Late April Yarn Crawl

I finally went to visit Mary Charles Yarn. I have to admit I was disappointed. It's a small shop but didnt have much in the way of yarn or needles! I saw lots of Debbie Bliss and Big Sky and some novelty stuff. I looked for sock yarn and they had one largish basket . But it was all the same stuff. Not the same brand but identical balls of yarn. I probably wont go back there.

I also went to see Nancy Knits. I've felt badly for her as she had such a cute shop and now is crammed into a tiny store. I've always found her to be friendly and she recognized me from last summer (new baby is keeping me from knitting). She's really trying her best to make the shop welcoming. I noticed that the shelves and drawers are now labeled with prices and she offered to order me a pattern I'd like to get. She's hoping to get a better online presence so people can find her again. I hope she can get into a better shop situation someday and that people dont just write her off. I bought two orphan balls of sock yarn (for DS) and one ball of Sirdar Snowflake Magic. The Snowflake is kinda hard to knit with but I already had one ball and I am hoping to get a cute balaclava pattern for it. I saw one that was like a little dinosaur and that would be so cute on DS.

Chuffed!

I am so chuffed! I won some Mountain Colours Bearfoot sock yarn from Libby at Derby & String. I can't wait to see it!

I did a stash dive and decided to knit a pair of cotton socks using the Butterfly Bows pattern in Socks, Socks, Socks. I knit these for DS's godmother several years ago. She was kind of surprised when I asked for them back! Just for patterning purposes. I had forgotten how I sized up the pattern as it was originally for a 10 year old girl.

I started to cast on Thursday and then I realized I don't know how far my yarn is going to go. I attempted to make two equal balls using my ball winder and digital scale but it isn't exactly accurate. Even though the lying scale said it was even when I snipped the yarn. Grr.

I cast on repeatedly Friday morning but kept having too long a tail. Finally got it right and have knit about a third of the first pattern repeat.

I love the yarn. It is Fortissima Cotton Colori that I purchased in 1998 in Provo Utah. I bought two balls and used one to knit the first pair. If I run out of yarn I will just make the toes on my pair red.

I finished!

I finished my orange socks! I am very happy with them. I did a crappy job weaving in my ends after kitchenering one toe so I have to v. carefully re-weave in the short end. They washed nicely, the colour held up, and were very comfortable to wear.

Am nearly to the toe on DH's everlasting purple socks. The FIRST toe. This sock is taking forever.

Now to decide which sock to knit next- for me!

Getting stuff done.

Easter is in the offing and my grandmother will be here on Thursday afternoon. My home is nearly ready. DH is supposed to clean his bathroom and vacuum the house and clean the kitchen floor. Then all I have to do is make the guest bed! I am looking forward to seeing my grandmother but am a little anxious as she has started to sound very querulous on the phone. She wasn't well this winter and I think she is really starting to feel her age. I really want this to be a good visit for her.

I am nearly finished with DH's first sock and am finishing the gusset decreases for my second sock. I know that after Easter weekend I will have more time to sit and knit. Although I have promised myself to seriously clean out my closet and my boxes of etcetera out in the garage. One thing that I learned from cleaning out my parents' attic is the Perils of Packrating.

I had already been trying to distance myself from conspicuous consumption- including the rabid collecting of things. My mom collects Stargate, a friend collects all sorts of little figurines, another collects Star Wars memorabilia etc. My DH collects tools, kitchen appliances and discarded library books. Note to DH: there's a reason they discarded those books!!!

I don't want to be owned by my stuff. I'm already "owned" by sentimental things- my baby quilt, DS's first hair clipping, my Gma's jewelry etc. I dont want to be owned by junk that really doesnt matter.

Now stash, OTOH, is a completely different matter . . .

Not a great deal of progress but still . . .

Somehow I ended up spending most of the weekend helping my parents. I don't know how that happened. One little "can you fix this problem with my computer" and the whole weekend disappeared. Oh well.

haven't touched the orange blankie for DS. I suspect I wont get near that one until after Easter.

Have turned the heel and am knitting the gusset decreases on sock #1 for DH.

And am turning the heel on Sock #2 for me! If I can get that heel finished I will treat myself to a stash dive this weekend for MY next pair of socks.

Have also decided that I am NOT going to knit for DH for a while after I finish the purple socks. He's is a Wool-Pig for sure and he loves that I knit for him. BUT. He rarely wears what I knit him. I mean, yes he did wear a pair of handknits that day we were married but generally he likes to pile up, gloat over and hoard his treasure of handknits like Smaug the dragon did over the dwarvish treasure in the Hobbit. V. irritating. I want him to wear what I knit him.

On the other hand, DS wears what I put on him. So I know he is getting mileage out of his handknits.

And I wear handknitted socks almost every day. Soooooooooo, that means I get more. Right?