I'm BAAAACK

It feels really good to be home. I had a great time in Boston - lots of yarn shopping and eating. Basically, what a good vacation ought to be. But, it always feels good to come in for a landing over Balboa Park and back into Lindbergh Field. I was looking forward to warming up back here but our weather isn't too great, either, so I guess I'll have to wait on that.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I came home from WEBS empty-handed. Well, yesterday, we went to a fabulous yarn store in Milton, MA called The Snow Goose. This place was amazing! The owner obviously has a lot of serious knitters as customers because she basically had every yarn ever made in every color it comes in, with sweater quantities in all colors. I'm totally serious! We just walked around the store with our mouths hanging open. She had several bags of Berroco Pleasure for 25% off in several colors. Pleasure just happens to be the perfect gauge for Starsky, so I did a quick calculation and discovered that it would cost $130 to make it. I figured I could probably get it somewhere at a deep discount on the Internet when I got home (it has been discontinued), so I left the yarn in the store and looked it up this morning. As irony would have it, WEBS has it for a serious discount - around 50% and further discounted by WEBS' standard discount. SO, I ordered it this morning. The sweater is going to cost me $70 total, roughly the same price as Knitpicks. This yarn is SOFT - a blend of angora and merino. I'm really excited about starting this sweater now.

Now for my knitting progress. I've been using the Lorna's Laces that my SP7 sent me to work on the River Rapids sock from Sock Bug. I'm trying a new method of doing socks that I've seen others do where I get through the gusset on the first sock and then I cast on for the other one. This is in an attempt top prevent SSS (Second Sock Syndrome), which I feel I suffer from in a big way.

I also made decent progress on the sweater that I'm designing out of Felted Tweed. I may not have mentioned that I scored some Felted Tweed at 25% off at the Grove's sale last weekend. I haven't really seen a pattern that I like that is appropriate for it, so I have decided to, at last, design a sweater. I'm keeping it really simple and following The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. The bottom is a cable rib and the sleeves are going to be set-in. I have added some waist shaping as well to make it a little more flattering. The front is going to have a cable continuing from the cable rib and going up the center and around a V-neckline. The sleeves will have the same cable ribbing on the bottom. I didn't want to try anything fancy for my first design, but I think it will be a very wearable sweater, as long as it doesn't get too screwed up!

Regarding a weekly knitalong in Hillcrest/North Park area, how does everyone feel about doing it on Saturday afternoons? Since the Whistlestop is on Sunday, I don't think that's a good day. How do you feel about doing it at Rebecca's? Does anyone have a better place in mind?