Rows Red » Loot

Aug 16 2010

An Embarrassment of Riches

Category: Loot,WOOL — Mistress Rows @ 6:56 am

Being on a much more restricted budget now that we’re homeowners, I left for WOOL with very little in my pocket and a dire need to sell some yarn. Shopping was going to be out of the question unless I could make back my room deposit and wouldn’t you know… I did! And then some! Thank you to everyone who picked up a skein and gave it a new home, I appreciate your patronage! As always, it inspires me to do and be more, never a bad thing.

From Vickie, with love. My signature soap!

Rambutan in BFL from ITW, a gift from Cris!

Caramel Apple organic merino, the softest I've ever felt. A gift from Tamara of Spincerely Yours. Click on the photo to visit her shop.

A project bag and mini luxury llama batt from first timer Tierney!

I didn’t have to worry about coming home empty handed though, for some of you completely showered with me gifts. It was literally an embarrassment of riches as, throughout the weekend, some of my guests made me giddy with their generosity. I don’t do what I do so people will give me beautiful fiber and delicious chocolate, but damned if it isn’t a sweet side effect. Literally.

From Vickie and other awesome WOOL guests. Whoah.

I may have made a joke on the Ravelry board about how I am happy to accept tribute in the form of chocolate, and since everyone knows that I love the readily available Lindt brand… um… wow. And then Vickie had to get cute and buy out the Touch of Salt at the local RiteAid because I may have demonstrated while sharing my own personal bar how the sea salt makes your mouth go “oooooh!” *inset full body shudder* Even with sharing I came home with EIGHT BARS of chocolate. Steve is in heaven and so am I.

Two guests tried REALLY hard to find me the Lindt Cherry Chili bar, to no avail, so they brought me this instead.

The best part about our little mini-show is how creative and talented my guest vendors are. You should have seen how people descended like locusts on Cris of Into the Whirled and Jess of Stitched by Jessalu! You’d have thought they were selling chocolate instead of glorious fiber and accessories. Cris, especially, just floored me with her bins o’ fiber. It’s almost impossible to choose, except when she includes the rare garnet hue in the mix. That one was coming home with me come hell or high water.

Calico Blues, a purchase from ITW, in Polworth no less! I can't wait to try.

Wicked Witch BFL, a trade with Leann at Forbidden Woolery, click to visit!

View from Sarah's Window merino/tencel purchased from Spincerely Yours.

Coming back ‘round to Vickie again, holy jeebus! That woman is one talented lady. She’s getting her bath and beauty products business off the ground and shared some of her test products with us while we were at WOOL. The first floor bathroom had a bunch of samples for us to use and I absolutely fell in love with her emulsified sugar scrub. Her website can’t come too soon! For now I went home with her basil pear body lotion sample. It’s strange, compelling, complex, and a scent you won’t soon forget.

Basil Pear body lotion, a gift from Vickie of Daisy Lamont Soaps.

If I could have afforded it, I would have come home with even more pretties, but as is, what more can a girl ask for? As it stands, the one fiber trade and two purchases rounded out a bountiful bag of fiber lusciousness. I am a very happy spinner! Even better though? The thank yous that were just thank you, and the smiles of very happy women.

Tags: Loot, Vending, WOOL

Comments (3)

Jul 15 2010

Shawl or Sushi?

Category: Knitting,Loot,Ramblings — Mistress Rows @ 5:30 pm

Pandora internet radio is a part of my daily life these days; through it I have rediscovered my love of 80’s emo ballads. God, no wonder I was such a dramatic little kid growing up. Have you listened to Heart’s “Alone” recently? How about Crowded House, “Don’t Dream It’s Over”? It was a great time to be an artistic soul in a little body. Oh god, “Thriller” just came on and now I’m chair dancing. Hey, I’ll take a good mood where I can find it.

On the topic of happy things, this week’s Knit Night was just the breath of fresh air I needed. Wendy, Jess, Becky, Michelle, my mom, and I had a rip roaring good time. It’s been a while. Our venue, The Parlor, is only recently air conditioned (last year) and by two underpowered window units. Our favorite barista, Jerry, does his best to ensure that it’s as cool as possible, but more often than not attendance is low during the summer months. Getting most of the gang in one place at the same time was just what I needed, for laughter really is the best medicine.

