Friday, October 06, 2006

2 Down!

Well, Hallowig hasn't been touched, but I did manage to knit the skein of Burly Spun into a hat & scarf! No left overs! Yeah! The scarf is short and will probably turn out wobbly when it dries, right now it's blocking on my bedroom rug. I've decided that I'm going to try to wear scarves as long as possible before I need to wear a winter coat again. I want to make a cabled light weight scarf from the Cash Iroha I got this week... I need to come up with a pattern for the cable stitches, though.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Super-Binge!

Today I had a chance to go to the yarn shop I don't get to often because it's a hassle to get to, being downtown where you have to park in a ramp garage a block away and walk thru deserted buildings to get there. But they have an incredible selection of yarns, so I brave it about every 6 weeks or so.

Well, I went for a skein of Brown Sheep Burly Spun yarn to make the Valery hat from Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron. I ended up browsing the clearance section in the back of the store first, since I knew exactly what I wanted & where it was, I wasn't in a rush for the Burly Spun. What I found in the clearance section floored me. All their Noro was like half price, and a lot of the Debbie Bliss was more than 50% off. I picked up 4 skeins of bright Kuryeon ($4.50) to make a new felted bag, 3 skeins of Cash Iroha ($5.50)in a denimy blue color to make a cabled scarf, I got 2 balls of Debbie Bliss alpaca silk ($4) to make fingerless gloves, and 6 balls Sirdar Denim Tweed DK ($3.25) in a purple & white colorway to make a child's sweater (not sure which of my girls - I'm thinking I should make a size 6-8 so that at least if it takes me a year or two to finish it (being realistic here), the little one might still be able to wear it . And of course I got the Burly Spun in Lotus Pink, which is a color I've used before for my fuzzy feet slipper cuffs.

I got home and immediately started the Valery Hat and realized that I didn't have size 11 dpns. I thought I could make due with some 10.5's and 9's (for some reason I didn't have a full set of either) but it became obvious fairly soon that I really needed bigger needles for this project, so I ran out to Joann's and got a set of size 11 plastic dpns that I love, only problem is that I really need a set of 5 and only got a set of 4, but for $2.58, how could I complain? While I was at Joann's I came across a new yarn they had just a couple boxes of... Rainbow Classic - huge 11 oz brushed yarn balls packaged similar to Rainbow Boucle. It's a little expensive for me today, after spending so much at the yarn store, so I didn't buy any but I plan to get some - it's got to knit up pretty quickly for a baby afghan. I'm determined to make one eventually! My kids are 2 & 4 and are still waiting! But right now I'm feeling the need to pamper myself, so my hat, purse, scarf and mitts are coming first.

I re-started my Hallowig, speaking of things for me. This time I'm using some bright green yarn I hijacked from my 4 year old. Can I just say ribbing is SO boring! I need to go wash a king size quilt at the laundromat tomorrow, so I might bring that since it's indestructible Red Heart yarn. I can't believe Halloween is almost here! My mom went and bought a gift for my brother to give his wife for Christmas today! HUH? It's like months away! Who can even think of Christmas at a time like this, when there are so many yarn deals! :)

I keep saying I want to make all these socks for people, but I never seem to get going on them. My Easter socks are in my car, being neglected. Courtney's socks are in my bag with the library books I've been poring over to get ideas for new projects. I have been borrowing a lot of knitting books from the library lately, just to get some ideas. I am so glad that I didn't buy them. The only one of the 10 I've borrowed this past month that I still would consider buying is Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Church. The rest were so-so. The second best one is Hip Knit Hats, but for the 14 day loan from the library, I can probably make the hats I really like without buying it for my own collection. I used to just buy books without even checking them out - just went to B&N.com and went based on the descriptions. Well, the genre has diversified and some books aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Or maybe my standards are just too high. The bottom line is that I want to either learn something new or get a project that is either easier than I would have come up with, or something I never would have considered.

My ex is starting to take my kids on Friday nights, so at least I get a few hours to myself, and this week I will devote my time to working on these projects. I can't wait to get them done and add them to my wardrobe. I recently got new glasses unlike anything I've had before, and I wanted to create a real "style" for myself - I've never had one before. I want to have a funky accessory wardrobe - hats, scarves, shawls, bags - Just a lot of fun stuff...