Stiches East PART 1

Last weekend I went to Hartford CT for Stitches East. Min and her friend Rachel picked me up on their way from Philly. It was a traffic nightmare! We didn't arrive at our Hotel until 930ish. We should have been there by 8ish. This was after poor Min and Rachel got stuck in NJ traffic and got to my house an hour late!

Since none of us were taking any classes, Vicki who lives in CT and her daughter Renee from RI, picked us up on Sat morning and took us to Webs. Webs, I found out was in Massachusetts. (As those of you who have driven with me in the back seat of a vehicle can guess - I was sort of passing out for awhile, waking up for awhile etc etc) I was kind of disappointed in WEBS. Though it wasn't really their fault. They were a large yarn store, they had a somewhat unorganized warehouse behind the main shop. They had a bunch of salespeople willing to be helpful ( those of you that have shopped with me know I really would rather shop on my own than get help) and were friendly. I did buy a bunch of yarn, some sample size packs of SOAK for swaps, and HIGHLIGHTER TAPE!! YAY! Sounds good right? Why was I kind of let down?? I think it's because my expectations of WEBS was too high. Everywhere you look, in blogs, especially on Ravelry people make WEBS seem like the mecca of yarn stores. That you will be in a yarn coma when you leave - that knitting nirvana can be found through their doors. That you can find any commercial brand yarn represented there.

Well, it was a Large yarn store. It had some great prices. There was a volume discount. There was a warehouse in back with further discounts taken not eligible for the volume discount. There was no Crystal Palace, there was no Manos. There were limited colors of Malabrigo and Aruncania. There were a lot of cones. So it was a bit of a letdown.

We went to a Japanese place for lunch. That's when it registered that I was in MA. It seemed odd that so many people from MA would be in CT AND no one from CT would be there. Lunch was great and from there we went to WEBS bead store. Which, although I gave up on beading some time ago ( doesn't mesh well with longer nails) it was a very cool store. I bought a witches hat, skull, witch on broomstick and something else in pewter as well as a ceramic penguin to use as stitch markers.

We then drove for what seemed like hours in the pouring rain to another yarn store. When we were close it was determined that we did not have time for 2 LYS's so we turned and set sail for Vicki's LYS. It must be a big word of mouth business because it's in a basement and has the littlest sign on the road and is kind of hidden behind trees. ( everything in CT is hidden behind trees - either this or there is nothing in CT and I know people live there!) I DID find the perfect yarn to go with the Malabrigo I had purchased in Tennessee this past summer to make a Colonnade shawl. Of course the pattern needs 414 yds and between the two yarns I now have 624yds... so matching fingerless gloves?

Still pouring rain, we went to Victoria station for coffee/dessert. And yes it was forever away. The town was cute, and apparently had their pumpkin fest or something ( but no pumpkin cannon!) there were a lot of pumkin "people" around the town - kind of like scarecrows with pumpkin heads. Unfortunately I guess the coffee shop had been inundated all day, and it took over 20 minutes for all 5 of us to order and get our food. Min, Rachel and I , got slices of quiche to take back to the hotel for later. Rachel decided she wanted some wine, as this was her first weekend in a long time to relax with no exams in med school coming up. I cook with wine but really don't drink it - I'm going to have to go tasting with Grace and Tom to learn about wine to drink. So I bought a 6 pack of Smithwicks. I thought about a pumpkin ale or octoberfest, but after hours in the car in the rain I wanted something tried and true. I feel for Vicki and Renee, because even though I spent 1/2 the day in a coma, I was exhausted when we got back to our room and they had a 45 minute drive - in the rain - back to Vicki's house. I didn't take a single picture on Saturday, because it was really gray, dismal and raining and figured I'd get shots on Sunday.

Presents

Since Angie couldn't come to the race on Sunday with us, I bought her a t-shirt and got a bunch of drivers to sign it, including Dexter Bean, Ricky Stenthouse Jr, frank Kimmel, Andy Lally, J. Lofton, James Hilton etc.





On Tuesday, I went to Mara's to meet Grace for dessert. Angie came after she conducted her "business" at the bank - depositing her confirmation money. It was Grace's birthday, and I had remembered she said something about stitch markers on her blog a few weeks ago. So I looked in my boxes of beads ( beading just not happening with my nails, but stitch markers I can do) and made these up:

Tuesday

Noro Taiyo it was Noro Taiyo! I couldn't remember the name of this yarn I was telling Sandy and Grace about this afternoon! It's a bulky weight wool/silk/cotton yarn. I really hate that!! When I can actually see it all except for the name on the label.
So yes, I met up with Grace and Sandy at Mara's. The other 2 people who had expressed interest couldn't make it this week. We had fun. I had a slice of apple caramel cheesecake that was absolutely sinful. And a wonderful cafe latte. Grace was working on a gorgeous piece of lace. Sandy was working on a sweater that she is going to steek. I think there is a reason steek rhymes with EEEK! I am definitely not ready for that yet. But the colors she picked out look wonderful together. I worked more on the ripple 'ghan. I'm almost to the next white stripe. yay!

