Gosh, Thanks!

I walked into The Yarn Haven one afternoon last week and got surprised...big time surprised! You will recall that just a couple of weeks ago I was happily knitting away on preemie hats as a part of the 2009 Yarn Bowl Challenge: Alabama vs. Tennessee. Our Tennessee knitters and crocheters were absolutely amazing, creating 3,171 hats to warm the heads of tiny preemies and the hearts of loving families here in East Tennessee. Our worthy competition in Tuscaloosa, AL made 1,738 hats. That's a lot of hats folks!!! Here in Tennessee we were thrilled to win the challenge. We would have been happier is we had made that last field goal to win the football game as well, but I guess you can't win everything, right? We'll get 'em next year when the Crimson Tide comes to Rocky Top :-)



I particularly enjoyed knitting the hats because I used the experience to learn and improve upon my colorwork knitting skills. I did a little designing as well, creating girly hats with ruffles and bows and little guy toppers like a baseball-style cap. The last night of the challenge I put the finishing touches on a pair of hats perfect for any preemie-sized Vol fan. One hat supported the Vols while the other touted the Lady Vols as our favorites. It's hard to say I had a favorite hat, but I am particularly fond of these two.


I guess I was not alone in my inability to choose just one favorite hat. Apparently the anonymous, independent judge of the Yarn Haven hats also had a hard time choosing only one as well. That's where the surprise comes in. I created really cute hats (IMHO) because I was enjoying myself. I also did it because I *know* what such a simple thing means to preemie parents. My aim was for cuteness and quality, not quantity or anything else. I knew that Sandy, my LYSO, had announced there would be categories and judging at the end of the competition, but I paid no heed to all that. So when I walked into the shop that afternoon and was greeted by cheers and congratulations by my friends and fellow knitters I was stunned. I had won the most unique prize. Oh my!!! There was a nice gift certificate to the shop to go along with the kind words and cheers. What else can I say but thanks!!! The Yarn Haven is the BEST!!! It's such a good feeling to be associated with so many wonderful, caring people. I love ya'll!!!

What a good girl am I !

I've been so good and for 2 days in a row! On Tuesday I stopped in at Loopville to retrieve a ball of Kid Silk Haze (KSH) that she was holding for me. I've been wanting a rich, winey red shawl for this fall/winter and I had picked up what I thought was 3 balls of KSH in the perfect color Liqueur. So when Romi's design Muir was published in the fall issue of Knitty AND she set up KAL groups on Yahoo and Ravelry, well it was just meant to be. Almost, that is, because I really need 4 balls of KSH to knit Muir. I called Jinka on Saturday and sure enough, she had one more ball in the same lot so I was in luck.

The good part comes in with everything else I didn't buy that I saw at Loopville, like several amazing colors of Colinette's new sock yarn Jitterbug. Oh, it was supremely hard to leave that one behind--it required repetitive chanting, "I have enough teal sock yarn, I have enough sock yarn!" As if that wasn't bad enough, then there was the new arrival of Misti Alpaca Laceweight. Hmmm, nice yarn, I think I will like it very much thank you, but not this go 'round. I really didn't feel inspired by any of the colors Jinka chose (black, dark green, gray, chambray blue), they were all rather dark and boring looking. Of course this was enhanced by the fact that I want to knit something in a rich, vibrant, winey red. You know, a ruby red--something that will look smashing against my favorite gray wool skirt. So I was saved again by the fact that my taste in colors is very different from Jinka's. But at least I got to see and feel the yarn so I know what size it really is--very important when evaluating patterns :-)

So I was good at Loopville yesterday, today it was the Yarn Haven. The one thing left between me and casting-on Muir is a needle. The one size 6 Addi-lace needle I own (32") is in use on the Old Shale Scarf, which I am sporadically knitting on. I don't need a 32" needle for the scarf, but I will want it for Muir, so today's task was to buy a 24" Lace needle. What's new at Yarn Haven is Madil Kid Seta in very bright, happy shades of blue, hot pink, purple, and ?(I don't remember, maybe turquoise?), plus some cool rayon variegated carry along thread to go with the MKS. But I was good. I looked, I lusted, I did not buy. I chanted to myself, "I have enough mohair lace yarn, I have lots of mohair lace yarn!" I did show Sandy my Old Shale Scarf and offered suggestions on how to promote/best use the MKS to her customers. Heck, I even did what i've never done before and offered to knit a shop sample for her--if she was interested that is. She seemed surprised by my offer but I affirmed that I was serious--she provides the yarn and we negotiate what I would knit. I left leaving the offer open. I don't think she'll take me up on it, but it could be kinda fun, or at least different.

