Think of it as practice.

So, Poem-Man and I were out on our Connecticut theater-food-and-leaves annual Combus Day Weekend jaunt. A great play at Yale Repertory Theater and Indian food in New Haven. Then a lovely autumn morning stroll, pizza lunch, and drive to Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, when we practically crashed into this sign:



WHAAAATTT?

"Honey, can we stop here?" says ewephoric.
"Yes, *secret nickname here,* we can stop," defers Poem-Man.

Then I parked the car, and saw this:



Poem-Man in his talk ewephoric down off the ceiling voice: "May I remind you that you are going to Rhinebeck next weekend?"
ewephoric, sheepish- and peevishly, "I know, I know."

But then inside, this:



Well, what is a girl to do? Connecticut Yarn and Wool is a lovely shop with Carol-dyed (ok, that's the dyer who I met at the store) beautiful yarns that I've never seen anywhere. 4 rooms and a porch full of lovely yarns. And it was all 30% off. Rhinebeck-Shminebeck. Smash the Stash. i bought some yarn:





And some undyed sock yarn that I want to dye up in "Autumn Leaves" colors and will show later.

I think of it as practicing for fondling, considering, and buying yarn at Rhinebeck. I want to be a pro, right?

Oh, and "Big River" at the Goodspeed was almost as good as the scenery outside the opera house.



BTW, I HAVE been knitting even though I haven't been blogging. Darn that day job of teaching--actually I'm grateful that I have the job and love it so much in these uncertain times!

Got Koigu?

I was on my beach vacation, blithely walking off the boardwalk into town, and ran into a LYS that was going out of business. Everything was 75% off. Did you read that? 75% off. Needles, some skeins of yarns, patterns, everything. I picked out some Cascade Tweed in a chunky weight (was going to be $3/skein) and some Addi Turbo lace needles, and a couple of patterns. But I didn't have any money with me, and by the time I found my wallet--I mean, my husband--someone else had taken the yarn and Addis that I had piled up next to the register and paid for them and left. DAMN.

Well, there were a couple of patterns and another Addi Turbo circular needle that were still left behind, so I went to buy those. Then I saw that buttons were also 75% off, so I bought three sets of buttons for some imaginary future projects . I also found a lone skein of Austermann sport-weight sock yarn with the jojoba and and aloe vera in it, so I bought that, too. My total came to $21.76! WOO HOO! A few reasonable purchases for the practically the price of ONE Addi Turbo circular. God love Delaware for having no sales tax, too!

Then I saw it. SHOOT. An entire KOIGU kit for 50% off. I wouldn't be caught dead in the mitered mishmash of a tunic that the kit would allow one to make, but what was in the kit was 2 skeins of ELEVEN colorways at about 50% off what one might normally pay and without sales tax. Oh help me, I bought it. How could I not, right?

22 skeins of KOIGU KPPPM in 11 colorways.

OmigGAWD! What have I done? What am I gonna do with all this? I spent like 10 hours on Ravelry trying to figure out what to do. Babette? Too many variegated skeins, but I would consider it if someone traded me a few solids for some of the variegated. A Charlotte's Web Shawl? Maybe. Socks. I guess--the one pair I made got holes in them, but at this price I paid for this Koigu, I won't be so upset about it. And I hate the mitered square things in this yarn.

Would you give me some advice? I know. I know. I'll give the Koigu to you if I have to...

La-dee-DYE-dee-dah!

Thanks to my dumplin'-lovin,"sure-we-can-do-that" sayin, knittin' Asian temptation gal pals Tomo (blogless but charming) and Jane, I was able to make these!

I'm callin' this colorway Summer Fruit. See the peach? It's like the same colors, kinda. Well, with some mango and raspberry influence. My favorite fruits!

These I'm going with Cool Pool as a colorway name. Not that I need colorway names--I doubt I could recreate them or market them!

I love them. The yarns. oh, and Jane and Tomo, too. hee hee...

So, other then Jane and Tomo's guidance and assistance, I was also helped by Knitpicks, smelly-jelly Kool-Aid, and some plain ole food coloring. Have I mentioned that I'm pretty pleased with myself? I had never dyed anything before, but I had a lot of (wet) fun painting these yarns.

