Home again!

I survived the weekend, but maybe just barely. We had fun, even if the team forgot that you're supposed to WIN the Homecoming game. Oh well, it was fun to be with friends.

DF Jill and I managed to visit a couple of yarn stores. We stopped by Wooly Bully first since it was the closest to our hotel. They have some nice yarns and both of us managed to find something we just couldn't leave without. I found this

It's a lace weight merino from a company called Ella Rae. I'd never seen it and it's so pretty I just had to have it. As you can see I also found a pattern I thought it would be perfect for. I adore Ilga Leja's patterns and have a couple in my library. I might actually start this one!

From there we headed to Really Knit Stuff. I told you about this shop last year and I can't sing their praises enough. But be warned, you too might be forced to sit down and start a project that you bought the materials for while you're there. It's not all bad, I started a lovely project from Cat Bordhi's "A Treasury of Magical Knitting". I wanted to start while there since the lovely Terri was there casting hers off and could show me how the "magic" cast-on works for the mobius. I worked on it off and on the rest of the day and today and this is what it looked like before I picked it back up and knit on it for another hour tonight.
I'd love to have it finished by the last game of the regular season which happens to be a home game against UF. Well see. It does got really fast though, so maybe, just maybe it's doable.

Finally I was enticed by the sparklies and purchased this...
This photo doesn't show the sparkly factor all that well, but believe me it's amazing! It's from Blue Heron and is a Rayon Metallic yarn. The color is Curry/Copper. I'm excited about it, first because it's just so beautiful and secondly because it's so different. I'm pretty sure what I'm going to make, but I may change my mind. We'll just have to see.

So those are my pictures. I forgot my camera in Jill's car so you'll have to wait and see what she decides to post on her lovely blog.

Black Thursday and some other things

Yep, in just a few short minutes it will be "Black Thursday" a.k.a. Valentine's Day. Being single, and not even dating someone, this is one of those holidays I could easily skip...if it weren't for all that chocolate in the stores. I'm just waiting for it to go on sale. Although there is a specific tin I want so I may have to break down and go purchase it tomorrow. For those with sweethearts, and you know who you are, enjoy the day with them for the rest of us.

So, I keep saying that I've actually finished a project, but won't show you any pictures. They are coming, but as a preview I'll show you this and let you try to figure out what all it might be. You should be able to see a full view by Saturday since I mailed it off today to my DF Jean. It's a late birthday present. I also mailed her another little surprise, which of course I can't show you because she is one of the 10 people that actually read this blog. I'm sure I'll know when she gets is and I promise I'll put up more pictures then.

Last night I planned to watch the Dog Show on TV. I did watch part, but didn't see who won best in show. I did start another knitting project, but this is for a gift, so I'm totally justified AND I'm using some yarn in my stash. Yarn I didn't even have listed on Ravelry.I'm probably going to shorten the strap, but otherwise I think it's kind of cool. The yarn is some Patons that I found I don't know where. I think I found it when I was last in VA for a family reunion. It'll be interesting to see how the pattern shows up. So far I've got the bottom done and have started the 2" of stockinette in the round. Mindless knitting is good.

Friday night I managed to find some more sock yarn to place in my stash.Let me first show you this lovely Sockina Cotton from Schoeller & Stahl. They don't name these colors, but it's pretty with cream, green, rose, a darker burgundy and some brownish color. I hear this yarn feels yummy, and since it's cotton I hope so. Have no idea what pattern I'll use, but I've got plenty to choose from.

Then there's the Jitterbug...
This stuff is additive. I'd love to be able to afford to make the "Swing" jacket from one of the Colinette books out of the colorway I bought, but right now that's a little beyond my budget. Let me just say that when I get a new job, and I have a paycheck or 2, I'm splurging on that bad boy! And if that isn't a reason to find a job, I seriously don't know what will motivate.

Well, now that you've been lulled by the pretty yarn I will leave you to your Black Thursday celebrations. Eat some dark chocolate for me!

This is not about Christmas

I take time out of the season to say that I accomplished something tonight. For those of you who read this and are part of the Ravelry community, you may understand the significance of what I'm about to say. You see, I've been trying to get my stash all organized on Ravelry. If for no other reason then so I can see it. I store most of my yarn in these really pretty hamper-like things, which is great, but you can't look at your yarn when it's all in that. Now, I don't have everything listed, but I have all the really good stuff pretty much listed and with pictures on Ravelry. I'm so excited! I know I'm missing some things, but the bulk is there. I'm going to try and pick up the rest this week. So, if you're a part of Ravelry, feel free to browse.

