First SP10 Contest for Robin's Group

When I joined SP10 I didn't know we'd have fun contests! I'm in Robin's group and our assignment is to answer this

Please post (on your blog) about your favorite yarn and your least favorite yarn (if you have one!) What have you made with it? Tell us about your experiences!

Hmm...this is a hard one. My favorite yarn is usually the one I'm knitting with at the time. Really. We all put so much time and effort into our knitting crafting that I hope we all love the yarn we are using. So, that said, I'd say my favorite yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I'm using it for Cardigan for Arwen (almost finished) and simply love working with this yarn. It's soft, great stitch definition, and slight sheen.

Least favorite? 2 years ago I made 7 scarves for Christmas presents - out of eyelash yarn. At the time it was fun but.. I think I don't need to knit with that yarn anymore :-)

knitted, felted tote

Here's a tote I made for my Mom - I used the wonderful Baby's Got a Brand New Big Bag pattern but I made it a bit smaller. The yarn is Knit Picks "Wool of the Andes".

This is a great pattern. Fun and a quick knit.

book questions

I found this questionaire off the SP10 website in this member's blog http://hooknneedle.livejournal.com/ Since I haven't written about books before - and I'm a big reader - thought this would be a good post.

In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
6. The Two Towers (Tolkein)
7. The Return of the King (Tolkein)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
*9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
+17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
*18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkein)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
+25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
*36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
*37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
*38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
*40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
*43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
+45. Bible
+46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
49. The Promise (Chaim Potok)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
*53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
*65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
*72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
*76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
*79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
*81. Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphe DuMaurier)
*84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Cold Mountain (Frazier)
87. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
*89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
*90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
*91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

My knitted purse has arrived!

For the knitted purse swap II Chrissie (from Singapore) was my secret pal. She made me a wonderful purse that I've just received. Take a look here for a picture. Jana

My Dye Studio

My dye studio
Originally uploaded by whiteoakstudio.

Here is one area of my dye studio - I have a wonderful view of our enormous white oak out of my window, thus the name White Oak Studio. Hopefully the next photo you see will show it more organized and fully stocked with supplies! I put in several orders today and have one more large one to do with a new supplier.

The drying area is to the left of the photo, and I can also take the yarn out the door (to the left) when the weather is dry and warm.

Click here to view some of the colorways I am designing.

March Color Swap - Green

For the March colorswap I'm sending to Chris whose blog is www.mama-murphy.blogspot.com and I'm receiving from Sonya - www.intheskeinofthings.blogspot.com

I love green so this will be a fun swap! And we're really having wonderful spring weather here in NC already, so I'm in the mood for springtime colors.

yarn dyeing success!

yarn0307 004
Originally uploaded by whiteoakstudio.

Spent the week working on dyeing every night. I'm surprised I had that much time available... I doubt that will happen often! For the most part, I expect to spend the weekends on it.