Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Drunken Weekend

*hick* Okay, I don't mean that literally. What I do mean, is that I had the knitter's equivalent of a drunken sailors weekend!!!

Of course, it all started Friday when I sat on the couch and knit socks all day. If you will remember, I threw caution to the wind and cast on TWO NEW PAIRS. Oh yes, THREE SOCK WIPs. Crazy!!!

Next up, my new spindle arrived in Friday's mail. Okay, my spinning is still crap, but it's BETTER crap with this spindle. I spend some quality time with it, and I think I just may be getting it.

Moving on to Saturday, I met up with Elizabeth for a yarn crawl. Oh my, the fiber went straight to our heads and we couldn't help but over-imbibe. Somehow I forgot to bring my camera, but maybe it was for the best. What happens on a Yarn Crawl, stays on a Yarn Crawl. I woke the next morning feeling bleary eyed and dizzy and slightly nauseous, and wondered what I had done . . .

Knitting Central. They have the most upscale shop of the three, and while there are many affordable yarns there, you can also come across skeins that cost $40, or even $80 each. I don't care how drunk on fiber I am, I don't think I'll ever go home with a $80 skein of yarn. There just aren't Fiber-Goggles strong enough to slide that one past me. What did come home with me, from front to back, was

  1. Koigu KPPPM in lovely purple shades
  2. Rowan Cotton Tape (on close-out sale!!!)
  3. more Atacama Alpaca, since what I bought last week wasn't enough to make any shawl patterns I could find
  4. and a skein of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille to knit more flower cloths for Christmas presents.
Next up, we made our way down to Knit Together. This was the biggest of the three yarn store, and at times we both found the selection overwhelming. I was a bit disappointed in how little sock yarn they had - which is odd because I certainly don't NEED any more sock yarn. A skein might have jumped in my basket anyway, which happens easily when you are under the influence. Purchases from Knit Together are to the right of the picture.
  1. A ball of Muen Molina cotton - on sale and the sample swatch they knit looked like a wonderful dishcloth!!
  2. Plymouth Wildflower DK in a great orange shade to knit a sweater for the boy my hairdresser is having
  3. two skeins of Cascade 220 for Christmas knitting
  4. that Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Uni sock yarn I was mentioning
  5. a Clover tape measure
  6. and a Clover row counter.
In an attempt to increase our stamina, we then decided to take a break for lunch. Of course, we both pulled out socks to work on while waiting for our food to arrive - after all, we didn't want to lose the buzz. After fueling up with lunch, we hit our final destination, Knotty Girl. This was the smallest of the three shops, but they had a great selection and the most helpful staff. It was here that Elizabeth finally scored the yarn for her Funky Scarf Swap. The sales girl also had us speechless when she said she's been trying to get the owner to stock Socks That Rock yarn!! (They have hardly any sock yarn, because the owner doesn't think it's that popular!!) As you can see from center front, I did manage to find some sock yarn.
  1. Cascade Fixation (two are for me, two are not!!)
  2. the cutest Lantern Moon bumble bee tape measure - I immediately wished I hadn't bought the one at Knit Together, but then again you can never have too many tape measures!!
Not bad for one day of shopping, huh? I think I was still under the influence on Sunday, because the first thing I did when I got up was cast-on for my new shawl. I seem to have lost all self control, and WIPs are popping up everywhere!! Later that afternoon, the two skeins of Lion Homespun you see in the center back of the picture ended up in my cart at Wall-Mart. I have a hand-puppet pattern that calls for it, and I've been wanting to knit them for my friend's kids. When I baby-sat a few weeks ago they put on an elaborate puppet show for me.

I bet you are wondering why I didn't post all of this yesterday. Wel, I tried very hard to stay on the wagon, but last night I got very distracted by a lovely Merlot. I'll have that for my next post.

17 comments:

somebunnysloveDOTcom said...

We really should do a crawl together sometime! That or meet at Foxwoods... ;)
=:8

Anonymous said...

my goodness! that's some huge haul!!

MissyJoon said...

That sounds like my idea of a fabulous weekend--yarn, yarn, yarn, and then cast-on for some new projects!!!!! I love it all!

amandazen said...

What a great haul! I love the color of Koigu KPPPM! And I am sure your spinning is not really crap.

Amanda

Martina said...

Forget any 12 step programs!! Stay off the wagon!!

Melissa said...

Holy Crap!! That's a ton of yarn! All if it looks great though! :)

Nathalie said...

good job! casting on is great fun, isn't it! nyuk nyuk

Jenn said...

Yum. Love new yarn! All the possibility...

Dave said...

Best cure for "drunken" knitting: Cast on two more socks the next morning and go shopping again next weekend!

Elizabeth said...

It didn't seem like that much yarn at the time - definitely a sign of a binge. I had a great time, and am still just gazing at (and petting) my yarn.

Jillio said...

goodness! and i thought i did retail damage with all the clothes i just bought! oh well.

my yarn is not to be discouraged. the skein that wants to go to your house heard me talking aloud to myself about all your yarn last night. she even asked me to unwrap her from the tissue paper so she could see for herself. she crawled back into the tissue paper, and i swear i thought her say, "karen ain't seen nothin' yet!" of course, what with all the tissue rustling, she could also have said "i can't wait to party with them!" silly sock yarn.

but seriously? wow! let's see the spinning! ;)

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a great time you had! And gooosh, what a yarn haul! Now, that's certainly almost a yarn store that you're having over at your place, no? No one can blame you though, I suppose none of us would have been able to resist these goodies!

Ragan said...

Look at all of your goodies! Wow! It sounds like you had a terrific time! All of that yarn looks so nice and I (of course) cannot wait to see it all worked up! Ok...also...WOW again! You actually have 3 pairs of socks on the needles...wow...3 wips!!! I am shocked! :) Amazing! It is nice to have different projects going in case you get mad at one of them...or bored. :)
Have a wonderful day!

Sonya said...

What a great haul! You're going to have great fun knitting that all up. BTW, I join you in saying the $80 skein of yarn will never be coming home with me. Yikes.

Lynda said...

That is QUITE the haul!!

hee hee - a yarn store named "Knit Together" just has to be good!

Heide said...

Sorry for any typos, but my keboard is slippery from drool. That is an amazing haul! Now should you be snowed in or quarantined for a rare foot fungus you won't run out of yarn. Stash is good.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like quite a yarn crawl!

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