Posts Tagged "Wollmeise"

Remember when I was trying to decide which yarn to use next?  It was going to be one of these.  They’re all described on the linked blog post.

My decision was to use the purple, green and pink Mardi Gras yarn.  But, being the nice girl that I am, I showed Vince the 5 balls of yarn and asked him which one I should use.  It makes my man feel good to help make decisions on things like sock yarn and quilt fabric! Not really but Vince never fails to entertain me with his choices.  He chose the one that has the sock started in the above picture.  I asked him why he chose that one and here’s the conversation:

Me:  Vince, pick one of these 5 yarns for my next socks.
Vince:  That one (pointing to the one that has the sock started).
Me:  Why that one?
Vince:  Because it’s patriotic.
Me:  Patriotic?
Vince:  Yes, red, white and blue.  Can have the socks when you’re done?
Me:  Why don’t you let me knit the socks and then you decide if you want them?
Folks, that yarn is pink, magenta and black.  The lighting is excellent in our living room.   How he thought this yarn was red, white and blue is beyond me and no, my man is not wearing pink socks!

Here’s what sock #1 looks like knitted.

No red.  No white.  No blue.  Figure that one out for me, will you?

These are the first pair of socks I’ve made using the Wollmeise 100% wool yarn.

The bottom sock looks darker in the picture but it isn’t.  I had read that the yarn was a bit splitty so I paid closer attention to what I was doing  and didn’t have any trouble with it splitting.  It feels great.  The twist is very tight and it gives a great definition to the stitches.  They feel fantastic on my feet (so says my feet!).  I agree that this is a fantastic yarn and worth the effort to find it!

The only problem with this yarn is that it is really, really hard to get!  The Loopy Ewe has it every now and then or you can order it directly from the dyer in Germany.  She updates here website twice a week . . once at 1 a.m. my time.  She doesn’t always have the sock yarn and when she does, it’s gone in a matter of seconds!  Of course, there’s sometimes someone selling it on ebay or someone who has it in their stash will sell it every now and then.  Maybe its scarcity is part of what makes it so fun to get but it really is great to knit and great to wear.

Stashbusting so far this year has been so easy.  I haven’t even been tempted to get online and buy fabric.  I surely haven’t been near a quilt shop.  I feel so strong . . where fabric is concerned.   I know . . don’t be bragging yet . . February isn’t even halfway over!

But what about sock yarn . . oh, a definite weakness.  But I think I’ve crossed the threshold on that too.  When I’m asked how I’m being so strong with the fabric issue, it’s because I realized that there’s a good chance no matter how many quilts I make, I may never use all my stash.  Think of the fabric you’ve been given from someone else’s stash . . some lovely quilter who gave up quilting or passed away.  Do you love it as much as you love the fabric you bought?  Probably not.  It’s outdated or not the color or pattern you would have chosen.  Do you want that to happen to your stash?  Do you want your stash given to the guild’s charity table? Do you want it sold at a garage sale for 5¢?  (Remind me to clean that “alt” key!  It’s still sticking . . Dr. Pepper is never good for a keyboard.)  No, you don’t!  No, I don’t!  I want to use my stash.  I want to make quilts with it.  I want to use every crumb of it!  So, that line of thinking has given me the determination to use my stash and not add to it til I absolutely need to do so.

Now . . about that sock yarn.  I always wind the yarn into balls as soon as it comes in.  But lately it’s been coming in faster than normal and I haven’t taken the time to wind it.  It was piled up on the ironing table, on the computer desk, on the sewing machine . . and I dumped it all in the floor, sorted through it to find a couple I want to use soon and here’s what I saw:

52 skeins of yarn in the last couple of months!  If I make one pair of socks each month, which is about what I do, that’s over four years of sock yarn right there . . not counting what I already have . . which means I have enough sock yarn to last the rest of my life.  I don’t want it sold at a garage sale for 10¢ (darned “alt” key stuck again!).  Unless there’s yarn out there that I absolutely cannot live without, I’m laying off the sock yarn too.

Now I have to make a decision on which yarn to start next.  I’ve narrowed it down to these:

This is Bugga “Love Bug”, a special color for Valentine’s Day.  Bugga is 70% superwash merino/20% cashmere/10% nylon.  I’m really wanting to knit Bugga . . haven’t done it yet.

Also Bugga.  The color is “Northern Purple Gold Beetle”.  Love this deep purple!

This one is String Theory’s Caper Sock which is 80% superwash merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon.  The color is “Mardi Gras” which makes me really want to get these knitted so I can wear them next week!  I’ve never used this yarn either.

