sts w (the yarn addition)

Hello, gang. Two things before we delve into the pile of yarn!

~ There were some comments to yesterday's post, and I commented back by replying within that very same post (which is not how I usually do things around here).  If you were looking for feedback, there it be ;-)

~ If you're wondering more about what this whole drumline thing is about, there is now a video available of MyFavoriteKid's drumline performance on Sunday (and you can even hear me up front announcing them....hahaha). It's kind of hard for me to point out which one MyFK is when the kids are such moving targets, but at about 1:57 the trio of snares take a solo, and MyFK is on the right ;-)   This is very early in the season....every week they add a new section on to their show, and by the last performance at Champs, it's longer, more refined, and often has new tricks added.

Ok. Yarnward Ho!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I did also buy some yarn while at Stitches West on Friday, even though I am sure I do not need any more yarn (but as I keep saying, shopping for yarn and making things with yarn are two entirely different hobbies....right??).

I told myself ahead of time that if I was going to purchase anything yarn or fiber related, it would be something to make a sweater for this cute guy.

That's Myles, and his parents are friends and members of the zen center TheMostImportantGuy and I practice at. Their whole little family has up and moved to become residents at the mother-ship zen center on the east coast (our local zen center here in Berkeley isn't residential), so Myles has sort of become the LittleAbbot there ;-)

Anyhow, I say that baybeh needs a handknit sweater (don't you agree?), and last year at Stitches I had seen these adorable organic cotton sweater kits that came with matching buttons. I was so pleased to find the vendor SweaterKits there again this year.

I love it when baby boys wear "little man clothes", so I picked out this colorwork cardigan kit to make a cardigan pattern called The Moose.

The cuteness is killin' me!! I die!!!

But then disaster struck. While I was waiting to be rung up at the register, I wondered...hmm...maybe his parents aren't into the whole "little man clothes" thing like I am, and maybe what he really needs a fun kiddie sweater. That's when I looked over and saw the Dinosaur Hoodie in greens and blues....

(it's way more of a bright lime and a darker navy than my stupid camera is picking up)

...and this sweater kit came with these crazy cool monster buttons.

Gah! I die again!  SO CUTE!

And so....like the crazy non-related aunt that I am, I walked out of the booth with both kits.  (oops)
The monster hoodie is size 1T-3T so I'll bang that out first. The Moose has enough yarn for 1T-4T, so I'll do that second and make the bigger size.

With the purchase of not one, but two, baby sweater kits, my actual shopping list had been fulfilled, and that is where the yarn purchasing should have stopped.
But of course it didn't.

I bought 2 skeins of Euroflax Sport Weight Linen to make this poncho-ish thing called Kennedy.

Neither the pattern photo nor my craptastic pic of the yarn do this thing justice.  I saw the knitted sample live and in person in the booth, and it is stunning. You could throw this thing on over yoga pants and a black t-shirt and you'd look like a starlet. It will dress up anything. The yarn has a sheen to it, and it is an almost silvery grey once washed up. True to being linen, has a wonderful drape but holds it's shape.  I think it will be a simple and quick knit, and I think it well get worn often.

And, once again, I should have stopped there and I was mentally prepared to do just that....but then the real yarn accident happened when I got to the Miss Babs booth.

Now, I had passed by her booth a first time, and I avoided it like the plague, knowing for sure that if I went in, I'd fall hard and never get up, because I'd be rolling around like a yarn pig in a pile of her very interesting and pleasing colorways.  The first time we passed, I just skimmed the edges of her booth but did not get sucked in. I was so proud of myself.

Then we went to lunch, and when we got back to shopping, we went past the booth again for some reason (maybe we were going up the next aisle and because she was on an endcap? I don't know.  It's all a blur now. Whatever. I was screwed).   Sandy stopped to look at some worsted weight superwash for a baby sweater of her own she needs to make (see how quickly I blame my friends?!), and while she was looking, skein after skein kept grabbing my attention.

