Acquisition Phase

The WEBS sale had me completely tied up for at least three weeks. I was unable to open a web browser without going back to eyeball different colors and consider new ideas. I received my Cascade 220 in Sapphire Heather, and it's beautiful as expected. It actually arrived before the Pastaza, but I just didn't put up a picture. (My Knit Picks lace weight is getting here this afternoon!!!!!)

Over at January One, the insanity has lasted for weeks. But it was good, it was colorful, and it had very interesting results. So interesting, in fact, that I am inclined to join up and get my own passport to bug frak crazy in the form of a mitre blanket project. To that end, I've been vetting sources. Remember my list of LYS's to scope? Well, check Northwest Wools off that list, because I did and let's just say...not so much. They have Tahki, but in very limited colors. And NO sock yarn that I could readily discern. And the service was abrupt at best. I'll give them the caveat that bringing your two-year-old into a yarn store is a real turn-off for most shop owners, but that doesn't mean I'm not a serious knitter.

At any rate, I think I'll be checking one other source here in town for colors, but most of my Tahki is probably coming from either the manufacturer or WEBS.

And that's me for a while because I have to get some b.b.d.r.'s finished to send out tomorrow or Friday for Mother's Day and the k/h needs finishing.

100 Things, #1 & #2

Top Ten Favorite Smells +1 (inspired by accident while reading this)
In no particular order.

1. My son's head and neck.
2. Frying onions, garlic and butter.
3. Fresh basil.
4. The Daphne hedges on the walk between the parking lot and campus at the University of Washington.
5. The graduate libary stacks at UW.
6. Lilacs.
7. That ozone-y smell when you first open a window on a spring day.
8. Freshly brewed jasmine tea.
9. MommaKate's hair.
10. Newly mowed grass.
11. The way home (the NW) smells differenly than the East Coast.

And after writing that I can't help but think of my...

Top Ten Favorite Sounds

1. The call of a red-winged blackbird.
2. Wind rushing through an evergreen forest uninterupted by human noise.
3. My son's first "mama" of the day, usually as he's waking up.
4. Hub turning the key in the door as he arrives home from work for the day.
5. Wind chimes on the back deck of The Cabin.
6. The ritual of packing and tearing open a new box of smokes.
7. The calm silence immedaitely after a household appliance shuts the heck up.
8. My son's laughter, especially when he's giggling flat out.
9. "Swee swee", or my nephew's words for "this way" when he was first learning to talk.
10. Anything by Coldplay.

Louet Love

Though I have yet to try Louet Euroflax in an actual project, I'm drawn in by the words and recommendations of others. In the spirit of virtual shopping therapy, I went on a trek to see where I could get some for a good price. This is what I found. Yeah-eah.

Now, if you've contemplated the nightie in Mason-Dixon knitting, and you're a size 14 pant and DD bust like me, you're looking at about five of those lovely 100g skeins. With shipping from a typical place, that's a Ben Franklin and an Andrew Jackson without breaking a sweat. I can spend that on shoes no problem, but I'd rather not on a single garment.

But finding Chez C in Florida has made that fantasy nightie a bit closer to real. To wit, if you buy two 1/2 pound cones rather than five skeins, and with the complimentary shipping over $25 (love free shipping, love it, love it, love it), Louet becomes a splurge instead of my child's college fund. Shiny.

What Do You Do When

...you go to your favorite knit night and find yourself next to someone who not only makes you deeply uncomfortable but also seems to be there for nefarious purposes.

Nefarious? In a yarn shop?

Well, here's what I did, in no particular order. I laughed nervously at some comments. I ignored others entirely. I struck up conversation with folks to the other side and across the room. I (guiltily) engaged in gossip regarding Mr. Nefarious' own place of business with Mr. Nefarious. And I've been dissecting the whole thing in my head. Since Thursday.

