OK I went to the hardware store to pick up some blocking materials and they didn’t have what I was looking for. I need to go to the big boys [Home Depot etc] instead of my helpful Ace dudes. Therefore no AFTER pix yet.

I am in a bit of a knitting slump and had planned on putting the Stitches report and some FO’s spread out over the next week or so but my good friend, Miss Toni, sent me an email insisting I spill already…..

I took 3 classes and enjoyed all three of them. The first was called Nordic Color taught by Nancy Bush. I have so many plans for using this technique its crazy. Why just before leaving Zoe was complaining about her lack of wintery hats and after consulting with her I was mad as a hornet. She wanted a hat with leaves flitting around into a pile. Not a repeating pattern or a leaves on vine sorta pattern but an intarsia pattern. Ha ha ha. Nancy Bush to the rescue. Look for hattie goodness when I get some stuff off my knitting platter.

The second class was on Russian Grafting and I think its a very interesting technique needing some field testing. As mentioned yesterday I have utilized it on my STTS[actually Shetland Tea Shawl or STS] so will get a better idea of how much I like it once blocked. Plus other occassions to test general lovability. The most intriquing use seems to be in seaming as far as I can see so Must. Knit. Sweater. Pieces. Again knitting plate.

The third class was called ummmm Off the Cuff or something of that nature. I actually was half asleep during this class since I left my sister’s apartment at an ungodly 6am and knit for the 1.5 hrs I had between arrival time and class time. I have taken to knitting when I can’t sleep cause it ummm puts me to sleep shhhhhhhh I didnt’ say that but you know relaxing soothing nerve and worried mind calming meditative bs I actually finished half of my class project since returning home:

Toni actually doesn’t give a rats ass about my classes and just wants to know about the LOOT. Tough she, and you too, have to see my progress in dealing with WIPS first. I noticed that Toni actually blogged about what I did last week:

That pile o’ yarn consists of: Donegal, Rogue, and the BW topdown. I had purchased some BWA for Celtic Dreams and didn’t feel like plodding through 3 sweaters before getting to it. Not that I have CO mind you. I will be stuffing the yarn for those three sweaters on my yarn caddy in case I choose to restart one of them soon. The yarn caddy is the reason for my funk. Upon my return I arranged my purchases and was shocked. I had been shopping daily and stuffing the bags under the car seats between trips. I really did not realize I had picked up so much yarn. To remind myself that I was living in land of plenty I went to the main yarn stash area and picked up similar yarns ex: Douceur et Soie and Kid Seta for Rowan KS Haze or other yarns I had picked up since my daddy got sick 10 months ago. Talk about retail therapy gone haywire. Anyway here is the caddy sans ripped stuff but with extra yarns for ripped stuff ;^>

Unfortunately I can honestly say I have more yarns I purchased in past few months that didn’t make it onto the caddy AND that there are CONES OF YARN hiding behind the laceweight on lower shelf. Not bulky weight cones but cones of ummm Zephyr and Cashmere. No wonder I am broke and being pathetically into retail therapy[not normally just recently] I still have an overwhelming urge to shop on a daily basis. My favorites from Stitches:

Laceweights from Skaska designs also available from Dimity’s Dry Goods The top two are cashmere/silk blends and not the same blend~ one is 50/50 the other 80/20~ which was not my intention the other 3 are my faves esp the loverly taupe yak and silk blend. Another laceweight Alpaca from another vendor proves to be my absolute favorite couldnt’ have walked out of Stitches without:

The seller told me it was Crea[first shearing] Suri Alpace from her own farm. 3000 yards of the most wonderful stuff I have ever seen for real. And I have seen some pretty awe inspiring yarns in the past 30 years. Just saying.

Being the sock knitting addict that I am

Stop Laughing

I picked up some sockyarn that is a nice heather instead of the handpainted the was all over the place:

I am still waiting for some kits purchased from Nancy Bush and have picked up some CP Kid mohair blend[why I had to pull out the similar yarns to stop myself from buying stuff I had tons of already] and beads for River since returning home:

By and by I did finish the first of my socks for yarn purchased mere hours before going to stitches:

Ok thats the highlights of past two weeks shopping and reduction of WIPS spree. Toodles and happy knitting