Yarny Goodness

Friday night, I had dinner with my good friend Salwa. She used to work with me, and now works at a travel book publisher. She brought me a copy of Twinkle's Weekend Knits for my birthday (long past-that's how long it's been since I've seen her!). I'm always glad to get knitting books, especially books like this, that I never would have picked out for myself. I am not a huge fan of Twinkle's designs. I think I'm probably a little old to appreciate the giant plastic buttons and super-bulky silhouette, but there are a few cute things that I would knit...


The first one, the Nightfall Cropped Top, is cute. I think I could wear that over a button down to work, and over a tank for weekend wear. It also wouldn't take much of her overpriced, pilly yarn to make. The blanket is really pretty, but I know I'll never knit it. I have pets who would totally ruin it faster than you can say NO SUGAR DON'T SIT ON THAT NOT ON MY BLANKET BAD GIRL!!! The purple sweater I would totally make, except not in purple, and probably not until I win the lottery and can afford the 800 balls of yarn it would take to make. Other than that, there are some really cute scarves, which would make very good christmas presents for coworkers, and a beanie/beret type hat, which I could also see making.

One thing I'll say for the Twinkle yarn is that it is really soft. I got a chance to feel some today, as a matter of fact. Spanky and I took Stella for a tour of the neighborhood. We stopped by Van Vorst Park downtown for the Jersey City Library Book Festival, where I forced Spanky to apply for her own library card, and the librarians forced her to take a gift bag with a free copy of Fahrenheit 451 in it. I wasn't actually going to keep mine--my sister is a HS teacher who needs books for her classroom, but I think I might read it before I send it down. I just finished my book (totally awesome, by the way!) and am at a loss at the moment for reading material.

Then we carried on to the Jersey City Museum. Spanky wanted to check out their gift shop, and as we were coming out, we saw this:



Evangelical bigots parading down the middle of JC. There were floats and everything. In case you can't tell, they are carrying signs that say Marriage=One Man and One Woman, Let the People Vote, which I guess is a reference to the fact that gays can get civil unionized (NOT MARRIED, you morons) in Jersey and that it was passed by the state legislature and governor without being on a ballot. I don't know why the churches have gotten their panties in a knot NOW, when this was done last year (two years ago? i don't even remember). I guess maybe because of the election in November? Anyway, right behind the people with the marriage signs was a group with a banner that read "Jesus Loves Everyone". Yeah. EXCEPT GAYS, APPARENTLY.



Anyway, after that disheartening experience, we carried on again, over to Jersey City's first knitting cafe, The Stockinette. I got the email yesterday that they were open, and of course had to go check it out ASAP. It's really pretty inside. The cafe is well-stocked with homemade goodies, and there are plenty of tables. The cupcakes got a rave review from Spanky. I got a blondie for myself, and it was tasty! Plus, we found out our favorite barista from the coffeeshop near our house is now a partner in the cafe, and that's awesome.

What there isn't plenty of is yarn. YET. I do love what they have--really high end, nice stuff. A tiny little carousel of needles and notions, and a few pattern books. Just a few, but they were the new Classic Elite pattern collections, which are awesome. The back garden is also really nice, with 4 or so tables with lots of seats. It would be really nice to have our knitting group meet outside there sometime. The only thing I worry about is that I think if she doesn't expand and get more yarn and notions, etc, then there's going to be a problem. I can see outgrowing her selection very quickly. Right now, it's more like a boutique than a fully functioning yarn store, but she's still getting her feet wet, and getting used to running a business. I think people need to support her, so she'll be able to expand, hopefully. There's not a huge amount of room in there, but she still needs more than the brands that she carries, and she DEFINITELY needs more books and notions. I'm really excited that the store is finally open, and I'm definitely going to be back. She carries Debbie Bliss! Everyone in JC needs to head down there and check it out. The class schedule will be ready soon. And of course I didn't leave empty handed:




I got two skeins of Merisoft Hand Painted merino, from Punta Yarns. SO SOFT and SO PRETTY. I'm going to make myself a new scarf with them, much later this fall/winter. Perhaps I'll try the My-So-Called Scarf again.

I also picked up Classic Elite's Autumn Book 2 because it has some of the really great CE patterns that I've been seeing in their ads and online. I love almost all of the 19 patterns in there. Click the link to see the full spread, and let's leave this post on a happy note. Ahh....