look who showed up early

The blank yarn is here already!


I should have added the cat to the picture for scale--this is a lot of yarn. It barely fit in my car. I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

finally reskeining

Before I went to New Hampshire, I dyed the last of the blank sock yarn I had in stock. More is on the way, and it can't come soon enough.


I think this is the best batch I've done yet. Every time I look at these hanks, I'm filled with joy. And they're very soft and springy. I gave them a second washing to make sure the reds wouldn't bleed, and they fluffed right up. Apparently I didn't wash the earlier batches thoroughly enough to get all the mill oil out--these feel ten times nicer.
Most of this yarn will be going to Yarny Goodness--I'm very excited that she wants to carry my yarn. But it can't go until I reskein it!
Meanwhile, here's a preview of a couple that will be on my Etsy site soon.



If I could knit fast enough, I'd keep them all! I love this job!

still biking

I feel like the guy in that song "The Distance"--the race is long over, and he's still pointlessly driving around the race course.

The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
And long ago somebody left with the cup
But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns

I never got that song--why didn't that dude just go home? I guess there's some metaphorical thing about relationships in there that I'm missing. But anyway, the Tour de Fleece isn't really a race, and I want this yarn! So I continue even though the race is over.


I was sure I'd finish last night, but still not. It was so great to be reunited with my spinning wheel--when I started, I had this rush of zen and bliss. But as I kept spinning and spinning and not finishing, I started getting really tired, and I still had to balance the checkbook and do the bills. I can't believe how long this is taking, but I finally stopped in the middle of plying. It just wasn't fun any more, and I really needed to get to work so I could go to bed.
And I was so sure the Yarn Harlot would join me in failing--who the heck can spin more than three pounds of fleece in a few weeks? But she did. Go her--it really is an impressive accomplishment. Meanwhile I'm still struggling with my two ounces. On the other hand, she actually injured herself, and it doesn't sound like she had a lot of fun. That's exactly the sort of lunatic die-hard mentality I'm trying to train myself out of for all situations in which it's not absolutely crucial. So let's all chill and just try to make nice yarn for fun and be happy. That's my goal from now on.

the friendly skies--yeah right

So I'm back home, back to work, doing my usual thing. The trip home was pretty rough, coming to a grand total of 14.5 hours in airports and planes, at least two of which involved involuntary subjection to very catchy, very annoying elevator music while pointlessly sitting in a broken plane at the gate. That plus a thunderstorm plus very rude airline employees plus Dunkin' Donuts being out of milk and cheese and biscuits plus not packing enough yarn or library books in my carry-on... let me tell you, I went from grumpy to surly to downright hostile as the day went on.
Luckily, I did mail all the yarn to myself instead of attempting some kind of baggage heroics involving a carry-on and a "personal item" crammed full of yarn. Schlepping all that through airports for 14 hours would have been hideous. However, unluckily, I didn't save a skein of it for my carry-on just in case I ran out of my travel project, which I did about halfway through the day. The bad news: I was miserable. Too bored to sit still, too tired to keep pacing around for all those hours, and too fidgety and pissed off to find any of the books in the airport bookstore appealing enough to buy. The good news: I finished my shawl!


This is the one I made out of my own Sock Pairs Bamboo Blend, the very first skein of it that I fell in love with and tangled up into a miserable twisted mess in the middle of the night a month or two ago. The skein that reduced me to tears is now a beautiful shawl. You can see the colors better in this one:


I think I'm just going to keep this one. It's warm but doesn't take up a lot of space, and it's pretty. And the yarn was my first baby, after all.
I also finished the Acero shawl while I was in Manchester, and not a moment too soon--I was freezing between the excessive air conditioning and the rain. As soon as I finished it, I put it on. I'll have to show you pictures of that one later, though--it's in the mail with the new yarn right now, and I didn't have my lovely model with me in New Hampshire, so I had to photograph it on myself.


And the other pictures were worse! Maybe I'm a vampire.

last day of the conference

The Knit and Crochet Show rocked. Saturday was the last day I was there, and it was a great day. I had a class with The Crochet Dude, who tells some funny stories in person. I also got to meet Jess and Casey of Ravelry!


Well, that's actually overstating the case a bit. I went to their table, got a button, took a picture, suddenly got shy, couldn't think of anything to say, and slunk off.
Despite having bought too much yarn to fit in my suitcase (I ended up shipping it back per Jaspher's brilliant suggestion), I had to make a pilgrimage to Manchester's local yarn shop, Pearl's Yarns, which was only a few blocks from the conference hotel.


It's a nice little shop with tons of gorgeous yarn and also a lot of finished objects. I really like that in a yarn shop--I love looking at other people's creations, especially when they're unique things, not just standard sample garments. The shop had a homey, friendly feel--very nice.
Having just shipped a box of yarn to myself earlier that morning, I did manage to restrain myself and didn't buy anything, although there were certainly candidates. Altogether, quite a satisfactory day.

