The secret is to have a plan

My SO and I spent a week or so in Massachusetts in the very recent past. The primary intent was to visit family, but we also wanted a bit of a vacation, so spent a couple of days in Springfield. While planning our very loose itinerary, I realized we would be within spitting distance of Webs in Northampton. And they are celebrating their 40th anniversary with a sale. Ruh roh!

First, I set a yarn budget, then created a project list, then spent an inordinate amount of time online, scoping out the sale items and tentatively selecting colors. Otherwise, I knew I would be overwhelmed with the sheer volume of choices available and either buy one of everything or not a single skein.

A subset of all the yarn available.

I pictured Webs being a giant warehouse, but the warehouse itself is separate from the store. Yarn is arranged by weight, which helped me avoid the sock yarn. (I have enough sock yarn to last me several years, plus Simply Socks is located in my hometown, so no need to visit those aisles.) They also have books and buttons, so my SO selected buttons for his Fibonacci vest and I was able to confirm the number needed by referencing Knit One Below.

These look black but are actually dark green.

One project I have in mind is a Danish-styled tunic sweater for cross country skiing, for myself. Other than wanting worsted weight yarn, my only criteria was the color, which had to be the perfect shade of red. I found it, and while I was not specifically looking for Superwash, that was a bonus.

Cascade 220 Superwash in the perfect shade of red

Another project idea is a sweater of my own design. I had already selected the yarn and color, so just needed to locate it in the store. Alas, there was not a sweater's worth there, but the helpful staff offered to find it in the warehouse and ship it to me free. It arrived home before I did.

Cascade 220 Heathers, in 'Cordovan'.

I knew I wanted Superwash for a sweater for my granddaughter, but did not know which color until I spotted this one.

Cascade 220 Superwash, in periwinkle

And then, because I like to have a selection of spare winter hats for visitors, I picked out some single skeins for that.

Plymouth Encore, in gray, hunter orange, and brown.

Some of my sweater projects are going to be knit in the round, and since I am rather round, I added some long circular needles to my purchase. (FYI: buttons and needles fall outside the yarn budget. Just saying.) The selection in US7 and US8 sizes was meager - very picked over - which is why one of those sets is "cubics".

Knitters Pride Nova circular needles.

And then we got the hell out of there. I had planned to visit another yarn store, over the border in Connecticut, because it features locally hand-dyed yarns, but I was out of money plus I probably would have selected fingering weight yarns in single skein doses, just right for MORE socks. All in all, I am very proud of myself for sticking to my budget. Different yarns are on sale in May at Webs, if you dare look at the website.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I meant to post at least once this past weekend, but the days were just packed, in a good way. After a weekend like that, though, it was more difficult than usual to return to work today. I felt like I needed another day just for me.

The busyness started Friday afternoon, when I decided to stop at one of our new LYS's, Knitting Off Broadway. My first impression of this store is that it is less of a shop and more of a yarn boutique, like maybe the Von Maur of knitting. I poked around for a while, but I didn't have any particular yarn in mind and nothing caught my eye. Actually, I was hoping to buy some DPN's (more about my needle crisis later), but KoB is needle-light. So I walked out of a yarn store without making a purchase - unheard of! It would happen one more time before the weekend was out.

Saturday I finished the Math Geek scarf.



(I really need to sharpen my photography skills. Or develop some patience when taking pictures. Or learn better how to digitally enhance them.)



Details are:

• Pattern: Math Geek Scarf from the 2007 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar, March 21.
  
• Yarn: Cascade 220 Paints, color no. 9926 (it's maroon and black)
  
• Needle size: US7

The dimensions of my scarf were 3.5" x 58" before blocking. I tried to use up as much yarn as possible, so made 14 large triangles instead of the 11 the pattern called for. Ending with an even number also affected how I knit the last small triangle, but it turned out A-OK. I wore it to work today. Very warm and cozy.

This was the weekend for NFL division playoffs, and we watched the Colts (lose) Saturday night. Needing something to work on during the game, I selected another item from my private yarn store: a skein of Schaefer Yarns Anne in "Powder Puff" for a shawl. Quite a while ago, I started a shawl with this yarn, but the project just did not grab me and after it sat in neglect for a while, I frogged it. I'm liking this pattern much better, but I can't tell you where I got it; I photocopied the pattern from a library book but the pages don't include the name of the book on them. It might have been something like Scarf Style? The name of the pattern is "Shetland Triangle" and it calls for 548 yards of fingering weight yarn, so Anne is perfect for it.

I was feeling a little guilty about starting this shawl when I keep promising my daughter that I will work on her vintage lace top, but actually this project will be a good warm-up for the top. I had been working lace in worsted weight yarn. Working with fingering is challenging but should get me in shape for the (gulp) Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

Another project I want to get started on are the Classic Elite Inca Marl socks for my much-appreciated son-in-law. (On Sunday he installed my reverse osmosis filter system, which lead to replacing some of the plumbing under the kitchen sink as it had corroded and started to leak just when he thought he was done.) But I am having a needle crisis.

One problem is that I like to work both socks at the same time, so I need two sets of DPNs, but I have only one set of the size US6 that I want to use. Of course. And they are INOX, which I am not liking much these days because another set of them (the US5's) developed a tackiness that makes the yarn stick and throws off my gauge. I was hoping to find something at Knitting Off Broadway, but their DPNs were INOX and bamboo. I hate bamboo. But I like my aluminum needles, so I stopped at Joann's on Saturday, thinking I would pick up a couple of sets of Susan Bates. But they come in packages of 4 (I'd prefer 5 per package) and through the packaging I could see that the finish was flawed. Aargh! Again, I left a (sort of) yarn store without making a purchase.

Meanwhile, this weekend I was also fretting meditating on the red-red-red sweater. I reached the tentative end of the body, took it off the needles, and tried it on.



Well, at least it looks like a sweater.



But the neck was really boatneck-like, if you know what I mean. Very high in front, and wide. It later occurred to me that part of its shape was probably due to the fact I did not have the neck cinched up at all, but still. How should I move forward? I searched through all my pattern books without finding any ideas, so I set it aside. Again.

Today I stopped at the library and found on the new non-fiction shelf Suss Design Essentials, which amazingly has a sweater with a snood, just like I have been contemplating. So now I have an idea of what to do next and also have a little faith it might actually work out.

And then there was yoga, laundry, pet poop patrol, dog walking, wild bird feeding, and friends and family. Like I said, a very full weekend.