Ok, first off....Harry Potter! Last night, I went with Ryan, Ang, and Alex to Barnes & Noble so Ryan and I could patiently wait for our Harry Potter books:
We got the cheap kiddie HP glasses from the bookstore. Yes, I am wearing a HP scarf. It was the first project I ever knit. It's all in stockinette, it rolls like crazy (which is good because the rolling covers up the ends that I never weaved in), but it's my Harry Potter scarf. It had to be worn last night. We had to wait for a long time in the store, so I parked myself in the knitting section, where I sat on the floor and finished up my first Flicker sock:
I even cast on for the second one and started on some ribbing. This sock is so beautiful. I just love it. The stitch pattern is so cool. I am very excited to knit the second sock. That will have to wait though, as I must read Harry Potter! :)While at the bookstore, I also grafted the toe on my lacy socks. What does that mean? Oh, it means an FO, people!
Here are some specs on my socks:
Yarn: KnitPicks Essential (75% Superwash, 25% Nylon), about a ball and a half or so.
Needles: Size 2
Pattern: My own. I found the stitch pattern in a stitch dictionary and made it work for my socks.
The verdict: I like the socks a lot. I love the stitch pattern. I think I may try to knit another pair and rework the pattern so I have few stitches on the needle or go down a needle size. I find the socks to be a little loose, especially in the cuff. They are very pretty though!
Ok, now we have the yarn purchases. These were all made while at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair this morning. It was absolutely fabulous there. My mom and I headed out there very early this morning so it was not crowded at all, which is nice as I am not a fan of large crowds (which is why I had to hide in the knitting section and knit at the bookstore last night). :) Anywho, I had a plan about my yarn purchases. The plan was to walk through and look first and then decide on what to buy. Of course that went out the window when I saw this:
Are you kidding me? A $5 bag o' yarn!? Nice pretty yarn that I can felt!?!? It was going so fast I had to get it. I mean, $5 hardly counts, right? After that, I did stick to my plan. I knew I wanted to visit the Briar Rose booth to get some yarn for the Morning Glory Wrap from Knitspot, so that was my first stop after the wandering. I picked up this:
Then my mom was very kind and bought me some more goodies:
I love the knitting girl socks. I love socks like those (like my Napoleon Dynamite socks, or my Care Bears socks). They are perfect for me! The sock yarn is from Creatively Dyed Yarn. The lady at the booth was also very nice. She told me she dyed yarn for three months to get ready for the festival. I told her I dyed about fifteen things to put on my Etsy site and that was a whole lot of work. Her stuff was all so beautiful, but I decided on the purples. It reminds me a bit of the Goodbye, My Love sock yarn that I dyed and sold. I am going to use this yarn to make my mom some socks for Christmas, I think. It was so nice of her to buy it for me, and all moms love hand knit socks!Finally, I got some lovely Claudia Handpainted in the Twilight colorway:
I have been eyeing this colorway for a long time on The Loopy Ewe, and when it was in front of me, I just could not pass it up!
My mom and I spent maybe two hours there and then were on our way home. It was very nice day for me and my mom. And, even though my mom doesn't knit, she is quite the enabler. This was my last big yarn purchase for the year though, so I had to make it good. I have so much I need to knit some of what I have. So, I will be likely purchasing some souvenir yarn while in TN in a couple of weeks (yes, I looked up where the nearest yarn shop is and called to get directions) and then I will probably by some yarn for a super secret knitting project I have in mind. I have lots of good projects waiting to be knit here, so I want to try to focus on getting those done. Of course, I could always win some more blog contests! :)
I have to go back to reading Harry Potter now. I am only on chapter 4 and I have had the book for fourteen hours already. :)
Happy knitting and happy Harry Potter reading!
