Our Trip To Massachusetts -- The Yarn Edition

I squeezed in two (count 'em, two!) trips to Webs this time. They were having their tent sale Saturday and Sunday and we made a quick stop there on Saturday when we drove into town. I wasn't really planning to get anything at the tent sale...I had other ideas. But we'll see how that plan held up.

What I made a beeline for was the Kureyon that was included in the May Sale, which was also going on. There were about 8 shelves of both full bags and loose skeins of Kureyon and I knew it was going to take some time to pick the color I wanted. Another woman and I had a little conversation about the colors as we both held up skeins and bags full of skeins. Finally she said, "You know, you keep picking up different skeins of this one colorway." And she was right. Oh, there were other skeins I picked up and look at, but this is the one that I kept coming back to...and that came home with me. Enough for a sweater from the Knit Noro book.

But I couldn't leave without at least looking at the Tent Sale, could I? And I came away with another sweater's worth (though I have no idea what sweater it'll be) of Elsbeth Lavold's Baby Llama.

Here's a better picture of the color.

Wish you could feel how soft this is!

Also on that day I grabbed two skeins of sock yarn that were on sale...the top one and middle one in this picture.

The second time we stopped at Webs was on Tuesday. We were in Northampton for the afternoon and we driving out about 5:00 when I asked Mr. Pointy Sticks if we could stop just one more time. They were closing at 5:30, so I couldn't take a lot of time. But I got the sock yarn at the bottom of the picture above. Don't know how I missed it on Saturday...actually, yes I do. There was another woman at the shelf at the same time and I couldn't see around her.

Look at the close-up. It's like an all-day sucker!

I also grabbed two skeins of Silk Garden (on sale) and a skein of the Kangaroo Dyer yarn I had been fondling on Saturday.

So I guess I'd better get knitting. And I have been doing just that.

I finished my Jellybean socks when I was up there.

Why, yes, I do have pajamas with sock monkeys on them.

And I started another pair of socks I am calling my Fiesta socks.

I couldn't decide what to do on the cuff (I am a big fan of stockinette feet on socks...they go fast...but I do like a little interest on the cuffs) but finally decided to do a very simple lace rib. You can just see the start of the cuff here. As well as some delicious carrot cake that Mr. Pointy Sticks and I shared at La Fiorentina Pastry Shop in Northampton.

Somewhere in Connecticut (I think it was) I finished the first sock.

And immediately started the second.

I love the braided look of the toe, which I first did, by accident, on the Jellybean socks. One is supposed to do one's little magic cast-on and then knit the stitches on the first needle, then knit-through-the-back-loop on the second needle. Well, I reversed that and did the through-the-back-loop on the first needle and then knit the stitches on the second needle. And got this neat looking braided effect. I liked it well enough that I did it again here.

Later (or tomorrow)...scenery! cats! fog!

We Are Back...With Wool!

Mr. Pointy Sticks and I are back from a visit with the Daughter and her various side-kicks. There will be a longer post about our trip later but for now...

You may remember that I was excited to take the fiber up to Morgan. What I didn't know was that there was excitement in Amherst, too, because Morgan had a present for me! So on Saturday, when we went into Rachel and Andrew's house, Morgan was there and I gave her her fiber and a magazine that I had bought but realized was really more for a spinner. And she gave me this:


Handspun Blue-faced Leicester in such beautiful colors. And I have long coveted yarn with this sort of peppermint-stick striping. I just love it and need to find a pattern worthy of its drool-worthy qualities. Or I may just unwrap the skein and wear it around my neck like a necklace. It's more than soft enough to do that.

I really do sort of hate to think of using it up.

Later (or tomorrow) -- Views from Mt. Holyoke! Cats! Yarn! Cats! Socks! Pretty flowers! Bridges! And cats!

You Know What This Is?

This is a big ole bag of happy, that's what this is! Yep, this weekend is the Maryland Sheep and Wool Show and that's where Mr. Pointy Sticks and I spent our morning. It's not really Mr. Pointy Sticks' thing but this year we got smart. We took two folding chairs and he took a book and some crossword puzzles and he would settle down in a shady spot and I would run around in the area and then come back to him and sit for a bit and then we'd move the chairs. He was very patient...it was my Mother's Day present.

Ah, I love the colors...look at these:



Not only were there pretty colors, there were pretty sheep.

Ram!

Ewe! This one is a Tunis sheep...originally the breed was from Tunisia. They have lovely red fleece.

This ewe was a sweetheart. She loved having her head skritched...she was leaning hard into the hand of the person giving her skritches and almost seemed to be smiling. Her front feet were on a bale of hay so that she could see over the railing and you could see her checking people out as they came close.

