Pittsburgh was great fun. I think that a sign of a great vacation may be that you arrive home completely exhausted. Matt certainly lives the Rockstar Lifestyle, and I just ate it up! A bit of a change from my typical early to bed, early to rise self… but how can you say no when there’s cheap beer, late night pizza and fabulous friends to laugh and play Dr. Mario with? I cannot say no to these things.
On Monday afternoon, Matt and I took a little break from rockin’ out to visit Knit One. This store completely lived up to it’s spectacular reputation in every way possible. Knit One is a knitter’s wonderland. Every yarn that I’ve been ogling on the interwebs of late, they had it out an available for me to fondle: Malabrigo, Great Big Sea, Blue Sky Organic Cotton, Claudia’s Handpainted, a wide range of Colinette, oh my goodness the list goes on and on. And the lovely ladies behind the counter we so wonderful. Noticing me fondling something fabulous, they would say “wait just a second,” run off to another section of the store, and return with something twice as fabulous. Even Matt (a non knitter, just along for the ride) seemed to be enjoying himself– in addition to taking part in the yarn petting fun, he never said “are you ready yet” so I take that as a sign of enjoyment. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how sometimes I feel like an impostor in LYS, but this was in no way the case at Knit One. From the second I walked in the door, I felt so welcome that after an hour I still didn’t want to leave! Next time I’ll bringing my knitting and will attempt to join in on the knitting circle up front. Speaking of yarns I’ve been ogling on the interwebs, it wasn’t more than a week ago that I surfed across GeeYouKnit’s beautiful Charade socks knit up in Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape in the Fog colorway. At first glance, I knew that I must have this yarn. And what did I find smack-dab in front of Knit One’s sock yarn display? Oh you guessed it. So I snatched up a couple of balls of the stuff and now I am sitting here petting them and whispering “my Precious” while I blog. (Exaggeration for dramatic effect… sort of.) Matt picked out a ball of Fortissima Wool/Bamboo and I will be knitting him up a pair of socks in the near future as well.
I was unwilling to lug the Mendota Ripple nor the Rona lace nor the precious precious Super Secret Project to Pittsburgh, so I started in on a couple of new things (bad bad bad… but oh so fun fun fun). First off, I started and finished a Not Quite Straight Scarf (in purple to match an upcoming Red Light Special– stay tuned). People– listen to me. If you’re in the market for a scarf pattern, please check this one out. The stitch pattern is simple but looks fabulous and it knits up very quickly. Oh, and the recommended Knit Picks Andean Silk yarn is just a dream to work with and so soft. Go get some. Oh my! I think I’m in love with a knitted rectangle! Woo!
(August is not the right time for scarves.)
I made a good start on the Boyfriend Socks. I should mention that the spark to start these socks came from the gorgeous pair over at Bockstark Knits– Mrs. B is a sock knitting genius. Go, stare, be amazed, I’ll wait. I’m almost done with the first sock, but I’m a little disappointed with how they are turning out. Blocking may be the answer, so I will be patient.
(is it me or does this sock look vaguely like a sausage?)
But the real question is, how will I block them? Will I pin them out carefully, awkwardly needling myself every couple of inches? Will I place them gingerly under a cement brick? Will I attempt the ill fated laundry line method? No no no… I will block them, my friends, with my bright and shiny new Loopy Ewe sock blockers that arrived in the mail just before I got back from the ‘burgh!
(love the ewe detailing!)
So I must now run– I’ve finally pulled together my Yarn Junkies Yellow Swap package and it needs to be mailed. Checking my email for my prelim results was a full time job for the past two weeks, so all of that work I expected to get done in August hasn’t even been touched– so there’s that. Oh and pie. Must find some pie.
You are hilarious! I had to laugh when I read the sausage comment, too funny! The socks look way better on the foot than just hanging there, so if you do take a picture, take it of your foot and not just holding it like it was a sausage. And for me, I don’t block my socks. I just wash them and lay them flat to dry. I am a lazy-ass blocker. I have never knitted anything that needed those god awful pins!
Have you started knitting with the Regia yet? It’s ADDICTIVE!
[...] may have mentioned this before, but when I first saw Bockstark’s Baltic Sea BFs I was head over heels! Everything about [...]
[...] does the visit have to do with anything? Well, I owe Sir Smatt a pair of socks. Perhaps you recall, he purchased some Schoeller & Stahl Fortissima Socka when I dragged him to Knit One with the understanding that I would transform it into something [...]