Forever Yarn, Doylestown, PA

It's the annual trip to Pennsylvania for the reunion with my old housemates and some other friends from our divinity school days. The reunion I missed last year because I'd just moved to New Orleans. But I'm here this year, and another couple had to miss because of a horrible virus one of them picked up from the kindergarten where she teaches. But their (young adult) daughters are here, and they are such delightful young persons!

Every time I come to this reunion, we make our way to Doylestown, about 25 minutes from where my friends live, and hit up a couple of shops, the same ones every year: the yarn store, the used book store, and the chocolate shop. I missed the book store this year because I spent so much time in the yarn store, but I did manage to make it to the chocolate shop!

I walked into Forever Yarn, and immediately was greeted by Yan, the owner, with a delighted smile and a hug. We caught up on the news, I apologised for missing the shop last year, and she took me around showing me new yarns, the Madeline Tosh (she knows my weakness!), and was particularly proud of the Swift Yarn, and the colourway the dyer made personal colourway, Uptown Graffiti. Just lovely. It was a terrific time with her, and the other ladies who were sitting around the table knitting. Brandon was with me, and actually picked out a skein of yarn for me to make him a hat. Seriously, I need to teach him how to knit.

My haul was modest, a mere six skeins (plus one that Brandon bought). I'm on a limited budget, you know. I think I'm going to start saving for next year's haul with my next paycheque. This year's haul includes the following:

Of course I had to get some Madeline Tosh! I can't get it at any store in New Orleans, and I need to feed my addiction. I'm thinking a hat or a striped scarf with this, the red is Tart, and the off-white is Birch Grey, in DK weight. I always love the names that the Tosh folk come up with for colours.

More Tosh! Silki Merino this time. The colourway is Beach Bonfire, and it's a 50-50 blend of silk and merino wool. Brandon likes pink, and picked this out, and has requested a hat. It's a DK weight and really feels good.

A new yarn being carried is Swift Yarns, which are hand dyed in New York City! These two skeins are 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. And no, I'm not making socks with them.

The dark blue colourway is named Lady Macbeth, the white-speckled-with-blue is Blueberry Hill. I'm thinking another Death of the Moon shawl for these. The picture does not do them justice.

This is also Swift Yarns, in Yan's signature colourway, Uptown Graffiti. She gave this skein to me, a bit of lagniappe. Such a New Orleans feel, and her generosity is so very much appreciated. It is a four ply sport weight yarn, made of superwash merino.

Brandon bought some yarn for me to make a hat for him. Not a colourway I would have chosen, but he likes the bright, the bodacious, the neon. The colourway is Venus

Qing Fiber (pronounced "Ching," like the last Chinese dynasty), are hand dyed in the UK. The fibre content is 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, and 10% nylon. It is surprisingly soft, and will make a nice warm hat for the not very cold winters we have in New Orleans. I'm looking forward to knitting this up, since the shop samples Yan had were very lovely and had a nice drape. Please note the link is to the dyer's Etsy page.

Finally, a photo of Yan and me, holding my new yarns. Yan insisted we take the picture in front of the Madeline Tosh display, since I have such a love for that yarn.

Yan, the owner of the shop, and your author, holding my newest acquisitions to my stash.

From UFO to WIP

I know I haven't been writing much. I've actually been knitting. A lot. No, really, but I'm writing this at work and don't have any pictures of my current project with me, so you'll just have to take my word. I picked up an old UFO, a sweater I promised to my friend Brad. I was unable to attend our reunion last year, and being clever, I knew I had so much time to work on it that I put it off to work on other projects. Now we're leaving for the reunion tomorrow night, and I'm nowhere near where I want to be. I didn't actually want to finish it, but I did want it to be at the place where I could join the front panel to the back. Since I only see Brad once a year I wanted to measure the panels against him, to make sure they fit, because he's 6'4" and I've never knit anything for anyone so tall. The pattern doesn't quite take into consideration someone of Brad's dimensions.

The back panel is done. I think, but I won't really know until I measure it against him. The front panel, well, I've been working like a busy beaver on it for the last week, getting up at 4:30 in the morning so I can get 10 or 12 or more rows done each morning, which equals about two inches of fabric. I'm in the middle of the seventh repeat of the pattern, and just did the cable plus two rows before I left for work this morning, and we're at about 14 inches now. I had planned to knit the day away on Sunday, maybe doing thirty or forty rows (between six and eight inches of fabric) while listening to the Egyptian History podcast of which I've become so fond (what do you want to know about Hatshepsut and Thutmose III? I'm all about the 18th Dynasty!). But alas! I was convinced to appear in a commercial filming for the NOLA Tourism Board, and spent the entire day, from 7:00 AM til 5:00 PM working on the damn thing. I won't say I had a terrible time,but it was rather tiring to be on my feet all day. I'd never done anything like it, and while I'm glad I've done it, I feel absolutely no reason to ever do it again. I feel much the same way about the Grateful Dead. I'm so happy that I went to one of their concerts once, but never felt the need to go a second time. And now, well, I can't. So it all works out in the end.

Tonight I have to pack for our trip, since we are driving from New Orleans to just north of Philadelphia. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to knit in the car on Friday, when I'm not doing my share of the driving, But I had wanted to work on smaller projects, like a hat for Kyle and a scarf for Karen. Projects that are more easily managed in the tight confines of a compact car.

As may be, I know I won't be anywhere near ready to join the two panels when we leave tomorrow, but I have made a valiant attempt at it, and am  not displeased with the progress I've made. But still, I do wish I could have pulled it off.

I have made this sweater before, and this gives an idea of what the finished project will look like. Though the current iteration is in a different shade of blue, denim, as opposed to Persian. I had made this for myself, but had gained so much weight by the time I finished it (a couple years after starting it, since I was interrupted by grad school), that I ended up giving it to my friend Brian. Then I lost all that weight, but by then, it was too late to ask for it back. The pattern is a Yankee Knitter Design, pattern #30. The yarn I am using is Lamb's Pride bulky, in denim blue.