Photoless Philanderings

As per usu' (pr. 'yooj'), my wee little brain is spinning with all the goings-on. Where to start, where to start? We're photo-less for now, but piccies will eventually follow.

Hokay: Last weekend, t and I hightailed it to Romni to select yarn for the felted boom bag in the latest Knitscene (I mean, who can say no to 20% absolutely everything - sale or otherwise - all July??). We were initially thinking along the same lines as the colours in the mag, but as is wont to happen, t ended up going in a whole 'nother direction, so his swanky satchel will be a gorgeous, deep violet tweed with a moss green overlay (both Tahki Donegal Tweed). I'm having to re-calculate the number of stitches, as of course the gauge is different from the original yarn. So far, so good. Ninety-seven rounds of stocking stitch, though. Twelve down. Eep.

While there, I snaggled some Rowan handknit cotton for my Fair Isle experiment - I'm doing Lettuce Knit's Freestyle Fridays with the Divine Laura, who knows a whole lotta everything. FI's normally done in wool and in the round, but hey - I'm a glutton for sucker-punishment.

I was trying to figure out why one of the Romni staff was so familiar to me. t thought so too. We wracked our brains - and then I realised: she used to bartend at the Velvet Underground Goth Night on Thursdays! Weird. And then...I started to wonder if I was crazy, or if it was also, as I suspected, the rather reknowned Robin Melanson. Hmmm.

Wednesday I forewent (hee - foregoed) the knitting meetup in favour of the combination Lettuce Knit's Sudden Move to New Digs/Amy Knitty's Leap Party. I did not buy sock yarn. Socks That Rock I never do. Socks That Rock I am a model of restraint. Socks That Rock Dined with Sandi and Jacquie and marvelled at the number of knitters that turned out for the grand celebration.

Wed the new Knitty also came out. I didn't swoon over the Knucks pattern at first, but over the last few days it has sneaked its way into my head and grasped my brain in its fingerless...um...fingers. (And of course they spell out 'KNIT MITT'.) Mel and I have been coming up with some alternatives to the not-bad list developed by the Knucks crew. A sampling:

MEDI EVIL (or EVAL, if you're a purist...I was also thinking today that MISE RERE would be good)
SOCK YARN (dunno where the inspiration for that came from)
KNIT KNUT
YARN SL*T (or perhaps SOCK SL*T?)
YARN NERD
GAMR NERD (that would be moi)
TEJA DORA (a word for 'knitter' in Spanish - technically 'weaver')
SINS AINT
HAND MAID
FAIR ISLE (for a FI glove, of course)
NORO YARN (or NORO NERD, NORO GIRL etc.)
KNIT TAH! (methinks I need a pair of these - ooh...there's a good one: METH INKS)

I, however, have decided for now to go with ILLU MIN8 . I have grand plans. Did I mention that I used to embroider? I will say no more for now. *claps hands with sinister glee*

Friday was the first Freestyle Fri, and o' course I left me' gear chez moi (the yarn, that is). So I picked up a couple of balls of something-or-other and some cheap sock yarn in a beautiful green, and learned to knit Fair Isle! Go me! Probby a good thing I started on something else so I can get the mangling out of the way before attempting my kerchief.

Today I met up with me' mum for a knit at the Second Cup...and we ended up at Romni. She'd never been before, so you can imagine what her experience was like. She was literally speechless -- and that rarely happens. I actually did not buy sock yarn this time -- for real! I picked up a couple more skeins for t's bag, a couple of Rowan handknit cotton skeins for a sunhat, and some Rowan felted tweed for some knucks! And I even exercised restraint: I put back three of the six balls I grabbed. It darn near killed me, but I managed. And the goth bartendrix extraordinaire is Robin Melanson! She recognises me from Velvet. Her younger sister used to hang out with my friend Phil. Go figure. And how cool is that - that a designer I admire used to serve me drinks? This town is full of knitting greatness, I tell ya'.