Parade of color!

On the way home I was in for one more brief burst of joy as my Knit Picks order had arrived. Social media marketing really does work, because when KP updated on Facebook that their Seasons Shawl kit in the Fall/Winter colorway was almost sold out I didn’t hesitate one more second. I had sushi money saved up, figured it was a fair tradeoff. I know I could have just waited for the pattern to go on sale separately, but this way I didn’t have to struggle to match the right stash shades of mismatched weights and fiber contents. I’ve never knitted a shawl like this before, normally I stick to one color and that’s that. I’m fascinated by the colors in the kit, and I know I’m going to have fun knitting it.

Shawl-in-progress photos aren't exactly exciting.

My current shawls are back to being worked on regularly, which means I may not make the second half of my TdF spinning goal. That’s all right with me though, if I have to weight making that second bobbin of three ply against finishing the wedding shawls on time, yeah. I choose the shawls. I’m struck by how simple the patterns really are – and yet I’m not bored. And, by the way, they’re going to be huge. HUGE. The copper one’s going to be huge just by dint of drape and being a heavy lace weight, and the wine one is going to be huge because I compensated for using lace instead of fingering weight yarn by adding a couple dozen extra body rows. Unblocked they’d reach from the nape of my neck to my waist, and I’ve still got around 20+ rows per shawl left to go. Good thing I’m such a large woman.

Tags: Knitting, Loot, Ramblings

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Jun 18 2010

Small Luxuries

Category: Life & Stuff,Loot — Mistress Rows @ 6:59 am

Becoming a homeowner means making sacrifices, we all know that. My husband and I no longer go out to eat several times a month, and my personal dinner with friends on Knit Night is only possible (and not every week) because I have stopped shopping at WalMart every 48 hours, let me tell you THAT saves you a bundle. I spend less, FAR less, at festivals than I used to, and I buy fewer magazines. I haven’t bought new clothes in months, aside from undies. I spend less because I have less personal money (which also pays for gas and tolls), 33% less, under our new budget. I don’t like it, but I do like owning a house, so there you have it.

When your package is stamped "Royal Mail" it makes it feel much more posh.

All scrimp and little play makes Mistress Rows a wistful girl. That’s why, every once in a while, a treat is in order. When I saw on Ravelry that Colourmart UK was having a 15% off sale on their already low priced luxury yarns, I took the plunge. For $17 (including shipping), and a fidgety wait of 7 days, I now possess a jaw droppingly lovely, 150g cone of 50% Merino, 50% Cashmere lace weight yarn. 2,300 yards of sinfully luscious fantasticness. There’s been some heavy petting, I’m not ashamed to admit.

They don't take any chances.

It was incredibly well packaged, double bagged in case of tomfoolery on the part of either sides postal system, and I couldn’t be happier with the service and quality at this point. I doubt my opinion will change when I’m done knitting with it, except that I may be even more ranty happy.

So slender, these two plies of beautiousness. It'll puff up when it's washed.

The yarn is still “in the oil”, meaning it looks thinner and smoother than you’d normally see if you were holding a skein of the same yarn in a yarn shop. That’s because this is a mill cone, yarn that is treated with spinning oil to make it run through knitting mill machines smoothly. When the yarn is washed, as it will be before I dye it, the spinning oil will be washed away and the resulting yarn, when dry, will be bouncy and lofty.

You can see how much more soft looking and ploofy it is at the top of the cone.

Speaking of dyeing, oh yes. There will be dyeing. There’s so much yardage here that I could actually get two decent sized shawls worth of yarn out of the cone! Most of the shawls I’m interested in making don’t require more than 1,150 yards. Cashmere is lighter than wool, so there’s actually far more yardage there than I would have gotten with a regular skein of wool yarn in the same weight. My Sweet Nothings is 880 yards per 100g, this cone clocks in at 1,532 yards per 100g.