When I went to Ace over the weekend to get the webbing, I also picked up some more toggles in their craft section so stay tuned for more stitch markers. I have a bunch of alphabet beads so I am sort of vacillating between knitting words (knit, purl, ssk, don't think i have numbers for k2tog) or names ( angel, maria, etc) OR maybe I'll use red and black beads and make SMOKE!

Weekend

My 9er's won! yay! Ok so there is some hope for my mental state this fall. After the beating they took from the Raiders last weekend, I was not too optimistic. Of course pre-season means absolutely nothing. But at least they found some sort of working offense.

We drove out to Lancaster county this weekend. We went to kitchen kettle village- hit the jam and jelly shop, of course had to get fudge. i was good with the fudge. Usually I fall for the whole buy 3 slices get 1 free, throw out 2 later in the week. Soooo i got one cookies and cream slice for Ange and one maple walnut for curt and I. I bought Angie some really nice silver/fake diamond texas star earrings. She wore them to dinner yesterday, but I didn't get a closeup shot, and she says she's not wearing them again until the 1st day of school in a couple weeks. We also hit some outlets along route 30. I got a new pair of Sketchers for work. Curt and Angie convinced me I should get the pair w/o laces as I haven't tied my laces at work in over a year. Usually I buy several pairs to last the year, but i just got one this time. never fear! Sketchers will be opening an outlet @ Tannersville in October so either way, I can get some more this fall. i got a car coaster - fit's in the cupholder of the car and absorbs spills somehow, it's stone like. Curt got one that was a red panic button and one that was a green eject button. i got one with a psychotic cartoon character on it that says Do I Look Like a People Person? hee hee.

This morning we went to Cabella's. They were having a sidewalk clearance sale! Jackpot! Got a bunch of stuff, really wanted this crossbow that was orig $1999.00 and was down to $500, but that would have seriously blown my cash for awhile so I passed on it:(

I did get 3 squares for my red/white/blue 'ghan for VJGC done on the trip. I did 2 today. Yesterday I sort of fell asleep when we hit Route 78 and only sort of was conscious on and off after we got off on 501.

We did get home in time to watch the NASCAR race. Not a spectacular finish for tony, but he did what he had to do and Denny and Jeffie had issues so he moved up to 6th. He seriously needs to win something in the next 3 or come the chase he's at the back. Still Love him though!

Too tired to download my camera so--- here's a pic of the package I sent out for the caffeine swap. Superstarved1 finally got it so I can post the pic now. One kinda embarassing aside - I read on someone's blog that they gave their treats from a swap to someone else 'cause they couldn't have sugar. I SWORE it was her's so I sent the sugar free tea rings. Well it wasn't her! Geez! At least she liked them..

Caffeine Addicts Swap

So here's my swap package from Diane from Maine. Green Mountain coffee, Dunkin Donuts Coffee, coffee nips, caffeine mints, white/mango tea, cool pad see below for wording, really pretty stitch markers and some really amazing sock yarn from a Maine dyer!
Here's a closeup of the stitch markers and pad. Diane didn't include her Ravelry name or blog so I can't send her a personal thanks.

I have pictures of the swap package I sent to amanda, but I don't want to post them until she gets it. Don't want to ruin the surprise!

Knitting Updates

I really like all the fancy beaded stitch markers I see online and in the knitting magazines. I did have a short period of time when I thought I wanted to make beaded jewelry. But I have nails and I won't give them up for anything. So beading was a pretty frustrating hobby and it fell along the wayside with the many other crafty endeavors I flitted in and out of before finding knitting. (I think that's why so many of my family are outright amazed I'm still knitting) anyway... I decided that I would try to see if I could make my own markers. I have all the stuff necessary- except I couldn't find my jump ring closer , grrrr. My first attempt failed miserably- there is no photographic evidence of that debacle. I took them apart and tossed the wire findings put the beads back in the box and put the idea on the back burner. Well, after simmering for a while I took out my beads, findings and tools and made 2 sets. the charms say love, laugh, hope, dream, believe and the long one says live. This is destined for the swap I'll mail out on Monday - she likes green and black.
Not much progress on the sock. Only about 3 of the pattern repeats last week. usually I work on socks at lunch and other places outside of home, but I've been working on squares for my red/white/blue afghan for the Victory Junction Gang Competition. ( kasey Kahne is seriously in the lead) I did decide about halfway through the week that I didn't like the way it would look with the different patterns together, so it will be all granny squares. The 5 blocks I made already of different patterns, I'll either work more and make a different 'ghan or I'll mail them to Min who unbelievably has volunteers to seam squares together. The blocks I made this week are still in my car, so no pics at this time.

Here's the update on the ripple. I've managed to get past the next white stripe. it is only currently 16 inches long. So I'll need to get 4 more orange/black/orange/white sections plus an orange/black before I'm done. sigh. Well, hopefully I'll get some done during the race this afternoon.