Yarny goodness
I am back from my trip to the SF Bay Area! I can’t believe I’m back in Spokane. ugh. I mean, the day before yesterday I was having a champagne brunch in the Carmel Valley at this place. sigh. And the weather was so awesome. I actually walked around in a short sleeve t-shirt without a jacket. Without a jacket! Now it’s back to being cold again. Oh well. Enough of my bitching. Here is the progress I made on my Chai Pullover. I really knitted on it a lot. Every moment I had I knitted. I really enjoy knitting in the round for a couple of reasons. First and formost, no seams. Secondly, I can try it on as I go. Oh, and I only had to cast on once, because I am picking up at the armholes and knitting the sleeves down. I have about five more rows on my right arm.
I went to Artfibers (more on that in a minute) and asked about how to care for this garment. I told her about the stretching disaster. She gave me lots of good tips. I also finally bought some Eucalan wash so I will try that and I think spinning out the water in the washing machine will be helpful, too.
Speaking of Artfibers, I went there on Friday, St. Paddy’s day, with my friend Judy! There was hardly anyone there so I got the manager, Kira, practically to myself. I did the whole “buy enough yarn for a sweater and get a free pattern” thing. She has some of her designs in some binders and I picked out a cardigan. Then I picked out the most luscious yarn ever, Satori. It’s a silk and kid mohair blend. I picked out a pretty purple color. She had me knit up a swatch and then she plugged in my gauge into this handy computer program (that I’m tempted to buy). She even offered to write the pattern so that it is knit in one piece so that I wouldn’t have to worry about seaming. I also picked out some beautiful handmade buttons to top it all off. It was such an awesome yarn shopping experience, as it always is. If you ever find yourself in SF, you have got to go to Artfibers and do the whole yarn pattern thing. Seriously. It’s a little bit pricey, but so worth every penny. Judy and I also went and had a Guinness at this place called Lefty O’Douls. You can read all about our interesting BART adventure on Blatherskite, if you feel so inclined. We decided that it was the best St. Patrick’s day either one of us had ever experienced 
.
Before going into SF, Judy and I went to our other favorite yarn store, Commuknity. They have even more yarn now than they did the last time I was there. They place was seriously exploding with yarn. And all the best yarn. All of my favorites! I had to go through and touch everything twice. I really wanted to buy something. I almost went for the Claudia’s Hand Painted. But I decided that I already had too much sock yarn. I gravitated toward the Artyarns because they have such a wonderful selection of it and I can’t really find it here in Spokane. I have always wanted to try thier silk ribbon and silk fur, but it’s kind of expensive. So I bought enough of it to make a pretty scarf from the book Modular knits. I have hardly been able to keep my hands off it it since I bought it. It’s so soft. Crazily, Judy didn’t buy anything! She has some serious self control .
Well, I think that is about all I can do for now. I visited another yarn store in Los Gatos that I hadn’t been to before called Yarn Dogs. I think I will save my comments about that one for a later post. I’ve got to start getting ready for work.
Have a fantastic Tuesday!
4 comments March 21st, 2006