LoopyKnits

So. Disappointed.

I practically skipped out of the house this morning on my way to the local Tuesday Morning store to be the first in line for 50% discounts on Gefrida yarns. The only folks that beat me there were a handful of retirees, and I don’t begrudge them first place in line anyway. But when I finally popped through the doors and asked where the sale yarn was, they pointed me to the endcap of one aisle in the back of the store. About 25 skeins … weird colors … what, that’s IT?!

Yup.

As you can see, most were unfortunate color choices or low quantities. I did like the denim blue but there weren’t enough to make an ample-size sweater for me, and I’ve got enough scarves and hats to last me a lifetime. I passed.

Doesn’t look much like their ad, does it? (See the yarn photo I snipped from their ad, further down on this page.) I don’t expect fancy displays or the very best color selection when I go to a discount outlet store, really. But it would be nice to have enough of one color to make a garment … or at least a few nice yarn colors. Compare the above reality to the photo from their ad, below. Why would they feature yarn in their flier if they aren’t going to have enough on hand to make it worth the trip to the store? It’s misleading, as I told the sales clerk. (Nicely. I’m not a total jerk.)

So … instead of pouting like an infant, I shopped like an adult and bought a bedspread instead. ;o)

It’s nothing fancy. We’ll be repainting our bedroom in a year or two when we get finished with some of the other rooms, so I didn’t want to invest in something luxe. The only thing I could find to go with the currently way-too-perky pale orange sherbet walls was a white Egyptian cotton coverlet and pillow sham in a neat style (geometric pattern woven into fabric, with no fringe on the edge of the spread, which I hate anyway). Beats the heck out of the hand-me-down pink-and-blue striped bedspread we were using; at least now it looks like we’re trying to live like grownups instead of going with the “scavenged dorm room” decor. ;o)

And besides, it beats the heck out of the peculiar Gefrida yarns they had at Tuesday Morning — especially the chunky black yarn studded with tufts of orange and white. Yech. Hope you all had better luck with the yarn shopping!

Technorati Tags: Tuesday Morning store, yarn sale, misleading advertising, Gefrida yarns, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm

First, a little non-knitting contents in honor of our mini-vacation this past weekend:

There’s no place like HOME! It was fun to visit San Antonio, but it was so good to get back to my kids, my pooch, and my peeps in general. (The hubby came up for the weekend or he’d have made the peeps list too.) It’s nice to be around people without having to tip them every few seconds. (Teenagers excepted.) Our tour included the Alamo, the Natural Bridge Caverns, the local mercado (market), Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and a visit to a highly rated local Tex-Mex restaurant (wherein I tasted my first dish of baby goat — yum).

And finally we get to the knitting contents of this posting: We of course made a stop at the Yarn Barn. Wow! What a selection! I was in awe just of their knitting needle selection alone, not to mention an entire aisle just of SOCK yarns. I went in and out of this largish shop in a blur due to our other plans for the day (”blur” meaning about 45 minutes when I wanted to stay there for 2-3 hours), but I fully intend to go back for an entire afternoon the next time I’m traveling nearby. The staff was nice and knowledgeable, with one staffer immediately noticing my dropped jaw and asking me if I needed help (I’m sure she was offering retail assistance, not mental health help … pretty sure, anyway). She then walked me toward the back of the shop to see the lovely selection of wool and cotton sock yarns.

You could probably get better prices online, but they seemed comparable to my local shops and it was nice for me, as a relatively novice knitter, to be able to squeeze and stroke the various yarns. I kept putting some skeins up to my face and sighing while my husband just sighed and found a comfortable place to stand with my purse. There were a good 10-12 patrons in there, happily doing needlepoint, crochet, and knitting as other shoppers puttered around. I think I and another gal had the only husbands in tow, though. And only mine was actually in the store. ;o)

As much as I love visiting the local yarn stores back home (I recently dropped the bucks for three projects at two of ‘em), I do so love being “unfaithful” to ‘em on those rare occasions when I’m out of town, too. It’s just nice to see what other knitters have available to them.

You see two future pairs of socks before you, of course. This is Cherry Tree Hill’s fingering-weight merino in Supersock Solids Purple and Supersock Champlain Sunset (such pretty colors they almost sparkle).