The Mega Cone of Magnificence.

What colors will I choose? I’m thinking one skein in Dragonfly, that nice dark blue-green, would be lovely. Maybe a dark rose for the other half? I’ll dream for now, I have plenty of other things on my plate at the moment.

Tags: Life & Stuff, Loot

Comments (7)

Jan 21 2010

O’Dark Thirty Sale, 2010 Edition

Category: Friends & Fun,Loot — Mistress Rows @ 6:46 pm

Warning: Reading this post you’ll mostly likely be certain that I’m a manic airhead. I would like to point out that I’m only a manic airhead when I’m overstimulated and super excited. Like I was today. Ahem.

There are very few things that I’ll get up at the butt-crack of dawn for. Very. Few. Things. As it is I have to get up a half an hour earlier to compensate for the extra ten minutes it takes to get to work (strange math, I know). So to get up at at 5:30, you know it’s got to be something special, and on a workday too! This folks is what the O’Dark Thirty Sale will do to you. Don’t look at me like that, Robin had to get up at 4:30. Because I still underestimate how long it takes to drive through town to get back to Catskill and the bridge (stupid 30 MPH in town), I was running late. I flew, flew I tell you, all the way to Great Barrington. Thank Goddess there were cars in front of me in Egremont because there one of Jess’s cop buddies was sitting in wait, otherwise it was 70 any chance I could get. I pulled up in front of the store at 7:01 a.m. to find the perfect spot free, amazingly enough, and everyone still waiting to get in. Robin was near the front of the line, I was at the back.

The line was pretty long this year, recession shoppers are savvy!

Why all the trouble? Well, 40% off all yarn at the biggest local yarn store within an hour’s driving distance is quite the incentive. Even though they overcharge as a rule, as long as you know your prices, the sale still saves you anywhere from 20-30% off of ACTUAL retail. Considering the yarn store is approximately half again the size of my entire house, that’s pretty awesome. I go every year because it’s a tradition and an adventure, but because I really don’t “need” more yarn I keep my purchases to minimum. My spending money was cut by almost 40% with the new house budget, so I really had to save my spending money to afford it.

Robin ponders pricing.

This year none of my usual cronies wanted to go, but I was fortunate to have Robin to share the adventure with. Let me tell you something, this is a woman I can shop with when I’m on a mission. Unfortunately I had to be back to work no later than 9:45 for my performance review, so if we wanted to get breakfast we’d have to be super quick about it. She and I TORE through that place and we were on line waiting to pay by 7:36. Thirty six minutes! And it’s funny, it didn’t feel like we were rushing, just really focused. By 8 a.m. we were seated and starting to eat our breakfast at the Friendly’s across the street. Props to us!

Cars were lined up the full length of the street and then some.

I went in thinking I wanted to get an acrylic/wool blend, enough for the Stained Glass Afghan that’s been in my queue for a couple years now. Doing the math in my head, even on sale, it was going to cost almost $75 in Plymouth Encore, my favorite blend yarn. Holy crap! Yeah, that’s a lot of money for a crocheted afghan. I reconsidered. Staring at the Encore I noticed something I’d not seen before, they have a tweed… and not a tweed with clown barf colored nepps like so many others, no. This tweed has classy neutral beige nepps. ZOMG love. I kinda sorta bought two sweater’s worth, one in black (eee!) and one in a dusty lavender (double eee!). Yes, I did indeed buy yarn that wasn’t blue, teal, or a shade of red. You may be saying to yourself, really Tina, sweaters in mostly acrylic? Only 25% wool content? I say unto you, judge not, for heavy is the heart that knits a sweater in Cascade 220 only to find that it pills like a mofo when you look at it cross eyed. And for $$22 a sweater in a silky soft and more durable yarn, I am content.

Tweedy love.