This one is Wollmeise 100% superwash merino.  The color is “Skandal um Rosi”.  Normally I wouldn’t knit the same yarn back to back since I just did a pair in Wollmeise but this color intrigues me.  I think it will stripe but I don’t know how well it’s doing to look in socks.

This is Fiesta’s Baby Boom.  It’s 90% extrafine superwash merino/10% nylon.  The color is chocolate strawberry ganache which was dyed for The Loopy Ewe for their valentine’s packets.  Just seeing this yarn makes me hungry for strawberries dipped in chocolate so knitting this might not be a good idea.

Which do you think I’ll choose?

I do not need any more sock yarn! I do not need any more sock yarn! Please Vince . . don’t be reading this post!   The last week or so, my mail lady has been my best friend!  I can’t wait to see her.  That’s all going to change though.  Two more packages and I’m done.  Really .. no more sock yarn.  I mean it this time.

It’s all the fault of those folks over at The Loopy Ewe.  There are yarns that people just rave about and I’ve never even heard of . . and surely haven’t seen or touched.  Everyone knows that the webpage is updated some time on Monday so half the knitters in the world camp out on The Loopy Ewe’s website all day Monday.  I never get anything done on Monday any more.  When I am lucky enough to get some of this can’tlivewithoutyarn, I never even know what color I’m getting . . I’m just sticking it in my shopping cart as quickly as I can and hoping for the best.  Sounds like I really do need a 12 step program, huh?

First, it was the Wollmeise Sock Yarn.  Getting that yarn is harder than getting a 12 point buck!  As soon as it shows up on the website, it’s gone!  If you’re lucky enough to get a few skeins in your cart, you’d better be real quick about checking out because it isn’t yours til you’ve paid for it and if there’s one skein left and someone pays before you do . . it’s going to their house . . not yours!  I got a few more skeins of Wollmeise Sock Yarn so I was happy.  I don’t need any more.  No . . really!  I don’t!

Then I heard that the Wollmeise Twin was heavenly for socks.  After several tries to get that from The Loopy Ewe, I heard that Claudia in Germany (the dyer) updates her web page on Friday mornings at 1 a.m. my time.  I managed to get some Twin straight from Germany!  Goofy me .. I left the invoice on the table and it was all in Euros. Vince looked at it and gasped and said . . doesn’t it take something like two dollars to make one Euro??  Hmmm . . not sure about that!  Let’s talk about something else!

Then there’s the String Theory yarn!  They have one called Blue Stocking and one called Caper.  Caper has 10% cashmere so it makes it a lovely sock yarn.  I’d never heard of it til those evil, evil ladies at The Loopy Ewe put it on their website.

Surely that was the end of the can’tlivewithout yarn!  Oh, no!  There’s Bugga! And it has 20% cashmere!  My feet will love me . . if ever I get socks made with it.  When it showed up last time on The Loopy Ewe’s site, so many of us were trying to get it that we crashed the server.  It’s all named after bugs and it’s as hard to get, if not harder, than the much desired Wollmeise.  In this picture:  Barrens Tiger Beetle, Tarantula Hawk, Sooty Dancer, Black Witch Moth and Death’s Head Hawk Moth.

Good . . I have all the can’tlivewithout yarn there is.  I can stop stalking The Loopy Ewe’s website and maybe I can paint new letters on my F5 key because I’ve worn them off.

What?  Not yet?  Monday I heard . . actually read on Ravelry . . that the update that night would include Numma-Numma.  What the heck is that?  Well, I managed to stalk the website long enough that I got some of that ordered. And then I heard that Sanguine Gryphon would have more Bugga in their Tuesday morning update.  I managed to get a special color called Love Bug and a very hard to find Northern Purple Gold Beetle.

Why can’t I be as disciplined with sock yarn as I am with quilting fabric lately?  It’s the hunt . . it’s knowing that if I don’t grab it now, I may never have another chance to get it . . ever!  I’m done .. really!

You quilters think shopping for fabric is a job . . try buying sock yarn!  Yesterday, for a brief moment (very brief!), I thought to myself . . I’m giving up ever trying to buy yarn again! Do you remember how much I went through to get the infamous Wollmeise yarn?  Tha was not even one week ago.

The other much desired, hard to find, stay up all night stalking The Loopy Ewe’s site, sit by the computer all day and still miss out yarn is something called Bugga Sock by The Sanguine Gryphon.  What is it about something you can’t get that makes you want to walk across hot coals (or sit and hit F5 all day) just to get it?

