I have the BEST college roommate ever

My senior year college roommate Andrea has made some guest appearances on this blog ... but something arrived in the mail today that just cemented her roommate soulmate status.

Wool.

Not just any wool...

ICELANDIC WOOL. FROM ICELAND. LAND OF VIKING SHEEP.

I'll post the information on Ravelry later ... but omg. omg. omg. ICELANDIC WOOL!

(goes off and does happy dance)

50% off yarn? You betcha I'm buying some.

Last Thursday night, I had fun. I had a lot of fun. That picture? That's just some of the fun I had.

One of the women in my knitting group used to run a yarn store. The store is currently in her living room, and needless to say, when we met at her house instead of our usual meeting place ... I barely paid attention to my knitting. I spent about two hours touching, smelling, eying gorgeous yarns of every fiber, weight, color possible.

This picture just shows *half* of what I bought that night. Five other skeins are scattered about my house (and in the case of two, in my car). Here, from left to right there is ... Artyarns Handpaint Stripes in 103, Perla Trendsetter Yarns in Linen (sparkly!), and two skeins of unknown parentage, but they are novelty ... and I'll be using them to give an extra punch to some plain knitting.

I'm incredibly excited about all this new yarn in my life, and have Grand Plans for some of the skeins. Eee!

Yarn Sale at Michaels

Today my friend and I went to the craft store... where Patons Kroy Socks Stripes were on sale. They were marked down a dollar each, I had a fifty-percent off coupon ...

Three skeins of sock yarn later, I hope I have enough to make the long-promised socks for Julie (of nosemitten ownership).

Patons Kroy Sock Stripes in the Mulberry Colourway, about 498 yards total. Machine washable, and according to the website, fond of US 3 dpns. Julie has specified that her socks be different, so I'll be using two different patterns. Which patterns, I'm not really sure...

Yarn diet? What yarn diet?

Picture post, soon, I promise!

I'm ordering wool for some Christmas (and birthday) presents that need to be knitted up. I'm ordering a grand total of seven skeins of Wool of the Andes in the following colorways: White and Williamsburg (which is the closet shade to sky blue I could find).

Despite going over my Ravelry queue over and over, I have no reason to buy any other yarn. I have a somewhat sufficient stash for my other Christmas knitting projects, and since I have been out of work for a few weeks, I really cannot afford to buy more yarn than necessary. (Or shoes. I have been lusting after this pair of severely marked down stilettos at DSW, which are more than likely gone at this point)

Saratoga Springs!

This past weekend I was kidnapped by my very own Time Lord, and brought to Saratoga Springs.

Gas is 4.10 a gallon (which is cheap. Where I am it's rumored we'll hit 5.00 a gallon by July 4th).Saratoga Tavern which we drove past...

And what I got at Saratoga Needle Arts
The Time Lord and I were en route to the Comicon, and randomly passed by a woman knitting a sock in the sunshine. Then we realized she was in front of the yarn store.

I got one skein of Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Paints. 100% superwash wool, color 9859 (pink multicolor with orange and yellow and maybe purple).

Beautiful, soft, and the store is amazing. It looks tiny from the street, but man, it's clean, orderly, and so much space inside (much like a TARDIS for any other Doctor Who fans out there). This detour to the Comicon is a true testament to the awesomeness of the Time Lord as he happily amused himself by looking at all the yarn while I had a slight fit of "There's so much yarn that I want to take home with meeee!"

So I am now a member of the frequent buyer program ... and I will be up in Saratoga next weekend...

Knit and Be Happy!

There's a new knitting store in upstate New York, in New Paltz called ... Knit and Be Happy. Best store name EVER. The owner is wonderful, and lead me into the merry depths of overspending last week. These are the goodies I got ... waiting for inspiration to hit me.

The one on your left is Colinette's Parisienne in the marble colorway. I bought one skein, which is 221 meters (whatever that is in yards). It's so freaking soft. I love putting it up to my face.

The one in the middle is Trekking Hand Art in th 504 Brazil colorway (I personally think my photo above really shows off the color). It has 459 YARDS. That's more than enough for a pair of socks. I personally have no idea what I'm going to knit with it, it's beautiful and MINE (um, I'll share. Maybe).

The last, on your right is also by Colinette, TAO in the Coral Reef colorway. Once again, only bought one skein, but it's 117 meters of silk. That's right, silk. Oh baby.