Okay, so I broke my Summer of Stash vows, kinda. This purchase (Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille) was one of my “conditions”, as long as I finished the thrummed mittens. I went to my LYS, I actually walked there, feeling generally bummed out about my car and then this wonderful yarn for useful things like washcloths was 40% off. I bought apple green, turqoise and pale blue. Happy colours, to make the car not sting so much.

Then, on my way back downtown after feeling generally bummed out about my shyness, I spied a used bookstore with the wonderful name of Baskerville Books. Now you may not know this about me, but I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and have been since about age 12. Just the name was enough to make me want to spend money. Finding books I’ve been looking for (the long stories in almost the same edition I have the short stories in, a London theatre/Holes pastiche, and some of Adrian Conan Doyle’s stories) was icing on the cake. The cherry on top of the icing on the cake was that the store had a lovely dog in residence who bore no resemblance at all to the hound of the Baskervilles.

All this loot that will keep me amused for quite a while cost me only $40, which I think is pretty damn good.

Add that to my new favourite song (I’ve had it on repeat for a good while now) and I’m fairly happy right now.

The lace project is farther than that photo, I just didn’t take a photo. I almost have a whole cuff.

So I got a call on Friday, at work, saying that my car wouldn’t be ready Saturday, as promised. They got it back from the transmission people, were doing an oil change and noticed a transmission leak. So it’s back to the transmission people, and won’t be ready till Monday at the earliest. I have to be at work, almost 2 hours away at 8:30 Monday morning. And then on Thursday, after work I have to get back here for a flight home for a friend’s wedding. Why couldn’t they have just fixed my car right the first time? why?

So my plan to go to Make 1 Yarns was foiled, I thought. But then I was downtown after having lunch with my boyfriend, and realised that since we were going to look at apartments down there when he was done his First Aid course, I had 4 hours to kill, and my knitting (Amazing Lace project!) in my bag! I could walk to the yarn store!

First I got myself completely confused, because I’d only ever been there by car, and I had been driving my memory and instinct. Then I figured it out, slowly and with much handwaving to myself. Then I started walking. Did you know that pedestrians can’t go where cars go? Completely different route when you’re around freeways. But I made it, in the boiling sun. I met some sketchy people on the side of the bridge, and sketchier people under the bridge. Made it to the lovely yarn store full of air-conditioned goodness.

There was a spindle workshop going on, which made me kick myself for not checking the newsletter when I found out I would be amusing myself during the day. But I browsed the lovely sale yarn, refrained from buying many sweaters’ worth of cheap yarn. I did break down and buy three skeins of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille, but they’re for washcloths! Useful things! And 40% off!

There was also a table full of ladies knitting and chatting away. What I wanted to do most after my long, hot walk was to sit down and knit. But I was too intimidated. They were chatting away, all the seats were taken, if not by people, by their purses. I’m sure they were all lovely, kind ladies, but the thought of going up to a table of people who are already chatting away and actually asking one of them to make room for me when I know NO ONE is quite possibly the scariest thing ever. So I wandered and stared at stuff I’d stared at before, flipped through books I didn’t have the money to buy and tried to find an opening where I could mention that I had a backpack full of knitting to be knitted. Nope. Couldn’t do it. Much to painfully shy.

When I’m working in a store, I have no problems going up to random people to ask if they need help. But to go up to random people when I’m not being paid to do it? Not so much.

So in the end I wandered back, met more sketchy people in this random grassy area I thought looked nice to walk through. Got back downtown and sat in the bookstore and read Mason-Dixon knitting.

I want to write a knitting book. Too bad I’m only at that middling level of it, and have nothing really to say that hasn’t been said before.

I’m being sorely tempted from my Summer of Stash guidelines.
Surprisingly, I’m not tempted badly by the amazing sale yarns (at least right now, while I am not within petting distance of them) I just really want a $20 grab bag. Because I mean, who knows what you’ll get? Possibly $100 worth of yarn for $20? That’s great! That is A-mazing. And Saturday is the day I’m in town….

I was re-reading my Summer of Stash post, and looking at what I put down for my exceptions. There is no way I’m going to finish (or possibly even start…) Tubey this summer, which was my condition for buying the yarn for Raspy. That can go away. I haven’t touched the thrummed mittens yet, so no Cotton Chennile. But I did finish my Jaywalkers and immediately cast on more socks with my Kool-Aid yarn. And $20 isn’t that much. Am I sounding desperate yet?

I <3 grab bags! They're so wonderfully full of chance!

Maybe if the grab bag I promise myself that the grab bag is the only thing I’ll buy this summer, I’ll let myself do it. Problem is, going in to the yarn store is dangerous. Although, with the new transmission and everything, I think my willpower is pretty fortified. Every time I want to buy a skein of something fancy, I’ll just think of the car. It’s the world’s best deterrent.

I’m taking knitting on the plane this time (a week today! My friend’s wedding!) but I have to start a new project, with plastic needles.

I’m finally done! I finished the knitting last night and grafted the toe this morning. I love the FO feeling. So wonderful. It almost makes me think twice about casting on something new. Almost.

The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Bee Stripe. I must say that I was expecting wide, cute-bumble bee stripes. I think I ended up with keep left/keep right signs more than bees, but oh well. I really picked the yarn because black and gold were my school colours.

I’ll definitely use the pattern again, but not for a while I think.

