Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Sock it to me!

I have a secret new addiction. Knitted socks. I'm taking a class now, and this is my progress so far:


(Lorna's Laces Shepherds Sock, in Amethyst Stripe)

This is the first sock just past the heel. Thank God I have small feet (like, I can wear children's shoes sometimes small) so I can start on the second one soon.


I'm loving this. I had no idea socks would be this easy, or this addicting. I stocked up on some more Shepherds Sock and Cherry Tree Hill at Knit Happens anniversary sale this weekend, along with a lot of other booty.

I've been searching the web for some funky sock yarns to feed my addiction, and it's amazing to see what's out there. I'm in awe of all the cool self striping yarns and yarns that create their own fair isle patterns. How do they know to create things like this?

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Yarn, Yarn, and More Yarn!

Wow, just when I thought nothing could top how perfect last weekend was, this weekend is shaping up even better. It started yesterday when Spring started spring in the DC area. Then last night DH bought me this (since last post was very wordy, this one is going to be very picture-y):


Uh huh... A Palm T/X. This baby is sweet. I can't even articulate myself in it's presence.

Today I had a class at Knit Happens on short rows. Here is the dolly cape that was my FO


While I was at the store I treated myself to some of this


Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in Georgetown. I've decided that this will be for my first foray into lace, using the pattern that comes inside. I admit I had sticker shock when I first saw it, but it's 1250 yards a skein (the shawl requires one skein)! And in further LL news, my first eBay win arrived on Tuesday

Yup, Lorna's Laces Lion and the Lamb in Gold Hill to make a Clapotis for me! I swear photos cannot do this yarn justice. It is the perfect colorway for me. I am soooooo excited to use this, but at the same time I feel yarn like this should be in a display. I keep on fondling it when I pass it (hey, don't judge, this stuff is super soft).

I really think I have a problem here, I must stop buying more yarn. We're running out of storage space!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Look at the stars

Saturday night I decided to pick up needles for the first time since the Olympics. Something about all that knitting in 16 days really took a lot out of me. I had toyed with picking up the scarf for DH that I had been working on, but working with a pattern just seemed too daunting. I needed simple, pure garter stitch baby. I cast on this for DH:



It's the Mostly Knit Round hat from
here, made in Plymouth Encore Colorspun in the Blue/Orange colorway. I finished one for myself a while back, and it's so simple that when I finished I decided I was making a hat, scarf, and mitten set for each of us (mine is in the Ocean colorway and I have yarn in Pink/Black print for another set for me).

Thursday night, DH and I saw Coldplay in concert. They were great, don't get me wrong (although, Fionna Apple who opened, sucked royally. I am astonished how anyone can be that angry). The guys really know how to rock and put on a great show for 90 minutes. That said, it just wasn't the experience I was hoping for. Despite what people are saying on their message boards, I don't feel like they really connected with the audience (fyi: asking a crowd of 20,000 fans if they are "ok" does not mean someone is caring. In fact, given Chris' comments about having difficulty talking because he was drinking lots of tequila the night before shows a huge lack of consideration for his fans).

The highlights for me were:

- the quartet singing "Kingdom Come"/"Ring of Fire" a capella. Who woulda thunk 4 guys from the UK could teach us something about country music?

- for some reason, maybe because the song has always resonated with me, I got teary during the first verse of Clocks.

- I completely flipped when Chris (the birthday boy, btw) ran into the crowd during "In My Place" and was a couple of hundred yards from me! Although, the first thought to DH was, "Why is it Chris, why can't it be Guy?"

- I thought they ended the concert very nicely with "Fix You." It's such an beautiful song, and the guys and the audience really gave it their all. A note to the band, lose the lightbulb. The effect was much better in the video.

Don't hate - I still love the guys and they've been the only thing on my iPod since last week, but I think they still have a long way to go. My only other comment before I bring you back to your regularly scheduled knitting blog is that Coldplay are sizeist bastards. Nowwhere in the MCI (Verizon) Center could you find a shirt larger than an XL. And I know I wasn't the only one hurting about that.

BTW, where does a band get off practically forcing you to sign a Make Trade Fair petition and then charging $40 for a t-shirt?!?