sequinK

The man aran is in the house!

After futzing around for months trying to figure out which fabulous aran to make for my Betrothed -- including a short-lived, design my own top down aran fantasy period -- the lure of Na Craga became irresistible.  Really,... could you ask for a more straightforward, manly sweater?  I think not!  But if you need some convincing, check Annie's April 15th post, or over at Mary Beth's for manly, Na Craga-clad men in action!

So after a bit of color consultation with my guy, I poked around the Web, hit a couple of yarn shops, and found the color I'd been looking for at the new Santa Cruz LYS -- The Swift Stitch.  It's a cute, smallish shop tucked into a little business complex on Swift Street (just off Mission Street) on the Westside.  They carry Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Manos, Cascade, Crystal Palace, some GGH, Addi's (woohoo!), and a variety of novelty yarns. 

The Swift Stitch didn't have quite the amount of Cascade 220 I needed for Na Craga, but offered (yes, offered) to order it up for me.  This was early on a Saturday afternoon.  THREE HOURS LATER, I got a message letting me know that they my order had been submitted to Cascade, and it was expected to arrive around mid-week.  And it did.  On Wednesday.  The LYS called me, even, to let me know it was waiting.  Shocking, but true.  And when I swung by the shop to pick up my order, they didn't offer me a discount for buying one bag plus (or $100+) of yarn, however they did charge me actual retail price (no markup!), which is refreshing for these parts.

 

Yay for decent customer service!

actual knitting content!

Thank god for long flights with nothing to do but nap, watch movies and knit.

The v-neck decreases are still not exactly how I'd like them, but they'll be FINE. 

And this little bit of superwash merino love was waiting for me when I got home:

It's a little darker than I expected, but whatever, it's still gorgeous.  I need some #7 dpns to cast on for the pinwheel baby blanket (tried half-heartedly last night with two circs and the outcome was wonky) so I can have a mindless knitting project ready to go at any time. 

I also played a little hooky with my man yesterday afternoon and attempted to get some man aran yarn shopping done -- Na Craga here I come!  We hit the Rug and Yarn Hut in Campbell -- a funny little shop needing some serious Feng Shui intervention ASAP -- which was having a 20% off sale on all Cascade yarns.  I found the perfect colorway for the man aran (olive heather, #9448), but they only had nine skeins (I need 12 -- grrrrr!) in the same dye lot.  Looks like I'll have to make a few calls around,...

CommunKNITy -- where Nathania is the manager -- had their grand opening yesterday, but unfortunately we couldn't make it over there.  However, there's ANOTHER yarn store grand opening today in Los Gatos -- Yarndogs.  I may go check it out, but given that my stash needs absolutely no enhancing whatsoever, maybe not.  Oh, and a new LYS opened here in Santa Cruz as well -- The Swift Stitch -- it's on the West side off Mission St. in the same complex as Kelly's Bakery, and I still haven't checked that out either.  Slackin',...

Happy weekend to everyone!

 

friday!!

Yay yay yay it's Friday!  You'd think I wouldn't be so excited since I have to work this weekend, but just the thought of a little sleeping in, a little relaxing -- it really frees my mind up from the weekday clutter.  Plus, working on the weekends is totally different -- the office is empty, I can crank the tunes and go to town.  I'll just keep telling myself that anyway,...

Got a small package from Jimmy Beans yesterday.  Just two little balls of fluff and I'm in LOVE.  Why has no one ever shared with me how cool Soft Kid is?  I haven't knit with it yet, but it is so soft, so light and airy -- it's constructed like a little knitted tube -- I can't wait to cast on! 

I also signed up for ANOTHER knitalong -- the Blackwater Abbey yarn knitalong hosted by Snow.  I just can't help myself at times, I guess.  I figure it will help keep me inspired to get the man aran sorted, started and done in a semi-timely fashion.  And I think it does help -- after our St. Patrick's Day Mexican dinner lat night, I perused not one, not two, but three of the Starmore books I'm hogging borrowing from the library right now.

The train is going by our building at the moment and it feels like an earthquake!  Cool.

On the wedding front, I'm narrowing in on china options.

I like both of them now (Pompano Beach by Kate Spade (Lenox), and Oberon by Wedgwood), but the question is, in twenty years will I be saying, "What the hell was I thinking??"

I like this one too (Westerly Platinum by Lenox).  It's definitely more subtle, but my guy thinks it's "too Republican."   Any thoughts?

Whee!  Happy Friday everyone! 

aran on the brain

So as you can see, it's all arans, all the time at Chez Crapshack.  I've thought about making a man sweater for my man for a while now, and finally decided that he needs an aran.  Custom designed my me.  Knit from the top down.  Yes, by me.  So I've gathered up the biggest and best (as far as I can tell, anyway!) resources available to support and inspire my endeavor.  Aren't they beautiful?

And hey there, no making covetous goo-goo eyes at the Starmore Aran Knitting book -- it's not mine!  Public libraries are a good great thing,...