Now, it would come to pass as mostly a coincidence, that five out of the seven people who came for AwesomeCon are knitters. Even odder still, two of those five people are straight males. The oddest part of all?

One of the two non-knitters, another straight male, was a convert by the end of the weekend.

Now, this wasn’t out of the blue. We were chatting on IRC several weeks before his arrival, and he had mentioned many times before that that he would like to learn to knit sometime. I mentioned that myself and the Pirate (who was another of the AwesomeCon attendees) would be more than happy to take time to teach him over the weekend, and maybe even get him started on a scarf that he wanted to make.

Sure enough, we had him addicted by Saturday night. He went home with nice bamboo circular needles, two skeins of Cascade 220 in a brown heathered shade, and an inch and a bit of a garter rib scarf. <3 He’s been knitting ever since! Happiness.

I should mention that this same friend (his name is Brandon) brought me a lovely gift of this shirt:

Be still my beating heart. This will have to do until there’s a Ninja equivalent.

I also got delicious gifts of yarn. Delicious, delicious yarn.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ “Socks That Rock” lightweight in Jail House Rock. A wonderful gift delivered to me from one of my best friends, Janis, by my bestest friend and her roommate, Dusty, who visited for the weekend and is one of the guy knitters I mentioned. <3 Janis also sent me a lovely thinking-of-you card, which is extremely thoughtful considering she’s been having health issues herself lately. <3 I’ve never knit with STR, so it’s exciting!

Noro Kureyon Sock, from my darling sis, the Pirate. Pirate also brought me some yarn with a more interesting backstory…

A delicious alpaca-wool blend in some of my favorite colours. She bought it while piss-drunk at Pennsic War this past August.

 I love my sister.

My darling bro got me some Lorna’s Laces at WEBS on the way up to visit here from CT. I adore the colorway. Not sure what to knit with any of this yet.

But it’s given me inspiration to motor through my second Jaywalker sock.

This photo is outdated. I’ve just finished the heel gusset decreases, and al knitting down the foot. :)

I also picked up a new amigurumi book, and pulled out my crappy acrylic yarn and crochet hooks. Just for a bit of getaway from knitting. I’m a crafter of all trades. :D

Firstly, how about a new sock.

This is a Jaywalker (natch) knit in Regia Canyon Color, in the Beach colorway. The RPM aren’t done yet. I enjoy switching up my socks a little so the monotony isn’t there when I return to the second sock.

Nothing beats a good Jaywalker.

I’ve also been at work on some babythings for my fast-incoming baby niece/nephew. I bought some nice corn fibre-based yarn for a baby bonnet or two…

Which is super soft and gender-neutral(although leaning towards girly). I’m most likely going to go with the Top-Down Baby Bonnet for them, as it’s easy and cute.

I’ve also started swatching for a new baby pattern all my own.

The photo sucks, but there really isn’t much to show yet, save for the color choice. The yarn is Patons Decor, a nice wool/acrylic blend that is both washable and soft. The green is foresty and cool.

I plan on doing a Vandyke Lace panel in three columns, but after all this swatching (there’s three so far) we’ll see how everything adds up. It’d be nice to add to the solid-colour baby blanket patterns out there. :)

Oh, and quite possibly the biggest news as of late. My good buddy Ethan happened to have a friend with an alpaca farm. And when said friend mentioned alpaca seconds, my good buddy Ethan figured he would suggest myself, the Pirate, and friend Janis as possible receivers of said fleece.

It came in on Monday. 8 pounds of it.

It is, of course, fresh off the animal, so there’s work to do. But I’m quite surprised; despite an obvious smell of farm animal (which doesn’t bother me in the least; I worked on a ranch for years) the fleece is in really good shape, and the natural colours are really gorgeous. I have one bag of Fandango(black) and three bags of mixed browns.

I’ll be spending the next little while learning how to clean and prepare it. If anyone has suggestions or helpful websites, please let me know!

Now, IMPORTANT NEWS

Knitting Pirate, my darling sister, has a new pattern published, and man, is it ever cool: Highwayman Armwarmers. (Here’s the Ravelry link for Ravelrers.)

I knit a pair and plan to live in them this fall.

They are super easy, but the cables make them fun and interesting. I would recommend a nice soft yarn on bamboo needles.

Yay Pirate! ARRRRRRR

(I’m a day late for Talk Like A Pirate Day. Oops!)

The time has come to stop neglecting the blog.

Lots has happened that should have been blogged about sooner than now.

New projects have begun. (RPM, using Gypsy Girl Creations in Winter Solstice, a gift from the Pirate)

I purchased some yarn from far far away. (Well, Pittsburgh. Soft Sea Wool and Malabrigo laceweight.)

And, perhaps most importantly, got my hands on a drop spindle and some glorious colours of Corriedale roving, and ceated my first handspun.

I also, finally, figured out how to use proper thumbnails on my blog. Glorious!

Is now a good time to mention that I recieved my Ravelry invite today? Dually glorious! I’m there as mauricia.

Glorious is the word of the day. Hello, blog.