Color Me Blushing

Yesterday I showed you the pretty pink sock I had started and mentioned the 2-At-A-Time-Socks book. La, la. And then, later in the evening, I got a comment from someone named Melissa -- assuring me that I'd catch on to the cables quickly. "How nice," I thought, "a new reader...or at least, a new commenter." And I replied to her comment.

And then I thought, "Hmmm....her name is Melissa. The author of the book is Melissa. That's a coincidence...or is it?" And I checked and she's the author of the book! I had a celebrity visitor! How cool is that!! I was/am thrilled. (It's a really nice book, too. Even if you aren't sure you want to mess with two socks at a time, there are some wonderful patterns. I can't wait to try Belle Epoque.)

But really I came here to write about the wonderful evening Rachel and I had up at The Black Sheep yesterday. (I really should learn to take my camera everywhere with me, you know?)

We went up to find yarn for Rachel to use to make another scarf for a professor. The girl has champagne tastes, I'm afraid. And so does her mother...a case of the apple not falling far from the tree. She doesn't, however, have an income yet. That's a downside...for her mother.

Anyway, we got up to the shop in the late afternoon and there was a saleswoman there, showing Tracy and Joyce her lines...and they were gorgeous! And Tracy and Joyce even let Rachel and me help choose some colors! So much fun! There was one Farmhouse yarn called Lumpy Bumpy...so many pretty colors! This is a yarn texture that doesn't really appeal to me...but I do like the way it looks knit up. My neighbor Maureen made a simple cardigan sweater out of this yarn and it looks dynamite. They are going to order the color that Rachel liked - a pretty sagey, grayey blue that I don't see on the page linked above. And eight other colors, including a luscious raspberry.

And then she brought out the Pagewood Farms Sock yarn. Oh. My. God. So covetable. They have a sock yarn that is a cashmere blend....incredibly soft and pettable. And one that's Blue-faced Leicester. And one that's wool and bamboo. And oh my, the colors! All of them completely drool-worthy. The sales rep had a long strip of knitting that was made up of sections of each color...each one prettier than the last. We had more fun sorting along this strip and choosing a red-dish selection, a green one, something in the brown family, some blues. Man, I can't wait until these yarns come in. I special-ordered a skein of the cashmere blend in Denim blues for Rachel...and I'll definitely be picking up something for me, too. Oooh, perhaps the green one...Ireland. Or Mississippi Mud, a coppery brown with other colored flecks. Yummy. I swear, yarn fumes just go right to my head.

Then we came home and I tried to show Rachel how to knit up a scarf with two colors in side-by-side strips. Intarsia, basically. But I am a lousy teacher and we were both tired and we were trying to watch House...so the tiny beginning we had got ripped. We can try again this afternoon or come up with some other ideas.

Oh, and the yarn Rachel chose for this scarf...Sublime. I tell you...champagne tastes. At least I talked her down from the $95 cashmere scarf kit.

Whew! Long day, but fun.