This is where my knitting books and magazines are currently kept. I have no bookshelf (or space for one) and my fiction books have taken over the top of my dresser recently (most of my books are at my parents’ house). Note all the stickies in the magazines? Those are all the projects I want to make, minus the ones that I’ve printed off the net and keep in a binder.

I actually got some good knitting time in last night. I listened to 1.5 episodes of KnitCast and knitknitknit. Tonight, if I get the same amount of time in, I’ll at least get to the start of the toe shaping, although I may just stay up and finish it. Neither of my roommates will be home till late, so I have my choice of what to do! I could knit and watch MASH, knit and listen to podcasts on real speakers, not earbuds, I could knit and watch whatever is on TBS this weekend, I could knit and watch anime… Well, the anime only if it isn’t sub-titled. I need to look down too much to read what is on the screen, and I’d just get lost. In both knitting and plot. Hopefully I have something dubbed.
I swear, I’m not just trying to be #300, I just need those needles!

I want to start on my Amazing Lace socks, but I need the needles that are in the Jaywalkers. Saturday I may manage to take my Extreme Lace-Knitting photos. I haven’t been for a proper hike yet, so I may hike up somewhere pretty for a photoshoot. If it stops raining. Saturday is also the annual theatre arts pub crawl, and I entertained the idea of bringing the ball of yarn, and photographing it in each bar, but (a)At my current record, I may lose it and (b) someone told me a nasty story about being out last night and finding vomit on his coat when he went to leave.

I just want to say “hi” and “thank you!” to all the people who have been visiting my blog! We’re only halfway through June and already I’ve had more visitors than I had in all of April! Most (60%) of you are from the States, but there’s a good 16% of you who are fellow Canadians, 10% Brits, and then the few of you from places like Germany and the Netherlands and Portugal and Chile and…. so many exciting places.

I must confess that one of my reasons for joining knit-alongs is to have that link in the sidebar of the KAL blog, so when people get bored at work, they may just end up wandering by my little slice of internet. Not the only reason, obviously, but it’s quite the perk.

Well yesterday I found out what is wrong with the car. I need a whole new transmission. It’s going to be $1800 plus labour, so the savings I’m making by not buying yarn is going to help a bit. Time to apply Summer of Stash to the rest of my life.
-I have lots of clothes, don’t need to buy more.
-Same goes for shoes.
-And sadly books (I love a good bookshop…).
-I don’t need to buy make-up. I mean, I don’t use the stuff. I just get sucked in by the pretty packaging and pretty colours.

I am getting the car repaired as even though it’ll be expensive, I couldn’t buy a car that is in such good condition (once it works again) for what I’m paying for the transmission. It’s been a good little car, this is actually the first big thing to go, and it’s a 1992 so that’s not too shabby.

The plus side of all this (and I have to find a plus side or I’ll go crazy) is that I can knit on the bus! I have a job interview today so last night I bussed into the city (1.5 hours) today I bus downtown and back (1 hour total I think), and tonight or tomorrow I bus back to work. Last night I fell asleep, so no knitting happened. It definitely will happen on the city bus today. On my way back… it depends which bus and if I’m tired or not. Once I’m back, no more buses so I must make the most of this chance.

yay plus side…

So I graduate from university tomorrow (Thursday). I’m going home for this extravaganza, because mum and dad want to see.
I left work and drove in to the city to catch the plane. At the first light off the highway, a random light (it said ‘HOLD’) started flashing on my dashboard. It stopped when I drove on. It happened again, a few lights later, but stopped when I drove. I arrived at my lovely boyfriend’s house and tried to park. I couldn’t reverse. It took a lot of effort and sounded something like “revrevrevrevrevrevTHUNK*roll a tiny bit*”. Repeat until in proper place.
I looked up the random light in the handbook (am I the only person that actually uses a car’s handbook?) and it means ‘the transaxle has an electrical fault’ DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR. oops. After a small freak-out, I left car, key, and insurance (I was going to take it with me so we could transfer the car to me) with said boyfriend. He’ll hopefully have time to get it to a Mazda dealership and get them to treat it.
We got to the airport and I checked in only to be told that no, my flight isn’t leaving at 9:15pm, it’s leaving at 10:40pm. And my knitting is in my suitcase, as the flight is only an hour, and I wasn’t expecting a long wait. bah. Oh well, we got a bit more time together than I thought, and now I have a good book to amuse me. Using the internet right now though so the book will last the whole flight.

boo.

Hey every one, I’m Heather.
I’ll start right off by sayin’, I’m not in this for the money or the fame *winning grin at camera*, I’m in this for me. I get some quality personal time with my stash, get to meet a couple new patterns, and I’ll get to try some things I’ve never tried before.
I’m hoping to go through at least two partners throughout this competition; I’m not mean or callous or anything, I’m just hoping that I’ll be that fast.
Here’s my first:
The yarn:
The pattern: Simply Lovely Lace Socks - Interweave Knits

Now I think I’ll have some good luck with this yarn, we’ve already done a makeover challenge together. Here’s a before picture:

Some might say that lace socks in a self-striping yarn won’t work. Well I say to all those people that I can make it work. I trust my yarn. You just have to put your trust in the yarn and the pattern, and it will work. Ask me at the end of July how I feel about it, and you’ll get a two-thumbs up.

My benchwarmer project, ready to jump on the needles when the other one is done:
The yarn:
The pattern: Pomatomus from Knitty.com

Not your usual lace pattern, and I like that. I like walking that edge. Different lace, stripey lace, I’m a strong, confident person. I can do it. Just watch me try.