Sunday, August 01, 2004

Full Stop

Hand Knitting has come to a full stop around here. I munged up my thumb on Saturday... I was opening a changing table in a store restroom, and it went down a bunch easier than I thought it would. I managed to peel down a section of my left thumbnail, and it hurt like the blazes. It doesn't hurt today unless I put pressure on it... which means no knitting for a while.

Which is a bummer, since I'm on a plane on Tuesday for the Bay Area. I'm going to San Jose, CA for work until Friday. I'm hiring in California (quality assurance position), and prefer to do in-person interviews if I can get away with it. I managed to plan the trip on Friday... I love quick notice trips. I'd have plenty of time for knitting - since its a short-notice trip I've made no evening plans, and will likely be enjoying the silence of my hotel room in the evenings. (Don't feel sorry for me. I usually have a 2 year old attached to my legs from 6 to 9pm). I wish I had an excuse to a) get a car and b) make a road trip up to Artfibers in San Francisco. Someday I'm going to get there - or I'm just going to make a leap of faith and order yarn.

Not that I need more yarn...

I wandered into a new yarn store on Wednesday, Borealis Yarns. Its in Saint Paul, on the corner of Thomas and Hamline. (I'm pretty sure). I found out about it from the Knitty forums. Very nice store - the woman working there (one of the owners, I am assuming) was very helpful and congenial. They have a nice space - open, with much natural light from their corner location. Ih their front window they have a huge table, where I laid out my purchase (more about that later). They have Colinette yarn in a lighted display case, highlighting the gorgeous nature of this yarn. One of their shop samples was the Simply Knit Obi knit out of Noro Silk Garden. That was tempting - I'm going to go back and try it on. I think I can carry it off... I also saw Plymouth yarn, bunches of Cherry Tree Hill yarn, Douceur and Soie, and this fall their carrying yarn from Twisted Sisters. She showed me her samples... that yarn feels wonderful! This is not the same group as the "Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook", but a group of 3 women (not sisters) who spin and dye their yarns. I'm looking forward to digging through this yarn!

And I bought yarn. I bought some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn to make a Charlotte Poncho. Now, I am feeling some pangs about not using Koigu... but, as you will see once I get pics up, its beautiful.

Late last week, I bought some pretty yarn (Plymouth Encore) to make a baby blanket.

One may have noticed that I said Hand Knitting is on hold. I have a Bond Ulitmate Sweater Machine (from hell). I'm trying to knit the body of the baby blanket on it, but it keeps jamming. I have 5 rows knit, of which the first 3 were easy. I've redone the 6th row 5 times trying to get the **$%#%$# cartridge across. I bought this THING to make stocking stitch easier. ITS NOT. (whew. Venting over. Thanks for listening)

I've got to get this posted even without pics. I'll try to take pictures tomorrow.