I may have also had a little accident in the sock yarn room. But one of these, the brown one on the right, is for my Sole Food swap partner, so it’s not that bad. You see that? I bought something kinda yellow. We had quite the conversation about mustard colors today, Robin and I, for she is smitten with the shade, and I am not. Asking me, “do you think this will look weird on me” when holding up a skein of mustard Cascade 220 instantly promotes a logic loop, for mustard is automatically weird to me and therefore yes, you will look weird. *LOL*

L-R: Madelinetosh Sock, Colinette Jitterbug, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, Colinette Jitterbug.

Whew. I blame the somewhat random and squee-ful tone of this post to wool fume over exposure. My brain is floating on a fog of wooly goodness, laughter with a friend, and enough greasy spoon cuisine to kill an ox. It was a good day, thanks Robin, for sharing it with me!

Robin and I. Robin believes strongly in action shots.

Oh, and my review was good too, praise Laneus.

Tags: Friends & Fun, Loot

Comments (5)

Jan 05 2010

Meg Swanson is My Hero

Category: Loot — Mistress Rows @ 11:32 am

As some of you may have noticed, I like lace. A. LOT. Lace makes me happy, and I enjoy the challenge. I especially like adding it to accessories. Pretty much any which way it comes, crocheted or knit, I love lace stitching. Even still, I haven’t knit half the lace I want to. I have quite a few books and not an inconsiderable amount of yarn devoted to lace. If my stash and I were moved to a remote cabin in the woods, sans civilization and the internet (gasp!), I could knit for at least three or four years, probably more, on just lace alone.

When I first got into knitting hard core, I took a lot of books out on all manner of fiber arts, mostly knitting. I actually had a rep at the local library as “the knitting lady”, and it’s safe to say I had checked out almost every worthwhile title in the Mid Hudson Library System. One of the treasures I had borrowed was a copy of the book Knitting Lace by Susanna E. Lewis. The book is a primer on lace knitting and designing your own patterns, based around a vintage lace sampler, part of which is pictured on the cover. This book, to me, is the vintage Alice Starmore of lace knitting. As someone who likes to design my own patterns quite often, I was instantly fascinated. While not glamorous and glossy, this slim, scholarly tome was full of Good Stuff. And… out of print. Crap.

Cue Heavenly Choir

As it sometimes goes with really good resource and pattern books in our community, once out of print the price skyrockets. Hence the Starmore reference. Copies were selling on Amazon for a fortune, starting in the mid $150’s and going upwards of $200. Yeah… not going to pay that. Unbeknownst to me, Meg Swanson and Schoolhouse Press were petitioning the institution who held the rights to the book in order to get it reprinted. Imagine my surprise when I logged on to Knit Picks last night, looking for something completely different, and I found it… reprinted and ON SALE. A brand spanking new copy for under $18 (40% off)? Good lord, I clutched my pearls.

THANK YOU Meg Swanson and the folks at the Brooklyn Museum for allowing this book to be reprinted. The fact that Knit Picks is now also offering cable connectors for my Options was like hot fudge on my Awesome Sauce Sundae.

Now hurry up and ship, will you?

Tags: Awesomeness, Loot

Comments (3)

Aug 19 2009

Can’t Forget the Loot

Category: Loot,WOOL — Mistress Rows @ 4:27 pm

One of the things I haven’t posted from WOOL yet is the loot… oh, the loot! Some of it was purchased and some of it was generously given, all of it is wonderful.

Vickie, my SOAR buddy, made me a beautiful gift bag full of the best stuff. Inside I found three bars of gourmet dark chocolate of a Belgian brand I’d not tried before, the best of which is called SEXY. It’s heavily caffeinated and has bits of candied ginger, woohoo! She also included a bar of her own handmade Daisy Lamont cucumber soap (it lathers and smells divine). She saved me empty Altoids tins because I rhapsodized about them at SOAR for notions and business cards, and included a package of delicious smelling tea for my husband. Lastly, she read my comment about the fabulous fleece we used in Maggie Casey’s class and can you believe she pulled out her own last remaining class batt and gave it to me? Thank you, Vickie, you totally overwhelmed me with your generosity. And of course, now I get to think of you every time I take a shower. It doesn’t help that she told me the name of her soap brand was her “stripper name”. I still laugh whenever I think about it!