I didn’t make it to the nearby alpaca farm as I had hoped, but I managed to wear Texas-size blisters on my little toes by the end of the day, just the same. Those pinky toes were curled up little balls of screaming meat — and I was still happy, just the same. Caverns! Yarn! Historical site! Exciting new foods! Weird stuff at Ripley’s! Coolness! I’m struggling with my two-color stranding for my newest sock project, however. It kept me occupied during my downtime between events at my work division’s annual meeting. Busy knitting and then frogging, that is. I have no trouble at all holding one color yarn in the left hand and one in the right and knitting away. It feels very nifty and I think I’d like to knit an entire sweater like this. It’s definitely addictive. The problem is figuring out what to do about the color jogs. Either I’m not following the directions well or I need to find better references online. The only free advice I could find online about color jogs was in the Swirt pattern online at MagKnits; it’s Tip #1 on that page. But when I follow their brief directions, the main color intrudes on the row of secondary colors. I feel certain I’m missing something …

There’s also a “dealing with jogs” tip on this KeyWay.net page but it doesn’t seem helpful either, for my socks. (If anyone has some good online tutorials — especially with vidclips — I’d appreciate a comment with the info. Thanks! I’ve spent a bit much on my stash lately and am trying to avoid purchasing a book especially about Fair Isle knitting — at least for now.)

In the meantime, I’m anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s revelation about the new sock pattern for the August project of the Six Sox Knitalong that I recently joined. All we know so far is that it’s supposed to look best in a solid color, not even anything tweedy, and we need 100 grams of sockweight yarn. I’m reserving the new purple merino for this project and will begin looking for another cute sock pattern to try the spiffy colors of the Champlain on. (I saw a sock pattern that looked almost modular recently with little “scales” of different color streaks … I’m probably not describing this well … and have been desperately looking for that link ever since, darn it.)

Okay, that’s probably enough about my weekend! — Carolyn B.

[tags]San Antonio, Texas knitting, sock knitting, Yarn Barn, Cherry Tree Hill yarn, travel knitting, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm/tags]

Friday night was, of course, devoted to blowing money on the new Harry Potter book when it FINALLY went on sale. I foolishly took my knitting along, confident that I could find a quiet corner to sit and knit while Caitlyn played in the kids’ section for an hour or so.

Uh, no. There had to be at least 500-600 people there. (Shh, don’t tell the fire marshall.) Unless I wanted to stab someone (a few tempted me), knitting was clearly out. Man, it was packed! The last time I was jammed in somewhere with that many people dressed in quirky costumes, it was Mardi Gras in New Orleans and I had a drink in each hand and a couple more already in my belly. ;o) Much like Mardi Gras in N’awlins, it was an experience worth having. Once. Next year I plan to quietly order my book for home delivery.

Saturday morning, I jumped up faster than I normally do on the weekend and headed to the Memphis Agricenter’s Intergalactic Bead Show at 10 a.m. with other members of Memphis Stitch ‘N Bitch. Although I didn’t find the Miyuki beads I wanted for my NeedleBeetle stole (*sniffle*), I did enjoy prowling around among the tables. I couldn’t resist buying some cute beaded gifts for my girls.

Caitlyn got a tiny beaded butterfly in blue but she’s also coveting Ginny’s present — a little froggy.

For myself, I indulged in a 24-inch leather cord ($4) and a 34.25-gram lime-green gaspeite stone. Just $12 and already drilled and mounted to hang on the cord. I wore the darlin’ thing home.

Since I’d already enriched the Memphis retail environment enough in the last couple of days (Note to husband: *gulp* Just kidding, honey!), I skipped the lunch out with stitching gal-pals and headed home. (Also had that new HP book to read, doncha know.) Plus, to be *totally* honest, I really suck at my navigation abilities and didn’t trust myself to find the restaurant they were talking about, even though they were giving me directions any bonehead (other than me) could easily follow. (Sorry, ladies — I *hate* to admit how directionally blind I am.) I’ll find out the destination in advance next time so I can do a little pre-lunch visit to MapQuest. And if I’m really ‘fessing up, I was feeling a bit lonely for the dear hubby. I’ve had so many little stretches of “me” time lately with my hobbies and work that I’ve kind of neglected him. It was nice to have a long lunch and run a few errands with him and catch up on all our shelved conversations. ;o)

In actual knitting news, the shawl I’m hoping to take on my San Antonio trip on the 26th is progressing rapidly. It’s just plain stockinette stitch, knit loosely on giant size-15 needles. The only reason I’m not flying through it is that I don’t want to spear the middle of the ladder yarn with each stitch. Also, I’ve found that I need to stop in the middle of a row instead of at the end. When the gauge is this loose, it’s easy to overlook whether the next row is supposed to be knit or purl! Here are some snapshots of progress so far, including a closeup of the knit fabric. Because of how slippery this yarn is, I strongly suspect that I’ll have to tie off the end with either a knot (nah) or a discreet stitch or two or three with black thread (that’s more like it). I’ll add some fringe on the ends, too.

Isn’t it funny how mixing two yarns changes the fabric’s color so much?
This combo is the brainchild of a LYS, Rainbow Yarn and Fibres.

Ain’t it purty. I love the color flecks and the drape.

You can tell a little more from this closeup.

Technorati Tags: Harry Potter, Intergalactic Bead Show, ladder yarn, shawl knitting, beading, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm