Joshua and Bevin

What could possibly be going on during April that would have me so excited?

Well, it has to be related to something I’m into these days, right?  It’s too long for any kind of concert, and it isn’t the time of year for most festivals here in Seattle.  What is it then?

The Knitting & Fiber Expo

Oh yes, that’s right.  At the Marriott in Sea-Tac, by the airport.  Lots of vendors will be there from all over the pacific northwest (well, I inferred as much due to the fact that some were coming from Oregon, I didn’t look up everybody).

I feel quite lucky that we here in Seattle get to have something as cool as this… the only other cool expo that I usually want to go to is PAX.  Which actually will suck a bit more this year, because it used to be at the Meydenbauer Center right here in Bellevue, two blocks from our apartment, at least until last year, when they realized that they were finally too big for that venue, and moved it to the Washington Convention Center in downtown Seattle for ’07.  Way to make things difficult, guys.  -grin-

Okay, enough about PAX.

Other snippets that I’ve read about knitting expos in other parts of the country say that there’s a lot of swag to collect… sometimes you get free needles, or samples of new yarns, etc., although I’m skeptical for this one because I think the vendors are yarn shops, not yarn manufacturers, so new product won’t actually be theirs.  Who knows, it should still be lots of fun.  I’m going to have to save some cash for it though.

Man am I excited.  Woo!

Why yes you can!

I spent a good chunk of today organizing my yarn and UFOs, but I also spent a good chunk of time calling various yarn stores trying to find Crystal Palace Yarns’ Bunny Hop in either Soft Aqua or Teal Lake.

At first I was calling fine establishments in Seattle that I either haven’t been to, or want to go to again, mostly as an excuse to visit this week. But of course neither Fiber Gallery nor Weaving Works had what I was looking for, so I had to go to other sources.

I lucked out on my next call, because I found what I was looking for at Pacific Fabrics & Crafts. Well, I called the Bellevue location and the Northgate location and both of them only carried one of the two colors I was after: Soft Aqua.

Soon afterwards Josh arrived home and we were off! (zoom)

Once we’d arrived I was fairly sure that the aqua color was going to be the way to go.  I had a bit of a chat about it with Josh, and we decided that with all the heat during the summer it would just be better that way.  The yarn came to a total of about $50, which my mom says she’ll help cover, which will be nice.

As far as needles go, I did have to buy a new set of those.  29″ size 8 circulars.  I’d forgotten to print out the pattern and bring it with me (which would have been the smart thing to do), so I went and looked at the gauge for the right needle size.  I knew that all of the circs that I already owned were more for making felted items, thus having too large of a needle size.

In the end the pattern actually said I needed size 9 circs, but I’m not going to worry about it, because I already have a nice set of size 9 Addi Turbo circulars sitting in my UFO box… with an UFO on them.  Heh.  Seems silly to buy two of the same needle, and at the very least it will just be more encouragement to finish what I’ve already started, should it turn out that I just have to use the size 9s.

The yarn does feel really nice though.  It isn’t quite as soft as I would have thought it would be, but the reviews online say it will bloom a bit post-wash.  And the color is really nice.

Oh!  And I found the most awesome thing while I was there.  The Holiday 2006 VOGUEknitting issue!  I saw a FO posted in a LiveJournal community the other day that was a woven scarf pattern taken from that magazine, and I totally fell in love.  Whilst explaining how the construction worked for the scarf to the many admirers, the knitter had unwittingly given me just enough information that I might have been able to re-create it myself, but actually finding this issue myself and being able to buy it will be much easier.  I’m quite happy with myself that I thought to ask if they had any back issues.  It turns out that after a certain date, the stores selling it are required to rip off the cover and send them back to the company if they don’t sell them all, something I’m quite glad they didn’t do.

I am definitely making this scarf right after I finish my linen stitch scarf, baby blanket, and lace scarf respectively.  Maybe I’ll even get the linen stitch scarf done tonight!  /sarcasm

Who would have thought that I’d actually be able to organize all of my yarn… and in one day!  I spent this morning separating out all the yarn I want from the yarn I don’t want, and putting it away accordingly.  Josh and I have some plastic tubs that we got from his parents that used to have books in them, but we’ve managed to get some other plastic drawers to put them in, so they’ve been empty for a few days.

Deciding which yarn I wanted to keep and which I wanted to go wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be… there’s just so much of it that I have no plans for that has been sitting in my knitting basket for upwards of a year now.

So all of my partially used yarn balls (which are already individually bagged) went into the new plastic bin, along with my UFOs, my Knifty Knitter loom knitting set, and all of the yarn I’ve put up for swapping (all bagged as well). I kept yarn I still plan on using that’s in full skeins in my fun woven knitting basket, and of course the needles are still in their knitting case, and the notions are still in the tupperware container.

Knitting awaits!

As some of you who talk to me on a regular basis already know, my cousin Kristen just had her baby, Evan. Well, when I say “just” I mean on February 7th of this year. Why this idea didn’t occur to me earlier (say, when she was pregnant?) is anybody’s guess, but I’ve decided to knit her a baby blanket.

I’ll admit, I know little about the construction of baby blankets, but I have a few things in mind:

1.) It has to be large – My mom tells me that her pet peeve when I was little was the fact that her baby blankets were too small to really wrap me up in… in order to get them to really cover me she’d have to tuck in all the corners in some crafty way and hope they didn’t pop out.

2.) It can’t have holes in it (aka, no lace) – Obviously we can’t have his little fingers getting caught in it.

3.) It can’t be too dense/heavy – I’m kind of guessing on this one, but I’m assuming a lighter-weight blanket would do better in California, especially considering that we’re coming up on summer, and it’s going to be big anyway.

Anyway, keeping those points in mind I’ve picked this free pattern, and I’m going to use the suggested yarn in either Soft Aqua or Teal Lake. It should be pretty. Tomorrow I’m off to call the Fiber Gallery in Seattle to see if they carry those two colors… hopefully I’ll get a chance to look at them and feel (read: fondle) them before I make my final color decision. That, and I haven’t been to the Fiber Gallery yet, but my mom (who’s been there twice) says it’s really fun. Here’s to knitting baby blankets!