Look at the crimp in that lock! Oooh, hey, chocolate...

Saturday’s vending hour was so much fun, it really was like having a tiny festival, just for us. Every single vending guest brought wonderful things for us to pounce on, and not just yarn and spinning fiber either. We also had box bags, stitch markers, and hand dyed art scarves, in addition to stash for swap or sale. All of my favorite local dyers were there, and I couldn’t stop myself from picking up a few braids. I have to support my vendors, right? And since I do believe every single one of them had some sort of WOOL discount in effect, the hooks were baited well.

From Leann at Enchanted Hues I picked up her newest, “Eastwick”, named for the upcoming show based on the Witches of Eastwick movie. I may actually run this one through the drum carder to come up with a more heathery blend, which I’m sure she’ll appreciate given her focus that weekend.

Moody blues, just how I like it.

From Carolyn (See Kay Knit) I picked up some fresh-from-the-dyepot BFL in a colorway very close to my recent Poisoned Apple, appropriately called Rubies. I love me some BFL, there really wasn’t anything to be done for it.

Hard to photograph just so, but this is close.

From Cris at Into the Whirled I bought one delicious braid of a wool/silk in a dappled sage and brown. She has graciously allowed me to dub it “Kelpie” for the wicked water horse of Celtic myth. It certainly sucked me under. Later I came back for some Falkland, a fiber that is new to me. It’s plummy, and moody, and very purty. I’ve already told Cris I’m going to need another 4oz of the Kelpie, I see a shawl or a hat/scarf combo in the future.

Mmm... purty.

My pictures in general do not do any of the above acquisitions justice, my new camera doesn’t behave quite like my old one and I’m still getting used to it. Suffice to say that I look forward to some really enjoyable spinning once I get done spinning up my current project.

I’ll close by saying that I am so very proud of all the guests who took a chance and vended at WOOL. You all brought beautiful things, and many of you went to extra trouble to do it. I know I’m not alone in appreciate the fruits of your labors! At least I can say I sold almost as much stash as what I bought, so there’s a shred of dignity to be salvaged.

Tags: Loot, WOOL

Comments (3)

Jul 03 2009

Mysterious Ways

Category: Friends & Fun,Loot — Mistress Rows @ 10:11 am

Those who are friended on Facebook already know, Wednesday was pretty angsty for me. Negotiations on the house are frustrating and slow, and we may have to walk away if the seller doesn’t get her head out of her ass, thereby losing our $600 in tests and inspection and having to start all over. It’s extra paycheck month, and aside from my normal spending money for two weeks, I put much of it in savings. This left me with just enough money to do one of two things. I could either:

Upgrade my Panasonic PAS (point and shoot) camera to a MUCH improved model (that doesn’t have permanent dust in the lens), which since it’s not the most recent model, would only cost $100 on Amazon. I love my camera, and have already directed Harriet to this newer model. She loves hers, and I’ve had a chance to handle it in person. I would also buy an organic gardening guide since my gardening ignorance pains me.

OR I could:

Buy the incredibly awesome, extremely hard to find until now 11.6″ netbook that comes in my FAVORITE COLOR and even has financing and Windows XP, thereby blowing $400 so I can surf the internet and blog from my couch instead of the dining room.

The second option there? Wouldn’t look quite so responsible when my parents are going to be helping us with some money towards the downpayment on the house, now would it? Even though I already put hundreds into savings from the paycheck, it just didn’t sit well with me. I felt so guilty that I just couldn’t do it. I put on my big girl panties and went with the first option instead.

3lbs of super soft Merino top at $8lb (she's all out of it now).

Copper, Onyx, and Crystal AB Angelina flash to use with the drum carder.

Well, wouldn’t you know that yesterday Harriet asked me along to a pre-sale, invitation only, going out of business sale at Eastside Weavers. I was originally coming home with some amazingly soft Tencel coned yarns for dirt cheap (crocheted lace?), some Angelina for carding, and strangely enough… Interweave Knits Weaver’s Companion, all at 50% off. I figured it might help me get back into Rigid Heddle weaving since many o f the principles for getting started and finishing are the same.

