Starting the New Year off right

Last night I was watching Ace of Cakes on Food Network, and Duff’s crew made a yarn basket cake with balls of yarn and knitted things for a lady’s 90th birthday. Probably the coolest cake I’ve ever seen!

To celebrate New Years, my friend Katie and I hit up the two yarn shops in the Seattle area that were actually open on the holiday. Both were having sales, of course, and Katie (who is a relatively new knitter) experienced Crazy Knitter Syndrome for the first time ever. The first shop we stopped at had opened it’s doors maybe ten or fifteen minutes before we got there, and the place was already super packed. Katie was a bit overwhelmed, so I bought what I had been able to snatch up and we headed to the next shop. Luckily, we made it there a few minutes before they opened, and we were two of the ten or so people who were waiting at the front door. Sweet.

I enhanced my stash with yarns that weren’t actually on sale (doh!) but that I’ve been itching to get my hands on for quite a while. First up was some Malabrigo Lace:

Quite possibly some of the softest bit of fluff I’ve ever held. The colors remind me of a beautiful summer day in the Pacific Northwest. Love it.

Next up is a yarn that I’ve been eyeing since I first held it at Madrona last year: Kauni.

I’ve been thinking about delving into the world of fair isle knitting, and I think the Kauni will push me over the edge. I’m eyeing Ruth Sørensen’s hats as my first fair isle projects.

So yes, not as many additions to my stash as the last major stash enhancement mission, but I think Katie’s official initiation into the Wide World of Knitting really made the day. We got her started on her first hat when we got home, and I also have her on the invitation wait list for Ravelry. We’ve already agreed that I created a monster today. Mission complete!

Wool-dar

Last night, I was sitting in my neighborhood Starbucks working on my cabled socks. (Normally, I would have some friends from church knitting with me on a Monday night, but a lot of people were out of town.) I always try to snag a comfy seat near the window, because it’s been so lovely and they always have the big windows wide open on nice days. I was knitting along, minding my own business, when my friend and fellow knitter Deb stopped to say hello. Her poor husband, who didn’t notice right away that his wife had stopped, kept on going down the sidewalk without her. He doubled back, saw me knitting and said to Deb ‘What, did your wool radar go off?’

I have a feeling Deb’s husband and my boyfriend would get along quite well.

Speaking of the boyfriend, he is gathering his courage for Stitch ‘n Pitch this week. Pray for him. He is convinced he will need it.