I think I've lost control....

When I'm too busy for my own good--even if I'm enjoying the business--things get a little out of control. I'm sure many share of you might recognize these tell tale signs:

The apartment becomes an obstacle course.

Cheetos seem like a reasonable part of a daily meal plan.

The TiVO starts taping ridiculous suggestions like 3 hours of the"HBO on Demand" channel guide.

I want to do nothing but knit.

Instead of doing taxes, I add to the Ravelry queue behemoth.

I break my stash vow.

I begin knitting an entire sweater in sportweight yarn.

I purchase SIX SKEINS (uh, 2790 yards!) of sock yarn to make myself a TUNIC sweater.

It all seems perfectly reasonable, right?

I think it began with my taking 60 high school singers on the road for four days and three nights. Yup-- transporting, feeding, getting them to sleep, and rehearsing and performing with 60 perfectly lovely and imperfectly overly enthusiastic teenagers. It seemed reasonable when I was planning it. In reality, I knitted cabled socks while watching some 40 kids swim in a hotel-(not Olympic-) sized pool and riding a coach bus and watching Monsters, Inc. and Hairspray, the Musical for some 10 hours. The result:

Pattern: Helene Socks

Yarn: Hill Country Yarns Instant Gratification in Russet, stashed November 2007
Yarn Enabler: Hill Country Yarns Sock Club
Knitted on:Size 2 DPNs and Size 2 Knitpicks Harmony circulars.
Time spent knitting when I should have been planning for and more closely chaperoning a lot of kids: 27 days--Jan. 20-Feb. 5, 2008

I HATE DPNs. But I needed size two needles, so I did the first sock on DPNs while waiting for my now-much-loved Harmony circular Size 2s to arrive. And, well, these have an i-cord top and doing a 3-stitch I-cord on DPNs makes WAY more sense than on a circ anyway.

I love this YARN! Sproingy, great color, dense, and the heavier weight on small needles really works for this loose knitter. It shows off this great pattern, too.

I had wanter to start a more mindless project to bring with me on the trip, but because I became obsessed with the Helene socks, I began the Gathered Pullover after the trip ended. The mindless stockinette that comprises 80% of this sweater was a balm to my trip-rattled soul. I coldn't bring myself to really do a swatch, so I just did a sleeve as a swatch, ala Elizimmerman, and it worked out. Because I had fallen in love with I-cord as an edging for the socks, I decided to go with I-cord for the pullover too instead of the rolling stockinette edge. Anyway, here's a picture. Too boring for words.

Oh, and that sockweight tunic extravanganza? Check it out: Abotanicity.
Knit in Trekking Sock yarn. How much yarn for my size? 6 FREAKIN' skeins. Luckily (or unluckily), Webs has a sock yarn close-out of Online Supersocke. It arrived today.

Do I still seem reasonable?

Heck...if it looks to be crappy for a sweater, lots of people are going to get purplish striped socks for Christmas. 1/2 a dozen people to be exact.

Fortunately, Unfortunately...the socks edition

Ever read this children's book Fortunately Unfortunately? It begins:

"Fortunately, Ned was invited to a surprise party.
Unfortunately, the party was a thousand miles away.
Fortunately, a friend loaned Ned an airplane.
Unfortunately, the motor exploded.
Fortunately, there was a parachute in the airplane.
Unfortunately, there was a hole in the parachute."


Ok, here's the Ewephoric Socks version:

Fortunately, One very cold post-Thanksgiving Day, Ewephoric had on some beautiful, hand-knit wool socks .(Sub-fortunately, the color was beautiful. Sub-unfortunately, the name of the patterns was, well, unfortunate.)


Unfortunately, These lovely socks had a hole!

Fortunately, Ewephoric remembered she had extra yarn to repair it with since this yarn had been put up in a whoppingly generous skein.

Unfortunately, There are holes EVERYWHERE, and in both socks. Start over from scratch? With yarn that seems a bit fragile?



