knitting neels

Well, being rained out ended up being a bit dull in the end, especially since it didn’t stop until late into the night. I would hazard a guess and say it rained for about 24 hours non-stop. The 2-pint jug out on the deck was full this morning. Thankfully, the sun came out today and it was a beautiful day, about 18 degrees in the afternoon. We pottered in the morning and then, because schools are closed today and tomorrow for some teachers conference, my sister, my nephew and I went mini-golfing. It was pretty good fun. We had lunch in a place called Millburn, and I visited a teeny weeny yarn shop there. It was all over-priced Debbie Bliss and Rowan, which cracked me up. Later in the afternoon, we drove to another place called West Orange, which is one of the more non-descript places I’ve been so far, to visit Yarn Ware.

It is a super shop! Two rooms just full to the brim with yarn! And finally, a comprehensive stock of Brown Sheep yarn. There were a million things I would have happily walked out of there with, including the *gorgeous* Lopi stuff. Man. I’ve never wanted to knit a big, baggy, scratchy weekend jumper before now. I was very restrained though. I picked out the wool for my Fair Isle – to my delight, I was able to get six matching colours. Here’s what I decided on. It’s Brown Sheep Nature Spun in sport weight.

I was torn between the sport (heavyish DK weight) and worsted (heavy aran weight) versions of the Nature Spun. I figured, well, I can juggle my needle size, though I may end up with a slightly looser drape than the pattern intends. Deciding factors were the larger choice of colours in the sport weight, the price ($3.50 compared to $6.20 a ball), and the metreage. Fingers crossed it will be a heavy enough weight. If the worst comes to the worst, I can use needles that suit the yarn and just knit the next size up. (Famous last words)

Because I’m a complete sucker for colour and texture, I HAD to get this for yet another scarf.

Blossom, Noro

And because sock yarn doesn’t count!.. It also has a pattern for self-striping mittens on the ball band! How fun are they going to be 😀 (It’s the little things, don’t you think?)

I want to alert you to, if you don’t already know and obssess about, Craftypod podcast. It is super. In a recent episode, Sister Diane interviewed Tsia Carson (don’t worry, I didn’t know her either) who just wrote a book called ‘Craftivity’. She was involved with a magazine called Make (diy-ey/techy projects), and they have just brought out a similar magazine called Craft. I highly recommend you check out the blog they have here, as it is updated regularly with loads of inspiring things and projects to think about. Another thing I love is the fact that they are putting out podcasts with data – in other words, patterns for all sorts of things! Sewing, stencils, crochet, knitting, knitted jewellery, and just recently, felted pillows from Tsia Carson herself. I think it is a great idea and I hope that other people will start doing it too.

Tomorrow, we’re going to the Natural History Museum in the morning and I’m hoping to fit in some stuff I wanted to do yesterday in the afternoon – Chinatown, Union Square, Ground Zero 🙂 I hate to admit it but I haven’t been doing much knitting. I’ve been doing a lot of just sitting and enjoying the feeling that everything is very, very far away. I got some cheap Burt’s Bees hand & foot stuff at an organic supermarket the other night and I tell you, there is nothing like doing your hands and feet in your jams and reading until you fall asleep with the book on your face. Ahhhhhhh