bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

First Snow!

it snowed for the first time this season last night.  i woke up to a light dusting.  just enough to be considered snow, but not enough that we had to go out and do any shoveling.  which was great because today was the Bazaar Bizarre!

this year's bazaar i think was better the ever with a kick ass new venue and tons of great vendors, that we could actually see!  of course i visited everyone i knew and then some.  (caro and stitchy and martiza and tomoko) and i bought a lot.  also greatest thing ever ... the early bird tickets.  totally worth it.

after we finished our shopping, a bunch of us went out for brunch.  which also was fabulous.  and then danielle and i did a little walking up newbury street.  i finally got home 8 hours after i had left.

remember when you were a kid and you'd play outside in the cold and then you'd come home and it would take you awhile to get warm and you'd be so bone tired that all you wanted to do was get under a blanket on the couch and watch cartoons?

that's how i feel right now.

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day 233 -- hold your horses.  i'll show you what i bought.  not to worry.  in due time.

Whatever I Want Wednesday

i don't like to jump the gun too much when it comes to holidays.  i don't do my christmas shopping months in advance and i don't listen to christmas music until after thanksgiving. 

but as much as i'd like to take my time and savor each holiday properly, i still have to play by the rules now and again.

so i'm playing.

i just updated my etsy shop with some holiday themed cards.  i have 6 designs available.  i think they're super cute and colorful.

you can buy them individually or as a set.

they're great for presenting a gift card or gift certificate to the yarn/fiber enthusiast in your life (you know, other than yourself), for tucking into a stocking, or for sending to someone special. 

i like 'em.

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day 208 -- more self-promotion.

 

The Rhinebeck Booty

i'm going to cut to the chase, because in the end, you all want to know what i brought home.

i'm a relatively boring festival shopper.  i rarely if ever come home with a giant haul and this time around was no exception.  i'm sorry.

but i didn't come home empty handed.

my first purchase on saturday consisted of 4 new dyes -- hot pink, turquoise, chartreuse and gun metal, and another size 1 circular needle.  i also bought a pound of blue-faced leicester fiber.  so expect some dyeing experiments soon.  i did not buy a cat.

and on sunday, finding The Fold (you know, the crazy ass booth where Socks that Rock is sold) relatively empty i purchased two skeins of STR. these two skeins had to come home with me.

and although i didn't stand in line to get this yarn, i did stand in line for beer and to get my copy of franklin's adorably funny book "it itches" signed.  and standing in line wasn't even bad since i got to chat with some very nice people that i normally wouldn't get to.  like the nice woman from florida.  hi!

so that's all.  honestly.  i did buy some fudge for j and some cheese for me.  but that's it. 

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day 185 -- more on rhinebeck later.

Come to Me, My Pretty

i think it may have been carole's purchase that sent me over the edge.  see, for months, years even, i've been wanting to get a macro lens.  sure, i have those magnifying filter thingies, but they're pretty limiting. 

anyway, i was planning on being a responsible adult and not get anything until i had saved up some money or something.  or maybe i would ask for it for christmas/my birthday. 

yeah, you know where this is going ... yesterday, after a week of hemming and hawing, reading reviews on two different macro lenses, and obsessing about whether or not i should actually make such a purchase, i finally ordered the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens.  considering that i'm in for the long haul with the photography i ended up going for the better quality lens. 

anyway, i don't regret the purchase but the timing couldn't be worse.  in a few minutes i'm leaving for webs and next week i'm going to rhinebeck.  oh well.  i can't take it with me, right?

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day 176 -- apparently bloglines isn't updating my feeds.  i guess i should let them know.  also, if you need advice on camera equipment, check out ken rockwell's site.  i find the information on his site to be thorough and easy to understand. he's not trying to sell you anyone particular piece of equipment, so get the impression that he's pretty unbiased (he shoots more using nikon but you'll find canon and other manufacturer reviews too).

FO Friday

if you follow me in flickr or in ravelry, then you know this past summer wasn't all about the babette.  the babette was my stay at home project and it set up residence in my spare bedroom.  so when i wasn't home, or had finished watching "the young and the restless" for the week (the vcr is hooked up to the tv in the spare room) i needed something else to work on.

so i made scarves.  it's what i do.

so first on the list ...

fuzzy fingers (or as i call it -- creepy fingers)

i used gayle roehm's fickle fingers scarf pattern (IK winter 2005) as inspiration, knitting the scarf in garter stitch instead of seed stitch.  (details raveled).

i also made a version of helloyarn's irish hiking scarf.

my version has only 2 cables though.  again, i raveled the details. 

i'm usually a bright color type of person so i find it interesting that i toned it down a bit with these two scarves.  maybe babette was all the color i needed this summer. 

