little help?

So I mentioned that Needle Nook is having a Customer Spotlight Sale to raise money for ovarian cancer research. (You can click that second link for more information on the sale!) I hope lots of you will come check it out.

But I need your help. What sort of things would you like to see at a sale like this? It's spring in Atlanta, so I don't think anyone's looking for hats or scarves. I've got a few different ideas (that I'm not going to spill the beans on just yet), but I'm curious to find out what people are interested in.

Oh, No No Bad Kitty has a new favorite snack -- bamboo DPNs. Plus, this morning she pounced on Good Kitty while Good Kitty was trying to use the litter box. I'm starting to suspect that No No Bad Kitty is the devil.

Sometimes you can get what you want

I was walking out the door at Needle Nook last night when I said something along the lines of "wouldn't it be great if Malabrigo had sock yarn?" and NeedleNut said "here!" and reached behind the counter and handed me a tiny sample skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn. It's superwash, very soft, and lovely Malabrigo color as always. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Actually, I'm really looking forward to a lot of yarn. With Easter nearly here, I've lost sight of the contemplation that should go with my yarn fast, and I'm just acting like a really hungry person who can smell dinner cooking. I'm really a little afraid that I'm going to lose it and go on a massive yarn binge. I guess it's a good thing that yarn stores will be closed on Easter to slow me down.

....Oh, it's gonna be bad. I just found out Knitch will be open on Easter.

Mmmmmm, amigurumi

Eve is a crafty yarn pusher (pun intended). She lured me out to Needle Nook's knit night tonight by calling to let me know that the book I've been anxiously awaiting, Amigurumi Worldby Ana Paula Rimoli, had come in today. SO FREAKING CUTE. I think it's my favorite of the amigurumi books so far (though Eve and I are both impatiently waiting for Creepy Cute Crochet.I mean, who doesn't want to crochet a ninja?). Between all the amigurumi books and the needle felting cute animals books,it's a really good time for people who want to make cute animals. Though I must confess some irritation that the cutest kitty cats I've seen are knitted. Good thing I'm learning to knit, huh?

(Speaking of cute animals, Good Kitty is sitting on my feet to keep them warm. No No Bad Kitty is trying to sit on the space heater. No No Bad Kitty is also known as No No Dumb Kitty.)

I hadn't been to the Needle Nook's knit night before and I think I'm going to start making a habit of it, as the location is extremely convenient and Wednesday is the Mad Husband's night for tabletop RPGs with the boys. Everyone I met was really nice and I'm looking forward to learning from them. (Can you learn to knit by osmosis? Because if you can, I'll just handcuff myself to StringTheory2.0 and save some time.) Unfortunately I was running late tonight and just about the time I felt like I was getting a groove on in my sad little learning-to-knit swatch, it was time to leave. Also, while I've felt very little temptation to break my Lenten vow the past couple weeks, there were some beautiful new shinies that turned my head tonight. In fact, I asked Arlene if Needle Nook would be open on Easter Sunday (answer: no). I'm pretty sure that by Good Friday I'll be sitting on the sidewalk outside the yarn store scaring the people coming out with their purchases. "Hey man... can I sniff your yarn?"

Speaking of, now's a good time to mention that Eve and I are starting a crochet amigurumi group at Needle Nook this Sunday at 4 and if you're local, we would love to see you there! Actually, we'd love to see you even if you're not local, but we'll understand if you can't charter a plane to fly you out for an hour and a half.

To frog or not to frog, that is the question

Today I marked a project on Ravelry -- the Unseamly Sweater from SnB: The Happy Hooker -- "hibernating." I don't think I've worked on it since last August, and technically it's wearable; I think I weaved in the ends and all that's left to do is the lacy edging, which I could leave off anyway.

But you know that feeling you get when you realize that something is just never going to happen? Yeah. While theoretically I could knock out that lace edging in one evening, I just don't think I ever will.

I was so excited when I started that sweater. I picked it out of The Happy Hooker as my first "real" garment, as opposed to hats and scarves. And that was right around the time I started going to Knitch, and I was so excited because they had the recommended yarn, Cascade Sierra, in dozens of gorgeous colors. And it was the most I'd ever spent for one project, but that was okay because it kinda felt like my first real project, with sleeves and everything! I was so proud when I brought that yarn home. I felt like I was finally becoming a real crocheter.

And I learned a whole lot from that sweater. The initial chain stitch was way too small, and I did the seed stitch in the middle section all wrong and had to take the sweater to Needle Nook and ask Beth for help. I had to frog that thing so many times.

And back then, I thought I just couldn't figure it out and it was my problem, but now that I'm on Ravelry and can look at other versions of the sweater other crocheters have made and posted, I can see that a lot of people had some of the same issues I did. So later on this sweater helped me learn about design flaws, and trusting myself and finding workarounds (or, actually, begging on the internet for workarounds).

So the Unseamly Sweater is a bit of a nostalgia item for me, but it's also a sweater that I doubt I'll ever wear because I don't think the tight-fitting seed stitch middle is particularly flattering on me. And now that I've admitted I'll probably never finish it, I find myself thinking about what I could do with 1300 yards of Cascade Sierra in ruby.

It'll probably take a while for me to take the leap and actually frog the sweater, but I'm something of a packrat (actually, a huge packrat would be more accurate) and the fact that I'm willing to tear up something with sentimental meaning to get at the yarn really speaks to the depths of my yarn addiction.