Cleaning up

I wish that I had the forsight to take a picture of my "sewing room" before I started cleaning it up. I have come to the realization that I have too much, too much food, too much junk, too much fabric and perhaps even too much yarn for what I will be able to accomplish in my lifetime. Somehow I missed the line for too much money, but I do admit to adequate supply.

About 7-10 years ago, I reduced my fabric from fashion and quilting fabric to just quilting fabric and again this year before Christmas, I have reduced the volume of my Quilting fabric. I simply have too.much. UFO's that will never be completed, kits purchased that are still in the wrappers with the price tag on them, bundles of fabric with the pattern in the same bag, just waiting for attention.

With a toddler, a 6 year old, a 16 year old, a husband and a full time job, I simply don't have the time. I realized back this summer that I hadn't quilted in about a year and I was unlikely to quilt much in the coming year (DS#2 is 16 months old) and the "sewing room" was threatening to overflow, I felt as if I were drowning in "stuff" - great stuff none the less, but drowning. I e-mailed my quilting friends and told them that I was cleaning out and that if they wanted anything, they had best claim it, or I could make no promises. Gretchen came and bless her heart, not only did she take a bit of the stuff, she stole 2 UFO's that needed to be pieced together and finished the tops. (THANK YOU GRETCHEN), both were projects near and dear to my heart and now they are patiently waiting for their turn at the quilter. Before Christmas as we were preparing for the annual Christmas Eve feast, DS#1 helped me haul stuff to the attic and I took down the 2nd sewing machine, collapsed the quilting table, sent yet another box and check to Janette for finishing and a box to her for charity quilts and we have renamed the room, "The Media Room". We dragged in 2 rockers and are in the market for a cheap couch of some sort that we have a line on. I feel like it is the end of a chapter in my life. At one time, I was a QUILTER, no doubt about it, but now....knitting has captured my heart, it is so portable and fills the waiting gaps. I will still quilt and I hope that my quilting friends will not abandon me, I can't see why I can't hang with them and knit while they quilt, but we'll see.

My Hobbit Name

Daisy Hamwich of Buckleberry Fern Go Here: http://www.chriswetherell.com/hobbit/, get your Hobbit Name. I LOVE the Lord of The Ring Series...LOVE, LOVE, LOVE... I even wanted a genuine Elvin cloak until I found out that they cost $500! $500! REALLY, well, I'm sure I wouldn't look as good in it as I imagine I might...

Quick Knit

My BIL is bringing someone to Christmas eve dinner and I decided that he should have something to open (as all the rest of us do). I bought some Brown Sheep wool (Black) at my LYS http://www.eweandmefiberstudio.com/ about 2 weeks ago, but did I start them at that time??? Heck no, why would I do that???

So yesterday am, I finally arrived at a proper number and cast on 32 stitches, ribbed for a while and then proceeded to make some fingerless mitts for him. I am hoping that his hands aren't too much bigger than mine. I finished one of them (sans the "thumb") this am between 4:30 and 6. I decided that I liked the ribbing at the top of the mitts. I sent DS#1 to the LYS this afternoon for an emergency skein. I looked at a pattern in the Knitting with Balls book, which called for 200 yards, and I have 200 yards, but I doubled the yarn and well, it is an emergency skein, plus if I get his done with one skein, I can use the other skein for me, me, me or exchange it for something else....I got most of the ribbing done on Mitt #2 at lunch, and I am hopeful that I will finish before Christmas Eve.

I still have to bind the quilt that I am giving to my BIL as I sneakily arranged to receive his name in the family drawing. I have the binding made, just need to sew it on and bind it back...of course by Christmas eve.


Edited to add, Christmas Eve was a good time. Mitts finished, they fit, he loved them, Quilt finished, he loved it. Dishes all cleared away, put away safely for next year by noon on Christmas day, all and all a good even. Oh, number of bottles of wine consumed....only 2, what wimps we are, but what we drank was very, very good wine.

A Shawl for "Granny"

I started knitting this back in July or August 2005 when I was pregnant with DS#2, it was from the Mystery Shawl-along. I knit diligently along on it and it helped with the sanity and the waiting and the laying around (forced), but anyway...I was sick the first of this week, sent the kids to school/sitter and had the day to myself (mostly, DS#1 was home with me) and I decided that I was well enough to block this.