Now, one of my friends says she never even stops at the MissBabs booth because she sees that the lines to ring out are too long. Personally, I find they move very efficiently and fast (and long lines are sign of greatness, aren't they??). But here is the real problem with their being a long line for the register.  The line files past some very artfully arranged big fat skeins of worsted, and there you are, just waiting and minding your own business, and the next thing you know, you are basically acting like you are at the supermarket and you are buying up all the Twix and KitKats while waiting at the register.  I swear. It's like it's pheromone laden yarn...or maybe the yarn has yarn crack pixie dust crap sprinkled on it, and once you touch it and squeeze it, the yarn crack gets into your body transdermally and you have to have more or something. I don't know. Something's not quite right though. LOL

The first thing that jumped into my hands was this skein (two photos...front and back of skein):

colorway: Shining City

These are crazy colors, even for me. Light grey, dark grey, shots of a pukey green/yellow and fuschia. And I love it. And I have no idea what I am going to make with it, but maybe a shawl like Brickless or something.

But then, while still waiting in line, I saw this:

colorway: Funny Papers

Which I felt totally compelled to pair with this:

colorway: Blackbird

Because these two skeins both need to be knit up together into something I can wear with this (from yesterday):

Again, I have no idea what exactly I am going to make with it. But probably something from the Stephen West files, like maybe a worsted weight version of a Spectra or something windowpane-y like that.

And then I completely lost all self-restraint and also started squeezing this one....

colorway: Try It Out 

(which maybe was the subliminal suggestion that caused me to buy it..??)

...for which I have no rhyme or reason for having in my hands at all. I can only blame the yarn fumes. I just loved the colors. And I don't have a single inkling for what to do with it.  Ridiculous of me. Oh well.


And that was it for yarn. Could have been worse. But it was indeed more than I had planned on, so I had better stop typing and get knitting...right?!!


So there you have it!  I have totally outed myself about my Stitches shopping.

Well, not entirely.

Outing myself would not be complete without my telling you that by mid-morning my bank cut off my purchases because they thought some crazy yarn lady had stolen my card!  The reason for this is because with all of the vendors now running purchases through their phones and iPads rather than on a card reader supplied by the convention center, the purchases do not appear as all happening in the city of Santa Clara where the event is held. Instead, it looks like I am in the home location of each vendor! So the bank thought someone was buying yarn in New York, Tennessee, Rhode Island, and Washington State...all in just a few hours!

I should admit to you (because my friend Sandy who I went with who thinks this is hilarious) that I bought enough stuff that when I hung my shopping bags off the back of my wheelchair....? It was heavy enough that when I got up out of the wheelchair, the chair would tip backwards. 

Lordy.
;-)


So there you have it. Complete disclosure.
Now I go knit.

sts w (everythign but the yarn)

The way I see it, What Happens at Stitches Stays At Stitches (or at least that is how it should be...especially if you shopped like I did).  But for the sake of recording this so I can remind myself of the damage I did, I am going to be the big mouthed girlfriend that rats her friends out...except, of course, I am ratting out myself.  LOL  
Here is part one of my tell-all post about my haul from Stitches West 2013 ;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do have enough yarn. Really. I do.
(I know my friends that are indie dyers do not want to hear that, and I am sorry...please know that I do support you in other ways like wearing things I knit with your yarn and sending admirers your direction).
Anyhow.
Being the wrangler of an unmanageable stash, when I go to a convention like Stitches, what often attracts me are the ThingsThatAreNotYarn. 

It would seem that I am not alone in my desire to purchase ThingsThatAreNotYarn, and it would seem that the VendorsOfThingsThatAreNotYarn are fully aware of this fact, because this year there were a lot of them there at Stitches, and oh my gosh.....

I maybe had just a little too much fun.
Check it out.

My first FallIntoTheAbyss happened before we even got down to the end of the our very first aisle (we started at end in the 1400's, and worked backwards towards the 100's this time).  I saw Mama Shaman's booth and nearly freaked out when I saw that she had a wall full of shoes looking like these:

I wish I had a camera yesterday to show you the wall of shoes (if you click the link above to her shop, there's a photo of the wall there). I tried on several styles. It was very hard to choose. There was everything from boots and tennis shoes to maryjanes and mules.  My favorite was actually the flat rubber soled zip up boots, but in my size, I wasn't diggin' the color and pattern quite as much....so I bought what you see above. I might love these even more than my wackiest Chuck Taylors, and let me tell you, that's saying something.

One of my knitter friends saw these later and assumed they were paint on fabric, but they are not. They are actually applique and embroidery.

