Crafty Time Out...

I haven't blogged about crafts in a little while, so I thought I would take a moment, breath in the yarn fumes and show you what I've been working on.

As usual, I have a hundred and one projects on the go and still seem to keep buying yarn. I decided yesterday to get out of the gigantic mess that is my house and go for a little stroll downtown. The weather was nice and I felt that instead of putting on my grubby overalls (note to husband; they are my WORK clothes, not my fat pants...I know they're unflattering...they're supposed to be) I would actually do my hair, put on something decent and join the world of those who aren't in the midst of a reno project.

I hadn't planned on stopping into the yarn (slash computer/photo/framing/cable and wireless dealer/guitar string)shop. When I go yarn shopping I sort of go into myself a bit. I pick up a bunch of stuff to start off with and then usually stand there silently fondling it all, meditating on what it is I plan to do with it, just to justify the expense. So as I say, I hadn't planned on stopping in, but I did end up walking by the shop and lo and behold, they were having a 50% off yarn sale. Immediate detour.

This particular LYS (that's knitter lingo for Local Yarn Shop) doesn't carry anything particularly exotic or interesting, like Noro or Rowan or Debbie Bliss yarns, (I still consider these to be exotic and interesting, which is just my own lingo for 'expensive') but they do carry the kind of stuff I like and need. They had some Patons on sale, mostly novelty stuff that seems to be falling out of fashion, so I see it on sale everywhere now. I never did get a big charge out of it, so I passed it by.

But what I did get was some of this...

Sirdar Denim Tweed, 50% off so like, $3.50 a ball. I'm getting better at shelling out larger amounts for better quality stuff, ie. not 100% acrylic, but the yarn budget is still pretty tight so I like to deal it up when I can. I'll show you what I'd planned to do with this once it's done. Bit of a surprise. Oh, yeah, it's a cotton/wool/acrylic blend, just in case you were curious.

I also picked up some of this...

Regia three ply sock yarn, also $3.50 a ball, mostly wool content I believe, which is exactly what I need at the moment. Currently, back in Ontario the weather is up into the 30's already (and since I operate in Farenheit in the summer and Celcius in the winter, having grown up near the US border all of my life, that would be in the upper 70's, low 80's...toasty) and we had a frost warning here the other night, I needs me some socks! This being an old old house, it's a wee bit chilly. The past couple of weeks, after the sun goes down, I have the derndest time getting warm. It sucks. But, I'm not going to complain. If I were back home right now, I would be full swing into my summer bitching mode. When the Victoria Day weekend hits and the air is so humid that the carpet is moist, I get really miserable. Just ask the constable. He'll attest to it I'm sure. Not the case this year though. So I needed something with a little more heft to it than just the nylon sock yarns that I have been using. Anyhow, I plan on making some stripy socks, a la Cat in the Hat I think. If I like it, I may go back and get some more as this yarn is being discontinued.

And this is what I've been working on...

A cardi for myself, again to ward off the evening chill. Again, back home, I found that there wasn't much need for transitional clothing, like say a spring jacket or sweater. You went straight from winter coat and boots to sandals and t-shirts. At least that's how it felt. This is knit in Patons Chunky Tweed, also a wool blend and it's knitting up nice and soft and rather quickly at that. This isn't the colour I had planned on, I wanted a more neutral beige with flecks of blue in it, but the friendly knitter lady talked me out of trying to splice together two dye lots, so I went with this. I wear a lot of blue anyway and it's got little flecks of just about every other colour in it, so it will probably go with everything I own, which to be honest, is the full spectrum of blue, white and pink. That's all I wear. This may be the first time I've knit a sweater for myself that I see me wearing in public. I don't know if you can make it out from the photo, but I have the back and one front completed.

I'm working on a couple of other things too, one of which just isn't interesting enough to talk about, but I will post about it when it's done and the other is another suprise, so I shouldn't talk about it at all. And now I'm hungry, so I'm off.

Until later...