I was sewing . . minding my own business.  Time to stop sewing, go upstairs and get the pita bread rolled out for lunch.  Stopped by the computer, clicked on The Loopy Ewe’s “what’s new” button and what do you think was new?  Bugga Sock! My heart was pounding.  My hands were shaking (not really but it adds to the drama!).  I quickly put four or five skeins in my cart.  I hit “check out” and then decided to see if there was another color I might want.  Oh, no!  Something terrible happened.  Every sock knitter in the world had heard that The Loopy Ewe had Bugga and we crashed the website.  Nothing was happening.  No one was getting Bugga.  F5!  F5!  Refresh!  Nothing!

I was kicking my butt for not checking out when I had the chance.  Did I say I’ve never even seen this yarn so I have no idea why everyone across the globe is trying to get it before I get mine.  I came upstairs, I called them.  No, they couldn’t take an order on the phone because they had no idea what had already gone through and if they even had any left! Rolled out a pita pocket.  Hit F5.  Nothing.  Rolled out another pita pocket.  Hit F5.  Nothing.

Finally, it came back up and I was able to checkout.

And, look at Little Loopy right there in the middle of the yarn!  I’m betting he’d love to meet my chickens! 

Do you think I should have to go through all that trouble just to get sock yarn?  I guess if I want the same thing every other knitter seems to want .. yes, I do have to go through all that trouble.   The yarn is 70% Superwash Merino, 20% Cashmere (yes!  Cashmere!) and 10% nylon.

You don’t even want to hear about the escapade to get yarn directly from Wollmeise in Germany when she updated her webpage at 1:10 a.m.   The good news is . . I have closed my ears and no one is talking me into buying any more yarn for a very long time!

Background info first:  Less than four years ago I learned to knit socks.  Thanks Susan!  Almost as soon as I learned to knit socks, I realized that sock yarn was as addicting for the knitter as is fabric for the quilter.  We can just sit at the computer and poke buttons .. and like magic, the yarn is delivered to my front door. The honest to goodness truth is that part of the 2010 commitment was to lay off the yarn buying.  I really have plenty!

While this isn’t a HUGE supply of yarn, it’s enough to keep me busy for several years.  And the beauty of sock yarn, as opposed to fabric, is that I don’t have to come up with colors that match or work together.  Mostly, 1 skein of yarn makes 1 pair of socks and that’s it . . move on to the next one.  So I’m all set for a while with sock yarn.

Then . . really, it was after the first of the year, like maybe on January 1, I began reading about this yarn called Wollmeise.  It sounded like everyone was saying this is THE sock yarn to use! It was like everywhere I turned, people were talking about Wollmeise yarn!  I had to have some!  To make matters worse, it’s a German yarn and from what I’ve read, there’s one lady doing all the work and this yarn is very hard to find.  Some reported that it had sold on ebay for more than 3 times its original cost (and it ain’t cheap!).  I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for it because I read on Ravelry that it’s just one of those things you sometimes get lucky and stumble upon but otherwise . . well, just dream about owning it.

Tuesday I had just finished loading Chad’s quilt on the longarm and sat down at the computer to see what was happening in my little world.  For some reason, I clicked on my favorite yarn shop, The Loopy Ewe.  Don’t ask me why . . I’m not buying any more yarn.  I wasn’t even thinking about the much worshiped Wollmeise yarn.  And guess what they had!  Wollmeise yarn!  I clicked to put three or four skeins in my cart . . I was so excited!  It was like I’d just won the lottery!  I was clicking so fast, I didn’t even know what I got but I managed to get a couple of skeins.

Tuesday evening on Ravelry, someone finagled out of Sheri, the owner of The Loopy Ewe, that she had more Wollmeise to put up later.  Here’s where the insanity began.

Twice during the night I got up to check to see if she had put it up.  The thermostat is set on 60° at night.  Getting out of the warm bed and waiting for the computer to boot up . . insanity!  Only to find nothing new on The Loopy Ewe site.

I brought the laptop into the bedroom so I could keep checking it while getting dressed.  Nothing!

I brought the laundry into the bedroom and folded it while watching the computer.  Nothing!

But, at some point, there was little more I could do upstairs and I needed to go down and sew.  Running back and forth across the sewing room to the desktop was just taking too long so I brought the laptop and set it next to me at the sewing machine.

10:32 a.m. and no Wollmeise has appeared on the website.

There were dozens and dozens of refreshes and F5 hits and finally, at 3:05 p.m.  . .

More Wollmeise yarn appeared on The Loopy Ewe’s website.  And, I was quick enough to snag a few more skeins.  I’m not sure how  much of the yarn she had.  Maybe 15 or 16 colors were posted but within 10 minutes, it was all gone!

I think a whole bunch of knitters spent a lot of time hitting the F5 (refresh) button at The Loopy Ewe!  All I have to say about all this is . . I sure hope I love Wollmeise sock yarn!  And, short of something really outstanding, I’m finished buying yarn for a while.