What appeared to be going on in my view was an employee from another yarn shop in the area came to knit night for purposes other than knitting. Comments were dropped about "his store" and what they did or didn't do. Bragging occurred. Just prior to Mr. N's departure, he reminded us all to come to his store on Sunday. And all this went on in front of several employees and the owners of the shop where we were all happily knitting away and sipping complimentary champagne.

Now, there are several permutations for possible reaction. The nice and the not nice, shall we say. That's why I'm still contemplating all this, to be honest. I am really impressed with the courtesy and tolerance shown by everyone present on Thursday. The owner chatted happily with Mr. N. on at least two occasions. I'm not feeling quite so mature or charitable, and am inclined to phone Mr. N.'s store to inquire about his purposes/future employment/other nasty bits. I have considered providing website and blog links for the offending parties. But then, I'd be returning his really bad form, wouldn't I. Ouch.

My hope for the future is that 1) Mr. N. does not make another appearance, 2) I never have to sit next to him again 3) I can learn to quell my own desire to sit in judgment of others.

(Dear viewers, please forgive me for baring my ugly bits. I keep thinking I need to talk this one through a bit more to get my head on straight.)

No Thanks to the Peanut Gallery

My husband has suggested that I change the name of my blog to "The Unread Knitting Blog". I'm actually at a place where I'd like to see how long one can write a blog without getting a comment while actually posting comments elsewhere and linking to other sites. And spamments don't count.

It was bound to happen. I was desperate to find out WHAT THE HECK IT IS. Well, I have, on my own, found the bleeding curry colored wonder. Here. Have I mentioned that I think yarn sales are inspired by evil?

Yum with a Side of Bliss

...or Mascarpone Icecream with Pears and Dulce de Leche.

Mascarpone Icecream
8 oz. mascarpone
8 oz. whole milk
3/4 c. superfine sugar

Combine mascarpone and sugar, then add the milk a 1/4 cup at a time so the mascarpone dissolves without lumping. Freeze mixture in an icecream machine.

- I found this recipe in a book at work called Ice Cream, though I can't find it on Amazon. Part of what I like is the fact that you don't have to cook and then cool the liquid overnight before freezing it in the machine. Next time, though, I'm only adding 1/2 a cup of sugar because I just don't like it quite that sweet.

- Boil a can of sweetened condensed milk for a couple of hours and you have the quick and easy version of dulce de leche.

Serve it up baby. A couple of halves of pears, a couple scoops of ice cream and a scoop of dulce de leche. Oh so good.

The Planning Stages

In an effort not to run aground on really bad color combinations, I put together a sketch of my plan for the Log Cabin Wedding Gift I'm ordering for in a couple weeks. I used the free software Ruth suggested in her series on color, although I think I need to do a bit more playing. This bit took me a while to put together and it is by no means perfect. I would really rather have something set up so I can point and click to change color, rather than point, drag, point, click, point, click, for a single color change. The upshot of my color test is that I found out I already had a great contrast color - the cream. I just don't see neutrals like white and black as much other than background, but those dark reds and browns sure brought out the pale. I think I like it.

My list of intended projects is coming along nicely. After reading through my local library's copy of EZ's Knitting Around I think I'd like to make a couple of Pie Are Square shawls, one for BF's mom and one for mine. I'm pretty set on Knit Pick's Alpaca Cloud in either Stream or Autumn for BFM's, and I'm going to look at either Elegance or Ambrosia for Mom's. I think I'm also adding a Log Cabin in blues and greens to the list for the In-Laws, for which I plan to use the above file to check the look of the FO. Did I mention that already? Oh, who cares.

I found this lovely sale at WEBS while reading Grumperina's blog. I have done some serious felting with Cascade 220 and loved it, so in a surprising show of self control I only ordered 6 skeins of Sapphire Heather. As I warned my husband, I could buy 100 skeins of Cascade 220 in 20 different colors, if only we had the dough. Why worry about where to keep it all until UPS tries to deliver it. I think I'd need to rent a cargo container.