Monday, April 28, 2008

Weekend O' Yarnin'

There have been a lot of goings on at casa de Costumechick! I have so so much to tell. I almost don't know where to start! Therefore, we're going chronologically.
Friday Night was full of blanket knitting. I had intended on knitting the next clue in the mystery shawl I was working on. Why "was"? Well, the designer, after offering the first clue for free, after people bought yarn, swatched - so they can't return said yarn, and after giving a, frankly, lame excuse, cancelled the KAL and offered to sell us the pattern. WTH? Seriously. Did you not know what you were getting in to? I, thankfully, used stash yarn, so I wasn't out anything except an evening of knitting time. It just smacks o' shittyness. Anyway, I understand that life gets in the way. I also understand that these types of things have a way of getting out of hand. I don't understand the "you can buy it" part. Just cancel the thing - or suspend it until you can deal, or get some other nice people to help you moderate and answer questions. I'm not saying the designer did it on purpose, I just think it feels... wrong.
Anyway, it was a rough beginning to the weekend, but I did get a lot finished on the blanket.
Saturday, was a lot better. CT Sheep and Wool!!!! I went up really early. This, like, never happens. DH and I try to go early to things. We hardly ever actually do. For some reason, we did it! DH wanted to get his geek on at the mall. They were selling a limited edition, one time only, 25th Anniversary miniature at Games Workshop. So, we left butt ass early, and ate breakfast in Manchester. He went to the Mall, I went to CTSW. I was there at 9am. I love the CTSW festival. It's small and cosy. I walked around the whole thing three times before the other SnBers got there. I had to pace myself, lest I be out of money before the others even set foot on the grounds!

I did good, though. I didn't really have anything I was looking for, specifically. I was impulse shopping. This is what I came away with:

It isn't too much. (Don't feel bad. I make up for it Sunday) I picked up, one skein of Dye Dreams Twinkle Toes in Mink (Merino Tencel), one shawl pin, one wheel of Pencil Roving - undyed, and one 1960's Men's pattern book. The Roving is for thrummed mittens. I plan on making them for Christmas Presents, and I can dye the roving different colors for different people. Smarty smart.
We followed up the whole experience by going to Red Robin. (Yuummm) Poor Curtis. Our waiter did not know what he was in for with us SnBers.

Sunday was another knitting super event. The Yarn Harlot at WEBS. I probably don't need to even say anything else. It was a yarn pilgrimage. I rode with Jennsquared and Archaknist. We had Ice cream for lunch. (smirk) Then we listened to the Harlot.
I am not a "Harloteer", per se. I enjoy her books, occasionally read her blog, but I don't go crazy for her. Celebrity doesn't impress me much. She seems really cool,and I'd probably like her in real life. That said, I did enjoy her talk a lot. As did the other couple thousand people there. (see how far away we were? We ween't even the whole way in the back, AND there was a MEzz level above us!)

You know someone is a big deal when you have to rent a theatre for a book tour. Oh, and While listening, I finished my newest blanket! Pics tomorrow! After the door prizes, the talk and the laughing, all zillion knitters descended upon WEBS. Seriously. They said they would stay open until the last knitter left. I kinda wanted to move in, just to test their resolve. I decided to shop amidst the insanity. I have to say, I hate crowds. I sucked it up though, as not only were the April Anniversary Yarns still on sale, there were special Yarn Harlot Deals to be had.

This sampling was hard won. It was kind of Like Rhinebeck in there. If you put it down, then tried to come back for it, it probably wasn't going to be there. I had a list in hand, and found my list stuff ASAP. Then I looked at everything else. My list yarns were 7 skeins of Bristol Yarn Gallery Lyndon Hill (the blue) and 8 skeins of Ella Rae Bamboo Silk (The thin purple). Summer tops await! The Cascade Eco+ is for an undetermined sweater, but at the $10 sale Price, I couldn't turn it down. The other weird knitted thing is called "Flat Feet", by Conjoined creations. Basically, they hand paint sock yarn that is already knitted. You knit your socks straight from the flat piece. No need to wind! The sock yarn was 25% off because of the YH. All in all, pretty good. I stayed in my budget, and picked up a few extras.
After we finished at WEBS, (a long while later, btw), we had to eat something. Evidently, ice cream is not enough meal to make it through the day. We stopped at Chile's, and in a yarn fume induced state, consumed giant amounts of food. All is good in the world.

3 comments:

KnelleyBelley said...

You had a busy weekend. I loved CTSW, but I'm so sad that I missed Yarn Harlot/WEBS. You bought some great stuff. I love that knit-up & dyed sock yarn. So cool!

Red Robin . . . . Yummmmmm. Curtis.

jennsquared said...

That WAS fun!! I'm sad I missed Saturday, but Sunday totally made it up!!! :) We should do more outings! :)

Anonymous said...

I thought that was you wandering around WEBS. I was going to yell at you but over the yarn excitement you probably wouldn't have heard me. Great scores for both days!