More Medical Misfires and Weekend Getaways!

Back in June I had gone to the doctor because my right arm was bothering me. I was having these annoying numbing and tingling sensations. I was pretty sure I had a pinched nerve even though I had never had one before. So I went to the Dr and told him what was going on. He asked me if the sensations were in my hand. At that time, they were not. So he thought it was probably something muscular and sent me home and told me to do some yoga. I swear folks, that's what he told me.

I was walking to me car, shaking my head because I knew it wasn't anything muscular. I danced for 15, I played volleyball all through high school, and I grew up in the northeast so I have shoveled my far share of heavy, wet snow. Believe me, I have had my fair share of pulled muscles in the back and arms, this was not muscular. But, we always want to believe out doctors know what they are talking about and I think I just didn't want to deal with yet another medical issue after being slammed with what I feel is three issues in a row. I just didn't want another one right now.

So, I went home and did daily stretches for the next couple of months. The sensations were getting more intense when they came instead of less and now the sensations were reaching my fingers. Finally, I had to face the facts that there was definitely something going on with my arm and I called the doctor back. This time he diagnoses a pinched nerve, sent me to get X-rays and to see a neurologist for the next steps. I went to see a neurologist that my friend highly recommended and she took a look at the X-rays and to what I was describing and concurred that I had a pinched nerve, that it was severe and that I shouldn't have waited this long and that I might have done some irreversible damage to the nerve in my arm, but she won't know for sure till she runs a tests. Then she referred me to go see a spine specialist that can help me alleviate some of the pressure on the nerve before we do some physical therapy because I have too much pressure on the nerve right now for PT to be able to work on its own. She also sent me for a cervical MRI.

So, last Saturday I spent the morning at an Open MRI center getting an MRI done on my neck. Even though it was an open MRI machine, because they were scanning my neck my face had to be directly under the machine. I am not claustrophobic, but I do have issues with this being very close to my face. So I had to keep my eyes closed. Then about halfway through the process, I could feel that the air was blocked in from of my face and that was started to get bothersome, like I couldn't get enough air in my breathes because an object was in the way. Luckily it was all over before I went into any sort of a panic.

Tuesday I saw the spine specialist and he says that according to my MRI, I have two disks at the bottom of my neck that are bulging out to the right, which is why they are pinching that nerve. He recommends a series of three cortisone shots into my neck to alleviate the inflammation that is putting the pressure on this nerve (one shot every two weeks). He let me know exactly what could happen if I continue to let the pressure build and push on the nerve. Eventually the nerve will die and I won't have very good use of that arm because of it. I asked him what I need to do after these shots alleviate the pressure to try and prevent this from happening again. The usually PT and because of my job he wants to me learn some relaxation stretches and he thinks possible a muscle relaxer therapy at night and then I asked the dreaded - what if the shots don't work - question. Let's just say, I hope ths shots work, and leave it at that.

Of course, I come home and call my mom and let her know the outcome of everything and Dr. Mom just has to come out. "Well, are you going to go get a 2nd opinion? You sure you can't do something else? Are you sure you have to get the shots? You don't want to take drugs everyday or your body will get use to them and when you really need htem they won't work! You know I have this things with the nerve and pain and the doctor wanted to do surgery but I didn't want to have surgery so I didn't and I still have the pain, but I didn't have the surgery!" *yeah, I'm still trying to find the logic in that last one too - if you figure it please let me know, because I'm not having any luck* My neck was probably MORE tenses after that phone call then it was while I was processing all this information sitting in the doctor's office!

Anyhoo, so the verdict is, I'm getting 3 cortisone shots in my neck starting next Tuesday. And yeah, I'm scared of a needle going into my neck!

On a brighter note, I so needed a weekend getaway! Me and a few friends did just that this weekend. We took off Thursday night for the weekend. A friend has a house on the MD bay and so we went. Four of us got away for the weekend. The weather was crappy, but we didn't care! Friday we went on a mini yarn crawl and visited Frivolous Fibers in St. Michael's and then we headed up to Island Yarn Boutique on Kent Island. Here's the loot that I got on the yarn crawl:

From left to right: Wullenstudio Sock yarn - Flying Purple People Eater (not purchased on the yarn crawl, but acquired on this trip since I came up with this colorway and named it!), Jojoland Cashmere lace in maroon, Blue Heron merino silk in Sandstone, Jojoland Cashmere Sport - 1 maroon, 1 black.

The rest of the time we spend knitting and eating out in wonderful restaurants!! I managed to get most of the body on my February Lady sweater finished!! I know the pictures not the greatest.

I also made great progress on my Halloween Horcrux socks!! I cast these babies on LAST year for Halloween, but Halloween came and went and they didn't get finished and then I stopped working on them this year! My girlfriends call these the phallic looking socks, and for good reason:

I'm trying to convince my friend Sheila to dye me a skein of her Monster Mash color so that it stripes nice and thick like this:

But I don't think I have her convinced that she needs to do this :( Oh well, I will try again next Halloween *heehee*

If at first you don't succeed... skydiving is probably not for you!

Better Late than Never...

...but never late is better
- Anonymous

I try, but certainly things in my life have just been SO crazy this past week, that I hadn't thought about bloggin'. I know, bad girl.

I went to the MDS&W Festival both days. Saturday turned out to be a really nice day, even though it didn't start out that way. I saw lots of sheeps, llamas and alpacas. I had an awesome Lamb Kabob (Sorry, KnitRedSoxs) and bought skeins of yarn and even bought some roving this time. No, I do not have a drop spindle, nor do I have a spinning wheel, but my friend Sheila has more than one wheel and I asked her if she would teach me (and yes, I asked BEFORE I spent money on the roving). She said she would teach me after she got her next shipment for her Sock Club in the mail and after she finished up with a few other personal matters. So maybe one day after school is out I can go over there and she can teach me :) In the meantime, you can drool over the lovely different rovings I purchased!

I purchased both rovings from the Cloverhill Yarn Shop booth in the Main building. This booth had tons of stuff from several different indie dyers - especially my friend Sheila's yarn!! Here is the first roving from Dragonfly Fibers- it's a merino and silk blend that was just oh-so-soft to touch!

Next up is Fat Cat Knits - merino. Squishy soft!! I can't wait to see this one all spun up!

I bought a 3rd bag of roving, but I can't post a picture of it because it's for a swap partner and I don't want her to see it before she gets it. I had a very specific idea in my mind of what color rocing I want to get her for her swap package and I was getting discourage when I couldn't find any! I finally came across one, but it had mohair and I didn't know if she liked mohair. I know some people have a real aversion to it. So i kept searching. Finally, just before the end of the day, I finally found exaclty what I was looking for!! I was exstatic!!

I don't have a picture of everything I bought, but I will share a few more things with you all and some things I may need your opinions on :)

Had to stop at Tess' Yarns. I had some ideas in mind for baby/toddle items with their Superwash Merino. I had this Child's Poncho in mind to make for Baby M and I knew I wanted to make it either hot pink or a nice purple.

First trip into Tess's I found this pretty hot pink skein and I bought it.

But then as I was searching patterns on Ravelry for some of the other yarns I bought I came across this cute Little Red Hoodie Cape pattern.

Then I started thinking I would use the hot pink for this pattern and then use this colorway, supposedly Tess is calling this one the Unofficial Poodle Skirt, for the poncho.

Soooooooooooooo, I'm thinking Little Red in the Hot Pink colorway and the Girls Poncho in the Unofficial Poodle Skirt colorway. What do you all think??

More from Sheep and Wool to come...

Too many things on needles!

I know I said I would get updates posted on Thursday, but you all should know me by now! I'm a little late when it comes to bloggin'.

First up is the Moss Bark Shirt Sleeved Cardigan. It's all sewn together, but I can't seem to get the collar band right. I may have to rip it out and knit it again. Finally a piece of knitting that I can wear!! I have been making things as gifts for year that aside from 2 pairs of socks, I do not have anything that i have knit for myself! I want to get this collar right so that I can take this on my trip to the Windy City on Wednesday.


You all know I made the Fairy Blanket for niece Jules. Well she has an older sister Gabbi and I promised her that I would make her a blanket this year. So, here is Gabbi's Ocean as I have dubbed it :) The pretty blue-green teal colors of a clear Caribbean ocean *not that I have ever seen one YET in my life, but one day* At first she told me blues and I thought - perfect! I have several blues in my stash! Thank goodness I didn't start right away, because my older sister went our shopping and found a beautiful comforter for Gabbi in the Teal and Seafoam green colors you see below. I was shocked when we found the exact matching colors in yarn!! I am on round seven on this crochet project. I should be working on it more that I have been, but Christmas is still 57 days away *HOLY SHIT!!* OK, so I better get to hooking or I'll still be crocheting this blanket come Christmas Eve!!


