Yarn Crawling!

I can't believe I had another bad insomnia night last night! I really did not want to know what was on HGTV at 2 AM, thank you... (it's Income Property, if you wondered). Just like the incidence last week, I fell asleep, but woke an hour or so later and tossed and turned forever. I did doze after I went back to bed at 2:30, but it was not refreshing sleep.

In fact, when the alarm woke me, I decided there was no way I could go to work on time (gosh, I'm not doing well on that lately), so I went to call my boss to leave a message to that effect, and somehow called her cell phone number instead of work (at 6:15 AM!), thank god she was up already but how embarrassing. Unisom tonight, and possibly for a while after. I can't take this nonsense, especially on top of the time change.

It was only two weeks ago, at my physical, that I was telling the doctor that I don't usually have trouble sleeping, and I've been a total mess since then, comparatively speaking. Yuck. I was just joking when I named that peculiar "cold" that I had last week the Sleeping Sickness, but you know, I may have been onto something.

On to happier topics! I alluded in yesterday's post of random photo-ness to the Day of Yarn Crawling that I had with two knitting friends on Saturday, but let me tell you more. In short: it was awesome! We hit seven* of the twelve participating stores, four of them new to me, and I had a great time without spending a ton of money (yes! it is possible!).

*Which was probably too much, too be honest; I was pretty zombified in the last one.

Many of the stores are far enough from me to require a plan to visit, not a drop in, but it's great to know they're there so that if I'm in the neighborhood, I can stop by. It's always a visual and tactile experience to see so much yarn in a day, and I was certainly overloaded by the end. (And after dinner with family friends, I went to bed early and slept fine Saturday night, fyi.)

Some specific store notes:

• One of the stores, Loom'N Shuttle in Ipswich, had lots of fabric, as well as yarn and an impressive selection of notions:

• Village Stitchery in Topsfield was much bigger than it looked from outside, with a really good selection and some very cute sample items.
• Cranberry Fiber Arts in South Hamilton had several rooms leading around to get happily lost in, and carried Lantern Moon needles, always good for coveting. We were amused by their sign; YA! RN!
  

• Creative Yarns in Beverly is a new store--just opened last week!--and has a really nice space with lots of light, and places to sit and knit a while. Their inventory was not the largest, but there's room for plenty more, and they carry Knitpicks needles.
• Coveted Yarn in Gloucester was my favorite last year, and probably still is. They've expanded somewhat since last I was there, and are just generally a great shop that I wish I lived closer to. Fantasy LYS!
• Maybe next year I'll make it to the stores in Newburyport and Marblehead; maybe even before next year! Not that I need to buy yarn for a while...
  

Some general notes:

• In at least three stores, I picked up and drooled over Cascade Eco Duo yarn. I have to decide what I want to make with this, because I crave it. I did stop myself from buying it without a plan, but that's mostly because without a plan, it's hard to know how much to buy. Me wants it, though.
• I have alpaca magnetism. How else to explain that most of the yarns I picked up were soft, lovely alpaca?
• I wore my new knitting t-shirt again (Knitting: It's sitting for creative people), and it was commented on more than once. Also, the "Don't get between me and the sock yarn" button.
• All the employees I heard or dealt with were super-nice. It has to be an exhausting four days for them, but they all seemed happy to be doing what they were doing.
  
• I bought a knitting needle, some stitch markers, and only enough yarn for a pair of socks. Regia is supposed to be a very durable sock yarn, and these colors just grabbed me. It's a winter thing.
  

Now the sad knitting news I also alluded to yesterday. I brought my sock-in-progress with me on Saturday, and worked on it some of the time in the car. Seeing it in sunlight for the first time in a while, the yarn didn't seem as dark as I had been thinking it was lately, which was a good feeling.


I was very happy with the progress I was making, and yesterday decided to take some pictures, to capture its status.


As I finished, I decided to take an on-the-foot picture, and, well. It's too small.


Oh, I got it on. The whole sock is only too-snug, not impossible to get on. But the cast-on edge is so tight, it was almost impossible to get on. Sigh.

So I'll probably have to frog it, which makes me sad, unless I decide it's time to make socks for someone other than me, which I'm not sure about (since obviously, even having my own feet with me at all times does not guarantee a sock that fits). It's going into hibernation while I decide. I'm thinking some Socks That Rock socks might cheer me up, in the interim. How nice to have STR on hand to comfort me.