A close up of the past weekend ...

Will this clear my fiber conscience do you think?

First, let me go back to last Friday. I failed to tell you how I was invited to Victoria's home (along with others who work at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn) and have dinner with her and Lily Chin. What a nice lady Lily is and what a nice dinner we had at Victoria's. Lily gave a workshop the following day at Seed Stitch, which we all know I was unable to attend.
[my WEB trip had been planned for months.]

Along with the good food there was lot's of conversation and laughter ...




And of course there was a gathering in the kitchen after dinner ...

The best cannoli I've ever had!

Then on Saturday I did the damage on my credit card ... well it was kept at low level damage because the prices really were pretty darn good. And what yarn did I purchase the most of? Would you believe I really kept my purchases to what I can't get at SSFY? Really. Honestly. But guess what ... No, go ahead and guess ... Okay, I'll tell ya ...

Most of the yarn I bought was LILY CHIN's? Ones not presently carried at SSFY that is.

Lily Chin Chelsea ... a blend of merino wool, cotton and acrylic.
and
Lily Chin Gotham ...
Prima cotton and wool blend.

BTW, that color looks Blue on your screen right? It's suppose to be a Deep Purple, but my camera didn't seem to see it that way for some reason. I'll have to retake the picture some time.

I also got the Jojoland Rhythm to make the shawl pattern "Autumn" that I bought...

And would you believe all these color variations are the same colorway for this yarn? They're just wound at different spots I guess. Cool huh?

Here's the pattern I'll be using the yarn for ...


And here is the book "Knit It Now" that I got, along with


the magazine "Cast On".



Am I done yet?????

Nope.

Can't forget a whole bag of Noro ...

I think that's Noro Hotaru, which is 68%Cotton, 32% Polyester. I'm knitting a Noro shawl pattern with that trimmed with the purple Lily Chin Gotham.

And then there are two other yarns that I'm knitting two more Shape It! scarves ... using Plymouth Yarn Shire Silk, 100% silk and Louisa Harding's Mariposa with 52% Viscose 48% Cotton.





Did I tell you about the $6.50 Shawl Stick Pin? I did?

Somebody's got to Stop me ...

Oh what a liar I am. Didn't I say I wasn't going to bring my Credit Card to WEBs? Did I listen to myself? My intention was good, but I am so so weak. So so weak. What's new?

I can say I had a wonderful time ... but will I still feel that way when my CC bill comes in? Okay, the prices were great. The yarn was also wonderful. And the StitchingNut as usual had NO CONTROL! Don't ask how much I spent ... I would only lie to you anyways.

Look at this ...



But let me start from the beginning ... It was a beautiful day!


And to protect the guilty, I tried to get no faces in the pictures I took. So you know the area was even bigger than this and filled with even more activity. Right? And this is outside the store mind you.

After going to lunch at Sylester's Restaurant in town,

we [another knitting friend who had more control than I did] went back to commit more criminal purchases inside the store. But we did do a lot of window shopping and I did run into 3 other knitting pals from M.I.T. [No names, to protect the innocent.] And I had to look over their baskets too. My oh my what a stash buster this WEBs is. I can honestly say I'm glad they're 2 hours from my home so this can be considered a special trip and occasion. Once a year!!!!

Oh what a wicked WEB we weave .... thank goodness my DH never asked me what I bought.

But this shawl stick was only $6.50 ...

What yarn?

A notorious knitter lives here ...

Here I've got a whole basket of sock yarn waiting to be knit up. Not to mention the stash under the bed, but yes I went and ordered more yarn from the Notorious Sock Knitters themselves, the Blue Moon Ladies. So here's the recent order of Socks That Rock yarn that I got this week ...

Did I need them? Nope. But they're so pretty, I couldn't resist them. Someday they will be socks!


And the yarn I ordered [or bought on sight] from Lily Chin came in at the Seed Stitch Fine Yarn store. Don't worry, I'm not going to hide it from you ... here it is all in it's glory. So take a good look 'cuz I AM going to hide it from the DH.

Oops, forget that ... I think he just saw it when he walked in as I took these pictures. He didn't say a word. Can you believe that? Has he finally succumbed to my knitting "dark side"?

Goodness ... that must be it. I should of known that when he over heard that I might get $500.00 for my "Little Felt-Tea Farm" tea cozy ... he whispered to me, "Rhonda, that could buy you an awful lot of yarn!" Whoa, it sure could! Well at least 2 sweaters worth and another tea cozy. And he didn't seem to mind. Doesn't that beat all?

Well here's the recent treasured purchase ...















And I do have an FO to show you ...

my Summer vest.