Apparently, Frisco is trying to claim this blanket as his own. What he doesn't seem to realize is that Gabbi is bigger than him and solid muscle. She's built like a brick house just like my father. Man, I wish he had passed on those genes to me instead of the boobs!

This skein of yarn was a gift from my friend Stacey for helping her out with a group on ravelry and for my limited tech savvy skills when it comes to graphics. It's a skein of Sheila's yarn, KnitsWithSticks, in, at the time, her newest color! The colorway is called Woolly Bully in purples and greys. Sheila knew these were my colors too and tempted me with a skein of this at one of our Wednesday night S'nB nights. Stacey saw my reaction to color and bought one for me, and then Sheila dyed a deeper color skein for me since she knows I like the darker colored skein. Aren't friends great!!

I love her yarn and this colorway so much that I just had to cast on with it. Since I already had 4 pairs of socks on needles, I decided to make a lace scarf with it. The pattern is the Tiger Eyes Scarf. These colors are perfect!! I'm farther along then this photo,but I don't have an updated photo yet :)



OK, so remember that Christmas list I made up of what I was going to make for everyone? yeah, well they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions! That list will be changing - A LOT! I guess I was a little over ambitious when I created it. Now I'm thinking I'm going to make my family all new Christmas stockings. I have no idea how long my Mother's had the ones she's been using, but it's about time for new ones. So, I cast on and I'm about 1/3 of the way down the leg of this stocking.



Here are the socks that I've been mentioning. First up are the Red Dwarf socks. Ever watch that show on BBC?? Smeggin' hysterical! I can't seem to find it on my cable guide though :( I was going to purchase the DVD box set of the show till I saw the $140 price tag. Not right now!! I just realize I goofed when I was knitting up the toes, but oh well. These are just for me so they don't have to be perfect, just as long as my toeseys are warm!



I have also been fondling this Jitterbug yarn since the night I bought it at the Elenganza Midnight Madness sale. So, I went ahead and cast on the Falling Leaves socks. Because the yardage of Jitterbug is so skimpy, I went Toe-up, 2-@-a-time. I am lovin' how this yarn knits up. There's a bit of pooling going on. What I think is funny is that because I am doing 2-@-a-time and knitting from both ends of the skein it's pooling on the top of one sock, but on the bottom of the other! Well, there will certainly be no mistaking these are hand made! I just sooooooo Lu-huv this colorway!!



Rember these Horcrux Socks??



Well, they now look like this! I went to go try them on again before I started the heel flap and they were too small!! *CRY* So, to the frog pond they went, rip, rip, rip and cast on a second time. That's OK though. They knit up pretty fast, but I doubt I'll be wearing them on Halloween this year. Oh well.



My last pair of socks are the Classic Sock for my dad. These have been on my needles forever! The yarn is so thin and the direction call to cast on 96!! But, I have knit the heel flap, turned the heel and just about done with the gusset! Now I'm worried that I might not have enough yarn!! The pattern called for 1 skein, so that's all I have! The leg was suppose to be 9", but I stopped at 7". I still don't know if I have enough to finish the feet though!! YIKERS! These will be Dad's Christmas present along with some Benny Hill CDs I found for him.



As much as I love Sheila and the yarn that she dyes, it can be very dangerous for me to be her friend! *laugh* I want to make this Children's Neck Down Bolero Jacket for Baby M when I go visit Mr. X. I couldn't find a colorway that I really liked for this pattern, so what does one do when they have a friend who is in the dying business? Well DUH! I asked Sheila if she could dye some of her DK weight yarn to the colors I wanted. I know that pink and lavender are really good colors on Baby M, so I pointed out the shades that I liked from the colorways that she already creates and asked her to mix those specific shades of purple and pink together and this is the gorgeous yarn that she created for me! This is yarn is sooooooooooooooooooo soft!!



