Saturday, October 07, 2006

Thank Heavens for Crazy Friends

I've been a bad blogger, but I've milked the birthday girl thing all week long. Obviously my friends and family know the way to my heart is with yarn. My sister took me out to lunch at PF Chang's and gave me a card with yarn money inside. My guys gave me a Knit Picks gift certificate and MFF (my friend Fritz) gave me this:



I, of course, pulled some needles out of my purse and started gauge swatching immediately. I'm getting about 6 stitches per inch on number 4 needles. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to make. Thank you Linda for helping MFF out with this purchase. You must have thought he was nuts (he is a little). Now I finally understand your comment Linda. I'll stop in next week. Poor MFF has been dragged to so many knit shops. He's my non-knitting, knitting pal. I don't really have other knitters to hang out with (which I know is my own damn fault) so it's nice to have a friend that understands and even encourages my obsession. His personal obsession is very expensive foreign sports cars so my yarn buying seems like an inexpensive hobby to him.

But before I start indulging myself with birthday present knitting, I have a lot of things to finish. Like this:

I gave up on all the Samantha lace and cuteness and decided to go simple for my friend's new baby. It's my absolute favorite Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I love how soft it is. I love that it can be washed (perfect for baby stuff). I love the colors. I love knitting with it. I can't find it in any of the LYSs I've visited. I've been told by one shop owner that they are too unreliable as far as shipping and availability for shops to stock. (I take this with a grain of salt as this particular shop owner still won't stock Brown Sheep because of the wait she had on orders after their factory burned down a couple years ago. Hardly their fault I would say.) So I've bought all my Lorna's from Jimmy Beans and Little Knits. Little Knits is closing it out and not selling it anymore, but they have a few skeins left on sale, sale, sale. Every time I've ordered it from Jimmy Beans they have had to substitute colors for me, but they've been great to work with. So I'm hoping to finish this sweater this weekend and get it in the mail.

I feel so behind. I've got so much to finish and not enough time. And I really do have to get some stuff done in the yard before the weather turns on me and it's too late.

I'm out here. A little overwhelmed a lot behind, but I'm out here.

7 comments:

renee said...

Very nice sweater! I love Lorna's colors too. I picked up 4 skeins of the sock weight (your favorite) yesterday on my yarn crawl. I think I might have seen some worsted weight Lorna's at Three Kittens, but that place is so packed full it's hard to remember. I know for sure that last time I was in Yarn Garage I saw some worsted weight.

Sheepish Annie said...

Nuthin' wrong with milking the b-day! We only get one per year and need to make the most of it. I'm loving the yarn choices! Hang in there...everything always seems to get itself finished in the long run.

Knittymama said...

It's so hard to finish old knitting when you've got new yarn!

Guinifer said...

Awesome yarn, awesome sweater, awesome friend!

Have you tried looking on ebay for Lorna's Laces? I picked up a referral from Grumperina's website - http://stores.ebay.com/emtnestr_Lornas-Laces_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ844907QQftidZ2QQtZkm

I hope if you cut and paste that, it will take you there.

You posted on my website and wondered which yarn I was using for Banff - it's the Sierra - very bulky but oh so soft and scrunchy.

Chris said...

Hmm, I thought I saw some worsted at The Yarnery? Maybe not - yesterday was a blur (yarn crawl). The sweater is cute! And I can SO relate to feeling behind.

Sounds like a fabulous birthday week, too.

Linda @ Yarnzilla said...

Hi, Kate!

Phew!! I'm glad the cashmere cat is out of the bag -- I checked your blog every day, and was getting nervous when I never saw the gorgeous booty of Axelle de Sauveterre cashmere your friend Fritz came in and purchased. As for Fritz? He rocked Yarnzilla -- ROCKED IT!! We're still talking about him, and going over his every iteration in detail (pathetic, I know, but he has quite a presence). My week is all screwy this coming week because I have two long meeting with yarn reps (Noro and Rowan -- yes!!), so Friday is the only "normal" day for me. I want to tell you all about Fritz's visit -- it was the highlight of the week! : )))

Anonymous said...

I love Lorna's Laces. I was wondering why it's so hard to find; thank you for unraveling (bad pun) the mystery. LOVE the birthday yarn -- what are you making with it?