Stitches West

I spent today at Stitches West. I started out by taking a Market Session on picking up stitches. I'm glad I went as I was definitely using some of the no-no's of picking up stitches. I think my picked up stitches will look much more refined from now on.

After that it was time for wandering the market. I'm glad I had certain products in mind for purchase, otherwise I would have been completely overwhelmed. I found Berocco Bonsai at Webs. That will be for the tank sweater I saw in this month's Interweave Knits. I bought enough that I got a discount. I bought a couple of more skeins of Full Thread Ahead's Jewels DK, which I had purchased previously at Full Thread Ahead when the Yarn Harlot was there for her book signing. I also came away with two skeins of hemp yarn and a pattern for a lace scarf. What was a big surprise is that Purlescence Yarns had Claudia's Handpainted in a Sharks colorway! As in San Jose Sharks. Good thing they thought to put a Sharks jersey wearing bear next to it or I would not have seen it. It was expensive so I only bought one skein, which I wound with my two favorite purchases: a Mama Bear swift and a ball winder! LOVE THEM!

Tomorrow I take a spinning class at Stitches. I'll probably want to buy a spinning wheel after and will have to restrain myself.

Here is picture of my loot:
Swift, ball winder, the red is the Jewels DK, the green is the hemp, brown is Berocco Bonsai, pink and blue were from the picking up stitches class and sitting on top is the Sharks yarn.

Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras and I am very mad at myself. This is because it did not occur to me that my winter vacation coincided with Mardi Gras. I COULD HAVE GONE! I could be in New Orleans right now. Experiencing Mardi Gras. And next year the school district I work for won't have this week off and Mardi Gras might not have coincided with it anyway (I haven't checked). So, I blew my chance to go without having to take school days off and make sub plans and potentially have to pretend to be sick, depending on the attitude of whatever principal I work for.

Surprisingly, Mardi Gras is an event in downtown San Jose. Unfortunately, it is an event that has often gotten violent and destructive here, so I won't be going. The idiots who go downtown for this must think that is what Mardi Gras is all about. They don't realize Bourban Street is the exception in New Orleans. Mardi Gras is really a nice family affair in other parts of the city. And I'm missing it!

In knitting news, I have not posted lately because I have just been knitting baby hats and I have been working so much my brain just feels too tired to post. As for baby hats: I know too many pregnant women. My hockey fan friend's wife is expecting so they are getting a teal hat that I will iron a Sharks patch onto. And then there are the three or four women at work. Yikes, it is like a contagious disease at that school! One I don't intend to catch.

So, I have made three hats already, and am starting a fourth. I am looking forward to Stitches West this weekend, too. I have budgeted for it and I am taking a class on spinning. I also think I might be ready to graduate to an actual sweater or maybe a tank top or something. As long as it is not a hat!