Alright, who stuffed a few extra days into this week?

Whew. I am SO glad it is the weekend. It was such an insane week at work, I asked my boss for Monday off. I told her that I had to purposeful reason for asking other than the fact that I was sick to death of the sight of the place. So it’s a 4-day weekend for yours truly.

I did find time to put a teensie bit of a dent on Picovoli.



And I also started on Jaywalker.


I just couldn’t resist the Lorna’s laces yarn. This is my first pair of socks. Wish me luck!

I was also able to start plying the blue stuff.



I’m not doing cartwheels over it but I suppose it’s an improvement over my last attempt at long draw.

I also found time for a “little” retail therapy.

Along my little therapy trip(s), I picked up Suzan Mischer’s Greetings from Knit Café. I really like the patterns in this book. There is the cutest little dress pattern and a GORGEOUS gown. Although, I have no idea how practical the gown would be. I’ve been feeling the pull towards my crochet hooks again but I really wasn’t jazzed over any of the patterns I have so also picked up Melissa Leapman’s Cozy Crochet and Debbie Stoller’s crochet book The Happy Hooker. I have to confess, I was never really able to jump on the Stitch n’ Bitch craze. I really never went too nuts over the patterns, don’t ask me why, it’s not that I don’t think the patterns are neat or inventive but it didn’t really strike a cord with me. But this book I like. I think there are several patterns in there I will really enjoy making. The other book I picked up (finally) was Mason-Dixon Knitting. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. I love the philosophy behind it, I love the patterns. I’ve had my eye on it for months and just had to get it.

I also happened to pick up Knitscene. I haven’t read any other posts about this, although, I’m sure there are a few but I’m guessing this might be a love it or hate it issue in Knitter World. Who knows, maybe some of the patterns will end up on You Knit What but I really really like the projects in this issue. They’re very interesting to me and appeal to my romantic side, particularly these two.



Oh! Speaking of interesting and romantic knitting, have you checked out the progress of Eunny’s GORGEOUS gorgeous top. MAN, that lady is talented.

Anyway, back to retail therapy (yes, there’s more, you knew there’d be more). Another craft I wanted to breathe some life back into was my sewing. I’ve just been blah about the skirt I’ve been working on. So blah, in fact that I haven’t really posted about it.



I was never crazy about the fabric and I just wasn’t getting anywhere with it. So, when I was able to get a breather from work, I took a walk over to the Fabric District. I found these at Win Mil and I bought new patterns…


…and new fabric.



The people at Win Mil were wonderful. As I said, I’m new at this so all help is greatly appreciated. When I was looking around bewildered, there was always a “May I help you?” And when I brought my items to the register, the woman at the counter noticed the zipper I had chosen for one of the projects. She asked me what I was going to use the zipper for and suggested another, more appropriate (and much less expensive) zipper. I don’t know about you but I really miss the long forgotten process known as customer service. I’m not saying I want people to fawn over me or be looking over my shoulder every two seconds but when did the memo go out saying that “please”, thank you” and “have a nice day” were all being replaced with “mmm hmmm”. What is that? And don’t get me wrong, I know it’s a tough job. I did it for years and years. But I think it’s a sad statement when DH and I go to a store, happen upon someone knowledgeable and polite and say “Wow, he/she was actually nice.” Forgive me if I’m being platitudinous here but ugh.

In other news, I’m a bit bummed because I can’t go to Sunday Spinners today. My cable has been on the fritz since last Saturday. So we have a tech coming out today and you know how that goes. He’ll be here between the hours of “blah” and “blah”. My internet has been flapping as well. Fun is…DH has a competition on The Cape today so I guess I drew the short straw. Oh well. More time for crafting…