Soft as silk, honey copper color, 1/2lb cone, $3.50.

Same thing in a gorgeous garnet red, 1lb cone, $7, both are lace weight.

As I walked out, something caught my eye. Lo and behold, a Louet Kombo 40 table loom… a “real” loom! Harriet encouraged me to ask… why not? She wanted $100 for it since it was her student loom, and everything must go. I demurred since I have trouble with “big ticket” purchases, even though I know it’s a great deal. She then said that if I took it home right now she’d sell it to me as is for $50. Yes. FIFTY DOLLARS! Only thing is, it was cash and check only, and I was out of cash. Red said she’d write me the check, despite how much it pained her that she hadn’t asked herself and has always wanted to learn to weave. So, holy crap, it’s mine!

Louet Kombo 40, upgraded to an 8 harness from 4.

It was a student loom, so it's been color coded and numbered for ease of learning, yay!

It’s missing the reed and a shuttle, but it was upgraded to the 8 harness option. Do you know what this thing retails for? $590… PLUS $100 to upgrade to 8 harneses! HOLY-FUCKING-COW! I almost fainted this morning when I looked it up. So even though I have to buy some pieces, I pretty much got the thing for 90% off, and it’s in excellent shape. The store owner is making sure there are supplies put aside for me for when I get up there next.

So, in order to spread the good fortune around, and distract evil spirits from my happiness, I worked out this little arrangement. Harriet picked me up 3lbs of undyed Merino top earlier in the week at the pre-sale for $8lb (yes, the hits keep coming), so all in all I owe her $75. I am giving her my $200 rigid heddle loom with two heddles and Hands on Rigid Heddle Weaving, and he gets to learn to weave too. If it weren’t for her and her check book, and actually her encouraging me to ask about the price, none of this would have happened. She checked with her husband, who then said “don’t be an idiot”, so it’s a deal. And since the two different looms are roughly the same size, it’s a zero sum game for storage, which is really important right now.

Good thing I bought this before I even knew I was getting a "real" loom!

Holy shit. It’s like Christmas in July!

Tags: Friends & Fun, Loot, Weaving

Comments (9)

Jun 22 2009

Family, Fun, & Freaking Out

Category: Life & Stuff,Loot,Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 6:06 pm

The weekend was good, and while hectic, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Saturday Steve and I drove up to Warrensburg, near Lake George, to join my parents for Father’s Day weekend. Despite clouds of killer mosquitoes, it was a really good time. Nuala nearly gave herself an aneurysm, she was so happy to see us. Mom and Dad had fun showing us all the ins and outs of the RV, or as I like to call it, The Palace. The best part was being able to spend Father’s Day with dad, he is a wonderful father and I’m lucky to have him.

Big Mama, mom and dad's home away from home.

Te amo papi.

Dad: spicing chicharones. Mom: making arroz con gondulez.

We played Wii bowling, grilled, ate mom and dad’s really great Puerto Rican cooking, and even took a trip to Saratoga Springs so I could pick up a skein of yarn from Saratoga Needle Arts. Unfortunately, once there I was torn between two skeins of sock yarn and both ended up coming home with me. I won’t be eating out this week, and that’s fine with me.

Saratoga Needle Arts, a very nice and well stocked yarn shop.

Yeah, that puppy was coming home with me.

I don't have any of this yarn, and how could I pass on this rich spice?

I love Saratoga Springs, it truly is a great tourist town. I got lots of good shots while I was there, some of which came out really, really well. I love good landscaping! Even better was meeting a little boy chihuaha even small than Nuala and watching them check each other out. The owner was very sad that Nuala was fixed, what beautiful babies she and Chompers would have made.

The owner pretty much wanted to take Nuala home.

Oh the cute! It burns!

On the crafting front, I got a goodly amount of spinning done just prior to going and while I was away. I’m plying two bobbins of the gorgeous batts I bought from Long Meadows Farm (site-less) at Clermont in April. I had bought a 1lb bag of a woodsy Romney shot through with almost every color of the rainbow. The effect from a distance is brown, but close up it’s like a forest jewel. I’m about halfway done plying them together for a worsted weight two-ply.