I have never started or completed a lace project, I used some Harris Tweed Shetland 4ply that I purchased from Elann.com. It is a lovely rustic, tweedy barn red-ish. I see now that I might have done a straighter job on the triangle sides, but I love it. The bad thing is that I wore it to work the very next day with black turtleneck and black khaki's and my boss said, "Hey Grandma, hows it going". Hmm, not exactly the response I was hoping for....He was immediately embarrased that he had said such a thing, but now I have something to tease him about. I was a little surprised that no one else at the office made a comment negative or positive especially since I was wearing it so proudly. I am surprised at how warm it is and that eventhough the yarn was fingering weight, when soaked, it bloomed and it does look to be a heavier shawl. I need to take myself to the local welding shop and purchase some stainless steel wires for blocking, it would have been much easier and I need some T-pins. For all the years that I have quilted, I had a tin of straight pins, I must have thrown them away in my cleaning/purging frenzy and I was forced to use thinner pins, but they worked...

More Hats....

For the Soaring Eagle project this time. My Co-worker, Ruth, knits and she has helped me with some hats. She knit her hats in Acrylic (what she had) and I am passing them along to Soaring Eagle. I think there will be at least 10. THANK YOU RUTH!!!

Red Scarf Project

I had promised myself that I would knit on this scarf until it was done and I almost did. I worked on it until I ran out of yarn before the scarf was long enough. Thankfully the LYS, http://www.eweandmefiberstudio.com/ still had some. It is the simple knitted scarf from Stephanie http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/, I tried to link to the specific day, but it is back a bit in the archives the one before Rhinebeck in which she implores a fleece supplier not to sell her fleeces and she spun some lovely yarn from the fleece and left this scarf pattern. Oh, since I can't link it, it goes like this, k1...oh, I can't remember now, I only did it a million times, perhaps it is k2, k1tbl, p1 and repeat, it is a multiple of 4 (duh), but was very simple and soothing for my pea brain. Have the address and will mail it on time,
a rare thing for me... :)

A new Knitter???

She said..."Mom, I want to learn to knit". I said, Ok, let's go the the LYS...

Saturday Sky

It has been a beautiful few days here. I am off to the LYS for one more skein of Manos (Red) for the Red Scarf project. Each skein only makes about 2 feet of scarf - 6 feet is the requirement for the project, so off to the LYS I go...It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

Ganome Hat

I saw them on the Zimmermania list http://zimmermaniacs.blogspot.com/2006/11/waiter-can-we-get-another-ganomy-over.html. I snatched up some Lopi and began a knitting. I didn't take a picture, but it turned out like this one, only a solid color and kind of fuzzy like Lopi. I was considering felting it, but I went outside on a windy day and felt no breeze on my noggin thanks to the warm guard hairs of the Lopi. That is 6 for Dulaan for me.

Next I started my Red Scarf project. I used the Yarn Harlot's pattern found at http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2006/10/12/one_row_handspun_scarf.html My yarn of choice is Manos in a nice red, love the colors, the thick and thin works well in this scarf pattern and it is mindless and quick. I am practicing purling with my left hand. I usually knit left handed, but the only kind of Purl I know how to do left handed is the German Purl which involves a lot of wrist movement and I'm more comfortable (if much slower) purling right handed. I don't know which is American/Continental, I don't know if I care. I breezed through the first skein of yarn and it only yielded about 2 feet of scarf ( I need 5 feet), so I e-mailed my LYS to see if she has one more skien that she will hold. If she doesn't, the scarf will be shorter than planned. I was just there on Saturday and I'm nervous as I don't recall seeing much of the red on the shelf.

Saturday Sky

Saturday sky out towards the West. Don't the clouds look so low that you could touch them. Can you see the sort of airplane in the clouds?

Dulaan Challenge

I finished my "5" for Dulaan last week. 2 scarves, 3 hats so far. I am working on a Ganome hat from EZ's Knitters Almanac, it is in Lopi and is going FAST. I think I will slightly felt it for more warmth. Before I went to Franklin's Chicago Knit-in, I mentioned it to a work friend. Yesterday, Ruth presented me with 5 more hats for Dulaan. She made them during her "sit-time" in the evenings in her chair. Aren't they fabulous? So 10 for Dulaan from Chez Angie. Do I get a Woo - Hoo? It feels good.

