New acquisitions

Lately I've been doing a little damage to the ole credit card with a few online purchases. Yarn mostly, of course. ;) One thing I got was some Simple Stripes yarn from KnitPicks. I like all of the stuff I've gotten from them previously, and they are quick and efficient with the ordering/shipping process. The project I have in mind is the Last-Minute Stripes Pullover from KnitPicks baby sweater, which is one of their free patterns. I think it's adorable, and couldn't wait to get started.

Of course, before I could get started I had to go get some new needles. I know, I know. I couldn't believe that in my stash of needles that I didn't have either size 1 or 2 straights. Or circs. Go figure. So off I went to my local JoAnn's (it's the closest place I have and often the first place I try for instant gratification). Found me some size 2 straights (them stinkers is LONG!...14") and also these. Nifty. Four 5-needle sets of teeny tiny DPNs...sizes 1, 0, 00, and 000. Way cool. But learned something interesting too. I just went in search of that link for here and found a review written which I think will be helpful...in it the reviewer suggests that once you figure out the sizes of each one, note them somewhere (they're color-coded). The reviewer, much like myself, didn't have a needle sizer that went that small. So, good advice.

But I digress. Went home and excitedly cast on for the little sweater (which, of course, only took up about a third of the length of those ridiculously long needles) and though I was loving the colors and the patterning that was taking shape, I was not so enamored by the texture. Too scratchy. I am sure that yarn is just fine for socks, but not a baby sweater! And this was the yarn they recommended. I knit onward for a little while longer but soon I had to come to the realization that this was not meant to be. So off I went to TheKnitter.com and found this yarn. This time I got some that I've actually met before (same yarn as my blue socks) and I think the fun pink/orange/yellow striping will be adorable as a little girl's sweater. Plus I got enough to make some matching socks for her mom! I am now waiting anxiously for this yarn to arrive.

The other part of my KnitPicks order was this pattern for sort of "faux" fair-isle socks. I think it looks like a lot of fun, and the self-striping yarn does all the work for you! To me the only trick will be lining up the colors to start with so they work right. And hopefully I'll get close to the same gauge so my colors will line up like they do in the photo. I decided to make it in the same colors as the picture shows, which happened to be the same colors as the sweater I was going to make. So I'd purchased 5 balls of this stuff, but have since returned 3 untouched ones.

Side note: Just had a nice chat with someone at KnitPicks. I was sitting here thinking about this and realized something. See, I'd placed a few orders online recently, and then one evening, we lost our credit card. Doh. So we scrambled around, took care of things, and then I had to call the places where I'd placed the orders and give them a different number. (And of course, as fate would have it, the two things that we have tied to our credit card number for automatic deductions BOTH renewed a day after we cancelled it. Figures. Could have had three weeks or so to get the new card in and take care of things, but noooo.) Anyway, I just realized that the yarn return I mentioned above would be credited to my old credit card. Hmm. So I just called them up, spoke to a very friendly and helpful lady who made a note in my account for someone to contact me when the return was received. So I'm all set for now. Anyway, just wanted to point out how nice they are there. (No affiliation...just a very satisfied customer.)