Romney goodness.

While away I forced myself to work on a bobbin of Ashland Bay merino silk blend I’d bought at Rhinebeck ’07 (?). This I am NOT enjoying spinning, but at least I’m just a few minutes shy of being done with the bobbin. I have just over 2lbs of it, and figured I’d make myself a sweater of some sort, so I started spinning it thicker so I’d get a roughly worsted weight two-ply. It’s fighting me every step of the way and making it so I don’t even want to work with it anymore. I think it really wants to be a cobweb or lace weight single, which would then be plied. Can you imagine spinning 2.1lbs of lace weight yarn to be plied for a plus-size sweater type object? Oh my god, I’m having fits just thinking about it. Maybe I’ll just spin a couple more bobbins up and get a mega skein of lace weight and knit a shawl out of it someday.

50/50 Merino Wool Silk, not my favorite fiber to spin.

On the house front, we had our inspection today and it was absolutely horrifying how much needed to be done in repairs. We are being counseled as to what options are available to us, but let’s just say that we’ve met the “single repair costing at least $1,500″ back-out clause of the contract several times over for many times more than that total. I’m dumbstruck how a house that’s several years younger than I could have such an intimidating list of issues. We’ve got a lot of estimates to get and some serious concessions from the seller. If not… we’re out $500 and we start all over again.

Tags: Life & Stuff, Loot, Spinning

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Jun 18 2009

Garage Sale Gold

Category: Life & Stuff,Loot — Mistress Rows @ 8:41 am

In a step back towards the less life-changing, but still pretty cool, I will now recount this past weekend’s tale of garage sale gold.

When I was a kid, and into my teens, I had a serious fetish for Wicks ‘n Sticks, a regional (now mostly defunct) mall-based candle shop. Not because I wanted to pay for overpriced candlesticks, but because they carried an enormous array of Peña fantasy statuary. I loved them all, from the smallest figurine to the full size pieces, cats, unicorns, and dragons all. While there was no way I was going to be able to spend $80-$100 on one of the larger pieces, I did hold out hope that I’d have enough babysitting money to afford one of the tiny 3” pieces. Even then (late 80’s, early 90’s) they ran over $40 each, if I remember correctly. Remember, this is 80′s pricing, it’s double that now. You know how it goes at that age, when you have no allowance to speak of, that’s a lot of cash. I never did buy one.

There were two pieces in particular that caught my eye. One was a black Flap Cat with bat wings. I loved their little faces, especially the one who was sticking his tongue out. Their jeweled collars and iridescent wings were so incredibly beautiful. You’d think it would have been the dragon hatchlings. Cute as they were, you could find dragon statues plenty of places. But Flap Cats? No one had those.

The other, my absolute favorite, was baby Ki Rin. How elegant! How sweet that little face! From her golden horn to her golden hooves, Ki Rin just did it for me, and still does. Ki Rin are (traditionally kinda ugly) Asian unicorns, said to herald momentous events to come, seeing one was a portent of good luck and more. Baby Ki Rin and I had long, silent heart to hearts as I stood in front of the shop display, I’m sure that they watched me like a hawk to make sure I wasn’t going to steal her.

So, while out garage saling with my mom, imagine my surprise when I saw on a table, unmarked and with the box standing behind it, a Siamese Flap Cat marked as made in ‘88. Not the black cat I’d always wanted, but with the right face… and still, a Flap Cat! I checked the box, which by the way was marked for a black cat, and there was no price. I asked and was told two dollars. Two dollars! And it was in great condition, only a bit of schmootz to clean off with a damp cloth!

Baby needs a bath.

Let me tell you, I was thrilled. I got home and checked online to see what they were worth. Were they still in production? Turns out they are, but the Siamese cats are no longer made. Prices for the cats (Buy It Now) start at $80 on Ebay and go to $120 or more! The downside to all this research and reunion with my former loves is that I found out the Baby Ki Rin is completely discontinued. The only way to get one is to stalk Ebay and that’s probably not going to happen for a while what with buying the house. Maybe I can ask for one for Christmas.