My knitting group was having a class/KAL for this Bolero jacket, so I signed up and Sheila had my yarn all dyed up for me by Wednesday. I swatched and was ready to go! The pattern called for a worsted weight and the smallest size on the parttern was 2T. Baby M is only 10 months old, so asfter talking to Sheila, and very experienced knitter, we though a think weight yarn on smaller needles would do the trick. Hence the DK weight. I cast on and followed the pattern for the 2T with the DK weight yarn. By the time the class was over I have knit up to the point of the sleeve divide. When I took a look at it, I knew it was going to be too small. When I talked to Mr. X last night I asked what size Baby M was in and he told me she's in 18 months already. So, to the Frog Pond went all the knitting I had done today and I will need to recast-on one of the larger sizes. I think I will knit as far as the sleeves again and then wait to try it on her Thursday night before I try and finish the whole thing. If I try it on her on Thursday I should be able to finish it by Sunday.

While I was on the phone with him, he maded the suggestion that I knit her a new hat since all the ones I had knit for her last year are too small. He suggested a dark pink. Can you believe that I don't think I have any dark pink wool in my stash! *GASP* So, I just might have to drag Mr. X to a local yarn shop up there and he can pick out the perfect shade of pink and I'll whip up a hat while I'm out there :) Hopefully, I won't hear too much groaning out of him when I drag him there *giggle*

You know it's funny. I can get the feeling that people appreciate the things I make for them, but sometimes I can never really tell if they truely appreciate it or just being nice. Of course when people ask me for things, I know. So, if felt good when he asked.

Friday night I went out to dinner with my friend Stacey and then we hung out at my place. She brought me these sock blockers that she made!! Aren't they adorable? I keep telling her she needs to open up her own business and sell these!

We went to Five Guys for burgers. YUMMY!! Talk about a hamburger that's good enough to give you a heart attach - no joke! Which is why I go there VERY infrequesntly :)



We had a really good talk and she gave me a lot to chew on.

Stacey,
Thank you so much for the talk/advise on Friday night. You are so right about what I should do and about the fact that I'm scared to do it. Of course, knowing and squealching the fear to do it are two completely different things. Maybe we'll have to have another chat when I get back.
*HUGS*

I'm Still Alive...

WARNING: Heavy with photos!

even if I am a little battered and bruised... Sorry I haven't blogged much this past month, my life has been rather hectic. It seems that when it comes to my life the rule of three seems to be a minimum number and not a max.

I'm trying very hard not to dwell on the curve balls that have been thrown my way, but when the ball shooter goes crazy and several balls are coming all at once it's really hard. I had some womanly issues so I made an appointment with the doc, as an ex-bf used to say "the below the belt doctor" because the word gynecologist made him queasy *yeah, that relationship didn't last very long* Anyhoo, issues were found and the first course of action this doctor recommended was a hysterectomy. Being that I have not had my kids yet and very much want to have some, completely lost it in the office when that news was delivered. After doing a little research on my own and talking with others, I've decided to see another gyno for a 2nd opinion. I requested a copy of all the test results. Of course I had to try and read through them all to see what I could understand, and of course had to look up all the medical terms that I didn't understand and that was just getting me more depressed. So I put it all away, took some deep breaths and just waiting to hear what the other highly recommended gyno will tell me. I have the appointment next week on the 22nd and I already feel my anxiety building up. I seriously need a chill pill.

Then I learned that my car needs a new transmission and of course I tried to get Honda to replace it since this is the 2nd time the transmission went bad on this car!! Needless to say, they will be doing nothing and this will probably be the last time I buy a Honda. One pays the extra money for certain things because of the reputation behind those names and I feel that Honda has not lived up to its reputation with me. Right now it's all too much to think about, so I continue to drive my car cautiously and check the transmission fluid at least twice a week!

I am interviewing around at middle school and high schools because I really need to get out of my school and away from a very bad boss. Talk about stressful!

In April there's was National Library Week and on Wednesday of that week is usually "Thank Your School Librarian Day." One of the parents in my community remember this and had her little girl deliver these!



Don't they look yummy!!



She gave a box to me and a box to my assistant! They tasted three times better then they looked! *licks her lips*

So, is it just my cat that loves to crawl into things?? Can you see him??





Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!!!!

