Frightful weather (and a December giveaway)

Today it rained so hard that it got brighter from the light reflecting off the sheets of water.  It didn't last for long, but it was definitely startling.  Now the temperature is dropping and it feels like December again.  I'm not sure why it's allowed to be December when I was just getting used to November, but there it is, December 1st, 2010.

This month's giveaway is a bit of a tease. See, I've got these fun red boxes.


So this month, I'm giving away a box. The contents of said box is a surprise.  Think of it as a mini swap box, it will contain at least 50g of fiber or yarn and some other goodies.

This month, I'd like to know about the best gift you've ever given.  I found this kind of a difficult exercise that sounded easier than it was, but that may be because I'm hit or miss with the presents.  So tell us a story! And it doesn't have to be fibery, although knowing this crowd I expect that more than a few will be.


For me, it is possibly this hat I made my cousin for after he had surgery.  Knit out of butter soft fingering weight Dalegarn Baby Ull, it covered up the incision and kept the cold off. Practical and simple, it's not the most impressive thing I've ever knit nor the most complicated or difficult, but I do think it's one of the most appreciated.

Now, you know the drill.  Post here and make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win. I'm letting this one play out until December 8th, since I'm up to my eyeballs in fest prep. I'll pick a random winner on Dec. 9th.  And yes, you can double dip with the Ravelry group. :D

Meanwhile, if you're in Boston this Sunday (Dec. 5), come by the Boston Bazaar Bizarre and say "hello".  It's at the Cyclorama and KnittinK and I will be in booth 110 trying to keep our gigantic piles of yarn and fiber from spilling out from the tiny, tiny booth and into the aisles.  This is my first "away" festival and I'm both nervous and excited.


I'm in the weird position of getting ready for a major fair but having to finish prep early because of that 5+ hour drive to get to Boston. Everything has to be perfect, packed, and stuffed in my car so I can drive up early on Friday. Then I get to hang out with friends and try not to stress out from the forced inaction until Sunday.

Of course, this means I'm dyeing fiber today instead of doing all sorts of necessary things like making more stitch markers, printing labels, and writing up my inventory list.  I can't write up the inventory list if things are still being added to it, after all. *cough*  But really, I'm sucked into fiber dyeing because it finally clicked.  Which is to say that what I know intellectually about how temperature, acidity, and water movement affect a dye job has finally been paired up with enough experience that I'm beginning to intuit how to achieve what I want.

I can think up a colorway in yarn and figure out how to get there.  Prior to today, I wasn't very good about figuring that out with fiber, mostly because of the limitations of my preferred technique.  But now there's this.

This still wet fiber is 4oz of American Silksheep roving (white) dyed up in the Moro colorway I've done before, but this time it's right.

Right feels good, so I'm going to drop 2 more batches of fiber tonight and hope I can make up the time by working really fast on the other things when I can.