Friday, April 14, 2006

Additions to the list or What happens when work shuts down two hours early

Yes, I arrived back to my cube after a delightful lunch and there was a happy message waiting for me from corporate internal relations. "To help you with your travels," it said, "the New York office will be closing at 3 pm this afternoon and the last mail pick up will be at 2:30 pm." Well, if the last mail pick up is at 2:30, there's certainly no reason for me to hang around until 5! So my work compatriot and I hopped on the M21 towards the East Side and stopped in at Downtown Yarns.

I haven't been there in quite some time because they're far away from where I hang out and all that, but every time I go there I wonder why I don't go there more often. But today I think I realized why (Sorry about the blurriness; for some reason, that shot is blurry and I don't know why - I used a flash and everything):


Loot. Loot is why I don't go there often. Whenever I go there I end up clearing out my bank account cleaning up.

What we're looking at is the new Mason Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. I started looking at this in the shop because I'd heard good things about it. I read what the Yarn Harlot had to say about the book, but wasn't convinced that it was a book I really needed until I checked it out at Downtown Yarns. There's so many projects I want to do in this book! You can check out the Mason Dixon Knitting blog (which will go up on the blog list along with a few other additions momentarily). I'll post my own review of the book after I've finished reading it.

We're also looking at the pair of Addis I had to get for the ballet tee, which I'm about to start with the Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece you also see there. That's the lavender colored stuff (technical term for the color name "wisteria"). The other stuff there is some linen I got so I could knit a wedding gift for a friend who's getting married in July. I doubt she reads this, but in the event that she does, all I'm going to say is that the pattern is in Mason Dixon Knitting

So what are the new additions to the list after having picked up Mason Dixon Knitting
  • Gift for Zoe

  • Mason Dixon After Dark Nightie. Interesting because I don't really wear nighties, but I'm interested in knitting it nonetheless. But surprisingly I'd only need 4 hanks of the expensive linen, so maybe this is actually feasible.

  • Dish cloth reloaded

  • Some sort of Log Cabin remix with leftovers. YUP! That's right...Leftovers! I thought I was going to do some sort of personal history of knitting blanket thing with all my leftovers, but the log cabin technique that's described in this book looks so cool and interesting that I've gotta give it a shot. This project won't be started for quite some time, but since I have such cool yarns leftover in my stash, I think it'll be really cool!


  • Oh, and I said I'd show something of the Jaywalkers once I got somewhere. Not to plague the blogosphere with yet another jaywalker progress shot, but really - check out what the Lorna's Laces in color way Mountain Colors is doing! It's not really pooling at all, which I thought was going to happen. It's just being really cooperative and stripey and such. As much as I was kind of dragging my feet on these, it's actually not that bad of a pattern. It's a great pattern to do while you're doing other things like watching a movie or something because it's only a two pattern repeat.



    With all that being said, I can cast on for the Ballet Tee. Maybe I'll even finish it this weekend. It doesn't look like it'll take too long to do.

    3 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    It doesn't take that long to do at all. Make sure you try it on, though, when you think that you've made it long enough--it stretches sideways, thus getting shorter, when you put it on. Just in case you're not into the belly-baring thing.

    Anonymous said...

    The Ballet Tee is definitely a weekend knit -- I started work on mine on a Friday morning, knit between classes and on my bus rides, and had it ready to go by Friday night. I agree with the above commenter, though -- it tends to shorten a bit, so add some length unless you want to let your belly button peek out!

    Beta said...

    So is it safe to say that next time I come to visit, you'll show me all these so-called fabulous knitting shops? I'm really in disbelief that you could have so many decent ones in easy traveling distance from you.