Fellow Knitters

I have found so much more friendship and support than I could have ever imagined via the online knitting community, so it is time to attempt to return the favor.

The ever so awesome Michelle has released her first design! Because she's so kind and generous, the pattern is here and free. Be sure to leave her a comment if you're going to use it, and I'd love to see your finished cloths, and I'm sure Michelle would too.

The second shout out is for a knitter I don't know, but Anne took a couple of classes from her earlier this year, and I've been hooked on her blog for months. Annie Modesitt is further along in her pattern designing and in her knitting fame than Michelle, but this unbelievable pattern can be yours for a song, or for a very generous donation, with proceeds being used to help Annie's family through a very difficult time. It's a lovely pattern, and that my purchase can make a ripple in the pool for another knitter is a nice bonus.

Lastly, Stephanie, aka: The Yarn Harlot, is having a birthday, so drop in and wish her a great one.

Happy Father's Day!

We had a nice cookout with Mark's father's family, and then spent the afternoon watching the race. (As in Nascar.) That allowed me just enough time to finish my second sock in my second pair of socks. I really love this pattern!

The quiet time also afforded me the opportunity to ponder the great visit I had with Anne, her mom Ingrid, and all of the fun things we did throughout the week. The yarn crawl was fun, but not because of any spectacular finds. Rather, it was the company, and the fun that comes from sharing a hobby with friends. If you read Anne's blog or Amy's, you won't find that they were any more blown away by the yarn crawl than I was. Meeting Amy and Karen was a great treat! I'd heard Anne speak of her, and being a part of that first face-to-face meeting was a bonus.

So, since I took no photos except at home, here are my favorite photos, stolen from Anne and Amy. Thanks ladies! (And Anne, is there SERIOUSLY not a picture of the two of us? I swear you made me pose for at least one...)

I actually did TAKE this one, but with Anne's camera. Love those ladies in green, with the Blue Ridge Mountains behind them. (Yes Anne, those are what we in the East call mountains.)

I never like pictures of me, but there I am, in my favorite shirt, with Amy, in front of Stitch DC. I think that's the first picture of me in DC since my college days, but let's not go there!

This is my new favorite picture of Mugsy. It is the essence of Bugginess. (We call him Mug-bug or Buggy sometimes.) Anne took it Monday while I was at work.

Fred can't be left out, so here's one of my own favorite shots of him. I might have posted this one before, but it is as much the essence of the Hooey Hound as Anne's shot of Mugsy is of the Mugster. (My dogs will answer to anything. I think you could guess that.)

Thanks Anne and Ingrid, for vacationing here. It was a delight!

All By Myself

Well, Mugsy's at my side, as usual, but Anne and Ingrid have headed back to Atlanta, and Mark is at the firehouse for duty. It's going to take a bit to get back into our steady routine, but the upcoming week will make it easier, as it is our meeting week - Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for both of us. It's always a treat to have Anne here, and it was especially nice to get to not only meet her mom, but to spend time with them both!

Their visit actually ended as all good yarn-focused visits should, at a yarn shop, but more on that later. I'll backtrack to Friday night. Before a very bleak, disappointing meal at Ludwig's, Charlottesville's German restaurant, we stopped in at Michael's, where Anne and I both bought more Patons SWS. Michael's is markedly cheaper for the SWS, at least in this area. It's such a great yarn, and I can't wait to try out Natural Denim (on the right) and Natural Navy (on the left). I'd also like to pass along Devon's very common sense advice that didn't occur to my own little mind - it's probably not a good plan to try a restaurant you haven't eaten in before with guests. Duh? It's safe to say that none of us were impressed, and Mark will have "I told you so" rights indefinitely, as he did suggest a restaurant we frequent rather regularly, but I ignored him.

The Virginia yarn crawl ended at Limerick Fibres (or Fibers... I've seen it spelled both ways), my favorite local yarn shop. They never cease to amaze me with their down-home friendliness, organization and selection. I made a couple of purchases I can't/won't tell you about for swaps, but the bulk of my shopping was for me. The Cascade Cotton Rich just jumped into my hands as soon as we walked through the door. I love the color and the softness, but have no grand plan for it. It could be a face cloth, but I don't think Mark will be excited about a hot pink one, and I use the pouf thingees, so who knows what it will become? There are some little babies on the way, and one already here whom I owe a gift, so maybe it will find a purpose in baby knitting.

