A is for Adventure

Being away from the blog world over the holidays gave me a break from the fervor of seeing things I just had to make because others were making them (a good thing), but also put me out of the loop on some things I'd enjoy doing (a bad thing). Most of the missed opportunities are probably for the best, but I want to do my own version of the ABC-along that people are doing. This started at How the West Was Spun and really took off so I wanted to play along. (By the way, look at her horses, mmmmm...)

As she writes, the rules are simple. I'm just supposed to post every two weeks with pictures that go with a letter of the alphabet. Hopefully this will improve some of my photography skills (which are zilch) and will give me something to write about aside from L is for library. So, without further procrastination...

An Urban Yarn... Or How I Drug Hilda All Over NYC For Knitting Supplies

One of my "to do" items on my 20 items list was to visit NYC for the holiday lights. I convinced/conned Hilda into joining me on my big ADVENTURE and we were off. I'm putting up an extended entry on the other blog so look for the non-knitting related stuff there.

After much celebration over bargains on Canal St, Hilda and I headed for Anthr*p*logie and Purl, the first yarn store on our list. Yes, I went to NY and searched for yarn stores. You never know what goodies you may find in new locations and yarn souvenirs are better than postcards. I won't go into the fact that postcards may set you back a quarter and yarn is a teency bit more. Although I was surprised at just how tiny this store really was, it was fun to see samples from their book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I didn't really have anything in mind for this store, but they had a sale bin so I was in luck. I managed to score 2 balls of a pink laceweight yarn. I don't know too much more about it since the label is in Chinese, but they guessed that it was about 800 yds per skein.

Based on much review of our handy dandy "Not for Tourists" guidebook, we deduced we were close to the second yarn destination, The Point. Lured by the promise of coffee and baked goods as much as yarn, we headed out into uncharted territory and were pleasantly surprised with a lemon bar and finding Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb. Everybody and their knitting cousin has tried their hand at Clapotis so there are substitutions for any yarn budget/taste, but I wanted to see the real deal. Mmmm, totally worth the splurge. This stuff is amazing. The silk gives it a great shine and feel. I can't wait to see the drape after this is completed. I decided to go for a solid navy/grey/purple color to dress it up. I still want to try a variegated version in the future, and found a potential yarn in my last yarn hit of 2005 but more on that if I ever get to those goodies.
I was also captivated by a skein by Rivers Edge. It's a blend of silk, tercel, and a bunch of other luscious fibers. Unfortunately this one has already been packed away so I'll have to show it off when I'm a little closer to knitting it. I have absolutely no frickin' clue what to do with it aside from petting it and displaying it on the shelf, but hopefully its destiny will be revealed through all this fondling. It's nice stuff. Pricey, but seems worth it.

I want to give a big shout out to MUD for taking our requisite blog pic at The Point. (Excuse the really bad hat hair, we were cold chicks at this point.) Odd how I discovered this place through blogs, then was in knitting star paranoia when Vickie Howell walks in, and then got totally weirded out about someone recognizing that I was taking pics for a blog. Most of the girls think I'm a little off my rocker for taking the time to write here and I'm not so sure about blogging either. I'm pretty sure seeing pictures of my yarn purchases is pretty darn boring, but then I'm also not too comfortable sharing all the gory details of life. I like the blogs that are witty in their portrayal of the everyday, but should the world know about all the smarmy behind the scenes stuff? There are others that have covered this ground before in much more thoughtful and eloquent ways, but for now I'll just continue to throw up random pics here and keep writing down the details of my crafty work and see where it takes me. When you get bored, you can stop reading.

So although it's lame to have A for Adventures describe yarn buying, that's the kind of adventures this girl has been having lately. We managed a little excitement while in the city, but we were pretty tame girlies.