Foxie, Foxie..

I'm 1.4 oz into the Werefox batts and I know exactly what I'm going to do with the yarn. It's begging to be a Shipwreck Shawl. A Shipwreck Shawl knit for a folkloric creature whose reputation precedes it. You'd think, given the nautical nature imparted by its name, I'd be knitting it for Scylla or Charibdis, or maybe for Amphitrite, but the yarn really doesn't fit any of them.

I guess I could really go in any number of directions with the wool. The brown and red could be vaguely autumnal, so it could just as easily adopt a forest-y name, but I think I'll stick with the obvious and let it keep its name while giving it a slight change of locale by pulling the tail--or tails--of the mischevious kitsune. I can't think of a better example of foxie naughtiness than Tamamo-no-mae... even if she didn't find herself being shipwrecked.

Toadies!

Some amphibious creature has spawned in the little goldfish pond behind our house. The past couple of days have been cool and rainy, and in the wee hours of the night, there have been some very croaky sounds coming from the pond. I was just out there looking for evidence of frogs or toads, but of the adults there was no sign. There were, however, enormous masses of gelatinous eggs; they've obviously been fertilized because there are little... things... visible to the naked eye, and they look like they're well on their way to producing another generation of some amphibian or other.

Hell, yeah. We have amphibians. And we're proud of it.

Reviews

I started doing yarn reviews a while ago, but never really got up a good head of steam. Now, however, I'm concentrating on reviewing yarn and fiber from indie dyers, and I've started a blog over on Wordpress for that very purpose. So far, I've only done two reviews, but I have plenty of things lined up for the next few months, which will likely be done once a month to keep me from burning out or running out of people. :-p I'm trying to plan ahead and alternate yarn and spinning fiber. The list so far is as follows:
April: Liberty's Yarn Kaguya
May: Twisted Fiber Art Roving Lively
June: Serendipitous Ewe Chance Sock
July: Enchanted Knoll Farm Superwash Batts
August: CraftsMeow Ice Cream Sundae

Just in case any indie dyers happen to read this, if you're interested in having your yarn or fiber reviewed, feel free to send me an e-mail or a message through Ravelry. Or leave me a comment here.

Full of Surprises

This arrived today from Minnesota. It was cleverly disguised as a bottle of single malt Scottish whiskey, but since it didn't slosh when I shook the tin, I figured the contents weren't whiskey after all. Hardly a disappointment, I assure you! So, from the Dragonfly Workshop, I'm now the very lucky (and very thrilled) owner of a curly koa and walnut spindle. And I now have a tool worthy of spinning my Corgi Hill Farm batts. Having the proper equipment makes all the difference--I adore my other spindles, and they all have special projects associated with them, but the Corgi Hill batts needed the right vehicle. Mr. and Mrs. Dragonfly very kindly included some samples of fiber for me to play with--some baby llama, which I've never met before, and some superfine merino. O.O I'm absolutely floored by the care and kindness with which they treat their clients. It's a lovely spindle and it spins beautifully. And it's mine, mine, mine, all mine! :P