Dudes. The yarn.

Today I was scheduled for an all-day class about re-creating your favorite top in crochet. It was the only class I signed up for that actually involved making something, although it was still pretty heavy on the design. Anyway, I was looking forward to it, especially after having taken another class from the same instructor last night. Her name is Dora Ohrenstein, and she's the force behind Crochet Insider. She's very cool and friendly, and she told a lot of great stories. Also I've had a project brewing with that purple SWTC Bamboo for months now; I was hoping this class would help me get it together. Unfortunately, Dora was sick today, so our class was canceled.
I remember as a college student being thrilled whenever class was canceled, even if it was a class I liked. Well, not much has changed since then. As much as I was really looking forward to that class, I was thrilled to have a day off just to goof around (like I should have scheduled for myself but didn't). I arranged for a refund of today's class fees and embraced the day.
First of all, it was sunny for the first time since I got here, and I really like this town. I finally feel like I'm on vacation.


Better yet, the market was open for the first time today.


It's basically impossible to capture the total awesomeness of the market in one picture.


These cool ladies are knitting with enormous knitting needles. Some of their crazy huge projects are around them in their booth.
All in all, I made one lap around to get an idea of what was there. It was great to be able to get there right when they opened--everyone else was in class. Then I started picking up the best deals and the most irresistable yarns. I ended up with a really excessive but glorious collection.


I foresee packing difficulty, but how could I pass any of this up? I got the whole collection for less than $100 total. I feel like the queen of shopping. The yarns on the left are all Cherry Tree Hill in one form or another: some is Wool in the Woods yarn handpainted by Cherry Tree Hill, and the rest is Cherry Tree Hill mill ends, all gorgeous, all outrageously good deals from Discontinued Brand Name Yarn. On the right, clockwise from the Cherry Tree Hill, is three balls of Nashua Painted Forest (100% wool), a one-of-a-kind mixed yarn skein from ValKnitz, five balls of Gedifra Trendy Tweed, and a gorgeous skein of rayon, I believe hand-painted, from The Fiber Studio. I can't tell on my teeny screen whether the photo does it justice; maybe some close-ups tomorrow.
They had a lunch vendor in the market area, and there was a fashion show early in the afternoon. Between those things, shopping for yarn, and just observing booth design and traffic, I was there for four blissful hours. After that, I was too laden with yarn to walk to Ben & Jerry's, so I came back to the hotel. Now I may take a nap. (The hot tub is still broken--grr!) This is one of the best days ever.

free yarn in the end zone--go team go!

As promised, here are my goodies from yesterday.

From Lion Brand, a very large tote bag, three skeins of Vanna's Choice (I love this color, which is called Eggplant), a very nice book about bags to make, a tiny (in my world) crochet hook, and other assorted small things.


From Coats & Clark, Red Heart Soft, Designer Sport, Luster Sheen, and Creme de la Creme yarns. I had never heard of any of these except Red Heart Soft, but apparently Luster Sheen is a big fave among crocheters who have been around awhile. The Creme de la Creme is a very nice, very soft cotton. They also gave me a tunisian crochet hook, some size 13 knitting needles, and many small pattern leaflets and things.


This was my door prize: a whole collection of booklets. To my surprise, I think Throws to warm you is my favorite--I'm usually not a fan of the crocheted afghan patterns that you see published in most books and magazines, but these look very nice. Four of the patterns are basically variations on the ripple, which normally I despise wholeheartedly, but I like three of the four. The other two patterns are granny square variations, which I'm also not a fan of in its stereotypical execution, but in this case, one has such garish colors that it's just this side of the order between compelling and godawful, and the other has a cool pinwheel motif going. There is some use of novelty yarns that even as one of the few remaining fans of novelty yarns I can't wholeheartedly endorse. Still, some nice stuff.
Another surprise is Beautiful Borders Baby Blankets, also not my usual cup of tea, but these baby blankets really do exhibit some unusual attention to detail, use of color, and beauty. (The one on the cover is not representative--the others are all way more interesting and colorful.) I just realized what sets these apart from most baby blankets: every last one of them is for skill level "Experienced." No wonder they're so visually appealing--they really are unusually complex, especially for baby blankets.
Also in the collection are:

• Cute Little Animals, which, as advertised, are very cute. I should try this some day, although I don't see it happening any time soon.
  
• Classic Bookmarks, nice but not my thing.
  
• iCrochet, a book of sweaters. I was very surprised when this one turned out not to be my favorite of the bunch. I like sweaters, and I like the ideas behind these sweaters, but somehow the execution just misses me. They all seem really bulky and heavy. They all use worsted or heavier weight yarns, and I think that's why. One of the instructors I had today emphasized very strongly that garments, especially for larger sizes, are best made of sport weight or finer yarn, and these patterns definitely support that statement.
  

Overall, it's an interesting collection of things I would not have picked out for myself. It will be interesting to see how they expand my horizons.