I know I'm really behind the eight ball on this one. I had a blast!! On Saturday I met up with a bunch of the gals from my Wed. night S'nB group. We met at 6:30 AM at Dunkin Donuts, had breakfast, hit the ATM machine and then the festival! We were eager beavers that were parked and walking around by I think 7:45AM. We walked around, fondled and caressed yarn, laughed a whole lot, ate lunch, met other friends while meandering around, laughed some more and of course purchased a whole shit load of yarn!! I practically blew my wad at the first stop: Brooks Farm. OMG! Talk about some heavenly goods. I think Denise, Suzanne and I were ready to topple over the stand, get butt-nekked and roll around on their yarn! I don't know how I managed to miss their "orphans and widows" section last year, but I found it this year and man I cleaned up! I found enough yarn for TWO sweaters/cardigans and TWO shawls from the orphans rack! And I was the last one in our little group to search this rack! And the people running that booth were SO helpful!! I was very disappoint to hear that someone had stole a shawl from that booth. I mean, knitting is what we do! How could someone STEAL someone else's work and try to pass it off as their own?!?! It was really disheartening to read about all the mishaps that occurred at the festival, especially all the occurrence that happened over night with animals being let lose and barns being broken into!

Here is all the luscious yarn that I purchase over the two days of the festival. Denise is such a bad enabler! Don't even think about trying to save money while going yarn shopping with her! She could talk a worm into buying dirt!! But I still love you Denise!


row 1: Unique Sheep - Tinsel Toes, Spritely Goods - Sylph, Knitswithsticks - Sock, Tess' Designer Yarn - Super Socks and Baby
row 2: Tess-Super Socks and Baby, Prism Yarn - Cable, Brooks Farm - Acero, A Twist of Peruvian - Alpaca
row 3: A Twist of Peruvian - Alpaca, A Twist of Peruvian - Alpaca, Autum House Farm - Sagamore, Brooks Farm - Primero
row 4: Brooks Farm - Primero, Brooks Farm - Mas-Acero, Brooks Farm - Mas-Acero, Unique Sheep - Luxe

Sunday, I took my niece, Julianna to the festival. It was part of her birthday present. She's a real animal lover and I knew she would get a huge kick out of seeing all those animals. But this girl floored me when she said she really wanted to see the Alpacas! I had no idea of what an alpaca was till I started knitting! That doesn't seem like a common animal that a third grader would just know about! As you can see from the pictures, she just had a field day with the animals. She kept picking up the straw and trying to feed the animals. I think the funniest pictures are of her with the llama. Look at the llama pictures - one she's just reaching to touch it and the other she is actually touching the llama, tell me it doesn't look like that llama is smiling when she touches it! I laughed so hard when I saw that!



Man, I thought Denis was bad to go yarn shopping with, my niece is WORSE! We went to Tess' Yarns first and I told her to pick out a skein of sock yarn and I would make her a pair of socks. Temporary Insanity on my part - I don't think I've seen my niece wear socks except when my sister makes her wear them when they are going to the airport! But you think Julianna reminds me that she doesn't wear socks?? Nooooooooooooo.

After she picked out her first skein, it was all down hill from there! She was caressing skeins left and right and when she touched something she really liked, she found a color she liked and hand to me saying, "Here, buy this!" Can you guess what she hands me? Just take a wild guess! ...

A $60 skein of cashmere!! When I asked her what she wanted me to make... "a Poncho!" Sheeeeeeeeeeeet. That's one hell of an expensive poncho! So, being the nice Zia that I am, I tell her to look at some of the "fun" yarns for a poncho. What does she find?? A very nice skein of some really neat yarn that would make a great poncho! Go ahead, ask.

How much was the skein??

$140!!

I nearly fainted! Now, don't get me wrong, it would have made one hell of a neat poncho for the girl, but I was not spending that much on a girl who's been lovingly nicknamed Pigpen in the family! Need I say more? I then explained to her how you shouldn't just buy yarn. *HA! Can you believe these words were coming out of MY mouth??* That you really should know what you want to make so that you know just how many skeins you need to buy and what the WHOLE project will cost in the end! *Boy, I really should learn to take my own advice!!* After that, she was saying, "Here... oh never mind YOU won't buy it at that price!"

*LAUGH*

I have no idea where she got the idea that I was Rockafeller's daughter! Well, by the time we left the festival, she had picked out that brightly colored Tess yarn for socks, the Unique Sheep Luxe for some fingerless gloves, and the huge skein of Prism yarn for a poncho. She also had her first corn dog at the festival!! She was nice enough to bring home the cotton candy to share with her sister *with a little consumption control assistant from me* and a bag of Cinnamon roasted pecans for the rest of the family.

Well, I may not have been bloggin much lately, but I sure have been knitting!! Here's is the Shallowtail Shawl I made for my mother for Mother's Day. It wasn't done in time, but she will be back down here in two weeks for my aunt's 70th birthday party and I'll give it to her then so she can wear it to the party.


Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl
Yarn: Handmaiden Seasilk - Capri clorway
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 4, 5, 6, 8, 10
Modifications: I did not make the nubbs and instead added beads. I also slowly increased the size of the needles I was using as I work the shawl. When I got the section there I added the beads I went up to a size 5, then size 6 when I started the final chart and increased from there. I wanted to get nice pointy ends. I wish I had done an extra repeat of the section where I added the beads, because I think I had enough yarn left over to do that. And It would have been nice for the shawl to have been just a tad bigger. I love how it turned out!



Here's is a simple shrug that I made for my niece for her birthday. She wore it all day at the festival!


Pattern: 6 rows of garter stitch, ST st to desired length, 6 rows of garter stitch, bind off, seam sides
Yarn: Moda Dea Ticker Tape - Charade
Needles: size 19

Next up will be an experiment! I purchased this yarn online. I bought 3 skeins of this lace weight yarn (2 for myself for a lace shawl and 1 for a friend for her birthday). The picture that was one the website did not clearly show how bright the orange really is in this yarn. The picture on the website was much richer with more of a red tone to it. I was flabbergasted when this was in the package! I panicked a little because I am not an orange person by any stretch of the means, and it would have cost me more to ship the yarn back then what I originally paid for it! But I knew KozyKitty does wear orange (she's the birthday friend that I ordered the skein for). And when I gave it more thought, I knew my younger sister did wear orange as well, so I thought OK, I'll make my sister a shawl with the yarn. I pulled the yarn out of my stash over the weekend and decided to go ahead and cast on the Shetland Triangle for my sister. I wound up the skein and then re-wound it doubling the yarn by pull the yarn from both ends, thus cutting the skein from 990 yards of lace weight to 495 yards of doubled up lace weight. That color that looks grey in the photo is really a camel tan color! I'm really not liking this colorway. I'm sooooooo not an orange person! Now I'm second guessing whether my sister will like it. It might be a tad to bright of an orange for her. So what's my solution? I'm going to go ahead and finish the shawl. With the left over yarn I'm going to make a swatch and send it to my sister and get her opinion on the color without telling her what for. If she likes it, then I'm done and she will get the shawl as is. If she doesn't... I'm going to over dye the shawl, probably in a deep red or rich brown and then give it to her - depending on how the dyeing comes out!

I bought several skeins of yarn from 100purewool.com and this is the only colorway that I am disappointed in! Will I order from them again? Probably, because the yarn really is very soft and nice to work with and the other colors I got were just gorgeous! Of course, I will probably check around on Ravelry first though :)



What you opinion of that colorway?

Next up in the Luna Moth Shawl which is to be a birthday present for my older sister. You know, I have really got to start knitting things for myself!! I went on a yarn crawl back at the end of March, and I bought two skeins of Plymouth Yarn - Buckingham (80% Baby Alpaca 20% silk). OOoo la la! It's like knitting with Buttah! This yarn is so soft! Now the color in the first picture is not the true color of the yarn. Check out the picture under neither. That's the true color of the yarn!!



Below is the true color of the yarn.



And yes, I am adding beads to this one too! Kozykitty helped me find the perfect color to go with this yarn! These are Miyuki 6/0 Seed beads in Matte Met Patina Iris.



Last Wednesday, I got home from my S'nB group to find this:





He managed to dig into the center of the skein to fin the tail and then managed to pull it all over the living room! I shit you not, that is exactly where he was when I walked though the door! Silly me for thinking that if I tucked in all loose ends he wouldn't touch the yarn, and for several days, he didn't! I guess he was just biding his time!

Here's is my little ADHD Frisco again sleeping next to me while I knitting on the couch.

Saturday's Sock Yarn Party

Yes, a Sock Yarn party! Sheila, the woman in the pink sitting behind the cash box, dyes yarn and she is starting her own business. So the wonderful ladies that I knit with on Wednesday nights decided to give her a big hand!



Look at all those beautiful colors!! And those really neat sock blockers were made by another woman in our group, Stacey! I so want a set of the ones with the flipflops!!



You can see more of the gorgeous yarns on Needle-dee's blog entry on the Sock Party. Here are can see some of us that just couldn't wait to start knitting iwth our new yarns!!





Look at what I bought! Looks like I will be knitting sock in my future!



I even started!! I soooooooooooo love this teal. I just might have to order a few more in this color to make myself a shawl with!