Fortunately, Poem-man and I spent the day after Thanksgiving in Cold Spring, NY.
Unfortunately, Poem-man got sick of looking at antiques and at the (awfully cold, but beautiful ) view of the Hudson River, and we had to leave.


Fortunately, On the way out of the Main Street are of town we found a YARN STORE!
Knittingsmith
Unfortunately, On the way out of the Main Street are of town we found a YARN STORE!


Fortunately, The store had beautiful yarn and an appropriate sign.

Unfortunately, Knittingsmith had sock yarn.

Fortunately, Ewephoric's stash was full of sock yarn.

Unfortunately, some Paca-Peds in the colorway "Singin' the Blues" made its way into her stash...even after Ewephoric had recently received an installment of sock club yarn.

Fortunately, Ewephoric does not feel compelled to repair the holey socks since she has new yarns to knit with.

Unfortunately, Ewephoric has lost her sock-knitting mojo and keeps turning sock yarn into non-sock accessories, even though she loves to wear hand-knit socks in the cold winter weather.

Oh, well. How will the story end?

Karma bites my AS$.

So it's all karmic (though I'm sure I'm using some lame, unauthentic understanding of Karma).

It goes like this:

I'm sitting at my computer and just randomly go to The Loopy Ewe site because I've been wanting some Wollmeise sock yarn. And YIPPEE! There are some skeins left and in colors that I had scouted out and wanted. And I think, no, really you have 10 yarns in your stash, you're not supposed to buy yarn. Yet, I throw caution to the winds and enter the karmic roller coaster and purchase not one, but two skeins, becoming a yarn pigweena (yes, it's a really word. shut up.)

B) So as to not completely shoot my yarn stash vow all to hell, I madly finish socks for Poem-man so as to be able to cast on something else and thus take a yarn out of my stash. Mind your of course that I'm not supposed to be casting anything on--I'm supposed to be finishing the wedding afghan...

C) Unbeknownst to me, the yarn actually arrives in Brooklyn, but not to my greedy little hands because I'm not home on the first delivery attempt and no delivery notice is left either. But that's okay, more time to swatch and get a little new something on the needles. Excellent.

D) I'm walking the few blocks from the subway to Ms. Allena's B-day party (Most excellent fun). As I'm walking quickly (because I'm late) past this tiny, unassuming thrift store, I look in a bin by the table outside the door and find these: Holy Lutefisk! They looked like some kind of authentic Scandavian knitwear. Way authentic, it turns out.

My take was really two pairs of Selbu Mittens and a pair of slipper/legwarmer/mukluk things. The mittens are totally unworn, as they still have the original tags and are still knotted together. The slippers are barely worn. All this for $9! Apparently the mittens are hand-knit. Beautiful find--though now I'm totally too intimidated to try knitting anything like this myself.

So life is good--knitting is happening, beautiful handknits found on in a thriftstore, and beautiful yarn on its way.

BUT--here's the karmic justice. I have to go to our godforsaken post office to pick up my package. Argh. Poem-man actually goes to the Post Office on Saturday to pick up a package for himself, but neither of us know, because no postal carrier left a notice, that there's a package of yarn love waiting for me. Argh. So today, I head home quickly from work and have about 10 minutes to of parking before my car is not supposed to be in front of the Post Office, but right after I go in the busy, godforsaken Post Office, I see a NYC traffic cop issuing me a freakin' parking ticket because I've actually parked NOT in a parking zone that ends at 4 pm, but in a NO PARKING anytime zone. GREAT FREAKIN' damn-you-karma double ARGH!

But in the end, I get my ticket, get my package, and have the lovely, lovely reward of yarn to assuage my pain. sigh. I take this all as a cautionary tale of what happens to a person when they break their stash vow. Consider yourself warned. The kicker is that the name of the colorway of the really lapis blue yarn is Vergissmeinnicht. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's German for "Forget me Not." damn.

March of Shame Concludes

Yes, I think I may have broken my stash vow. Bottom line, is yes, I've broken my stash vow, but I think I can rationalize/justify/amend my list to make it seems as if perhaps I have not busted the stash vow.

