half-assed knit blog
half-assed knit blog
half-assed knit blog

Happy New Yarn!

I’ve been itching to design, lately. That sounds like something that involves a rash. “Yep, I’ve got The Itch. I tried the ointment, but it didn’t help. Don’t come near me, it might be contagious.”

Alas, the small size of my stash and the smaller size of my yarn budget means that I have no materials! Pffft. I need to become a Big Established Designer so that yarn companies will send me free yarn to design things. I’m sure they’ll be lining up to have their yarn associated with something as professional-sounding as Half-Assed Patterns. Heh.

But wait! There is hope! Hope in the form of a Happy Fun Box of Yarn* from Elann! Probably my last Box of Yarn for awhile, and it’s only a little one, but it should keep me occupied for a little while. What’s in the box? What’s in the boooox?

* Do not taunt Happy Fun Box of Yarn.

Well, first, there’s some Rowan Chunky Print.

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This one isn’t itch ointment; I already had a project in mind for it. I saw this scarf on Ravelry and I waaants one. I tried to turn my skein of Lady Godiva into one, but it was having none of that because Lil’ Missie Godiva is a picky bitch. (Oh, I will talk about this later. Not today.) And I thought, well, what I really need for this pattern is something bulky, something that isn’t variegated, and something with a bit of handspun-esque texture. And then, poof, Elann has Chunky Print for cheap, in the exact colour that I had been eyeing-but-not-buying on Webs’ site (I am apprehensive of ordering from there after the previous shipping debacle). It’s a sign!

(Why does every “it’s a sign!” moment result in me either spending too much money or doing something incredibly stupid?)

I was playing “guess the colour from intarwebs pics” game with this, because I wanted it to match this adorably hideous faux-vintage coat I have. I say faux-vintage because it is so very, very faux. Because I bought it at Urban Behaviour shutup shutup.

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Works for me!

Okay, next up we have some Elann Incense.

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I’ve been dying to try this yarn since I saw it in Elann’s newsletter before it was even available. Wool, silk, and bamboo for 4 bucks a ball? Yes, please!

The good news is that it’s very pretty, and soft, with a nice sheen from the silk. I got it in “Brick”, and played “guess the colour” with this one too – a little-known, harder version of the game called “guess the colour from Elann’s crappy, crappy swatches that are always wrong, but you have no other choice because the yarn’s so new that nobody has photographed it yet, and if it’s orange or pink you’re going to stab it in the neck, and yes I know that yarn doesn’t have a neck but IT’S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING DAMMIT”. It’s not a fun game. I don’t recommend it.

But I WON, because it’s not orange, and it’s not pink either, but a genuine true neutral red. Score.

The bad news is that out of 4 skeins, there are visible knots in 2 of them. No, I haven’t rewound them. This is just out of the bits of the balls that I can see. Who knows how many more knots are lurking in their depths. 50% wool yarn will spit-splice, right? Right?! Don’t tell me it won’t! Lalalalanotlistening…

It’ll be a scarf. The scarf of the Horrible Yellow Acrylic experiments. The scarf that I tried to turn that Lady Godiva into, but it was also not having that. Oh yes, I will definitely be talking about that skein of Lady Godiva later, loudly, angrily, possibly involving as many impolite words as I can think of.

Anyway. The scarf that is my own design! Take that, itch. I’ve tweaked it after the Lady Godiva fiasco and have most of the pattern written up. Now I just have to knit the thing.

And now, the final inhabitant of the Happy Fun Box of Yarn is…

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Two balls of Elann Tweedy Silk that I bought for absolutely no reason other than wanting to see what the yarn was like. (Answer: it’s boring. Typical rough silk, kind of pretty, whatever. We’ll see how it knits up, though.) I ordered two balls because I figured I can’t make squat with just one. Not that I can make much of anything with two. Maybe I just wanted an excuse to type “two balls” a lot.

But while I waited for the Happy Fun Box to make its way through holiday mail hell to me, I had an idea.

Or rather, a long time ago I had an idea, but could only think up a crappy implementation of it. This time I thought of a much better implementation. A smallish version of which could easily be done with 208 yards of boring silk tweed.

It is the NERDIEST IDEA EVER and you will all think it is stupid but that’s all right. It makes me happy! And I need to go knit it and write it up because it won’t make any sense until it’s in FO-and-pattern form, I don’t think. So for now I will call it the Secret Nerd Scarf. Which is actually not that different from what I’ll probably call it in the end.

Ahhh, the Happy Fun Box is filled with Happy Fun. And it has the potential to treat The Itch. Worship the Happy Fun Box! Love the Happy Fun Box!

11 Comments

  1. heatherfeather says:

    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.
    two balls.




  2. Sarah R says:

    Now I have the Itch to order myself a Happy Fun Box. Thanks a lot.

    Love that red. Sucks about the knots.




  3. jamie says:

    Happy fun box sure would be sweet… I’m anxiously awaiting five skeins of chunky mmmmmalabrigo from a co-op right now. What shall I do with it?? I might just roll around naked in it for a while!!




  4. Pam says:

    Oh, you are teasing us with the Secret Nerd Scarf! Give sooome details, please.

    –Pam (knitpam)




  5. danielle says:

    I just have to say that Happy Fun Ball is one of my fave SNL skits EVER!




  6. Rivka says:

    I wish I had a Happy Fun Box. Maybe that would get me out of my current slump.

    Question: how is your mmmalabrigo coat wearing? any pilling? i’m about to start a mmmalabrigo sweater.




  7. amanda says:

    Yay for new yarn. Thanks for showing the Elann stuff – I havent checked out the website recently, but looks like they’ve added some nice stuff!




  8. Sarah R says:

    I did it. I broke down. A Happy Fun Box is on its way to me. And it even contains some elann Incense (in Mineral).

    Are you satisfied, now?

    (La, la, la…a Happy Fun Box is coming.)




  9. MonkeyGurrl says:

    Happy Fun Box. Sounds like something I’d order at the corner restaurant. But better, because it’s fiber. Thanks for sharing!!! Sad about the knotty Incense, tho; it’s awfully purty. :)




  10. Gryphon says:

    Maybe you’d like to scratch that itch with some handpainted yarn? I’m looking for more designs for my yarns – you can have a look at them here:
    http://www.sanguinegryphon.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=18
    Email me and I’ll let you know how it works: gryphon AT sanguinegryphon DOT com




  11. MJ says:

    Thanks. Thanks a whole lot.

    You have officially passed on the Itch. *scratches madly*

    MUST HAVE MORE YARN! MUST DESIGN WITH SAID YARN! MWA! HAHA! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *cough*

    I must get myself one of these Happy Fun Boxes.

    itchy!!!