So I have everything to cast-on Muir and I head over to sign up for the Yahoo group. There folks are discussing a formal Nov 15 start date for a KAL, which sounds fine as I could finish some other things up. Or, I could just jump in and start on my own. I hit the stash trunk to find the other balls of KSH. I had already pulled the one ball I knew was in a basket on the bookshelf. Way on the bottom (of course) I find the zip-lock bag with the KSH in it and oh surprise--there were 3 balls in the bag. That means I already had 4, and now I have 5 which is way more than what I need for Muir and enough for one of the big shawls in Victorian Lace Today! I think I'll be looking for something else for Muir now as KSH is too expensive to have left overs. Maybe it's a good thing the KAL is starting on Nov 15th as I'll have enough time to find another yarn for the project.

Decisions. It's never easy, is it?

Watch Out Knoxville!

Watch out Knoxville! The Knitty Girls have hit the street and no yarn shop is safe! Seriously, I had the best time yesterday. My online knitty friend Regenia drove down from the NE corner of the state and we met up to hit the yarn shops in town. The motivation for the journey was a trunk show of garments and accessories from Norah Gaughn's newest book Knitting Nature at Loopville so we met there first. The patterns in this book are some of the most distinctive designs I've ever seen, yet they are very wearable designs. Most of the time I find garments that are "distinctive" are also unwearable by most of the human race, but not these. I haven't knit a sweater in 2 years and my last couple of attempts were less than satisfactory, but after looking through this book and seeing some of the sweaters up close and personal, I am highly motivated to pick up some "fat" yarn and "big" needles (ie worsted wt. and size 8s) and give it a go. Regenia modeled the child's size Sunflower hat in the picture. Yup, it would be pretty big on most kids and just perfect for a small-sized adult head.

When we weren't fondling the yarn and drooling over the Claudia Handpaints and sock yarns, we sat and chatted with Jinka (the owner) and Piper (her first mate and literary genius) and did a little knitting. I brought some of my latest lace projects plus the Shh! It's a Secret Shawl that I knit with some yarn I bought at Loopville. Regenia really likes Loopville :-) We each bought some sock yarn before heading on to our next destination.

Up next was the Yarn Haven. It was Regenia's first visit and she was amazed by all the space Sandy has in her shop. Sandy also had a lot of yarns Regenia hadn't seen before in the 3 or 4 shops up in her neck of the woods. I brought my completed Lilac Socks to show Sandy and wasted no time in directing Regenia to the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck Basket. She found many things to tempt her and I petted a huge hank of lace yarn for a long time. Sandy took the picture of Regenia and I playing with the CTH sock yarn. In the end she bought a skein of CTH Supersock (a color I had been looking at for a couple of weeks but couldn't afford) and I put the lace yarn back. I may go back and get the lace yarn if the yarn I ordered from ColourMart doesn't work out for the Bugs Pi, or if I succumb in a moment of weakness :-)

After a some sitting and chatting at Yarn Haven, we moved on to one of my favorite restaurants, the Lakeside Tavern, which sits on top of a hill in Concord Park and overlooks the Concord Marina. I had hoped to take her to Jenna's at Choto Marina, but they are closed for remodeling, so Lakeside was my second choice. We sat on the terrace and enjoyed a great meal while watching the water, the boats, and even a train go by as the sun dropped in the sky. The view at Lakeside is the best! Even better was the fact that my parents picked up the tab in honor of our graduations coming up this next week (Regenia from King College and moi from the University of Tennessee).

The final two pictures are my yarn purchase of the day. Yes, it's pink sock yarn--*very* pink sock yarn! Ewe-nice approves through, as it's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Flamingo Stripe. I've always wanted to knit some Lorna's Laces yarn as I know it's a superb fiber, and pink was a no-brainer choice for this pink-loving girl. The fact that 20% of the proceeds from the sale of this color go to breast cancer research is the frosting on the cake for me. I cast-on for a new pair of socks while Regenia knit away on a purple hat as we sat on the Terrace at teh Lakeside Tavern last night. It was a very fun afternoon!