Hands on Dying!

Back on March 8th I took a dying class over at Lovelyarns. It was interesting and fun and I'm actually hoping to do a little more experimenting with dyes when the weather gets a little warmer.

Here is what I did on my first attempt. I was going to and brown/purple colorway. It's tricky getting the dye to go all the way through the skein which is why there are some blue spots in there, but for a first attempt I still pleased with the outcome.





My second mixing of colors created this rich red. I was totally in awe of this color. I'm such a red person! It almost looks like blood. I dubbed this colorway Blood Red Fade. Now, if only I can recreate this red to make some solid colored skeins when I experiment again. I highly doubt it since when we were mixing colors we were trying to make the brown for the first skein. When this red came up I said "oooooooo save that for my 2nd skein!"



The skeins are both fingering weight (100 grams, approx. 450 yards). Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to turn these skeins into!

If you have a pattern suggestion PLEASE post it :)

Yes, I am a Yarn Addict....

AND DAMN PROUD OF IT!!!!

Trying to explain that to a non-yarn addict is a real problem *like explaining any other type addiction is any easier* As you all know, I was in Philadephia last weekend and my first priority was finding all the yarn shops that were within a 10-15 minute drive from my hotel! Yes, I did look up the yarn shops BEFORE I checked out how far the hotel was from the Conference Center. I have my priorities! *a bit skewed, but hey* Oh, the conference center was right across the street and one block up from the hotel! Could I have gotten any more lucky!

Being a tactile type person is great for dealing with kids and human beans, but it can be a real problem when it comes to yarn! If anyone has a 12-step program for crazy people like us, please share!

Friday:

So, I got into Philly around 8pm, checked into my hotel and then head over to the conference center because I had a meeting from 8-10pm. Of course the information booklet that I had did not have the room information for these meetings. On the walk over I called our organization president to let her know that I had just gotten in and was on my way to the meeting.

me: Hi, I just got in.

her: me to, I just got back from walking the exhibition hall and just got into my pj's.

me: oh! You're not going to tonight's meeting?

her: what meeting? Jay didn't tell me about any meeting tonight. I was told about tomorrows discussion group at 10:30AM.

me: What discussion group tomorrow morning?? *panic sets in.... a Saturday meeting? We never had a Saturday meeting before! I planned my yarn shop hopping for Saturday!!!!*

her: Jay didn't tell me about any meeting for tonight, just about the discussion group tomorrow from 10:30am - 12:00pm.

me: What discussion group tomorrow morning?? *can you tell I was having trouble processing the fact that my yarn excursion was being shortened*

She laughs, she apparenlty thought I was joking.... I wasn't!!!

her: So what time are you going to be there tomorrow?

me: I guess I'll be there at 10:30 *well, ok, it'll be over at 12, I probably wouldn't have gotten up till about 10 anyway, so I guess I could adjust my fix yarn shopping times*

Then I get to the convention center....and the doors are locked! Great! I pull out my information booklet and sure as shit it says there suppose to be an 8pm meeting on Friday. OK, I give up! I got back to my hotel room, order some pizza and KNIT! *till 2 in the morning cause I never sleep well when I'm not in my bed or in Mr. X's, but we won't go there right now*

Saturday:

Went to meeting at 10:30AM. Afterwards, I felt compelled to take a tour of the exhibit hall. *yeah, that lasted all of 30 minutes* Had lunch, went back to the hotel to get the directions to the yarn shops and I was off!

First stop was Sophie's Yarns. errrr... that was suppose to be the first stop. Did you know that if you put in the wrong address on mapquest you end up in the wrong place! No really! If you don't put in the right street address you end up in the wrong place. Go figure! I drove around and around the blocks because I could not find Sophie's Yarns at 1713 S. 4th Street! And when I say around the block, I mean just that since Philly has shitloads of oneway streets! After a few times around, I gave up and went to Jane's Yarn Shoppe. That was not any better! By the time I got there is 4:55PM and the shoppe closed at 5pm!

Get the feeling that the Gods were not on my side??

I took a look at the maps and headed off to Loop. After all, isn't the saying, Third times a charm? Well it was! And oh what a charm it was! Adorable cozy little shop. Nice selection of yarn and warm people running the shop. Thank goodness or I was really going to think that someone up there was out to make my trip miserable!

