Clearly, I don’t blog enough

…to detail all of my exploits. On Friday Greg and I went out to Barnes and Noble (yeah, baby). After we spent some time paging through the “Get Fuzzy” collections, poring through various motorsports publications, and a trip to the craft book section, I found a table full of knit and crochet books for 50% off. Nice books, too – “Simple Knits for Cherished Babies,” Nicky Epstein’s “Knitting On (and Over) the Edge,” the first two Vogue Stitchionarys, and others that I can’t remember. With only 5 minutes before the store closed, I grabbed one book off of the table and headed for the registers. I’ve talked before about what a sucker I am for titles that include words like “cherished” and “babies,”so naturally I couldn’t resist this one – not for the low, low price of seven dollars or so. I’m planning to do a fairly in-depth review of this book tomorrow, so stay tuned! By the way, word around the web is that these titles are on clearance at Barnes and Noble stores around the country, as well as online, so if you’ve ever waffled over these books, now is your chance to score. I’m thinking about going back for a few.

Then on Saturday, we swung once more by Yarnivore as we went about our errands. Greg and the kids went to the Whataburger as I browsed; always fun. I noticed for the first time that the benches and low table in the back held knitting needles and a large basket of yarn for yarn tasting – aaaah! Unfortunately I did NOT have time to sit down and play, or I would have, believe me. I now have a keen desire to make a special trip over there, by myself, when I can have some time to spend there and hang out. I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time actually in the store as of yet, but I hope I can arrange it. Anyway, as you can see from the picture, I picked up a ball of Misti Alpaca Chunky (just one, as they’re a bit pricey) which was absolutely love at first touch. Cushy, soft, pretty…tactile bliss.

Even Melanie commented as I was checking out on how much she loves to wind the Misti Alpaca. It’s nice. As she wound we chatted about the store, and upcoming events. Apparently Annie Modesitt will be making an appearance for two days in October, and Melanie voiced her hope that Cat Bordhi might be persuaded to come in sometime early next year. One of her customers, she confided, was a personal friend of Cat’s, and thought she could finagle it. I agreed that it was very exciting for the store, then asked a silly question about the Rowan Tapestry I was standing next to. She answered it very politely, and I half-tuned out for a moment as I imagined some point in the future when she might say to her customers, “You know, Melissa Mall used to be a regular here. Yeah, isn’t it crazy? She was something of a yarn idiot, haha!”

Then that night I started a new project (you knew I would).

The pattern is Cabled Toddler Socks, by Rosemary Waits from Quietish. They’re for Max, of course, I’ve said he was long overdue for a pair I made for him. They’re a fast, fun free pattern – during the course of a cheesy action flick we rented I got all the way from casting on to turning the heel! I finished it while watching cartoons with Max yesterday, and got to the heel of the second while watching another unbearably cheesy movie. Clearly, it’s my turn to pick the next movie. I think it’s funny, furthermore, that while I’ve made baby socks, striped socks, socks in fingering weight, and now my first Hedera, it’s these black, cabled, worsted weight socks that have made Greg say for the first time, “Wow – could you make me some socks?” I guess it’s true that most men prefer plain, dark, stockinette (with perhaps a cable or two) to all sorts of fancy yarn or patterns.

I’ll conclude today with (a link to) a picture for the grandparents: Max has decided that the layered look is ‘in.’ Here he is, pictured with three shirts and two pair of pants, all selected by him. (He had some help getting them on.) Have a great day, everyone!