1) I am removing the Lorna's Laces yarn from my stash list because really I have only one skein. Not even enough for a pair of socks. The yarn was supposed to be for mittens, but I made the pink mittens from some leftover other pink yarn, so there--I'm taking it off the list.

2) Ms.-Met-loving knitter Nicole took the "Coral" (uh, I think it's Mets orange) knitpicks sock yarn off my hands for me. Yee ha!

3) I'm not going to Rhinebeck this year because I have to go to a wedding in Chicago that weekend, so no need to save up stash places for then. I did go to WEBS on this trip and may not be going back there soon, so the shopping opportunity was at hand. And I was so absolutely overwhelmed at WEBS that I lost my stash-maintaining mind.

4) I am now maintaining three projects:

a. One smallish project to work on while working out (socks, mittens, hat)

b. a sweater

c. The wedding afghan. (This is really a phantom project.)

YES! I only have nine yarns on my stash list! Let the shopping begin!

See, I am lacking in shame...

To continue from the other day: I finally tore myself away from the sock yarn at WEBS and walked through all the alpaca loveliness, I went back into the crazy holy grail of the WEBS warehouse there Jen had told me the real bargains begin. There are grey shelves after grey shelves full of perfectly good yarn piled in bags and in single skeins on the shelves, but they're not organized by content, brand, or weight, so you just kind of wander through mouth agape and look at anything that catches your eye. Meanwhile, you're surrounded by boxes of non-bargain yarns trapped in boxes waiting for someone to buy them. It's a scene. I went prepared to buy yarn for some sweaters I wanted to make and came up with these purchases:

This was my most reasonable purchase. Exactly the right yarn in the right color for the first project I had listed in my hands, the Swirled Pentagon Pullover (scroll down to the bottom to see it) from Knitting Nature. This Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL is a light worsted in alpaca/wool. Very lovely, straight ahead yarn.

Then there was the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. The color enticed me. The non-heft of this wool/silk blend grabbed me. The feel of the yarn enfolded me. Then I came to my senses and then the price convinced me, even though it wasn't the right thing for the second project I had written on my list. I bought a ton of this yarn--some 2700 yards. It's pretty thin, though. DK at 22/inch. I think I'm going to design a Aran turtleneck pullover for this or admit that I'm not smart enough to figure it out and knit it into the Weekend Pullover.

This is the final purchase I made. As I brought my goodies to the front of the store where Poem-man was napping in a chair listening to Oscar Peterson on his Ipod, I passed the racks of WEBS brand Valley Yarns, and this slight-glossed wool called out to me: "dark purple." "Eggplant." "Aubergine!"

"Grape Jelly!"

and though I had no plan for it, and it was going to push me over my self-imposed stash limit, a sweater's worth of Valley Yarn Colrain came home with me. Enough, I hope, to make the Byzantine Bazic (altered slightly to include set-in sleeves)

Let me note at this time that each of these yarns cost about $3.50/skein. $3.50 for 109 yds of wool/alpaca. $3.50 for 191 yds of wool/silk. $3.50 for 109 yds of wool/tencel. How does that bad commercial go? I'll never pay retail again! Well, probably I will, but cripes, let's just drive to Webs from time to time! Oh, and these yarns are still for sale online at Webs.

Soon, my freedom of summer will end, but I have my stash to keep my warm and busy. Let's take one last longing glance at the spoils of this March of Shame.

Quick! Look over there!

See the pretty flower from the garden at Emily Dickinson's House in Amherst, Massachusetts!

Now look down there--careful it's a bee!

Yes, it's true. I'm just trying to distract you from the fact that I've broken my stash vow and am continuing on my March of Shame. We've already passed the first checkpoint at Green Mountain Spinnery. The second and most lethal part of the March continues at WEBS, where I first encountered the sock yarn display...

They had lots and lots of stuff, but I was in search of one thing (which became two purchases...). I passed up the Trekking and the Kaffe Fasset and the hand-dyed house brand and finally found a few remaining colors of Shibui Sock Yarn. Woo hoo!