Look at the goodies I bought! On the left are 4 skeins of Sublime cashmere-merino-silk dk. *Niiiiiiiiice* As I continued to look around I heard this "psst, psst look at me" off to my left. Honest, I did! *my therapist says those voice I hear are ok as long as they aren't tell me to harm anyone!* What do my eyes see when I looked.... the most gorgeous blue yarn I have seen in a long time.

BEELINE! *tripping over something that was on the floor, but refused to take my eyes off the yarn for fear of it disappearing if I looked away*

Misti Alpaca 100% Baby Alpaca! Talk about OH-SO-SOFT-AND-SQUISHY! I have never felt a squishier yarn! The pictures really does not do the color of this yarn any justice. I will try and get a good picture of it outside tomorrow. There was only 1 skein of this color in the shop, so I just HAD to have it! I'm think of using this for the Hannah hat.

Lastly, I came across some Blue Sky Suri Merino. Can I just say......Orgasmic! *ok, not THAT good, but pretty fuckin' close!* I don't think I have felt any like this yarn before. It just feels... luscious!! There was no putting this yarn down one it was in my hands. I soooooooooooooo cannot wait to knit with it, I just need to find the right pattern!

And look at that cute bag it all came in!



Sunday:

Now, in my searchs for yarn shops in Philly, I had read somewhere how Sophie's was THE shop to visit. So, before I checked out of my hotel and headed to my Sunday morning meeting. Yes, you read that right, a Sunday morning conference meeting, at 8AM no less! I don't even get up that early for church when I'm home! When I realized yesterday that I had obviously had the wrong address for that shop on Saturday, I looked it back up and decided I would stop there on my way out of town.

It was a nice shop, but not "The" shop that was raved about. It was almost ALL Cascade yarns. Not that there is anything wrong with Cascade considering that I bought some gorgeous Cascade Venezia yarn there. There just wasn't a whole lot of different brands. I did get to touch and feel and squish lots of different Cascade yarns that I have not seen in other shops. The silky sheen of the Venezia just suckered me on. I bought 3 balls of the bulky and 2 skeins of the worsted. Look at color of that worsted!! A beautiful Forest Green. I bought with the intention of making a gift for someone else, but the more I look at that yarn, the more I'm falling in love with that color! I might not be able to give that one away after all!

While I was in the shop looking around, a woman started talking to me. About 2 minutes in to conversation she asked "Librarian?" *ACK! Panic attack!! Do I look like a typical librarian?? Did I look frumpy?? Did I have a pen sticking out of my hair? I almost went to check when I remembered I was wear my hair loose. My friend Marcia and I made a pact in graduate school that we would never turn into a frumpy librarian that had no sense of style*

"Um, yes. what gave it away?" *hold breath*

her: "Oh cause you said at the yarn shops back home, and I'm here for the conference too"

*exhale.... ok, I'm safe.... I think* Then she told me about the shops that she went to while she was in town. *laugh*



Oh, remember that 8am Sunday meeting I was bitchin' telling you about? Well, I had almost finished my first cup of coffee when I felt myself nodding off and decided I had better go get more coffee. So I got up, and as I was trying to walk away, my purse handle reached out and grabbed my foot *I swear I saw it moving!* and wouldn't let go.

You are already laughing aren't you. You can already see where this story is going. Go ahead, laugh it up! All I can say is thank goodness no one was sitting in the chair that caught the coffee that was left in my cup AND that I didn't break any bones!

Once I untangled myself from my purse I quietly crawled out to the hallway and refilled my coffee, twice, before going back compossing myself as if it wasn't me that just lost a fight with her purse.

And that was my weekend - at least the more exciting parts of it :)

My Weekend

My weekend started off with a package delivery on Friday! I was so excited to see another package from my Secret Pal!! I couldn't believe how fast it got here considering I had only gotten an email from her that morning!


Look at the dreamy goodies that were inside!! That is a box of Italian Torrone candy!! And look at that GORGEOUS alpaca silk yarn color!! That is soooooooooooooooo my color!! Thank you Secret Pal!!



This weekend my Mr. X came down to visit. It was a nice, lazy weekend for the two of us. It was really nice having him down. There's still a lot to work on with this whole situation, but we are slowly getting through it. One day at a time, I just have to keep reminding myself of that. Anyway, on Saturday I took him to the American Visual Arts Museum in Baltimore. We enjoyed ourselves and the art work very much.



Knitting update will have to come later :)