In the company of others

This past Saturday, I had the extreme good fortune to participate in the Chicago Dulaan Knit-in hosted by the incomparable Franklin Habit http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/. I met several new friends, but had the pleasure of the company of one Rochelle of Glen Ellyn that I car pooled with. I think my family thought I was a little odd that I wasn't worried about car pooling with someone I didn't know. What could happen, SHE'S A KNITTER! Karen from Yarn is my Metier, http://www.yarnismymetier.com/, gifted me a skein of Regia cotton for simply offering to give her a lift to the event. Knitters are the greatest. It is a lovely skein of blues, just lovely.

The venue was lovely, did I take pictures...uhhh, no, as a matter of fact Rochelle and I were so excited to get into the event, we forgot to put Rochelles' handicapped parking plackard in the window, no tickets, though, but really, we were authorized to park there. Food, there was food, lots of food, good food, after all, we're knitters. Comfy spaces, nice, nice people. Great cause.

I am dedicated to finishing my 5 projects for Dulaan, I finished the Wool/Hemp hat and gladly chucked the tiny ball of left over yarn into the trash, it hurt my hands, I was knitting it at a tight guage, but none the less, it hurt my hands. I am now back to good 'ol Cascade 220 in the yellow and green, use it up. DS#1 pointed out that I had knitted a Green Bay packer hat the first time, so I will try to avoid that again. Anyway, I have 4 finished items, 2 scarves, 2 hats and #3 hat on the needles. Received my Handy Book of Patterns book and perused it prior to bed last night, I might actually follow some directions instead of just knitting as I am wont to do.

Am I knitting for Christmas? Ummm, no, not really. I am woefully incapable of completing projects under tight deadlines. I need to make some mittens for DS#2, but he is tiny so it won't take too long, I am wondering if I have enough left over Malabrigo from my mittens to make him some, perhaps I'll have to buy more...shame, wouldn't it be a shame. I am however resisting additional yarn purchases. I have been on a "No Credit Needed" stint and have been trying to make sure that what I buy is what I NEED rather than what I want. I have an awful lot of yarn here that I can knit up for charity and heaven knows there are enough charities around that need warm things, so .... Don't clap too loud, my reserve could break at any minute, I'm still LOOKING, just not buying right now..."They will make more yarn, They will make more yarn" is my mantra.

SOCKTOBERFEST = DONE!

I present...my Soctoberfest socks. Finished. On time! A first for me.
The Specs:
Pattern: 52 stitch socks from Simply Sensational Socks using the Broken Rib Pattern
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino 8 (Worsted)
Needles: #3 US DPN's and Magic Loop
Time: 10/14/06 - 10/30/06

I made the leg of these twice. I started them and was almost done with both legs and I noticed a counting problem in one and a dropped stitch problem in the other. The dropped stitch was fixable, but it was a the VERY beginning of the pattern, so RIP, out they both came and I started over on about the 14th of Socktober...BUT, that yarn was very expensive, the socks deserved to be as perfect as I could make them. I had them race each other, knitting one on #3 DPN's and the other Magic Loop. Speaking of the yarn, it was interesting, it was probably 10 teeny, tiny plies, and it doesn't have a lot of twist, I was worried about it being splitty, but for some reason, it wasn't. I'd love to use this yarn again, but for the price where I bought it, I could have gotten Cashmere, so I doubt unless I find a killer sale, no more Artyarns Supermerino 8 for me, but at least I can say I loved it when.

What will November bring for Chez Angie? Well, on Saturday, I am off to the Dulaan Knit-in, I am giving a ride to a new friend, Rochelle. It is a rare treat for me, but harvest has been long and grueling, so I am giving myself the day and DH can take care of the kiddies, surely they will all survive one day. I'll get to rub elbows with the known bloggers, and hopefully don't make an arse of myself. So, November is all about Dulaan and CIC charity knitting. I am working on a hat right now and I want to make a sweater for each and fulfil my 5 items for Dulaan, I have 2 items finished so far, so I should make it, but want to focus on sweaters this year. We'll see, what is life without grand plans?

