a knitting week

First, some pics (if Blogger can stop choking on uploads today):

Harvey's been especially naughty this week. Don't know if it's spring, but as it turns out, I've been pretty naughty, too.

This is what started it all. Last Saturday, I sensed the impending end of Easter Egg socks. There are many, many sock yarns and patterns waiting in the wings. I like the two-at-once Magic Loop method and knew I wanted more Addi's. I really really meant to only buy the size 2's, but found that the ones in old packages were marked cheaper. I got four pairs of 40" circulars in sizes 0, 1, 2, and 3 for $44! This pic also shows the status of Easter Eggs.

Then, at the Superbowl Party on Sunday, my friend Carla and I exchanged Christmas presents. Just like an O. Henry story--I had given her a yarnshop gift cert so she could pick out some stuff and I could finally teach her to knit, and she had given me this amazing Manos (how did she even know the right colorway?) I've been coveting and a gift cert from Hilltop Yarns. Editorially, they really are my favorite shop. All the right yarns, and they get the presentation stuff right, too: this came in the black box, with pink tissue and a pink printed ribbon. Gorgeous.

Tuesday, I finally decided to try and locate the evening SnB group in my town--I'm just not making it to the noon-time work group. I met up with the PacificNeedles--great, friendly and welcoming to newbies, in a coffee shop about five minutes from my house. Several of them said they'd like to learn how to do the two-at-once/Magic Loop for socks. The only downside: I realized that my lovely new sock yarn is also a handspun, prone to breakage. It's such a brilliant colorway, but I'm not sure whether I'll continue with it as socks or use it for something that won't need so much durability. Supposedly it's part nylon, but I'm not seeing it. It's gonna get frogged anyway, because my gauge is way off for the pattern I'm working. Here's a pic of the socks-in-progress anyway:

Thursday was the knittin'ist day of all. I had a meeting in Portland, and when it was over my colleague and I visited this little shop, since it was just a four-block walk from the hotel (the front-desk manager didn't bat an eye when we asked for a knitting shop nearby). I walked in and died. Lorna's Laces, Blue Moon Fibers in all types and weights (including a hank of silk that I should've bought), Koigu, Louet linen, Zephyr. Everything I've been wanting to try. I was too stimulated, and so I just bought one hank of Blue Moon lightweight in Beryl for the leaf lace or raindrop lace socks. Extremely helpful staff at Knit/Purl (I learned how to select variegated sock yarn by holding it out, then squinting to see how it will look knitted up), very knowledgeable, and they even had a kit for the Color on Color scarf/wrap from Scarf Style! A dream place.

That night, I also went to the marketplace at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. I found out about it too late to register for classes but the marketplace is free. Also very convenient to my house, I was planning to go this weekend but thought why wait? I did a spin through the marketplace and lo! Blue Moon was there, too! So I bought another hank of Socks that Rock in Atomic #6. I desperately wanted Pebble Beach, but they only had it in their Tencel blend and I just couldn't afford it. I love their colorways--they have a great range of brights and darks, and even mix them well. So here's my STR stash from Thursday:

I also met a really wonderful woman, Brenda, who's apparently a Stitches West and Madrona regular, though she's from the East Coast. I whipped out my socks, we chatted, and she showed me another way to do the provisional cast-on (I tried and flunked starting the picot edge for sockbug's lace socks in Koigu the other night).

And finally, though it's not yarn, my last splurge: a way to listen to Knitcast and Shopaholic and Sister and other guilty pleasures while knitting without having headphone cords to get tangled. In fairness, I must mention that the mp3 player itself is not new, just the speakers.

(Hey, does Blogger routinely lose previously published posts? My last one appears to have vaporized. . .)