In stitching news, I started a new project on Christmas Day. I knew I would. It's a small item, so I might actually finish it, plus it's a bunny. It's from Trilogy and called "Happy Bunny Bunny Day". I decided to do it 1 over 1 in the hopes it will be small enough to make a cute pin. We'll see how it looks when it's done. Not much to show, but I'll try to take a picture this weekend to give you an update. What I really need to stitch on is a super-secret item that I need to get done by some point in January. I'll probably work on that some tomorrow. Plus I need to get with Judy and get her ornament started for her prize. Once I know which one I'm going to do, I'll let you all know too. I really just want to spend the rest of the week stitching and maybe knitting, but it hasn't happened so far. I only got in 2 or 3 hours on Christmas day and an hour tonight. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Our office is closed so I really don't have to work until at least the 2nd, maybe even the 3rd! There should be some quality time available in all that somewhere to do what I want to do!

Homecoming and Yarn Sales

On the surface these two things do have anything in common, however this weekend they seemed to go together quite well.

Friday I headed over to Tallahassee for FSU's Homecoming weekend. Got a later start then I wanted, but still made it in time to pick up sweet Anna and take her to dinner. (Anna is a "former" youth at my church and her mom & I are friends.) It may have been a few years since I was a student at FSU as Anna is, I still remember that it's fun to get visitors, especially if they will feed you. Mind you all my visitors were my parents, but that's not the point here. We had a good meal and she caught me up on her classes and told me about the mission trip she hopes to go on this spring/summer to Africa.

After I dropped Anna back at her dorm, I headed over to the friends home where Jill & I were fortunate enough to stay this weekend. Gregg & Traci are actually friend's of Jill's, but I like to think they've become my friends as well. They are both wonderful and have a lovely home. Jill was late getting in because of how late she left work, but that have G, T & I time to sit and talk. Mainly about books, but I'm sure there were other subjects. Jill arrived quite late, so the next morning we got kind of a late start, but all 4 of use went to breakfast and I proceeded to stuff myself with yummy food that wasn't exactly the most healthful choice.

Traci had a massage appointment (lucky Traci, sounded like a fantastic idea), so we dropped her off then decided, fairly spur of the moment to check out a yarn store Gregg knew about. (Ok, backstory, Gregg is a potter, so he totally gets the whole tactile thing with yarn and fibers. This is a good thing. Plus he knows the husband of the woman who owns the store.)

It's been years since I was over in what is now Railroad Square Art Park. It's a bit different, but still has that great funky feel you get in college towns. (If you click on the link you get to see some of the great places in the park and even a shot of yarn at the store.) The store is named Really Knit Stuff and is lovely, as is the proprietress Paula. I highly recommend stopping in and visiting this great store. There were some ladies knitting at the table in the shop and they were happy to have us sit down with them and chat while Paula wound our yarn. Yes, we bought yarn! Of course we did. And I have pictures. They are all separated because I'm trying to upload my stash to Ravelry and figured I could start with the new stuff coming in the door.

First the sock yarns...(I know, I know, sock yarns mean I should knit more socks. Well give me a chance will you.)

Lovely Loden from Cherry Tree Hill

Yummy Tea Green, also from Cherry Tree Hill.

And last, but by no means least, Serengeti, by you guessed it Cherry Tree Hill.

Let me explain why I HAD to get the first 2 (because I'm sure you can see by the loveliness of the 3rd why I had to get it. I mean really, it's fabulous. So fab that Jill also bought some.) You see there was a sale and I can't pass up a good sale and let's just say, they ended up being a price I couldn't turn down.


Lastly I bought 2 skeins of a "new to me" yarn from Barlett Yarns. It's loverly! I'm not sure exactly what I'll make, but I totally saw it as a purse of some sort, probably a cable somewhere in it. The 2 skeins will give me 420 yards and at 5.60 each skein after the sale, that's awesome. Oh, the color is called Lovat. (What a great Scot-inspiring name. The picture doesn't show the tweediness of this yarn and you certainly can't smell the great wool smell.) It's just wonderful. Can't wait to see how it knits up.

Well that's the knitting haul from the weekend. The evening was capped off by a win in football by my alma mater. As is our tradition, Jill & I stuck around after the game to watch The Marching Chiefs perform their post-Homecoming game show. They always end with "The Hymn to the Garnet and the Gold" which I like a lot more then our actual alma mater song. It totally caps off Homecoming for me. So glad we decided to stick around.

Came home today to some chores, mainly laundry. I'm also a bit behind in getting my Hogwarts sock finished. All this travel has not been as conducive to knitting as I thought it would be. It would be so much easier if I could knit and drive at the same time, but alas I've not figured out how.