As for all the cleaning I was going to do over vacation ... well I did do some but not nearly as much as I need to still do. So little time and so much to do. Story of my life lately. Well, I did find this little treasure here. In a box that I received from a purchase of Maple Syrup I got from Chicken Betty. She put in the box as a little thank you and I never saw them. I'm so glad I save "bubble wrap" and hadn't thrown out the box yet ... 'coz here they are and now I can show you [I'll link to Betty's blog when I'm able to.] I know she made these because ... she's always making unique items like this.

I also got the living room cleaned up and organized somewhat once the new living room furniture was delivered. I've been waiting a long time to get a style that I really love ... and here it is still with a knitting corner ...
May the Knitting Angel alway bless my home with more knitting...

Mail Call ... Whoohoo!

Hot diggidy dog, I got my sock from the Wee Tiny Sock Swap in the mail today! All the way from Michigan. Hand knit by Jan who's blog is tbd-dog lover, knitter, ...

It is the cutest! And of course it's in one of my very favorite colors too ... Orange ... what else?


And take a close look ... [click on a picture to enlarge it] ... it has a CABLE going right up the side of the leg. Jan, you are so clever! Thank you, thank you ... it's going to have a special spot right on the sock blocker attached to the zipper of my Sock Bag [which I carry everyday]. And there's a special spot by my knitting chair for your really cute little note card. Where did you find such a cute card? Oh ya, I see the contact name on the back and it's Major Knitter. I think I want to frame it!!

I got more mail ... a book from my friend, Cynthia. I sent her a book and she sent me, The Friday Night Knitting Club. Good for bedtime reading. Little did she know, but I was also her secret Wee Tiny Sock Pal and my little mini sock was in with the book I sent her. Yup, that's right Cindy ... I had a good chuckle over that one, LOL. And it was sure hard to keep the secret too!


And last but not least ... not by a long shot ... I finally bought some Cashmere! Whoohoo, I said Cashmere with a capital C. And the only reason I could afford such a luxury is because Lion Brand had this luscious Concerto hand-dyed cashmere yarn [that's right, 100% cashmere] on sale for only $19.95 ! So that was $27. 90 with the shipping cost but the original price was over $45 without shipping. Good gosh, normally I would only touch, brush a skein against my check, and put then put it back for someone else to splurge for the cost. But this time, considering the sale's price ... well you see why I got it and it's really is sooooo soft and luscious. I may just pet it for awhile before I make anything with it. But it's there for the knitting as soon as I find the right pattern. Which BTW, I want something that is worn against my neck... so maybe a cowl? It's 106 yards ... hope that's enough for something ... I'm open to suggests.

So now I'm off to pet my yarn!

The winners have been announced!

For the Miracle Bag Contest at Strickanleitungen

Break out the wine bottle and give 'em a toast...

Platz 3: die Schaftasche von Claudia.

Platz 2: die Rosenzwergin von Sabine

Und *Tusch* Platz 1 die TeeTee-Fliege der Garnprinzessin.

Congratulations to the three top winners! It was fun participating and getting all the nice compliments I received, both in person and in blog comments. I had fun even tho I didn't win. Really! Thanks for all the support, cheers and thumbs-up I got from all my new friends here, with the Community Knitting Group at Seed Stitch and the SnB Gang at M.I.T.

Since I was asked more than once about the knit pattern I used for the Placemat, I'll include it here. The border is just garter stitch picking up the stitchs along each each and the flower stem is applied icord.

The leaf pattern is from the book, Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments and the flower pattern is from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge.

But the center is an idea from a book called The Encyclopedia of Knitting and Crochet Stitch Patterns that I've had from back in the 1970's. I changed the pattern a little because I wanted it to look like latice work in a garden. It's not exactly like in the book tho.

I did a long tail cast on of 50 stitches with knitting needle size 7.

Row 1: knit across
Row 2 & 4: slip one stitch as if to purl, Purl across, turn
Row 3 & 5: Slip first stitch as if to knit, then follow in pattern with *sl 1 (purl wise) k1, yo, psso both stitchs [this means to pass the slipped stitch on right needle over both the k1 & yo just made], repeat from * across to last stitch. Knit last stitch.
Row 6: sl first stitch (purl wise), Purl across

Repeat Rows 1 - 6 for Pattern Stitch

That's all there is to it.

And I have one more bit of news for you all. A big SALE is about to happen at the Seed Stitch Fine Yarn store. [if you're not on a yarn diet, meet me there] 30 to 70 % Off two days only [oh go ahead and fall off the yarn diet for one day].

Here's the email message I got in my email box ....

CLOSEOUTS, DISCONTINUED COLORS, LAST SEASONS YARNS,PATTERNS, BOOKS AND GIFT ITEMS!!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21ST AND MONDAY, JANUARY 22ND

12 NOON TO 5 PM BOTH DAYS 30%,40%,50%,60%,70% OFF

MAKING ROOM FOR NEW FIBERS

SEED STITCH FINE YARN

10 FRONT STREET

SALEM, MA

Make room for more Happy Knitting!