Evidently, the last stop with Anne and Ingrid had me thinking blue, because the vast majority of my purchases were blue. I fondled the Plymouth Boku (wool/silk) last time I was there, and I think it might be a Noro Kureyon alternative. I have a plan for the little 99 yard skein, but it involves someone I know reads my blog, so only Mugsy knows my secret, and unlike Duke (of Bush's Baked Beans fame), he REALLY isn't telling. Y'all know I can't come out of a shop without sock yarn, and I am happy that Lola (the owner) has added more sock yarn! The Sockotta in color 14 NEEDED to come home with me too. Can't you just see me knitting with it at the beach next month? Same with the Cascade Fixation. It wants to be a darling little pair of yoga socks. Mary found one pattern for me, and my daily knitting calendar also had a footie version earlier this week. Yum!

I just couldn't stop crawling though; on our way to a very early dinner with the inlaws, Mark and I stopped in It's a Stitch for one last item for a swap box. I was shocked that he wanted to go in. He was dressed for crew at the firehouse, and I think he just wanted to see how the ladies who own/run the shop would react. I don't know the nice lady who was working, but she was polite, and even at two minutes to closing, took a moment to show me how to do socks on two circular needles, which you'll get a report on later this week. Say it with me... I must not start new socks until Thursday. I must not start new socks until... You see, that's when the Summer of Socks begins, and that's when my first socks on two circs will take to the needles! I just need your help. This will be the first time since my first sock (all of what, a few weeks ago!?) that I won't have a sock in progress. Add in my overwhelming urge to try the needles and yarn my Felted Bag pal sent me, and truly, I need all the help I can get!

So, no crawling tomorrow. It's Fathers Day, which means heading to Mark's paternal grandfather's for a cookout with the extended family, followed by a relaxed evening at home with lots of knitting on some non-sock item. I think my Oat Couture vest to be done in the Plymouth Royal Bamboo is calling me, but I'm really have a hard time hearing it over the roar of the circs and Trekking...

Crawl until you drop

Before I get into the details of today's yarn crawl, let me take at least a moment to thank my most awesome Dishcloth pal, Shannon! She's one tricky, kind gal! She used her middle name and kept me posted on the status of my goodies from day one. Yup. All of that goodness is mine, save the red canister in the back right. Those are - get this! - dog treats! The dogs are very excited, and wouldn't believe the same woman wrote "Cats rule, dogs drool" in her letter to me. I hope I don't leave anything out. There's a cute bracelet, dark chocolate with caramel, a brand of green tea I haven't tried before, two patterns, a scallop picture (I'm allergic, and was silly enough to say so in my questionnaire, so Shannon was silly enough to send me a scallop!), a beautiful beach scene bookmark, FOUR cloths, two soaps, and some Peaches & Creme, which I haven't tried yet. If you look hard enough, you can see that she even customized my letter with some sketches! I am spoiled, yet again. Thank you Shannon, and dear Devon, the hostess who made the match!

Now, I must note that we decided to punt Jamestown today, because of the weather and the travel time. (Only a couple of hours, but still...) Instead, we went to Richmond. We had plans for some non-yarn sight-seeing, but between the rain and the downtown MESS, we quickly abandoned all non-yarn and lunch plans.

First, we stopped at the Short Pump Ben Franklin. It too had some Cascade 220, lots of Patons wool and SWS, and was clean and lovely. (Yes, another Ben Franklin. I'm impressed.) I bought some swap and prize goodies and a few notions for myself.

Next stop was the Yarn Lounge. It was an interesting shop, but I think I was too hungry to really get too excited. It was also post-downtown mess stress, so there may have been some residual grumpiness on my part. The dog in the shop was cute though.

Third stop on the Richmond, VA round of the crawl - The Knitting Basket Ltd. on picturesque Grove Avenue. It was a crowded little shop in the basement of a toy store, but I found some Tofutsies and another swap something. There were many yarns I'd not seen before, but the Tofutsies were nearly lonely with the few other sock yarns. I seriously think it has more company here in my sock yarn basket! Anne spotted some silver charms at the register, so I'll have to let my family know they exist and would look great on my charm bracelet!

Then came Unraveled, Inc., in a little village-like shopping center. Friendly folks, some local wool, but nothing jumped out at me. Anne did purchase a few things there though. They kindly gave us directions to the last stop on our Richmond crawl, and that was very nice!

