The Knitting Pirate

Pirate-Husband was working at a job site in Bethesda today. From the top of the roof he surveyed the town. “There’s the Mongolian barbeque,” he said to himself, “I should eat there for lunch. And… I think I remember that there’s a yarn store right across the street.”

So before he went home, Pirate-Husband went over to Knit and Stitch = Bliss and said, “I’m looking for some yarn for my wife.”

“What does she like?”

“She’s bought that really soft stuff from that women’s collection in Uruguay,” he said, and tried to figure out which colors of Manos del Uruguay I have. “If you have internet access, we could look at her stash on Ravelry.” The woman was floored. How great is this guy, that he’s buying yarn for his wife *and* he knows about Ravelry?

“She’s a frantic sock knitter,” offered Pirate-Husband, and was shown over to the sock yarn. “This is so totally Pirate,” he said, picking up two balls of Jojoland Melody in greens and purples, and so he bought them.

The woman at the store told him as she was ringing up his purchase, “You get a gold star for being cool!”

Although I’m no longer sick, and my head is clear enough that I’d technically be able to knit, I haven’t had any time to! This past weekend, Pirate-Husband and I finally got moved into the house. Our friends descended on our apartment and whisked all of our possessions up the mountain. I found out that one more friend has started to knit again, which makes me very happy – apparently I’ve inspired her!

I pass within a few miles of a great yarn store on my way home from work, and it’s an effort to keep from turning the car into their parking lot. I can’t let buying yarn become more of a hobby than knitting it up.

Yesterday my copy of Knitting Rules arrived from Amazon. I have a few other Yarn Harlot books, but not this one, or if I did, I lent it out and can’t remember to whom. Seemed like it just belonged in my library. I also got a bread-baking recipe book, and one about how to grow my own hops. Do all knitters like beer, or is it just the knitters I know?

At WEBS, I wandered slowly through the aisles, touching every single yarn with one finger. Then I bought enough yarn for Revolution, in a warm brown color with sage green for the accent color.

A few days later, I went to Yarn Forward in Ottawa, and picked up a ball of Lang Jawoll sock yarn. I’ve never knit with it before, and the colors looked fantastic – dark and bright greens, and brown. If I’m remembering correctly, it is self-striping. The included bit of reinforcing yarn for the heel and toe intrigued me, and ultimately I couldn’t resist.

I also made a note that Lang Jawoll Superwash would be perfect for Clessidra. It’s the same gauge as Regia Silk, but a lot less expensive.

And that is the end of my stash enhancement for quite some time. This stuff had all been budgeted into my vacation, so I don’t feel bad about buying it. I still have to purchase a lazy kate with my birthday money (I’ve been waiting until we have the house a little more set up), but after that, I’m on a strict yarn diet. Money has to go to the house and it’s not like I have a shortage of yarn! I hereby resolve that I will not buy any more yarn or fiber until the MD Sheep and Wool Festival in May.

Even the pretty stuff on Etsy that I was supposed to buy with the rest of my birthday money.

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!

Let’s take a tour of the basket! First, the top section with all the notions. Needles, stitch markers, labels from all the yarn I’ve ever used… You can see that it used to be a picnic basket. This top section has spots for four cups. Plates and flatware went on top. But no more! Now it’s yarn, all yarn! Muahaha! …er. Okay then.

Sometimes I like to just look at the pile of yarn. All the colors and textures together make me happy. Especially that rainbowy Noro Kureyon!

…and sometimes I like to take out the sock yarn and imagine all the different kinds of socks that I will make with it. The pink and gray Austermann Step is the newest addition to the stash. Pirate-Husband and I enjoyed the beautiful weather over the weekend with a motorcycle ride. We went to a yarn store about 45 minutes away in Haymarket, a little town just where northern Virginia starts to become central Virginia. It’s called Needles in the Haymarket, and everyone there was so friendly that I couldn’t resist buying some yarn. They had a great selection of yarns there. Lots of alpaca, many many colors of Cascade 220, enough sock yarn that I had to force myself to choose. Even some Manos Cotton Stria, which I’d never seen before in person. It’s considerably softer than I expected! Eventually, the Austermann Step won out because of the aloe content. I got a bottle of Eucalan, too, which I’m sure will come in handy as I knit more things that can’t be machine-washed.

This is that silk and cashmere blend I keep talking about. It’s so fine and perfect and soft, I admit I’m a little intimidated! But I have the pattern, and I have the yarn. All I need are the needles and the time, and this will be a gorgeous scarf. Granted, it’s the kind of thing I don’t usually wear, but I am looking forward to the challenge of knitting it. I have the thought that once it’s done, I’ll be so proud of it that it will be come the kind of thing I usually wear! Next thing you know, I’ll be wearing shawls… what is this world coming to?

Pomatomus is coming right along. I found my mistake – (Totally my mistake. Nothing wrong with the pattern. I knit the same round twice. Oops.) – and un-knit it, and now I’m going forwards again! Last night I got past the gusset decreases and decided to try it on… and it won’t go over my heel. I’m not panicking yet. Maybe when I get further down the foot, it will fit better. Maybe it just needs some serious blocking. I am spot-on with gauge for the pattern, and I don’t have particularly large ankles, so I don’t know what’s up. Am I in denial here, or is it reasonable to believe that I can make this thing fit?