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day 175 -- it's friday!  go out and have a beer.

It's the Economy Stupid

so, i really don't know anything about the economy.  which is fine in the grand scheme of things because it's not like i'm running for president or anything. but not knowing anything also makes what's going on right now kind of scary.  i don't even know if i should be outraged or not by the house's decision to reject the $700 billion bailout package. 

which is why i continue to do my part in boosting the economy.  here's my latest haul, most of which came from webs. 

well except for the STR in the foreground.  that's the latest club offering.  it could be my favorite this year.

so, we've got some lorna's laces shepherd sock in the back -- in "amy's vintage office" or something like that, and a skein of silk garden sock.  also what's not in the photo is a skein of noro taiyo in the brown, black, pink colorway.

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day 164 -- based on my background -- having lived in europe and the middle east -- i do have more foreign affairs experience than a certain candidate for VP.  if i were a better dresser and could do something with my hair, i'd totally run for office.

Blatant Self-Promotion

this morning i updated my etsy shop. 

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day 153  -- they're good for swap packages and such.  just sayin'.

F*ck Off!

check out my new mug.

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day 127 -- if you want one of your own, you get it here.

Along 495

so as i said before, last friday J threw me out of the house.  he didn't want me underfoot while he worked on the house (or thought about working on the house).  i cramp his style it seems.  but who was i to argue, as it just meant that I DIDN'T HAVE TO HELP HIM.   (he's uncommunicative at best and gets made at me when i don't do what he asks me to.  funny how that works.  if i don't know what you want me to do, how can i be expected to do it.  right?)

so i went on my own little yarn crawl. 

first stop, Harvard MA and a great little shop called "The Fiber Loft."   i really liked this shop.  nothing fancy.  but i liked the friendly, yet discrete customer service and i thought the shop had a nice selection of a little bit of everything: various sock yarns, including some koigu, kureyon sock, and claudia handpaints (other stuff too, i just didn't take notes).  the shop also carries spinning and weaving equipment, cone yarns, fiber.  this shop isn't super close to my house, but it's easy to get to, and i'll definitely be back.

my next stop was Littleton, MA and The Woolpack.  Crochet friendly (yep, it said so in the window), this shop was considerably larger the The Fiber Loft and also carried some great yarns, like colinette jitterbug, and mission falls, etc..  and some wonderful bags, such as the latest line from Namaste and beautifully colorful bags from Atenti.  it's quite possible that i may have spent a lot of time petting an Atenti bag.  and what they didn't carry, i got the impression from eavesdropping on customer calls, that they are willing to order it. 

then i headed north on 495 to Lowell and to the Classic Elite Warehouse shop.  Finding it was a bit of a challenge, even with the garmin and once i got there i was a little surprised by how small it was.  but that didn't keep me from buying yarn.  *cough*.

finally, since i was missing the ocean, i drove east to Salem, MA.  my planned stop was Seed Stitch a very fancy "boutique" shop.  i couldn't tell you what yarns they sold here (by the time i got to Salem, i'd kind of had enough of yarn) but it's the kind of shop that when i imagine having a yarn shop that i would want to have.  you know, if i could also serve cocktails.  i didn't stay for long since i'd arrived just minutes before closing time, but if you live near there, i recommend that you stop in.

oh so you probably want to know what i bought.

first from the fiber loft:

 

a skein of araucania ranco sock yarn in a pretty purple, and two skeins of claudia handpaints in "lipstick." (i also picked up a copy of deb menz's oeuvre color in spinning.)

and from the classic elite warehouse store:

i picked up a few skeins of cotton classic (i'm hoarding skeins of cotton classic for a mitred square blanket); a skein of cherry tree hill sock yarn, a skein of noro silk garden sock yarn, and a skein of araucania ranco multi (not pictured).  i kind of went a little crazy at the classic elite store.

so that was my trip! 

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day 123 -- my timing was a bit off because i really didn't feel like buying anything at the fiber revival so soon after such a binge.

"Candy" Friday

i got kicked out of my own house today.  several weeks ago i planned on taking today off.  both bosses would be away.  meetings were canceled.  seemed like a good idea.  but j also wanted to take today off to work on the house and he wanted me gone. 

who am i to argue.

so i went yarn shopping.  heh heh.  i might have brought some home.

tomorrow i'm going to the fiber revival.

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day 119 -- the photo has nothing to do with the post.  but i couldn't leave the post photo-less.