I am really disappointed because I didn't get a picture of a delightful pair of sheep, black and white, in a pen together, that were adorable...very outgoing and friendly, wanting their heads patted and just being so sweet. (Generally the sheep just ignore you or skitter to the far side of the pen.) When we gave them scratches, they closed their eyes and if they'd been cats, they would have been purring up a storm.

So what did I bring home? Well, unfortunately not a sheep. But some other nice things.

My first stop was at the booth of Creatively Dyed. Diane dyes the most gorgeous yarns.

From left to right: Calypso Queen in Koskelle, Steele in Heat, Beaches in North Beach and Sami in Visionary. So pretty.

I also bought some buttons:
The top two came from a booth in the Main Hall...and darn it, I can't remember the name and the little bag the buttons came in isn't marked with a name. They had gorgeous buttons, though. Lots of beautiful shell buttons and such.

Look at the back of the sleeping cat...

Even the little feet have been carved.

The ceramic button was an imperfect one (little chip on the back) and I bought it because it was pretty but also so that I would remember the name of the dealer, who had lovely ceramic buttons. She had some adorable polka-dotted ones that would be so cute on a Baby Surprise Jacket.

Then I happened to walk by the booth of The Fold and, lo and behold, there was no line either to look at or purchase the Socks That Rock yarn that they bring to the Show. So I wandered in and, a short time later, wandered out with these:

From left to right: Bag Lady, Sassafras, and Storey-time. Very soft and very pretty. A woman standing to my right saw the Bag Lady and said, "Oh, I've used that one. It works up so nicely." And about 2 seconds later, the woman on my left pointed to the Bag Lady and said, "Oooh, I love that one. What's it called? Where'd you find it?"

I also bought a little present for our friend Morgan, who's taken a spinning class. I'll be taking it up to her soon. Shall we just have a little peek?

What? One more little peek?


And on the way out Mr. Pointy Sticks bought me one other little Mother's Day present.

A little silver ball of yarn necklace. That Mr. Pointy Sticks is such a sweetie.

Sigh. Such a good day.

Sure, NOW I Remember My Camera...

Mr. Pointy Sticks had to go to the mall this morning to get a couple new shirts for work. And, while I loathe the mall, I went along because (a) I like spending time with him and (b) I thought I might find a pretty top or two for spring. And I have to say, this trip wasn't too horrid...perhaps because we got there early. While Mr. Pointy Sticks wandered around choosing his boring blue shirts, I amused myself by taking pictures. I loved the tie displays...all those colors!

I actually love the colors in the tie that you see the most of here. I thought it was really pretty. and look at all the yellow!

And look at these pretty blues and greens...

It's almost enough to make one contemplate wearing a tie.

I tried to help by pointing out all the pretty shirts to Mr. Pointy Sticks..."How about this green one?"

...but he stuck with blue Oxford cloth and a simple stripe.

I kind of want the job of wandering around and matching up ties to shirts on display. I thought some of the matches were pretty horrid, although some were striking.

Went into Christopher & Banks (which I always want to call Christopher Banks) and got a couple cute spring tops...only $17 each, so that was gratifying. Then we went to Nordstrom Rack and I spent too much on a hair clip for Rachel and some earrings for me. (I do love earrings.)

But hey, I was going to show you yarn. Here's what I got at Webs last weekend.

The book below has the Abigail sweater I liked on the cover. It's knit from a rustic looking sort of yarn, but I choose the now discontinued Pure Merino in the Glacier color.

It's a yummy smooth yarn and I don't know why they discontinued it, but it's all savings to me, as Webs has it for cheap, cheap, cheap. I was torn as to color. Before I got to Webs I was looking at it on line. I really liked the Ballerina and the Wisteria. But in person, the Ballerina was a little more bubble gum and the Wisteria was purpley. You can see that the color of the Glacier is really washed out on the website. Although it's a little paler than what shows up in the picture above, I think. Anyway, it's a pretty color.

And here's the newest sock yarn.

I love the little blue specks in the Maxime, which came from the Grampa's Garage section on Webs and was extremely cheap. And the one in front is from the Flower Color line and it really does have all the colors of a flower garden in it. I think all the colors are pretty in this line, though.

So there you have it...some pictures at last.

Haven Kimmel isn't letting me down.

No cousinly scarf knitting at work today. I grabbed the scarf and the yarn this morning but somehow left one of the needles behind. I did discover that I had a pair of 7's and a pair of 9's and a pair of 4's in my bag...but no 6's. Guess that means that I might be able to finish my daughter's socks. (Update: All I have to do is Kitchener the second toe! I should be able to make myself to that tonight.)