I am in a deep state of Love.
I usually toss out the extra shoe, as I only wear one....but I love these so much, I am sticking a glass jar in the extra shoe and I'm going to use it as a vase or pencil holder or something cool.  

Ok. On the very next aisle (this is only aisle number two mind you), we discovered Tim Arnold's work at Saw Dust Co.

Never in my life have I had a proper sewing basket.  In fact, what I use now is an actual woven basket (duh) where pins and needles fall through the cracks, and my poor loved ones step on them. (so we can say this purchase was for them, not me...right?? LOL)  This sewing box is gorgeous gorgeous wood. Get a load of it.  And that lid?? It is two layers of veneer...and sandwiched in between them is a layer of magnet. Your pins and needles and scissors will stick to the lid, on either side. How freakin' cool is that?!!

I also bought a little organizer tray from him.

Simple. Done in the Shaker style. And just gorgeous. I can already see about 20 different uses for it, from make-up and toiletries to pens and pencil to craft supplies.

Next I bought some olive oil hand cream.

I needed this lotion because boy, my hands were dry! Just ask anyone that spends that day there. You always feel dehydrated at Stitches (actutally, I have this crazy belief that all of the yarn and fiber soak all of the moisture out of the air...hahahaha).  I also chose this lotion because it actually uses the same olive oil I use in my kitchen for finishing dishes or making salad dressings... from nearby McEvoy Ranch!

Last year, I had a really good time visiting with a lady in a charming booth that was full of every possible knick-knack that had a sheep on it.  Just like last year, I still didn't get her name, and go figure, the receipt is handwritten out of a stock receipt book and does not have her shop name on it. I think from looking at the map, she might be "Williams Wool and Weavings" from Washington state, and there is no website listed. Anyhow, she's a doll and her booth is like being a fiber themed vintage thrift shop or something. It's great. Last year I bought 2 pairs of sheep themed socks and a few cotton dishcloths that she had made by hand on a knitting machine. This year I bought two cotton dish towels for the new kitchen, one goat, one sheep.

Next stop:  Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. I barely made it into the booth as I was in my wheelchair and it was packed...and honestly, that is good thing, because I could do some serious damage if I was in that booth long enough. Every single thing in there is charming and also charmingly presented. Definitely Nifty (maybe not so Thrifty, but hey...LOL)

The white buttons will be converted onto some barrettes or pony-tail holders. The green buttons are going onto the brim of  hat.  I'm not sure what is going on with the big plastic button that looks like it has metal rings inside of it, but it's crazy cool, and will probably go onto a hat or be turned into a brooch of sorts. And the pendant...well...I think it's just so neato. Vintage lace in a modern soldered glass setting? I love it.

My last beautiful disaster of the day was right near the end (which would have been the beginning if we weren't going backwards).

In the back there is a turquoise ring from "Wendy Lee - Petroglyph" (no website). She had a booth full of all sorts of interesting foreign vintage items, especially from the east. The ring I picked up has a very high gallery setting which allows me to hide something secret underneath (which I do with almost all my rings, and I also have several lockets for the same reason as well...but that's another post.)

The other two pieces were made by my new best friend Harlan Simon (actually, he's not that new to me...I bought something from him a couple of year ago, too).  The pieces I bought are both vintage glass cabochons that he set in silver. The bracelet is f$%#ing AMAZING, and the ring...OH MY GOD THE RING (does it not match the shoes in photo #1, or what?!!).  It's a huge chunky statement piece and I think you are going to be seeing it on me LOTS. I lllllllllllllllooooooooooooooovvvvvvve it.

I really tried to resist these pieces of jewelry, but he worked with me on the price, and I am honestly just infatuated with them both pieces (and him a little bit too).  He is a flirt of salesman, reminding you how fabulous you are so therefore you need fabulous things (paraphrased LOL). 

He told me that when he bought the cabochon for the ring, it reminded him of Jospeh Stella's Brooklyn Bridge...

....which to me, means that Harlan "just sold me a bridge in Brooklyn" (and Harlan could probably sell ice to an eskimo, too.  hahahahaha)

So.
There it is. The non-yarn booty. I'm proud of it all, although it was indeed a little much, and I will be behaving myself for a few months in order to make up for it ;-)

Tomorrow?  The yarn.