there's the newly-named Gypsy Sock:  Named for the bright, simple colors, solid and nearly-solid dye patterns.  This sock line is superwash Australian Merino--so squishy and soft you won't believe it!  I used this same sock line in the Mermaid colorway to make my Traveling Woman Shawl earlier this year; so the possibility of this sock line aren't just limited to socks.  This sock line is great for cabling and lacey stitches.  And it's totally machine-washable!

And, introducing the newest sock line and soon to be one of your favorites: Mission Sock!  This is a superwash BFL that is soft and stunning.  I love the way this fiber soaks up and retains the dye!  This sock line is dyed in deep, heady, graduated colors that work their way from dark to light in long sections of color.  The more you work with this fiber, the softer it gets; and like the other two sock lines, it's totally machine-washable.

See, isn't it gorgeous?!  I hope you'll stop by the Etsy shop to check out the full range of colors.  After all, everyone should knit happy!

Get it together already!

This is turning out to be a summer that is totally out of character for me.  First, I received the parting gift from the school year of a raucous respiratory infection that took me literally the entire month of June to get over.  Then, because I was so sick, I didn't get much accomplished on the knitting front.  I finished the yellow Swing on the last day of June--and then the buttons I had picked out before I knit it don't match now that it's done.  Frick Frack!  Then, I didn't run the Peachtree Road Race (but Rocket and I had a great breakfast curbside and watched while my two sons and Honey ran--Scout #1--the 14 year-old--ran the 10K in 60 minutes and Scout #2--the 11 year-old--with my Honey by his side to make sure he finishe--go Honey!--ran it in 90 minutes).  They are awesome!  And the trophy T-shirt was kinda blah.  And I haven't really been into keeping up the garden, either.  And forget about yard work.  Starting to wonder who I am these days.

Well, I'm hoping to get my butt (literally) and everything else in gear this month.  Honey, Scout #1, and I re-worked the garden on Sunday (7 hours in the blistering heat and humidity; so some new things had better grow!)  I put my butt back on the treadmill after a little check-up at the doctor revealed that my butt had gained 8 lbs during the month of June while I was sitting on it.  I would like to fit into my work clothes when school is back in session in August; so it's back to the frick frack treadmill.  I haven't been on it since, uhhh, LAST July.  I figure 2 miles in under 30 minutes every other day should do the trick.  I did 2.05 miles in 30 minutes on Friday, took Saturday off, worked my self into exhaustion on Sunday, took Monday off (good thing, too, because I strained the muscles in my lower back during garden duty), and did 2.25 miles today.  I hit the 2-mile mark 1.5 minutes sooner today than on Friday, so that's progress.  I run in the garage with the garage door up, so the local area temperature was 84 degreed F. with a relative humidity of 69%.  You can't run in Georgia if you don't like to sweat, that's for sure.  The scale, however, this morning said--pre workout--that I had gained another 5 lbs since frickin Saturday, though.  Apparently, I need a more user-friendly scale.

Fireworks last night were awesome!  Talk about leading a charmed life ... we sat in the back of the truck and they exploded right above our heads.  Directly above us.  It was totally amazing--like having our own private fireworks show.  And Mother Nature held off the really big storms until after the show was over, which was much appreciated.  I tried to load a video of the fireworks onto Facebook; but it didn't work and I don't understand enough about Facebook to be able to figure out why.  Facebook and I are like this:

! ........................................................................... !

With that thought in mind, there are errands to run as usual; so off I go.