Last, but not least was Lettuce Knit. I don't think Anne was impressed, but I was! I found some Jitterbug, and something happened that has never happened to me before; they offered to wind it for me. Of course, I said "Please, thank you!" and was further impressed when Lynn pulled out a copy of the Jitterbug free pattern, printed on green, 8.5" x 11" paper, in an eye-friendly font. They also let me fondle some new sock yarns they'd just gotten in, but it wasn't in their system yet, so alas, it wasn't for sale. I will go back though, or at least beg my sister to stop in for more Jitterbug! (That's actually rather brown, flecked with all kinds of other colors. It was raining outside, so you didn't get the good outdoor light shots!)

Still, I have to report that I failed to find the two items I was most hoping to find... a special brand of needles and a certain notion, both for a swap. I can buy them online, but I was hoping to find them semi-locally, but to no avail. Likewise, despite my happy sock yarn purchases, both of which I was hoping to find in my travels, the overall sock yarn selections were very disappointing. The nice ladies at Lettuce explained to me why they stock so few sock yarns - gauge, fiber and colorways make it difficult to purchase and stock successfully with too much diversity - but I'm afraid it didn't make sense to me. Yeah, I have a marketing background, so I get some of what they were saying, but I just don't understand why the home state of Claudia's, which is rather popular online, can't do a better job in at least ONE store. And if you do find a decent selection of Claudia's, good luck finding two skeins in the same dye lot. POUT. I'm not the only sock knitter in Virginia. Ladies, there's a reason you can't keep Jitterbug and Claudia's in stock. Take a hint. BUY MORE, in more colors!

Tomorrow, I hope to sneak away early from work and show Anne my favorite local shop, Limerick Fibers, in Gordonsville. I'm also hoping they'll soon have their website open for all to see.

Yummy Stitch Markers

Now that Devon and Anne have their packages, I can tell you that these lovelies came from the gal who just opened this Etsy store.

These are Anne's red velvet cake markers. The woman is insane for red velvet cake, so when I saw them, I knew she *NEEDED* some!

And since Devon is a pastry chef (how lucky am I to be able to boast that I have a friend who is a pastry chef?!), I knew she'd appreciate these eclairs too.

Tossed in just for me, as a bulk-buyer's gift I suppose, was little little cutie. I'm not wild about buys, but I do enjoy using this one as a marker. She just brightens up whatever project she graces!

Let the record show...

All the knitterly goodness that arrived on Monday in the anonymous box was from my Felted Bag pal. I don't even have my bag yet, but already, I'm nominating her as a super swapper. My apologies to my HSKS pal (hello? are you out there?), and to Kirstin, who is, after all, "just" a Ravenclaw prefect, not even my prefect, I think.

So, I'm feeling special. I've got Tibbers Sox spoiling me rotten in Sockapalooza, Michelle, the mistress of niceness sending packages just because, and now, my still anonymous bag spoiler too.

I have to tell you... I went as far as analyzing handwriting, trying to figure this out.

So, with that straightened out, I'll share some yarn crawling results. For more details, you can see Anne's blog and/or Amy's blog. (They both brought cameras. I didn't. I was more concerned with finishing my dishcloth for my pal...)

First stop - Sunday. Ben Franklin craft store in Waynesboro, VA. Not generally something to make you go ooooh, but they do have a great selection of Cascade 220, which Anne adores. I found some squooshy organic cotton to make another cloth for my hubby, and some Caron felting wool, probably to make another Squatty Sidekick. (Amy wasn't along on that adventure.)

The cotton is Pakucho, 100% Certified Organic Cotton, made in Peru. It's a Trendsetter's yarn. It has a lot of information on its label, and I'm all about reading up on details, so that will be a treat when I get around to knitting with it. (No time soon; I'm in love with the Sidekick, and the Summer of Socks begins in just 8 days... wanna bet the first pair will be done on two circs!?)

The Caron Felt-It was a bargain and I loved the color - Wildflowers, the named it - so I couldn't resist. It's not as soft as the SWS by any means, but I really wouldn't expect 100% wool to be so soft. It will be fun to see how yet another yarn felts up too. So, those are the sole purchases from the first stop on the Virginia Yarn crawl, but both were too good to leave behind.

Stop #2 - Tuesday, Old Town Alexandria - Knit Happens. I've surfed their website several times, and I think Amy probably gave it a rather thorough review. I enjoyed petting several yarns, but there was nothing in the right color in the right yarn for me, so believe it or not, I left empty-handed.