Knitters Tea Swap 2 Report

WHAT A HAUL! I received from my spoiler, Debbie in Montana. I got, 2 booklets, Mittens, mittens, mittens from Leisure Arts, and a sock book compiled from Spin-off, AWESOME The mittens are 2 needle mittens and are adorable. 3 skeins of Regia 6 (I like thicker socks), 1 skein of my fave color, lime green Lambs Pride worsted, Tao tea (Awake), an assortment of loose tea from Cahoots, a local tea company, a peppermint and camomile tea from Montana, some chocolate covered sunflower seeds, Piroette cookies, some yummy smelling candles, a luscious goats milk soap (I am using that, yummy), a "tea spoon", a new tea ball, I need that, a hand knit scarf in my fave colors (thank you), tea towels, and a box of her sentimental favorite, Red Rose tea and a note about why she loves it so much. I fixed a pot of the spice tea from Cahoots immediately and it was luscious, I've been drinking Red Rose for breakfast. Thank heavens for the weekend, it will be all tea, all the time for me.

I don't know if the stash ghosts are here or not, but I HAD the 2 booklets, I was leafing through them at the kitchen table, someone cried and I went to assist/referee/doctor, something and now I CAN'T FIND THEM! I have turned the house upside down looking for them, I hope I can excavate them this weekend as I.WANT.MY.BOOKS!

Progress?

I turned the short row heel on the socks from hell and I'm still not sure of them, I am considering frogging the whole project and making a hat for DS#2, I'm just not feeling the love. Update, frogged the socks, if they don't want to be a hat, I will burn the yarn in a little ceremony in the driveway.

I'm still knitting on the Shadow scarf that I started in Geneseo colors for a friend's daughter, I saw them this week at a Volleyball game and it would have been convenient if it had been finished by then. I covered in a remote office for work for a day and a half last week - I was the only one there. I SHOULD have gotten a fair amount of knitting done, but I ended up working more than I thought - how did that happen?

I couldn't resist Socktoberfest any longer and I cast on for some socks of Artyarns Ultramerino 8, they color is the most beautiful muted pink and green I have ever seen. The yarn looks like it might be splitty, but so far, I have no complaints. Have you ever bought Artyarns Ultramerino? Lets just say, I'd best be burried in these socks, they are too expensive to wear, but I'm worth it, right?


I want to cast on for a red scarf for the Red Scarf Project to try out the new Brittany Birch #7's I bought at my LYS. I want to cast on for the Black Bunny Fibers Hop-a-long, I just received some new yarn from Carolyn http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=19807 and I can't wait to cast on with that...so many projects, so little time

Happy Birthday to ME!

I participated in the October Birthday swap hosted by the gracious and generous Bev Diaz. This is not a secret swap. My swap partner was Lori Bean of http://yarnbeans.typepad.com/yarnbeans/ She is a busy, busy wife and mom of 2, she is a waitress and sommelier in the evenings and still has time to not only knit, but churn out some awesome looking hand dyed yarns. In the box was....A milk chocolate Truffle bar (don't remember the name as it was consumed immediately, but I do remember that it was very yummy), a birthday card, 2 postcards from her town in Oregon, a Cherry Tree Hill Glitter mill end in a blue/green/teal which was the yarn that I listed as most interest in knitting with, a hank of STR in the Colorway "Rare Gems", a couple of bars of yummy soap, a beautiful glittery, feathery butterfly and 2 skeins of her own hand dyed yarn in Winter Blue and Pumpkin Spice...All I can say is...THANK YOU, it was a real treat, I get to spoil her on her upcoming October birthday so hopefully I can pack her box as full of surprises as she packed mine.

I'm workin' on it...

Yes, last night I turned the short row heel in my socks from Hell, Only 1 more to do and I started that one today whilest waiting at the bank to get my debit card re-issued. I accidentally threw my checkbook away in the trash on Tuesday and didn't realize it until today when I needed it again. Bad news is that the trash was picked up this am around 8am, I noticed it was missing around 8:30am...bad karma, that's all it is. I hope I saved someone with less facilities to cope with such a royal inconvenience the grief. I have broad shoulders, I can take it...but not for much longer, thank you...

