Goodies

I realize this is heresy in some circles, but I'm anti-Rowan. I've only purchased one skein of Rowan yarn in my life: Kidsilk Haze, which I periodically try to knit up, then quickly stop because I absolutely hate it. Stupid tangly dental floss. This experience may have contributed unfairly to my anti-Rowan stance.

Whatever the reason, I had decided Rowan yarn was snotty and overpriced and not worth the money (again, I realize this may be completely unfair), and had resolved not to ever look at the their wooly delights available at my LYS. This stance changed rather drastically with the arrival of Vintage Knits in my house, courtesy of Knitpicks.



The book is beautifully photographed and had at least four sweaters I want to start immediately. Though I might have been better served just getting a Kim Hargreaves book (are there any?), as every single sweater I wanted was one of hers. More importantly, most of the sweaters I liked were knit in Felted Tweed, and I think the yarn is at least as much a part of their charm as the patterns themselves. If not more.

Given how gorgeous the yarns looked in the book, I decided I should at least look at them in real life. And holy crap, Felted Tweed might be one of the prettiest non-sock yarns I've ever seen.

So perhaps I've been too hasty in my dismissal of Rowan? Anyone know of a cheaper, but equally pretty, soft DK tweed that comes in gorgeous colors? Or should I just suck it up and shell out Rowan money? I've got a sizeable Webs gift certificate (thanks Kelley!) and will actually be there next weekend, so it might be a nice indulgence. And not too crippling with the Webs discount. What think you?

As mentioned in the last post, I also got a couple of color cards. The ladies in my knitting group were raving about Andean silk, so I wanted to check out the colors. None of the colors are calling to me right now, but the color card is an absolutely brilliant invention. Accurate color, plus you get to actually touch the yarn. And I can report that Andean Silk is indeed pretty and very soft.

The real prize from the Knitpicks box was Favorite Socks , though. This book has been well-described in other places - great patterns, good layout, etc. Top on the list for me are the Embossed Leaves and Waving Lace Socks, but there are at least a half dozen others I would happily knit. Really, a fantastic collection of patterns.

But first, the boyfriend has been agitating for a knitted gift. He first requested a sweater, which I informed him wasn't going to happen, given the Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater. So I told him to look through Favorite Socks and pick something. He picked these.



I dragged him to the LYS to pick out the colors (thus affording me a chance to fondle the Felted Tweed - I'm a sneaky one). Left to my own devices I would have chosen much more festive colors but dude really digs the beige. I also suspect he jumped on these because they specifically said Men's Hiking Socks and were clearly the least unmanly item in the entire book, but he claims to really like them. So I'll be knitting beige socks for a man with size 10 feet. That's love.

Before the yarn shop outing, the boyfriend and I were having a lively discussion about whether or not it's ok to knit during movies. I, of course, consider movies primo knitting time. He felt that movies should be watched together as a couply activity. So he (foolishly) posed the question to the ladies in the yarn shop. In unison they answered that of course they knit during movies.

When he said 'Wow, these really are your people,' one of the knitshop ladies said, without missing a beat, 'Well, you are in a yarn shop. We tend to gather here.' They even affirmed the Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater, bolstered by a real-life post-sweater breakup tale.

And finally, the last time I was at A Good Yarn, I speculated on whether one of the employees was this blogger. In fact, she is that blogger. And she's one hell of a sock knitter. The best part? Her name is Ariel, too!