Well, I certainly didn't intend to disappear for nearly all of my vacation. Between laptop screen problems and enjoying vacation I wasn't able to post. Now I'm home, enjoying my last day of vacation before going back to work tomorrow morning.
Today I'll show you my yarn, fabric and thread buys. While in Brooklyn and NYC I visited four yarn/fabric shops:
Fiber Notion,
Stitch Therapy, and
Knit-A-Way in Brooklyn; and
Purl Soho in Manhattan. I came away with three impressions of all the shops there:
- The shops are small. I know how expensive NY real estate is and understand the size issues.
- Many shops carry a little bit of everything. Except for Knit-A-Way, which carried only yarn and knit and crochet tools, the shops had yarn, fabric, notions and tools for knitting and crocheting. At Stitch Therapy there was a small scrapbooking section. Purl also carried needlepoint canvases and threads.
- Apparently no one shops for yarn, fabric, etc before 11 am in the morning and stops shopping by 6 pm. I like to shop in the morning and was a little frustrated having to wait until almost lunch time to shop.
Would I shop at any of these stores again? Of course. Would I consider any of them my local LYS? Probably not. The selections at the stores was limited and would not satisfy my creative streaks for a long time.
Anyway here are my yarn purchases. The pink is Cascade Soft Spun yarn from Purl. It's soft and a dream to work with. I bought three hanks of it and had already used one in a scarf for DIL (photos tomorrow). The blue and red balls are alpaca and are also super soft. I bought them out of the clearance bin at Stitch Therapy. At Knit-A-Way I bought the green and blue Plymouth yarns.
I couldn't leave Purl without buying a few FQs of fabric and silk threads for doing needlepoint.
Now for my purchases from the Knit and Crochet Show. The conference was a blast and I'll have a report on it in a day or two. This yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I bought four skeins of each color. One color is mine and one color is for a swap. I won't tell you which is which.
Newton's Yarn Country was at the show and they were selling their yarn at 50% off. I found this orange Newton's Bulky Softball 100% cotton yarn. I've already started a pumpkin sweater for Mr. E with it.
From Newton's I also bought 2,200 yards of this cashmere/merino blend for a secret project.
I was free on Friday afternoon and decided that since I was half way there I would go to
ABC Stitch Therapy in Grantham, NH. I needed a few more threads and stretcher bars for a needlepoint project that I hadn't been able to get anywhere else. The drive was nice and was able to get all but one of the threads for the project. Now I just need to make the time to work on it.
That's all my purchases from my vacation. I plan to be back tomorrow to show you some of the projects I did work on while I was gone.
I hope you're having a great summer. We are!
Sweet P
The case has lots of spaces for straight needles and three pockets for circular needles.
Here is the inside of the bag. And what is that hiding inside?
It's the matching zipper pouch.
This morning I sewed this little backpack for Mr. E. Isn't it adorable?
And here is Mr. E wearing his backpack.
What kind of sewing have you been doing?
These samples are from The PULAD Method of Crochet in Two Colors, also taught by Karen. The top sample is Two Colored Checkers. The bottom sample is Outlined Shells. I used two different weights for this sample. The red is a DK weight and the blue is worsted weight. If I made this pattern again with different weights I think I would make the frames the lighter weight
This is a Vertical Shells design. This sample is destined to become a Christmas present, but I'm not saying for who (and I will tell you it is not for Mr. E).
And this sample? This was a quick lesson on remembering to put away my crochet when I leave the room. Who knows? Maybe Mr. E will become a crochet designer one day.
The heat is still here. I'm tired of being hot all the time. I'm tired of being too tired from the heat to not accomplish any real cleaning. At least this morning I spent 90 minutes cleaning my studio while Mr. E napped. The floor was covered in ongoing projects, swap packages, vacation purchases and Chain Link projects and purchases. I was able to organize all my crochet projects and prep a canvas for a needlepoint project. Next step is to clean my prepping table and, maybe, the closet.
If you're Mr. E, you share a strawberry milk shake with your mommy.
And this is his GF's quilt . . .
And here is the happy couple with their quilts.
Yesterday I showed Cascade Soft Spun yarn I bought at Purl.
Here's a close-up view of the scarf.
I'm happy to have a few finished projects. I'm working hard to get a few more done. My list of WIPs is getting a little long.
I couldn't leave Purl without buying a few FQs of fabric and silk threads for doing needlepoint.
Now for my purchases from the Knit and Crochet Show. The conference was a blast and I'll have a report on it in a day or two. This yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I bought four skeins of each color. One color is mine and one color is for a swap. I won't tell you which is which.
Newton's Yarn Country was at the show and they were selling their yarn at 50% off. I found this orange Newton's Bulky Softball 100% cotton yarn. I've already started a pumpkin sweater for Mr. E with it.
From Newton's I also bought 2,200 yards of this cashmere/merino blend for a secret project.
I was free on Friday afternoon and decided that since I was half way there I would go to ABC Stitch Therapy in Grantham, NH. I needed a few more threads and stretcher bars for a needlepoint project that I hadn't been able to get anywhere else. The drive was nice and was able to get all but one of the threads for the project. Now I just need to make the time to work on it.
That's all my purchases from my vacation. I plan to be back tomorrow to show you some of the projects I did work on while I was gone.
