Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Can't Stop Knitting the B-Side!

I'm serious. I am totally addicted to this sweater, and I have no idea why. I mean, it's super cute in its simplicity, which I love. It's knit flat in one piece on a circular needle, which I love. It's all stockinette except for that one section of cables, so it's like a treat when you get to the end of the row...all of which I love. OK, I guess I do have a few ideas about why I'm addicted. It's perfect TV knitting, and I have been doing a lot of that lately because The Brain had a root canal yesterday and was in horrible pain all weekend, so...we didn't do anything but sit on the couch for several days straight. Sure, I could have done stuff without him, but it's so rare that we get to spend that much time together and hey, I wasn't complaining about having to sit and knit! I have now gotten about twice as far on the sweater since the picture was taken.

Last Thursday my brother, who is in town visiting a friend of his, and I went on a yarn crawl. It was super fun, and a way to check out some LYSs with someone else who also knits. Since his friend lives in Spring Valley, the first place we went was Two Sisters and Ewe, out in La Mesa. (See how I sound like I totally know where any of these places are? All lies.)

The shop was having a week-long sale, which inspired me to pick up a pair of Addi Lace needles. I haven't used them yet, but I'll give a full report later. I also may have made off with a few balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I think I was feeling a little guilty because when my brother and I first got to the shop we were all giggly and maybe gushing over the Noro and the new Brown Sheep without mohair, and we may have been petting some Misti Alpaca Chunky with a little too much fervor. The shop lady came over to offer her help, but she seemed a little agitated and I did not really feel welcome. Even when we both bought stuff, I got the feeling that we were intruding on her quiet sanctuary. Meh. Whatever. I'm sure I'll be back there once in a while--they have a nice selection of yarns. It's just a bit too far away to make the drive worthwhile.

Next up, we stopped at a small place the name of which I don't remember, and which didn't have a nice selection anyway. Everything in the store seemed to be about 10 years old, and the owner had a little dog that wouldn't leave us alone (HATE that!)...but it was funny watching it jump up and down trying to grab my brother's butt.

We went on over to The Needleworks next, and I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much (no reason), but it was a surprisingly cute shop. I can't even remember most of the yarns they had there--it seemed to be a mix of nice yarns, old reliables, and some not-so-nice yarn (read: the fugliest novelty yarn I have ever seen). They did have the nicest display of patterns books and magazines I have ever seen though, and I was super excited to find Norah Gaughan, Vol. 3 and Berroco #279. Score!

We had a couple more shops on the list, but decided to skip them because we were tired of driving around and we had both spent all the money we had anyway. We just headed back to my place for an afternoon of knitting and chatting before meeting up with his friend and The Brain for Thai food. All in all, a fun day!

Update: For those of you following the neverending saga of my missing yarn, the woman FINALLY emailed me back last week (responding to my two emails informing her of my new address). She informed me that she already has my yarn, but that she is so busy "putting out fires" that it will take her a few more days to box it up and drop it in the mail. This was a week ago, ladies and gentlemen, and I have yet to get a confirmation from her that she has, in fact, put my yarn in the mail. I find this a little troubling because on her shop's website, she brags about her fast shipping times because she buys postage at home, and packages get picked up daily from her home. Oh, and she was also a bit confused about exactly what she was sending me in this shipment, and needed me to remind her. WTF?!?!?!?!? But I am in luck, because she is including a 25% discount code for her online yarn shop, "in the event you'd ever like yarn to actually arrive like it's supposed to". I swear, if she didn't live several states away, I would be pounding on her door in the middle of the night, demanding the yarn I paid for BACK IN MARCH!!!!!

OK, I'm done ranting. I just really want my yarn, ya know?

4 comments:

Team Knit said...

oh wow, you've been waiting for that yarn since March?! that's ridiculous. People like that just shouldn't run a business if they can't manage to do the basics, like, you know... putting yarn in the mail in a timely fashion.

- Julie

Yarndude said...

I personally really enjoyed that little dog, and although that yarn shop did not have the best selection, I thought they had relatively good prices. I think the first one we went to was my favorite out of the three though.

Jacey said...

I can't believe you still haven't gotten your yarn. What a pain.

Looks like you and your brother had fun together. The pictures of you knitting together are adorable.

I love the color you chose for your B-side.

Bobbisox said...

Ah, you were in my neck of the woods, 2 sisters is my LYS as I also live in Spring Valley. I followed your brothers blog to yours. I hope you got to get to Knitting in La Jolla, the owner is very nice and helpful. Don't even want to know where there is a dog in a yarn shop. Oh,you were asking about knitting groups; we have tons of them in San Diego.