Details of the yarn are over there to your right in my stash list. This is lovely, lovely, stuff. 100% superwash merino but with a little more inherent strength to it (or so it seems to me) that others like it! Of course, I broke my rule that says no 100% merino socks because holes emerge pretty quickly, but the saturated colors and the feel of the yarn made me go against my better judgement. I did buy some reinforcing yarn to do the toes and heels. Look what I got's going on here! These are socks for Poem-man in the Diagonal Rib pattern. (The color variation in the toes is from the reinforcing thread.)

The other color is for me. I wanted a change from all the multicolored hand-dyed yarns I've been using. These might become Poseidon socks or Whitbys or (insert suggestion here)?

Anyway, that's the yarn from the front of the Webs store stop. After walking around totally overwhelmed by all the yarns in the front, I went back into the really major sales in the warehouse. omigod. But that's for another day.

In the meantime, the wedding afghan is further along and, well--

How is this and this going to become that (which is a gift for my mother?)

Walk of shame!

I may have broken my stash vow. duh.

I had a wonderful time yarn gazing at Green Mountain Spinnery. GPS was really tiny and felt like some artisanal kind of place, and a really nice woman named Em helped me out while I was there. It was a great chance to handle and see all of their yarns that I had read about, and it seemed that if I didn't buy it straight from there, I would be cheating somehow. (On the other hand, I didn't know that they carry the yarn at Webs, which was my next stop and at a 20% discount. Eek. But, it's the difference between buying at an independent bookstore vs. some Amazon/Walmart kind of place, yes?) Here's my purchase from there: 7 skeins of "Sylvan Spirit" (50% wool/tencel) in Amethyst, intended for Cinxia.

After about 45 minutes at GPS, Poem-man and I had a lovely lunch in Putney at Front Porch Cafe, which Em had recommended. Both the cafe and GPS would be worth another visit!

Back in the car we got and made our way to Webs, a mere 1.5 hours or so from Putney. I should have known what I was in for when the car we parked next to contained two teenage boys totally reclined in the seats playing hand-held video games and the car parked behind us had a sleeping man at the wheel. Poem-man was like, "wait, let me make sure I have my Ipod and my book." I walked in to Webs with a plan. whatever. but that's a story for another day.

Actual Yarn Love.

I'd been complaining and complaining that I hadn't found any yarn worthy of the FOUR empty places on my yarn stash. I'd been shopping online and even tried to buy yarn at Purl Soho when I visited with the the funsters: the Tawana, Nicole, and Allena. Alas and alack they did not have enough of the O-Wool balance in the color I wanted for Cinxia. DRAT. I waited in vain for Wollmeise to come up on Loopy Ewe only to have it come up and disappear in the wee hours of the morning when people should be sleeping not stalking yarn. Whatever. But then, I found some LOVE from my friends at woolgirl.com. Actual Yarn Love.

The colors are so appealing to me, though I've begun to doubt my color sense. Poem-man even thought both colors masculine enough for socks for him. WHAT???? Maybe he can have the blue colorway... The rose-ish one is a wool-nylon blend and the bluish one is merino-tencel. Never tried the tencel before, so I'm pretty excited to cast on!

Of course, first I need to finish the Ambrosia Socks. I had a 24-hour setback because the first time I completed the heel on both socks and had worked my way onto the legs, I tried them on and thought, "Gosh, these heels seeme loose and bulbuous." Yeah, well, they were because I hadn't slipped the stitches on the hell flap--I had 34 stitches of plain ole stockinette on the heel. Quel stupidity. Anyway, I ripped out and re-knit and NOW I'm on the final stretch. Of course, this is Brooklyn Handspun, so there's like 3 billion yards, and I hate left-over yarn, so I may be knitting hip-length waders.

Oh, I got some other goodies from woolgirl
as well!

Cute, really TINY penguin stitch markers. (See the penny for scale.) And this funny String Warrior girl. I got her as a reward for trying to do yoga again.


In the meantime, the wedding afghan moves glacier-like to completion.

Time elapsed: 18 days

S & C's Wedding Day: -4 days.

Repeats Completed: 4.5

Skeins knitted: 9.5 of 26.

Length: 20.5 inches

Hence: Do you think I could knit it during the actual ceremony and reception?