i honestly had no idea what this much time felt like. so after knitting alone in my apartment for two weeks, i finally dragged myself to my first ever stitch n’ bitch at lettuce knit last wednesday and it was actually really cool. i didn’t introduce myself to a whole lot of people but it was the first time any knitters have ever seen me knit, and the lack of pointing and laughing meant my self-teaching methods aren’t completely flawed.
what did i work on? my first ever clap! with the sweet sheep superwash merino from the knitter’s frolic.
eventually it’ll be the 342850948th completed clap on ravelry, but i still love it because the yarn makes it so beautiful. i need a new scarf. sue me. i’m making a small version– really thin (maybe 8″ unblocked) and as long as i can go with the yarn i have. by the way, this yarn is FANTASTIC. if i ever see michelle around toronto i will gladly give her $40 for 1000 yds of this stuff again.
among the other ridiculousness this week was DH’s job. i’m not going to get into details but, in short, he is currently taking a bit of time off to straighten out his plan for the future. which means– long weekend! we had to get the hell out of this city and clear our heads, and when i got an email about the WEBS tent sale my heart dropped. thursday night we reserved a car and a few hotel rooms, and friday morning we were off.
as if there was any question, WEBS is by far the most fantastic yarn store ever. not just because of the size– or the selection. but the prices, holy god. not only were the ticketed full price items about 20% less than what i’m used to, but about half the regular stock was on sale, and it’s nearly impossible NOT to get that 25% off full price yarn purchases. my huge pile of yarn and notions summed up to $160– i was expecting closer to $300, but i’m not complaining :)– i even got a yarn ball winder and swift (the cheap one, not the wooden one) and could hardly even wait until we got to the hotel that night to try it.
(yeah, i know, that’s the worst looking ball of yarn any winder has ever produced, but it kept falling out of the grip of my toes.)
here’s my hoard–
-bristol yarn gallery buckingham in natural and teal. i thought i was done with this yarn after the endpaper mitts and swallowtail shawl– but its so pretty and cheap ($5.59/hank). i’ll find something to do with it.
-ella rae bamboo silk in cyan, cyan ash, stone, and white. i fell in love with this yarn at first touch. anyone who hasn’t seen this yarn in person– go to your lys! rub your face in it! not to mention the gorgeous colours and the fact that it was $5.21 a hank.
-bag of swtc twize. i very rarely buy bags of yarn because i don’t knit anything big enough to need them. but when i saw that twize was $22.50 a bag, i figured i’ll find something to do with it.
-malabrigo lace in burgundy. for the curved shawl. all i can say is yummy (ETA i’m retarded and i didn’t buy enough. blah)
on the way to portsmouth, we visited nashua and stopped in at ewe’ll love it. i didn’t really, though. maybe if i hadn’t just come from the shock and awe of WEBS. the prices were higher and, although pretty, far too high-end for my wallet (lots of hanks for $60+, eek). even the 25% off loft couldn’t tempt me.
monday we also happened to be in chester and drove by a knitter’s garden— but they were closed. *pout*. that place has some damn strange hours for a store so far off the beaten path. spinning yarns in dover was closed too. it was an off day.
we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent an amazing day at hampton beach, where we found a nice big “welcome to new hampshire” note on our windshield.
at least i got to take some good clap photos and a nice big blotchy sunburn
one of the scariest towns i have ever been to (now twice, for that matter) is bennington, vt. as we drove in on route 9, we noticed a lot more people than we were used to seeing. but as we looked closer (it was dark), we noticed that they were all statues. of regular people. doing regular things, like sitting on benches, reading the paper, and shopping. but it was all ceramic. we shrugged it off, figured it was just a weird little town, and kept driving. on the way home, we noticed them again and took a few photos, figuring we’d look them up when we got home. somehow, though, there is no information about this online! bennington seems to be one of vermont’s largest cities and nobody even mentions that half the people there are statues. so i’m now doubting my own sanity and/or the sanity of the citizens of bennington. what is going on???
thanks to the WEBS run, i now have more future wip’s floating around in my head than ever, so i’m gonna get back to knitting.
click for more photos (slideshow)–
giftable designs 