The Knitting Pirate

So I took your advice and skipped Yarn Barn, though if I’m ever in Burke for another reason, I might go just to see what’s what there. I did go to both Michael’s and Joann (they’re two stores apart from each other) on the way home from work just to check if they maybe possibly had a substitution for what I needed, but no luck. However, I met an awesomely friendly knitter and her young daughter in Joann, and helped them pick out yarn for a scarf – then invited her to SnB. She’d heard of us, and apparently one of her friends went last week in the snow! I love this hobby; I meet nice people everywhere I go.

Then I came home and ordered the yarn I needed from WEBS because a) they are just so freakin’ awesome and b) they had what I needed. I won’t be able to talk about this project until it’s finished and gifted, but I can say that I’m glad it should be a quick knit, because I don’t have much time left!

In other gifty news, another friend of mine said she’d be finding out the sex of her baby this month, and I can’t start knitting until I know. I have enough yarn for either the girl version or the boy version of this particular project (no details, argh, surprise knitting is hard to blog about!) but not enough of the we-don’t-know-what-we’re-having colorway.

The new local yarn store is quite nice. It’s a small store in Fairfax, near a good pho place. They have a bunch of yarns I’d never seen before, but unfortunately not the stuff I was looking for (and no sock yarn that really called out to me, either). But! the people there were incredibly nice, helped me look around to see if there was an acceptable substitute, and directed me to two other semi-local stores which do carry one or both of the brands of yarn I’m in search of. Very cool.

The lace is going well. I’m getting back into the swing of it and it’s not quite as slippery and futzy any more, though I do have to pay close attention on pattern rows still. I’ve finished three pattern repeats in total (32 rows each) so I do feel like I’m getting somewhere. Even if it is slow. It’s so pretty, I want to finish it before spring so I can wear it!

As far as the house goes, there is no news yet. The bank has two offers on the place. They’re going to do an appraisal (why wasn’t this done first, I wonder?) and get back to us, probably by the end of the month. I hope it doesn’t turn into a bidding war because we really haven’t got much more to offer, and I promise to keep you all updated as I find things out (since you asked). If I’m not writing it’s because I don’t know – or because I’m annoyed that there’s a second offer – or because we didn’t get it and we’re really annoyed about that, “annoyed” being a much more polite word than the one I’d like to use.

In yarnier news, on Monday I’m going to go to one of the semi-local yarn stores on my way home from work, as it’s kinda-sorta on the way. I hope they have the yarn I want. Normally I’d call ahead to find out, but since I’ve never been to this store before, I want to check it out anyway. If they don’t have it, I’m going to have to order online, because the other semi-local yarn store is not on the way home from work and is not so convenient to get to, and I’m in a bit of a hurry here. Not a panicked hurry, but a hurry nonetheless.

Last night I finally sat down with the Ostrich Plumes Scarf and put five or six rows on it. It’s over 12″ long now when it’s stretched out, though I think serious blocking would have it at more than that. I’m not finding it to be very relaxing knitting at all. The yarn is slippery, the needles are slippery. I have to concentrate on each stitch, even on the knit across or purl across rows. Once I start a row, I can’t stop or I’m convinced I’ll drop a stitch – fortunately it’s only 81 stitches across! That said, I’m enjoying the project. It’s coming out beautifully and I am really looking forward to having the finished object.

On the way home from work today, I plan to stop at Nature’s Yarns, the new yarn store in Fairfax. I haven’t been there yet and I’m excited to check it out for myself! I have a thing or two in mind to purchase, but it’s related to winterholiday gifts, so I don’t want to say anything. (If I can’t find it at this store, I’m going to order online tonight and hope it’s delivered quickly.) Of course if I find some spifftacular sock yarn, I won’t be able to resist it!

I ended up skipping SnB last night because of the weather. After choosing to work from home and spending the day in my pajamas, I couldn’t get motivated to get dressed, scrape off my car, and navigate the icy roads. This morning I knew I’d made the right decision – the parking lot was a lumped-up sheet of ice. I’m not scared to drive in the snow, and I know I can handle the car on ice, but I do prefer to limit my driving to the absolute necessities on it. So I did go to work today.

As a result of not going to SnB, I’ve made no progress on anything. Maybe tonight will be a knitting night. (Maybe Pirate-Husband and I will enjoy dinner and a movie together, then do all our holiday shopping online instead.)

Though I mentioned my WEBS order yesterday, I didn’t really expect anything to come of it. I certainly didn’t expect Kathy from WEBS to find that post and leave a comment on it, saying that I was indeed entitled to the discount, and to please email her so everything can be straightened out. How absolutely amazingly awesome is that? …and not five minutes after I emailed back, I got an email confirmation of the refund to my account.

I’m quick to complain about poor customer service, but I’m also quick to proclaim when a company is doing something right. I’ve only had fantastic experiences with WEBS and I cannot *wait* until I get the chance to make my pilgrimage to the Mecca of yarn.

It’s here, it’s here! The last piece of my WEBS order is here! There’s only one thing that disappoints me – they charged me full price for this one ball of yarn, even though I ordered them all together and should have gotten the 20% discount. I guess that only applies to yarn that goes into one shipment? Ah well, at least it’s all here now.

I really miss SnB, after two weeks without it, and I’m so looking forward to tomorrow night! I’ll bring the Trekking Sock, still in progress, and see how far I can get on it. It’s the only project I have that’s really able to travel. Tonight, before dinner, I am going to work on the Ostrich Plumes Scarf. Someone pointed out to me that I haven’t made any progress on that in a while, and it’s true – I’ve been sorely neglecting my lace.

No house news from the bank yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :)

Ah, finally, a chance to talk about both knitting, and my day job, in the same post!

Today at around 10:00am the power went out. It flicked off, then on again (the HVAC was confused) then off. And it stayed that way. After a minute or two, we all shut our computers off (it’s so nice to have UPSes) and wandered around in the dark. I decided that the best place for me was in one of the front lobby chairs, in front of a window, with my sock-in-progress – and I stayed there for an hour until the power came back on. Unfortunately it stayed that way, so I went back to work.

I didn’t make much progress, because people kept asking me about it – but that’s cool, I like to show my work. The receptionist mentioned that her daughter was interested in learning to knit, and I recommended Stitch ‘n Bitch to her. She thanked me and said she’d buy it for her daughter’s Christmas present, and that I’d solved her dilemma about what to buy!

I haven’t forgotten that I need to draw up designs for sock patterns and email them to that yarn dyer. I have two ideas that I think are pretty solid, and some graph paper a spreadsheet to act as graph paper. All I need to do is get it down and send it in. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow!

Yesterday was finally sunny enough for me to take pictures of my new yarn! I tried to take pictures of the sock progress, but it looks so silly. The ribbing pulls in so far that you’d think I was knitting for a gimpy mutant. I tried pulling the sock over my hand and arm to get a better picture, but it just looked lumpy. When the sock is done, I’ll take a good on-the-foot picture of it.

I’m still missing one of the colors of Rowan Felted Tweed that I wanted; it’s on backorder. I should call this week and find out what the ETA is.

House news: We withdrew the offer on the first house and made one on a similar house in better condition that’s a much better deal for the asking price. We’ll know by Friday if the bank accepts – cross your fingers for me!