A pretty happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is typically a long, boring, lonely affair for me. Filled with movies and knitting and wanting to go to a party really bad, but being supportive of the Lowe's employee I married and not going to such parties. (Poor Joe; he had to work 5 AM-5 PM all three days this weekend-and it's not like he had a day off in the last week either!). I have learned to deal with the days, but the zombie that comes home in the evenings is the hardest part. I want to go to a barbeque, and he wants to sleep on the couch. :( Oh well.

So, this is how I 'dealt' with my days this year:

Saturday, I went to the Mass Sheep & Wool Festival with Amy, Audrey, & Karen. This is me & Amy from Spunky Eclectic. She's so awesome. She was definitely the biggest hit at the festival.

That's a skein of her Purple Haze sock yarn in my hand. After the festival, we went to a little fabric store in Northampton (thanks for stopping, Audrey!) and I picked up the Cabo Halter pattern I've been wanting to make.

Then, we went to Webs (!) and used up whatever energy we had remaining.

Sunday, I had my spa day that Rocco got me for mother's day. He's such a good little kitty. Here's my pedicure & finished socklets:

Then, Monday I made the halter top & took totally silly pictures of myself in it. The neighbors must think I'm insane.



This was my first Amy Butler patern, but it will not be my last. It was painful to pay $13 for a pattern, but all the details & little hints in the pattern were worth it. I can't get over how well written it was. I even got the zipper right on the first try. That NEVER happens!

Glampyre ROCKS!

So, a few weeks ago, I was reading Stefanie Japel (Glampyre) 's blog and she asked if anyone had taped her episode of Knitty Gritty. Of course, I still had it in my Tivo, so I sent her a copy. Look what she sent me as a thank you present! Her book Fitted Knits, her mini sweater pattern, and her waist pack pattern. She sure knows how to make a gal's day! I think I'm going to make the top on the cover of the book first. It is sooooo pretty. I really like a lot of the patterns. There's a little shrug in there that might grab my attention before that gold top, though. I'll let you know which one wins!

Seven Random Facts

The latest me-me floating around the blogosphere; Kasia from Morgiana's Manifesto tagged me for this me-me. I figured why not. Gives me something to blog about.

Seven Random Facts:The Rules:

The way it works is as follows: each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves along with the rules of the game, as well as tagging seven others by listing their names as part of the blog post and leaving a blog comment for the tagged individuals to let them know that they’ve been tagged.

My Seven Random Facts:

1. My college degree is for Physics but I am an Accountant. I sort of lost interest in Physics somewhere along the way I guess. (Like accounting is interesting).
2. Touching cotton balls totally skeeves me out & makes my skin crawl, yet I love to knit with cotton yarn.
3. My mom got me into crafting and sewing. She is the QUEEN of UFO’s. I can’t think of more than 4 or 5 things she ever finished. She would take a class for a certain craft (stained glass, basket weaving, etc.), then finish her class project, buy a ton of supplies, start a bunch of projects & totally abandon them. Mind you, she still has all of these supplies to this day. I am still waiting on my bedroom curtains, quilt, and sheet set from 4th grade. I did, however, receive my dust ruffle.
4. My dad is where I get my obsessive nature. He is very organized and always puts things back where they go. For those of you keeping score, that’s 1 parent who is a packrat, unorganized, ufo committer and 1 parent who is borderline OCD. They spend most of each day trying not to kill each other.
5. I missed a month of school in my Junior year of high school because I had bronchial pneumonia. I have not been sick since. (I have pretended to be sick, but never actually been sick; hangovers, headaches and tummy trouble don’t count)
6. The only celebrities that share my birthday are Jimmi Hendrix and Bruce Lee.
7. I can’t F*CKING stand when people leave their pets in their car for more than a minute or two. If your pet likes to go for a ride, take them for a ride. Then take them home. Don’t take them to a F*CKING wool festival or to the hair salon or Target with you. They don’t need to accompany you while you run your errands. They could be sitting at home in the nice air conditioning instead of sweating and panting in your 150 degree car while you get your nails done. If I see a dog in a car on a hot day, I give the owner 60 seconds before I call the cops. Who ever drove the yellow Mini Cooper to the MD Sheep & Wool, I hope they had to break in your car to get your dog out. And I hope it cost a bundle to fix your window. And I hope they took your dog away.