There will be some pictures here later, I think. If I didn't have to work, I could picturate my blog all morning. But I do want to put up some pictures of some yummy yarn I got recently.

And perhaps the glowing orange yarn that Mr. Pointy Sticks unearthed yesterday, as promised.

Later - So, here it is, several hours later and the sun is over the yard arm. I think we can indulge in a little glass of yarn. Here....I poured three. This is lovely merino sock yarn from Handspun and Dyed Too on Etsy. Such yummy colors.


And you want to see the yarn that was found last night? (And didn't even know it was lost?) Here you go. I still have no idea what I was planning for this. I guess if I used all ten I could do a sweater for myself. (Heavens knows what the neighbors think when I'm out there on the front porch, shooting weird yarn pictures!)















What's that you say? You'd like one more glass....well, okay.



I must be in a thoroughly orange mood.

Currently Reading

I started The Used World last night and stayed up too late reading. It's a good antidote to the Ann Packer, which gets worse the more I think about it. I mean, I didn't much care for either of the main characters ("I'm Liz. I paint furniture! I'm a terrible mother. Feel my guilt!" "I'm Sarabeth. My mother killed herself. I have affairs with married men! I make lampshades. I'm quirky!") but, even more to the point, you didn't get any sense of why these two liked each other. Or even that they really did.

Houston, Perhaps We Have A Problem...

This afternoon Mr. Pointy Sticks was tidying up in our computer-room-slash-office and found a carton of yarn. Oh, not a large carton...but still, a whole box. Six skeins of Handpainted.com yarn in a gorgeous rich orange and two in a pretty orange-ish red. I have no memory of buying them...no idea what I had in mind for them. But there they are. Huh. But they sure are nice. So...1300 yards of orange and about 430 of red. This will require some cogitation.

Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture of this yarn on our Front Porch of Photography. Then everyone can bask in the orange-y splendor.

Currently Reading

Well, I just finished Ann Packer's Songs Without Words and I gotta say, "Eh." I remember liking The Dive From Claussen's Pier a lot. (I wonder if I still would if I read it today.) Okay, part of the problem might be that I've had a sort of niggley headache all day...but jeez, these characters just think too much. And analyze and fret and then think some more. So, color me disappointed. Of course, you notice I managed to read the entire thing in a day and a half. So I guess it wasn't too awful. But still, all that thinking.

Next off the stack will be, I think Haven Kimmel's The Used World. I've liked all of her books so far, so I have high hopes for this one.

Happy Birthday, Black Sheep!

Today was the Black Sheep's (Cockeysville, MD) Grand Opening Sale! I took some pictures of pretty things inside but forgot (duh) to take a picture of the outside of the shop. The place was packed, which I was very happy to see. I want this place to be a roaring success. Not just because I love it and want to have a really nice, close-by yarn store, but because Tracy and Joyce, the owners, are simply delightful and I want them to succeed.

This is a little shot inside one of the two the front front windows. They have these lovely needles with pretty flower ends and each pair rests in its own little vase on the window sill.

















Here are baskets of Malabrigo...all they need is a cat to snuggle in them. Well, perhaps not. But I'd like to snuggle in them.



And look, I took a shot of the Wall O'Amity. Look at all those yummy colors. Doesn't it make you want to knit blankets?

Did I come home with anything, you ask? Silly question.

















From left to right in the front of the picture.....two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Tuscany. They just looked so nicely autumnal. And four skeins of Mirasol's Hacho in two different colorways to do that two-color feather and fan scarf that everyone in the world seems to be doing. Yummy colors. I fell in love with the more orange-y one and had to come up with some idea for it, because I just had to have it. (This Mirasol line is from Peru and a portion of the sales go to help fund a school in a poor district of Peru. So I can indulge my yarn itch and feel a little glow of helping someone, too.) These skeins are merino wool, with a delightful softness and squoosh. There is another yarn in the line that is 100 percent baby llama. Ai yi yi, is that stuff wonderful! One of the softest yarns I've ever had my mitts on. And the prices aren't bad...these skeins have 137 yards and were $7.95. And, back to the picture, in the back are two more skeins of Kureyon, which I am slowly collecting for a Lizard Ridge.

Many happy returns of the day, Black Sheep!

Currently Reading

I have just finished Borkmann's Point. Pretty good police procedural set in Sweden. I did realize who the murderer was before the reveal, which always makes me feel smart. Now, on to Ann Packer!