LYS Tour

As promised, although later than I wished...this week flew by for no particular reason. Anywho, a report on the LYS tour. Me and my buddy Genypher went on a roadtrip with the aim to hit ALL the stores on the tour...win the $500 jackpot and split it down the middle...I drove. 80 degree weather called for some time with the top down. Genypher got a little burnt...silly girl snubbed sunscreen. At any rate, Thursday evening, post work, we met at Renaissance Yarns in Kent, with the plan to hit the stores in the southend before heading north on Friday. Mission was definitely accomplished. We ended up hitting 6 stores thursday night...Ren Yarns, the Knittery, the Yarn Stash in Burien. I don't remember the three in Seattle we hit, I know one was So Much Yarn downtown, and then Hilltop Yarn (west, not east), where we stopped for Thai food next door after Hilltop closed, but I can't for the life of me remember the other one we hit...maybe Seattle Yarn Gallery in West Seattle?

Friday we got up early, and headed up to Bellingham . We went to the 2 shops on the list, and then hit Apple Yarns, which wasn't on the list but wanted to be. They are fairly new. I highly recommend them. The shop feels great and there's a coffee shop RIGHT next door. And an outdoor seating area. From there we headed south, having a late lunch in Mt. Vernon and ending up with 15 new stamps in our passports...leaving only 3 shops left for Saturday, Churchmouse Yarns & Tea, Tricoter, and Hilltop Yarns East. We also took a break on Friday at Village Yarn & Tea, which was good, as I was getting brain dead. Had good tea, Gen bought yarn for a sweater, and I bought stitch markers. By Saturday, the passport was completely signed off and we went home for naps. You can find the details and names of all the stores here: LYS Tour 2008.I was a good kid too. Came home with one (1) skein of yarn, 1 pattern that wasn't free for the Wallaby Sweater, knitting needles (as I now dislike my bamboo needles), and buttons for my cardigan. Had money leftover. Feeling a mite proud of myself.

As for the rest of my week...I stopped knitting for awhile. I feel like I lost my knitting mojo and i was knitting out of obligation...had to finish the fiance's socks for his birthday, had to start something that didn't require a pattern for the commute...had to start xyz. Notice the had tos and not the get tos. So I laid off for a few days, and then started, for the 3rd time, the yoga bag. Knitting it out a linen/cotton blend in a grassy green color. I'm about 7 inches into it and am liking it a great deal. Only knitting when I'm watching tv or not doing anything else.

I'm also on the 5th day of a 10-day fast. I've been doing pretty good, but today is the first day where I really really want to eat food. So far so good though. I'm definitely going to stick it out for all 10 days. I'm really looking forward to next Thursday though.

Oh, and I bought these shoes: Serena. Super cute and SUPER comfy. Yes, I know I'm bad. I can't help it.

There is death by pointy stick...

and it's name is Sock Wars. That is simply one of the reasons I have been invisible for the past week. I am ninja. Sock Wars started last friday. There were some, let's say, mishaps getting the dossier. The supreme commander said that dossiers would be sent out starting 12GMT, or 5AM PST. I didn't get my dossier until about 2pm. I'm glad I wasn't one of the crazy people who got up and waited. I would've been SUPER frustrated. I spent a great majority of the weekend knitting a pair of socks out of Tofutsies and neglecting both dog and fiancee. I did get these put into the mailbox on Monday.
They now live in San Francisco with Atipo. I received mostly knitted socks today and have just finished them while catching up on TV. I will sending them off to the UK on Monday. Trans-atlantic socks. Lucky devils.

I have also frogged my dad's father's day gifts...again. At the rate I'm going, he won't be getting them by June. I think I need to take a knitting break. I've noticed that I seem to knit out of obligation...lots of deadline knitting, instead of knitting for the joy of knitting. So I think my knitting mojo has left the building. I started a yoga mat bag, that I had to frog twice, once because it was looking like yarn vomit (darn bamboo needles) and the second time because I lack the ability to do addition. I think I left it with a cast on and no further. It was looking good, just small. Mini yoga mat anyone?

I spent the last 36 hours (approx) going to 25 yarn stores from Kent to Bellingham. Yes, boys and girls, it was the annual LYS Crawl. More on that later. I will say, I only bought one skein of yarn. I think I should get a gold star. Luckily my Lucky Lurker came on Thursday and I got to meet Angie whilst at Renaissance Yarns. She was excited to see a Lurker open their package. I'll post a picture tomorrow, but the colors are gorgeous. Two of the colors I'm thinking of using for my wedding are in it. I heart it.

Hello again...

So I'm pretending I've been on vacation. It's been quite awhile since my last post, where I dropped quite a big piece of news and then vanished. That was rude. I apologize. I was traveling for work and knitting as quick as I could to finish the now FH (future husbands) birthday socks. Which I did. Two pairs of mens socks in 3 weeks. I'm a little proud. Yes, I know I had plane time, but there were a few visits to the frog pond. Anyhow...

The one on the left is the Gentlemanly Socks pattern in Haida from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Both of these are Socks that Rock Mediumweight. The socks on the right are Manly Socks in Corbie. I love Corbie. Both of these are really subtle colorways. Black base with blues and blue/greens respectively. I want to make a sweater out of Corbie. That's how much I love it.

I'm currently working on a project for my dad's b-day/father's day. Which happen a day apart. So no pictures of that until after the middle of June. I'm trying to be good and get stuff done early.

I'm also working on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from Interweave Knits. I'm not doing the tangled part, as it won't show up well in the yarn I'm using. But I really liked the structure.

Not too far yet, as I'm focusing on birthday presents. But I'm really liking it so far.

In non-knitting news, the wedding planning has begun. We're looking at next March, date-wise, and we're going to look at a venue this weekend. I'm overwhelmed by the list of things to do, the catering the music the flowers etc. etc. But thinking about the details? Designing the invitations and seating chart is exciting. Apparently we have to decide on a theme...and not a superhero theme, which is what FH will probably want. Should be interesting to plan.