Ok, I’m done venting about that. I’m not going to officially tag anyone. Just do it if you want to.

I might need an intervention

Hi, I'm Jenny and I'm an addict.

So, I bought some yarn a few weeks ago when we went to Newport, RI. We went to Sakonnet Purls & if you are a sock yarn-aholic like I am, you might want to avoid that shop (or not, depending on where you are in your 12 steps). I got some Cherry Tree Hill, some Jitterbug, and some Schaeffer Anne.

Damn those Schaefer people! They don't have color-ways. They just dye whatever they feel like dyeing that day. Which makes a sick person like me think, "this is probably ONE OF A KIND; I better buy it."

Then, my Valentine's day yarn FINALLY came in. Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb in Black Purl. Mmmmmm. Yes, it's for a Clapotis. I am one of maybe 6 people that hasn't made a Clapotis.

Then, I told my SnB buddy Kris that I told Lime & Violet about her & they mentioned her etsy shop on their show. So, as a thank you present, she gave me some of her hand-dyed sock yarn! I didn't do it for a reward, but I was not about to turn her down- this stuff is GORGEOUS.
I picked this colorway for my mom since she has requested socks for her birthday. Most of you know how I feel about knitting for my mom. I DON'T LIKE IT. Everything I knit her never gets used because "it's too pretty and I don't want to ruin it." This irritates the bejeezus out of me. If I'm going to knit something that no one ever wears, it's going to be for myself!

MD Sheep & Wool

Warning: Long post ahead!

Wow, what a blast! We had so much fun this weekend I don't even know where to start. Friday, we had crabcakes for lunch in Baltimore, then visited a little yarn shop downtown. I think it was called A Good Yarn. It's very tiny, but the girl at the counter said they were mostly a teaching store & they only had a few brands of yarn. I asked if they had any darning needles because I needed to weave my ends on a project I had just finished and she just gave me one of hers. How awesome is that? We went to an Orioles game that night (I had to throw SOMETHING in there for Joe).

Now, onto the REAL fun: The Wool Festival! It was so awesome. We got there right at 9, and there was this huge line of traffic. I sat in the car as long as I could stand it, and then RAN into the main gate. I knew Joe would find me eventually, right? I saw Karen & Rachel in the line for the Fold & stopped to say hi. And since no one seemed to mind that I was standing there, I just stayed in line with them. I felt very guilty about breaking in line, but it was so worth it-Look!

I totally scored! It took a lot of restraint to just get 5 skeins. I think I did pretty good. But then I found this:

It's a little evening bag liner-you pick up stitches in the grommets & knit the bottom of the bag. So cool! Yes, it is from the "evil" Tilli Tomas. The great part about these festivals is that you sometimes get to meet the owners of these businesses. Like, for instance, TILLI TOMAS! She was standing right there helping me pick out yarn. And she was really nice. So, I formed my OWN opinion about her & decided I like her, I like her yarn, and I like that little bag. And it might be the most expensive sock bag ever, but who cares? I wanted it; I got it.

Anybody know why I bought this green silk fingering weight yarn? Cause I have no clue. Let me know if you think of an answer. And, of course, some Koigu. Aaaaahhhhh, Koigu. I couldn't resist. :) I have some of the same pictures on my Flickr page, but some different ones. Go check 'em out!

We spent Saturday night drinking and catching up with the BFF at her recently-purchased cabin. Sunday was spent leaning out the window of the car as Joe drove my tired, hung-over butt home. A good time was had by all!