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yarn

yarn purchases and vacation

by Michelle on July 8, 2008

I haven’t found anyone with leftovers of the yarn I need (it was a longshot!), so I bought another skein from The Loopy Ewe. It should arrive by the time we get home from the coast. (I actually got an “it’s been shipped” notification the same day I placed the order! It’ll probably get to my house before I do.)

Yesterday, I drove up to Lincoln City to visit Nestucca Bay Yarns and run a couple of errands. Nestucca Bay is a cute little shop with some nice yarns (including lots of Cascade 220, Manos del Uruguay, many Rowan yarns, and their own handpainted yarns). I bought this:

Tara, who was working at the shop yesterday, and I had a nice chat. I think I’ve inspired her to pick up crochet. And she tempted me with this book that I now really, really want. It’s all about crochet stitch motifs, which is way more fun than rows and rows of crochet. All different kinds of squares, circles, and other shapes! I already have ideas in mind for some of the things I saw in the book (I sat down and flipped through it for a good 15 minutes, at least). [As an aside, why doesn't Amazon have the book? Nestucca Bay had about 6 copies of it!]

I also rather liked this book.

After my nice yarn shop visit, I went off in search of a place to get a pedicure and found a great, tiny shop called Nail Extension. Two manicure stations, two pedicure chairs, and I’m not sure there was much else (other than a few shelves with products for sale). Bit pricier than I would normally pay for a pedicure but it was really nice, she did a beautiful job on my toes, and we had a very nice chat while she was working on me. Well worth the cost, imo.

I’m not sure if you can really tell the color, but here’s a shot of my toes:

They’re a deep purple that looks like midnight blue in certain light. Really pretty!

And finally, one photo that cracked me up:

This is my niece, Sydney, trying to beg me for the Nintendo DS her dad had just announced that she DOES NOT NEED for Christmas this year. Too cute!

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tv night

by Michelle on May 17, 2008

We’ve been catching up on our shows tonight, since it’s too hot tonight to do anything that requires movement.

We just watched last night’s episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and Lost. Lost is making it so worth having stuck it out this far! I can’t wait for more! Too bad all that’s left is the season finale–who knows how long we’ll have to wait for the next season.

We also watched Don’t Forget the Lyrics, which has been entertaining lately. Nik is convinced that I should go on the show. Haha. I do know the words to lots of songs and I tend to do pretty well playing along from my couch, but I’m actually not quite enough of a Leo–I’m not really comfortable being the center of attention, except in small doses. If I ever did go on the show, though, I definitely would not go for the million dollar song. I’ve seen it attempted twice now, and both songs were impossible. (Seriously. Who knows every word to Milli Vanilli’s Blame it on the Rain?)

I went to Twisted after work today and petted lots of Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn. In addition to all three weights of Socks that Rock, they’re also carrying Laci (100% merino laceweight–gorgeous 1750 yard skeins), Silk Thread (100% silk, very fine & beautiful), Luscious Single Silk (50% merino, 50% silk, DK weight, in huge 500 yard skeins!), and Woobu (60% merino, 40% bambu, DK weight, also in huge skeins of 620 yards). It was fascinating seeing how the same colorway can look completely different on a different base yarn. The most striking difference was the Woobu. I picked up a skein of it in what looked like a charcoal gray color and was surprised to see that it was Thraven, the same colorway I’d been drooling over in the Laci (and in the Luscious, for that matter). In the Woobu, Thraven looked like charcoal gray with very subtle greens. Lovely, but not obviously the same as the black with blues and greens I’d been looking at in the Laci.

I LOVE that color–it’s so pretty in every yarn I looked at. I may have to get some someday…

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babies, yarn, and projects (oh my)

by Michelle on May 9, 2008

I think this post will be quick and picture-heavy…then I’m going to bed early, in an attempt to make up for the last couple of nights a bit.

Yesterday was fun. When I arrived at Twisted, I had a plan. One of my co-workers is pregnant and expecting a little girl in September, so I’ve decided it’s time for me to finally do some baby knitting. In my blog-reading the other day I saw a sweater that Larissa just finished and thought, “oh, that might be the one!” And I wanted something pink, but not…TOO pink. So I went to the sock yarn wall (I was thinking fingering or sport weight) and landed at the Socks that Rock. I found this:

That’s the color Pink Granite, which I really like with the subtle pinks and grays. I think it’ll make a great baby sweater.

I brought it over to Emily and and asked her for a baby sweater pattern suggestion. She walked to the other side of the store and came back with a sweater on a hanger. It was the same one I’d just seen on Larissa’s blog! (It’s Elizabeth Zimmermann’s February Sweater from the Knitter’s Almanac, by the way.) So that pretty much sealed it for me. Emily convinced me to switch to the heavyweight STR (so nice that you can get Blue Moon’s colorways in all sorts of different yarns and weights, isn’t it?) to go with the pattern.

I also got these buttons for the sweater:

Now I just need the book!

Somehow, this also came home with me from Twisted:

That’s more STR–mediumweight–in Atomic #6. Fell in love with the color at first sight.

When Nik and I got home from our evening out, there were two packages waiting for me. One contained 4 new skeins of Kureyon for my Lizard Ridge and this pretty sock yarn (I had to get it to get the order over the $25 minimum!):

The second package was from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, containing…I’m sure you can guess: More STR! These are all lightweight:

The Knitters Without Borders colorway. This is the one that got me to finally place an order with them. I’d missed the chance to get some when the Yarn Harlot was in town, so I decided to order it. So of course I ended up buying a couple more at the same time…

The Lucy colorway. (I’m a sucker for blue and brown together.)

Space Dust. There were so many beautiful colors to choose from that it was really hard to decide. This one really appealed to me, though.

So in one day, I went from no STR to five skeins in five colorways, in three different weights. Heh.

And, since I’m losing steam and really want to get to bed, just a couple more pictures.

My Charade-but-not-really-Charade sock, as of this evening:

(I’ll explain the “not-really-Charade” part in another post soon.)

And Mom’s shawl (Follow the Leader), about 34 rows in:

Oh, and I almost forgot. Hi Tammy! (I laughed when I saw your note on my BMFA invoice. )

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2850 yards

by Michelle on May 4, 2008

Wow, that’s a lot of yarn to wind at once. The Cherry Tree Hill was 2400 yards, making the biggest ball of yarn I’ve ever seen:

This is going to be a Follow the Leader Faroese Shawl for Mom. Actually, I’ve already started it and I’m a whole…11 rows in.

The sock yarn, Stitchjones Superwash Merino in the Dark and Divine colorway, was only 450 yards. That’s nothing! Except that my arms were already tired from winding the lace yarn. Heh. Here it is:

This is, I think, destined to be a pair of Charade socks. I have not yet cast on for these, but I will soon. I’m contemplating doing two at once on two circs…

The sun has finally decided to grace us with its presence, so I hope to have some nice FO photos later on.

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um, oops? with bonus views from my desk

April 18, 2008

So…you know how I said I stayed home from work yesterday and played with yarn and Ravelry and stuff? Well, in my wanderings I somehow stumbled on Sharon‘s Etsy shop and…some yarn followed me home. (It really seemed that way, too–it was already here when I got home from work today! That’s some fast shipping, [...]

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