I'm on a roll

Yesterday I posted about finishing MG's Wonderful Wallaby and today I get to post about my finished STR socks and the story behind them...It started innocently enough, http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/ started a Socks that Rock Club (STR) and I of course had to join. The first yarn was this sock yarn, I don't remember the color...Jungle something perhaps? I started knitting socks and I knit, and I knit and I knit. They are on Size 1's something like 68 stitches, I chose the ribbing pattern that is K2, P2 for 1 round and then straight knit the next round because I'm lazy and don't like to pearl. I liked the socks but they were taking forever and they weren't going to fit me, they would fit my mother who has trouble wearing shoes and thus needs woollen socks to wear with her Birks in the winter, (It snows here in Illinois), so any whoooo, I love my mom and I don't mind knitting her socks, eventhough she has a size 10 foot. She appreciates them and I am glad that I can comfort her. Anyway, I was about to the heel flap on sock #2 (sock #1 was done) when I used sock #1 to measure the length (very scientific) and as I set #1 down, I thought, I had better be careful where I put this sock as I would hate to mis-place it. That was Friday night, by Sunday night, I had lost sock #1, I called the restaurants I ate in between Friday and Sunday, I scoured the parking lots that I had visited, I stripped the car(s), cleaned the house (now you know I was desperate), no sock...I was almost suicidal, these socks took me forever, it was the club yarn, how was I going to get enough for a THIRD sock! I didn't know what to do, but vetoed burning the sock in the driveway in a fit of anger, I doggedly continued to knit on the 2nd sock. I was telling some of my knitting homies this story about a month later and my DD MG says, "Oh, that other sock, I threw it behind the couch to keep it away from DS#3". I ran to the living room, heaved the couch from the wall and there it lay, my missing sock...Only 1 small problem, there was a cut in the ribbing at the top...wonder how that got there, $10 that DD MG cut the yarn and threw the sock behind the couch to hide the evidence, but I really didn't care, my sock was back. I begged some additional yarn from Blue Moon, and one night while the kiddies slept, I carefully unravelled under the snip, picked up the stitches and re-knit the top 1/2" of the sock, last night I executed the Elizabeth Zimmerman, sewn bind off (very simple, very stretchy, I recommend it) and voila, the socks are done....

Completion

I did it, I actually did it, I completed a sweater! First one in....well, around 15 years, and it fit the intended recipient! Behold DD in her new Wonderful Wallaby.

Specs:
Pattern: The Wonderful Wallaby, by Cottage Creations
Yarn: Cascade Sierra and Cascade Bollicine held together as one
Needles: Size 7 US for body, size 5 for ribbing
Size: Warren Wallaby - 8 year old
Time: February 06 until 9/28/2006. I put it down because I knit one of the sleeves too big, but resurrected it when we drove to Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival and I worked on it faithfully until then.

More Wallabys are in my future for sure. This was a nice easy pattern to make and I think it turned out great, obviously, she has some room to grow in it, but at least it will fit her for a year or 2...AND she voluntarily wore it to school today! My heart swells with pride.

Warm Hands

Hurray for Warm Hands. Last year, I knit some ...oh, what were they called, mittens with the little tufts of wool in them, made my hands look more like linebacker hands than they normally do...oh, fulled mittens, in purple with white fulls. This summer I found some Malabrigo in my almost signature, lime green and then I wandered into the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival.... but it wasn't my fault, my friend Lori said, "If you find anything interesting, get some for me, I prefer earth tones", what was I to do when I saw more Malabrigo. Hers (which I of course didn't take a picture of) was creamy and tanny and brownie all in that pleasing Malabrigo way and I bought for myself....Good friend that I am, I offered it to Lori as well. What will I do with it? Why more mittens of course.

My Morning Ritual

This is my morning ritual, the tea pot is from my Grandmother, she wasn't a big tea drinker, but she did collect pots. I USE them. The mug is a Christmas present from my son. He went Christmas shopping with his scout troup and this is what he chose all by himself for me. It made me cry then and still warms my heart. I bought a 2nd one just in case the first one gets broken...

On the knitting front, I am to the hood (read boring back and forth) on DD's Wonderful Wallaby and I can't wait to show pics. It is a tad big, but at least it isn't too small. She looks adorable in it, but I doubt she will wear it until she grows into it a little bit. Unlike her momma, she likes the form fitting stuff.

When it is done...what to do, what to do. I am contemplating more charity knitting, finishing Birch that was cast aside a year ago due to a mysterious error that I can no longer find, there is the Warm Hands knit-a-long and the (*@#&$*(@&$(#*@& opal socks to finish..or burn in a pile in the driveway...
Have a good day all, I'm late for the grind...

Black Bunny Fiber has ARRIVED....

In a fit of joining, I also have joined, (or attempted to join) the Black Bunny Hop, http://blackbunnyhop.blogspot.com/2006/09/black-bunny-is-wild-animal.html it isn't hard, you just need to knit with the ellusive Black Bunny fiber of some sort and blog about it...I stalked Carol's etsy shop for a while and then called Rosies Yarn Cellar http://www.rosiesyarncellar.com/ for the low down on what was there. Blindly I ordered 2 skeins of DK weight (225 yds per) in the colorway named Grape Juice.