Stop #3 - Also Tuesday, The Capitol Hill store of Stitch DC. Very friendly, helpful staff. The employee went so far as to call another LYS in the area to see if they had the KA dpns I desired. (They did not, but the yarn crawl continues...) Not another Stitch location, but the competition! How sweet is that?! They had several brands of yarn I'd never seen before in person, and the first must-have was the Scarlet Fleece, hand painted not too far from me! I couldn't resist the Wrangler colorway. I predict I'll be hunting down more of that in the future.

I also couldn't leave behind the Poems, even if the colorway is a bit too pastellish for my liking. That's color #553, if you check out their color chart. However, there really wasn't a colorway that was just to my tastes, so I just picked up something that will allow me to experiment with yet another self-striping yarn, because you know I'm on a campaign to find something that I like better than the loved-by-many-but-not-me Noro Kureyon!

Tomorrow, Anne, Ingrid and I will head to Jamestown, and do some yarn crawling in that area, and maybe hit a shop or two on our way home, if it's not too late to visit Richmond...

Spoiled ROTTEN

Warning: picture-laden post. I just couldn't help myself!

Where to begin?! I guess I'll backtrack first and show you the lovely, large granny square Anne's mom made for me with the yarn from my Knitter's Treat pal, Barb. I'd wanted to do something special with the brightly colored ball of cotton, and Ingrid's offer to whip up a granny square for me was too good to refuse, even if my mother inlaw might claim it. Thank you so very much, Ingrid! What a very special treasure that will be. (She stopped by and met my mother inlaw today at work, so I can honestly say that no matter where it finds a home, it will be a treasure!)

I knew sweet Michelle was sending Anne a surprise care package, but imagine my complete and utter SHOCK upon returning home from work to find not one, not, two but THREE packages on the front porch, two of which were addressed to me! One held the treats on the right, presented in that darling little hearts "take out" style box: a cute, cute tea dishcloth in a perfect rose, a Harry Potter bookmark, Bernie Bott's Everyflavor Beans (aka: HP jellybeans), pink polkadot tissues in a purse pack, and a perfect little tin of mints that appears to be custom-made to match my little Sidekick purse! All of this, just for the privilege of getting to know Michelle while agreeing to help surprise Anne with a package. The world is full of incredible people, and the best of them can be found in the online knitting and swapping community!

That tea dishcloth is too cute, too perfect (I have the pattern too), not to share: You must especially admire the perfect mini bobbles in the top portion of the teacup. Michelle must tell me her bobble technique, because mine is grossly lacking in comparison!

While that was an incredible surprise, there were two more grand boxes on my porch. One was Michelle's box to Anne, which was indeed a COMPLETE surprise. I worried all day that Anne would be at my house when the box arrived, but as luck would have it, she and Ingrid were still out and about when I got home, so I hustled the boxes inside. Here's Anne trying to figure out why she's getting a package at my house:

I have several pictures of Anne pouring over the contents, but you can see her blog for complete details on the very special package she received from Michelle.

Last, but most hardly least, was the package from my Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap pal, which was so much more than I could have EVER hoped for! Obviously, she did some research. Anne and I both oohed and ahhhed through each and every little wrapped item, and then repeated the process as we moved outside after it was obvious the threatening thunderstorm had passed us by. Good grief!! I have been truly blessed with great pals thus far, along with the bonus of some new, great friends too! If the HSKS has a contest for best spoiler, I'm nominating mine, just as soon as I confirm who she is. No, it's not an anonymous swap, but I'm still guessing, as she signed the card "your pal". Kit the commenter from way back seems to be none other than Prefect Kirstin, and I'm guessing she's the exceptionally generous upstream pal o' mine... Either way, I hope my spoiler will speak up so I can really thank her, because I truly feel spoiled!

Here's a better look at what's inside:

There's two skeins of yarn, both in a bamboo blend, two Addi turbos in size 1, tea, tea soap, tea trays, Cat Bordhi's book Socks Soar..., chocolate treats, tip protectors (Mugsy thanks you. Truly. There's nothing that ruins a pup's nap quite like finding Mom's needles in his side when he moves into the spot she's recently vacated.), and a card with a picture of Colonial Williamsburg. That's special, because I'm not sure we'll do more than pass by it on the little tour van on Thursday, if we venture into Colonial Williamsburg proper at all. Ingrid is most interested in Jamestown, and Anne, in shopping. As I visit Colonial Williamsburg just about every year, it will be okay if we miss it this time, but it did tug at my heart to see that picture!

Well, Mugsy would like some lap time, and I do hope to finish up my cloth for my pal in the dishcloth swap tonight, so one more grand thank you to Michelle and Kirstin (I presume?). It will be hard to decide what to knit next!