I know that things were quiet on the blogging front last week, but things were very busy at work and then I took a couple of days off to spend some time with the kid before he went back to school today as a big eighth grader. Does not seem possible!!
I enjoyed my time off and it was much needed. I needed a break from work and I also felt like I had spent very little time with the kid this summer. Over the last two years, I went from four weeks vacation to two and I have to say that right now I am feeling it! My time off included some productive knitting of course!
I finished the Lace Ribbon Scarf and it will come off the blocking board tonight. I also made some good progress on the Dayflower cardigan. The fronts are finished and attached to the back. I picked up one side of the button band yesterday and I will do the second side tonight. I also picked up the Spring Forward sock again and I managed to make the heel flap, turn the heel and I am more than half way through my gusset decreases. Once again, I am loving this sock! Will I make my August goals? I think I will be pretty darn close. The only thing that may not be finished is the second sock, but the Dayflower will definitely be finished by the end of the weekend.
My time off also included a little fiber therapy. Over the last week or so I experienced some personal loss and I was feeling blue so I decided to take a little day trip as a way to take care of me and what better way than with fiber! So I planned a trip to Charlotte to check out some of the yarn stores there. I started at Baskets of Yarn as they were having a 24% off sale. I was a little disappointed. Their website referenced Malabrigo so I was psyched to find some worsted weight, but alas there was none to be found. Also, there sales area was really cramped. I decided to buy the Norah Gaughan Volume 2 Book and was going to make Currer, but they did not have enough yarn to make my size. I have to say that is one of my biggest complaints with local yarn stores these days – they don’t stock enough yarn for the average sweater knitter. That’s what makes on-line stores my “go to” choice usually for sweater yarn. As I mentioned, I got the NG Book and I bought the new Nashua Knits Magazine and I bought a skein of Berroco Sox.
My second stop was such a pleasant surprise. While on Ravelry checking out shops in the Charlotte area, I found a listing for Charlotte Yarn. Since it was fairly close to my first stop, I figured why not. I have to say that I loved it. They had a wonderful selection of yarns, plenty of inventory, wonderful customers and great help. They will be moving at the beginning of October and they will now be my LYS away from home. They even had a interesting list of classes many of which are on weekends so that may be a possibility in the future. I bought some Blue Sky Cotton for a baby sweater from The Book of Yarn and I bought some Cascade and Silk Garden for Brooklyn Tweed’s “Turn a Square” hat pattern and I could have bought more, but I had one more stop and I was trying to pace myself. Ironically, at the third stop I didn’t find anything to buy. They had Koigu but not enough of the color I wanted, so I showed restraint and didn’t buy anything just for the sake of buying something. All in all, I had a really enjoyable day and I will embark on more fiber road trips in the future. There are still a few more shops that I want to check out. Yes, I know…this doesn’t really fit into my commitment to work only from stash for the year.
Speaking of which… September marks my month of completing UFO’s. I am really looking forward to it. That may sound crazy, but I know it will feel good to complete some things that have been on the needles way too long and there are small little glimmers that fall will make an appearance in North Carolina sooner or later. And what do we need in the fall? Sweaters of course!
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