I don't know where the color came from, but it is the varigated denim-ish yarn that I have been searching for. I plan to make Susan Pierce Lawrence's Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl http://http://ma2ut.blogspot.com/2006/09/forest-canopy-shoulder-shawl.html at any rate, joined or not joined, I'm going to cast on for this as soon as I can get the project from hell off my needles.

You see about a year ago when I was expecting my 3rd child, I started a pair of socks from Opal Rodeo, I love the colors, and I'm sure it will bloom, but that yarn is like knitting with SEWING THREAD (just my opinion). To add insult to injury, I am doing them 2 socks on 2 circs, I think I will never live long enough to finish these socks. I have taken them off the 2 circs and am now racing them one against the other (1 magic loop, 1 on dpns) and I am thinking it is time for the heel, this is my first attempt at Wendy's generic heel pattern. Wish me luck ...

Knitters Tea Swap 2

Well, I've gone and done it now... joined the KTS2. I missed it last time, and I am afraid of making a commitment that I have trouble fulfilling, but darn it, I'm going to join this time...no more lurking for me, no mam/sir....

So without further adieu...My Stash

Well, Blogger doesn't want to cooperate right now with that oh wait there it is.... Suffice it to say, I have a small stash, I drink hot tea every morning, usually P.G. Tips or TyPhoo, although I bought a new one that was on clearance (box was dented - Lyons) that I haven't tried yet. Last night I had a cuppo (or rather a potto) Valentine tea from Adiago teas, luscious, is all I can say, to me it tastes like a wonder pipe tobacco (dry) smells...love.it. and tat got me going on the chocolate tea...took that to work for a pick-me up.

So there it is, I'm eagerly awaiting my swap partner and then I'll re-review the rules to make sure I do it right. Thanks for looking.

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool

Greetings!
I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but this is my first post. Reading blogs for over a year now, I decided to "unlurk" and start my own Blog.

This weekend, I dragged the DH and kidlets to Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI http://www.wisconsinsheepandwoolfestival.com. About a 2 hour trip. Left about 8:30am, remembered to pack extra clothes, and etc for all but ME!

Fortunately, once at the festival, I spied a woman in a rather smashing sweatshirt advertising the festival. She directed me to the vendor and I secured the last item in my size for her. Good for DH as the alpaca sweaters were $175 and up...

I won't try and fool anyone, I could have cared less about the sheep and pelts and roving and locks of dirty fleeces, I was there for the VENDORS... cased the joint, making my wish list with the kids. When the kids got tired of the vendors, had some lunch at the conveniently located lunch stand (shredded lamb sandwich $4, lamb hot dog in natural casing $1.50, and BEER, yes, Beer sold by the Jefferson Lions Club. What a hoot, never see that in IL) we checked out a shearing demo, the arms on that man...oh, wait, I digress...I said to MG, isn't that cool the way he just peels the wool off of that sheep. She said, "But won't the sheep be cold". I thought that was cute and assured her that the sheep grows fleece very fast and it would be fine.

Shortly after that, DH returned (he went to look at a tractor about 35 miles away) and took on the task of entertaining the kiddies and I hit the vendors pocketbook in hand.

I'd have to say that I was focused and restrained. Recently, I've been trying to be on a finishing tear and I focused on the things I can't get locally. I bought a book for MG (Knitting Nell, http://www.amazon.com/Knitting-Nell-Julie-Jersild-Roth/dp/0618540334/sr=8-1/qid=1157943566/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0067682-3875011?ie=UTF8&s=books, which is a cute book, 1 skein of Sea Silk in a pinky orange color, as I can't find it anywhere here, 3 skeins of DK alpaca in cream for a Swallowtail shawl, 2 skeins of Malabrigo (one is for my friend Lori) and 4 skeins of Softie from Kimmet Croft Fibers http://www.fairyhare.com for the Stora Dimun Shawl from Folk Shawls. Now, I just have to get knitting.

I didn't see as many knitterly sightings as I would expect to see at say, Stitches, but there was a woman wearing a shawl much similar to the Stora Dimun Shawl that insipred me to get the yarn from Kimmet Croft. I saw a couple of intarsia bags.

Since I mentioned shawls. How do y'all choose what color to knit shawls and it is only me that seems to always pick a color that I have nothing to wear with?