Still, to find something that makes me smile every time I look at it, in such an unexpected place, and for such a song… well, that’s a gift if ever there was one. My inner 13 year old is jumping up and down, squealing in glee.

Tags: Life & Stuff, Loot

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Jun 04 2009

Birthday Bounty

Category: Loot — Mistress Rows @ 10:51 am

You know, it’s a good thing there are no local fiber shows from June through most of October, because I’m bursting at the seams! I’ve been spinning like a fiend, trying to achieve balance (at least) with what is coming in vs. what’s “going out”. And so starts my buying hiatus for spinning fiber, beginning after Cummington, and lasting until the next show. But just because I can’t buy myself more fiber doesn’t mean other people can’t…

Onward to the birthday loot! Most of my gifts were from my Etsy and Amazon wishlists, some of them were not, but they were all wonderful.

8 oz of custom hand dyed BFL from Cris at Into the Whirled

Cris was so generous, I’d asked her to dye me up 8oz, fully expecting to pay for it, and she gave it to me the Tuesday before my birthday! And we’ve only just met, how unexpected and wonderful.

Bernat Sox in burnt autumn colors and a bar of Lindt Intense Orange from Diane & Eric.

Diane is so sweet, opening a package from her is like getting a hug. Thank you again! Below you see mom’s fiber related gift, can I get a squee?

Custom Lendrum spinning wheel cup holder from Mom & Dad (and lots of summer tops, not pictured).

Second view of the cupholder.

Harriet had an extra skein, I admired, the rest is history. I think it’s funny that her yarn is from South America, and not only is chocolate, but the specific combination of chili and chocolate. The colors are just gorgeous.

Aurucania Ranco Multy sock yarn and a bar of Lindt Cherry Chili from Harriet & Tim.

Jess gave me gifts she knows I’d be too careful to splurge on myself. That’s my way of saying I’m usually pretty cheap. The batt specifically is much more complex and beautiful than I could photograph in the lighting available. Thank you so much!

Spunky Wensleydale top, Grafton Fiber batt in luscious deep woods colors, and a 4oz bump of Foxhill Farms Cormo from Jess.

How the Earth Was Made (AWESOME science show), Transporter I & II, and Drowned Wednesday from Steve.

Steve really knows how to mix it up! He likes to get me a variety of items, to kind of diversify the experience. I love the History DVD, we were awestruck watching it the first time it aired, their depiction of how the Eart was formed just blew us away and we learned a LOT. We like learning. Then there’s Jason Statham. Mmm. But it doesn’t stop there! This necklace blew my mind. And trust me, pictures don’t do it justice.

A real maple leaf that's been skeletonized and dipped in irridescent copper and made into a necklace, from Steve.

An Art Club bat of wool and silk from Carolyn.

Carolyn and Maeghan both gave me beautiful fiber from vendors I’d never tried before. I love getting to try new stuff because at the shows, when I buy for myself, I tend to be pretty loyal to a few favored vendors.

4oz of hand dyed BFL from Rocket Yarns, from Maeghan & Ian.

I have to say, of all my gifts, the one that makes me the most giddy is the spinning wheel cup holder. I’ve been wanting one for months, ever since I found them on Etsy (before they started advertising recently). It’s so frickin’ cool! I used it at knitting on Tuesday, the way I was positioned there would have been no where to put my non-coffee coffee shake but the floor, so there you go. But for sheer wow factor, Steve’s leaf necklace just takes my breath away. The way it shimmers and glows, I only wish it were smaller so I could wear it more often. As it stands, I’m going to figure out a way to display it on my fireplace mantle until I have special occasions to wear it. Something like that does NOT get put away in a box.

Thank you to everyone for your generosity and very thoughtful gifts. From books to movies, fiber to yarn, and all the fabulous chocolate… you guys and gals give the best gifts, not the least of which is your friendship and affection.

Tags: Friends & Fun, Loot

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