Of Planets, Prizes, and "Peds"

The long awaited shop opening of One Planet Yarn and Fiber has finally arrived! This is a wonderful new shop in part run by the folks at Yarn Botanika that will feature items from all parts of the globe and from many independent artisans -- including me! YAY! You can find a little bit of Sereknity in lots of places on the site, including Indie Yarns, needles and notions, and spinning fiber. They also have a wonderful new yarn company called Sheep Shop yarns, that looks fantastic, as well as Black Pearl Yarns, which feature a design by Gina, and many other wonderful things. Give it a looksee, won't you?

As mentioned before, Gaye, Ericka, and Rachel all won prizes in the "Name that Bunny" contest, and here is what they won...
Rachel chose this skein of green tone-on-tone sock yarn from the etsy shop that I am sending her along with some matching cute and girlie stitch markers...

Ericka chose sock yarn in the Gothic Rose colorway, and as she recently voice her aversion to stitch markers, I am including this mini-skein of Gothic Rose dyed with the same dye lot. An extra 160 yards. And hey, who doesn't love more yarn??

And for Gaye, for her winning name, she gets her requested Blue Hawaii skein destined for a lacy scarf and a custom decorated crochet hook with sheep topper. I really hope she loves this little gal!
In other news, I need socks. Desperately. I have no desire to wear store bought white socks ANYMORE. But I kept picking these wonderful, gorgeous patterns with lace and charts and details that take much more time an concentration than I have to give, thus, NO SOCKS. grrrr. SO I forsook all WIPs and sat down with my lovely but small hank of Bella-dyed handspun (dyed to look like my little kitty Bella) and cast-on for little footies -- or Peds -- since they would work up quickly on size 5 needles and I of course did not have nearly enough for a taller pair. And here they are! 3 days later! YAY!

Simple is so the way to go right now. I was also left with a too-small-for-sale skein of Christmas Tree dyed sock yarn and I was so very curious as to how this would work up, so I cast on ribbed a cuff in red (Cervina Calzetteria) and went to town with Christmas tree in stockinette. The results?

What do you think? I think I like it! The red and purple swirl completely around the leg like a sting of garland. Pretty cool. And QUICK, and very definately festive. (I am a sock knitting MACHINE! HA.) The toes will also be done in red, to round it out and to conserve the varigated yarn.

A few new things...

Been doing a bit of knitting, a bit of spinning, some designing, and lots and lots of PRODUCTION for Sereknity. Wouldn't you know that I finally got the hang of my new camera and lighting studio, got enough product to do a "photo session", finished the first of four sock kits to be listed (even got this one listed in esty late last night), and THIS is the weekend etsy is down to install the new version!! ARG! FIGURES! Oh well, it will have to wait until Monday, but until then, here is a sneak peek...
I also began knitting/designing a new sock (for Nora of Black Dog Knits) and I am using beads for the first time! I am using my hand dyed 50/50 merino/silk and I love how it is working up. My question is, do I continue the pattern down the foot of the sock w/o the beads? I personally like socks with a patterned foot, but you wouldn't want to have a sock with beads on the foot, so will it look odd to have the pattern repeat omitting the beads? Also, I plan on making a sandal sock version of the heel -- will a sandal sock look funny without a pattern down the foot to balance it out? I would LOVE feedback on this, and as you can see, you have time! I have a ways to go.Also completed were two skeins of two ply handspun. The first single was a local lambswool/angora blend in a heathery mix of white deep red and orange, and the second one of my own hand dyed fibers in a BL/Mohair blend, dyed to stripe in red and pumpkin, with some yellow thrown in the mix. I think it is comming out pretty cool! Can't wait to see how it knits up.
As you may have noticed, I've been having fun experimenting with the new lighting studio. I'm not the only on -- the elusize BooBoo decided he'd give it a try...lookd thrilled, doesn't he?
Lots of dyeing to do over the next few days. Have to get ready for an in-home craft "show" of sorts being held in Rockport. Wish me luck!