May 24, 2008

Six things I learned at WEBS

I had the supreme pleasure of going to WEBS again today. I know not everyone is so incredibly lucky, so I thought I'd share some of my acquired wisdom.

1. Knitters are awesome (though I knew that already).

MASW1

2. I am a twelve-year-old boy (not exactly breaking news either).

MASW2

3. When you want to knit a sweater, the WEBS annual sale isn't just a happy coincidence.

For months now, Kelley has been professing her love for the Must-Have Cardigan, in florid, romance novelesque terms. Coincidentally, I thought it looked like an especially fun knit, but had no desire whatsoever to actually wear it.

And so a plan was born - I would knit the sweater for her! In whatever color she wanted! Enter the WEBS annual sale, with particularly steep discounts on several ideal sweater wools.

I firmly believe it would be just plain irresponsible to ignore that kind of sign. Clearly, the knitting fates wanted me to buy a shitload of yarn.

4. You're gonna need a longer list.

I hoped my list would act as some sort of magical talisman last weekend, to keep me from being overwhelmed by the enormous quantities of reasonably priced wool. And it worked! Though having a really, really long list almost certainly helped with the whole "sticking to the list" thing...

Webs1

Last weekend's purchases, left to right:
- Burgundy/pink Cascade 220 Heathers (a sweater's worth)
- Brown/red Cascade 220 Heathers (a sweater's worth to keep me from getting bitter and envious about the yarn I bought for Kelley)
- Valley Yarns Huntington (one skein each chocolate brown and pale rose)
- Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in what I think of as the "Shag Me Rotten" colorway

Destined to be Kelley's cardigan, something fabulous in cables for me, the Endpaper Mitts and awesome, respectively. The awesome sock yarn was the only thing that wasn't on my list. But, DUDE, alpaca sock yarn discounted over 30%. And it looks like this:

Webs4

5. New yarn makes all your old yarn seem stupid.

After the first WEBS trip last Sunday I wanted to abandon every single one of the new projects I started recently. To make matters worse, today's WEBS trip was just a detour on the way to MA Sheep and Wool. And I already love today's newer new yarn way more than last weekend's new yarn.

Plus, baby's got a brand new spindle and some sweeeeet new fiber to play with (more on that later).

Thankfully, being a knitter (and currently flirting with at least three different socks herself), Kelley probably understands that her sweater might never actually be finished take a while. Which brings me to the last thing I've learned...

6. Teaching your friends to knit is always a good idea.

5 comments:

Elinor said...

You've lived my dream! Heh. It looks like a good haul.

Sarah said...

Wait, there were zombies at WEBS? I must have been in the warehouse deciding on Cascade 220 colors. Because as we know I am unprepared for a zombie attach. Someone save the Ultra Alpaca!

Jenny said...

It's true. New yarn DOES make your old yarn seem stupid. Stupid and OLD and boring. Until you rediscover the Arucania, and then you're like "arouwe?" and then your head explodes because you SIMPLY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH NEEDLES TO START EVERYTHING.

Our Zombie convo this weekend led to Ken and I making our official plans. Good thing, too, because really, it could happen at any time.

Karen said...

Ahhhhh, WEBS. Love the stuff you bought. :)

Anonymous said...

I expect my sweater as soon as I finish your socks. You know, that ball of yarn sitting in my hatbox? I'll get to it as soon as I finish my 35 socks in progress.... No really, I will! I blame the "new yarn makes old yarn stupid" theory..... *sigh*