Monday, June 30, 2008

WEBS!

God I'm slow at posting to this thing. -_-

Soo... I got to go to Webs on tuesday!!! It was completely amazing. We had an overall fun day but webs was definitely the highlight for me. We walked in and I was like ouuu ok.. yarn store. Nice.. big.. lots of stuff to look at. And then. they took me to the BACK ROOM. The warehouse with boxes upon boxes of fibery goodness. I stopped in the doorway and stared. I had heard about it.. but hearing is one thing and seeing is quite another. Totally overwhelming and utterly fascinating. I wandered around for a while, wishing I had had a larger budget for the day. I'll be saving for my next trip! I purchased one skein of Great Adirondak sock yarn in a gorgeous mostly black with splashes of green purple and blue colorway, and one set of bamboo dpns. I am coveting the Misti Alpaca laceweight I saw and the beautiful shawl they had on display. Something for me to look forward to buying on my next trip.

My goal was to get sock yarn and learn how to knit socks. I see hand knitted socks online and irl and I WANT TO BE A SOCK KNITTER. Hand knitted socks are so pretty and there are so many patterns! DivineBird was patient enough to show me how to start a sock and explain what I needed to do. Dpns aren't as difficult as I thought.. I think it's the bamboo.. less slippery. I've been working on my sock every day and I am now done with the cuff, past the heel, and past the decreases! Just another inch and I think I can staet decreasing for the toe. I'm insanely excited and I want to finish before thursday's SnB so i can show it off. :)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Two more days til I get to go to webs!!! EEEEEEEE!

Ahem.

So what have I been working on?

I started a Round Ripple Afghan to try and use up some of my stash acrylics. I have a ton of Caron Simply Soft, and I'm sure it'll be perfect for a blanket. I'm using my black, and orange, yello wand green in the brites for this afghan and I think I want it to be adult sized. I'm kind of doubtful on the black now that I'm working on it, but I really don't feel like frogging it completely so I will finish it.

Not much else to update on. I had to stop for a while on the afghan since my wrist hurts so maybe I'll get some spinning in while listening to my friends' gamin podcast. ( http://theawesomeapocalypse.com/ )

Friday, June 20, 2008

So.. camping has come and gone.. and look! Survival with no bear encounters. Yaaaaaaay. It was a good time, although it was bloody hot and it rained when we got there. Also, being eaten alive by mosquitoes for 4 days wasn't fantastic either. But it was fun and I got to experience something new, and I got to show how much of a tomboy I am.. haha. Dunno if that's a good thing! I did NOT get any knitting done, for fear of it getting completely dirty. I know I could have just washed it, but I felt it would be safer in my bag. :p

I've actually been able to make it to the last couple of SnB's, which makes me infinitely happy. Been spinning on my spindles, and working on some superwash on my wheel.. and I've started Wisp from knitty.com as my first foray into lace knitting. It seems simple enough, but I'm about 9 rows in and I have to admit, the the mohair yarn is kiiiiiiiilling me. It's so fine and.. fuzzy. I am going to plow through it a bit more and see if it gets any better, if not, I will set it aside and try something else first, returning to it when I feel more confidant and less like throwing it out the window. One of the girls at SnB suggested I start with the Shoalwater Shawl, which can be done with a worsted weight. I think that might be a better option for me at this point. If I don't like it for myself, it wil make a lovely gift for my aunt I think.

AND!
I will be making my FIRST trip to WEBS on tuesday! EEEEEeeeEEEeeeeEEEE! I am sooo excited it's not even funny. I have heard so much about it and how overwhelming it can be.. can't waaaaiiiiiit. And we'll be going to see Aaron do his stand up thing at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield. Should be a good time!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Camping!

Going to Bradford, Maine this weekend with one of my best friends and a whole bunch of other friends. I haven't been camping since I was like 8 so I don't know how I'll fare.. lol I'm convinced I'm going to be completely unprepared. I like the woods and I like hiking and outdoors kinds of things.. but camping? Where there are no toilets or showers?? What's a girl to do? He's been my friend since third grade, so I couldn't say no. I tried and it didn't work.. lol I have been coerced into joining everyone for fun in the woods. Hopefully I won't be eaten by a bear. Or a moose. Or something of a fierce and angry nature. At least I can bring my knitting and get something done. Maybe with some shiny yarn so if anything chases me I can throw it and distract them. Ha!

Wish me luck!

Monday, June 02, 2008

SnB and spinning

I actually made it to SnB on saturday! Can you believe it? I'm still in shock about it, especially since I haven't been able to go since roughly december. Work keeps me too late on thursdays and I don't have sat off so I usually can't make it. Or if I can, I would only get to spend an hour there and the drive there and back is longer than that, so it just isn't a great idea for me to waste all that gas. Especially with it being over $4 a gallon now. UGH. I did bug my manager to let me leave earlier on thurs so I can go, since we hired on an extra person and school is over, so the people that would normally leave early won't have to and give me a chance! And I digress.. lol

Anyways.. I had a lot of fun and it was so great to see everyone again and meet new people. I love knitters/crocheters/spinners. They are an awesome bunch of people. And it was the first time I had ever been to It's a Grind. It was such a cute little coffee house, even though I think the coffee was a bit overpriced. At least it was yummy. And I got to work on a simple seed stitch scarf that I've been working on for what seems like forever... I'm finally making some progress on it. I'm knitting it with Paton's Soy Wool Stripes, which I LOVE because of the pretty color changes that appear as you knit. I'm hoping to gift it to a friend, but I'm not sure anymore if she will like the colors... we'll see.

I also got to get some spinning in this weekend while at the bf's place. I love that he's not horrified by my spinning/knitting or whatever, but instead finds it endearing and actually looks interested and asks questions. It's a nice change.. lol Sometimes he even asks if he can help spin, which means he wants to give the spindle a twirl every once in a while, which I find adorable. I figure a few more times and I'll see if I can get him to actually take the spindle itself and try drafting. Muahahaha.. we'll make a spinner out of him.. ehehehee I am absolutely in love with my turkish spindle, and I actually want another one.. perhaps a smaller one. It spins so beautifully and I love the novelty of having a nice neat center pull ball when I'm done.

Which reminds me that I have a little ball that is calling to me to come ply it. I want to see how what I'm spinning will look as a two ply and I am way too impatient to spin up another ball and ply those together.. so i guess I'll end up with at least one teeny skein. Oh wellz. I better go get on that while I have Family Guy to entertain me.