InsanKnitty

Ok, I’ve been looking forward to knitting with this yarn for ages.. I saw it at Michael’s and wanted to get it, the colorways were so beautiful, and it was silky soft… and then Chan raved about it, and how quickly it felts.. I just had to try it…

I bought some in white (well, Natural Snow) so that I could make some felted coasters for my tea swap pal. Today at long last (oh boy… my swap package needs to be sent tomorrow!)… cast on what I thought would make a great felted coaster… in black and white stripes… the black was with lion wool… and I worried that it would make the felting ‘weird’… however here are my observations..

While the SWS was silky soft,.. it split like crazy,…

I HATE knitting with it…

I finished up my first coaster… and stood diligently by my washer for fear of over felting… I tested and tested and tested… went through a FULL cycle… and still the thing hardly felted… Brought the bugger upstairs to our front loader machine (we have a set left behind from the previous home owner in our basement, which is quite nice.. and top load so I can check while felting)… the front loader makes felting difficult as it locks once the cycle starts so you can’t ‘check’ on the felting progress… I ran a full (short) cycle… and still the darn thing hardly felted… I’m on cycle number 3 now, and if it doesn’t felt.. I’m chucking the thing… weird!

Bummer though as now I need to quickly knit up some dishcloths for my pal… I had been counting on these coasters… grrrr

As a note to myself…

I should learn to not worry about other knitters comments, concerns, reviews whathaveyou with regard to yarns, needles, notions, and test them for myself… I have heard such horrible things about Noro Kuryeon and was quite worried about knitting with it… any my only complaint so far (after taking a LONG time to decide to give it a try)… is that it varies in thickness… it’s not itching my skin, and it’s knitting up quite beautifully… Sorry Patons but SWS bites (in my opinion)…

Chan.. there’s a skein and 3/4  3/4’s of a skein (can’t find the other one) headed your way… hope you have a use for Natural Snow…

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a while. Although we couldn’t share it as a whole family (Big Guy and Big Girl went to Rochester to a cross-country meet and won’t be home until later this evening.)

When I was little one of my favorite things to do in the fall was go apple picking. I looked high and low for a ‘Pick Your Own’ farm in our area, but couldn’t find any closer than 1 hour away…. Fortunately we had an invite to a party at an old friend’s home in NJ and there are a few pick your own farms along the way!

Yesterday morning we headed off to Strawberry Acres farm to pick MacIntosh and Jonagold apples! This farm was much bigger than I’d expected. In addition to apple picking, they currently have raspberry picking going on and offer picking of other fruits when in-season, including peaches, pears, cherries, and pumpkins. There were pony rides, a petting zoo, playground area, hay rides and they have weekend ‘daily’ crafts for kids. Middle guy was a bit bummed that he wouldn’t be allowed to climb the trees, but when he saw how easy it was to pick the apples he quickly forgot. It also helped that the ride out to the picking areas was in an old school bus with the top taken off and seats removed for long benches along each side! We picked WAY too many apples, but shared a bunch at our friends party and have lots planned for our remaining apples…

waiting for the bus it was windy and a bit chilly…

Fortunately there were tons of low hanging apples for little girl to get to!

Please can I eat one?

Half of our pickings!

After the picking we headed to NJ

(with a short stop on the way which I’ll explain after the crawdad’s)

Our friends from Rochester (well, that’s where I met them anyway) were hosting a ‘Mud Bugs and Beer’ party. Traditional Louisiana style crawfish boil and a beer tasting. It was really great to see them, especially since we haven’t since their wedding and now they have a cute little 8 month old guy…

Me and Lynn, the hostess with the most-ess!

We also got to see other old friends and their kids as well. It was great to catch up and actually have more than a few seconds to talk. This is Dawn and I… her little guy and our middle guy had fun playing together.

Some of the ‘many’ party guests…

Look Ma…

Ok… now for the side trip between the apples and the crayfish… There’s only one yarn shop near our home and it’s nearly a 40 min drive. I’ve actually gone there, and it’s nice, the owner is great and was very helpful, but I’ve been really looking forward to checking out The Yarn Shop, part of Kraemer textiles… Kraemer yarns are spun in Nazareth, PA! The shop is under renovation, which just means that they have a little less product in stock, but they do still maintain the full line of Kraemer yarns!

Here’s a bit of Yarn Porn.. I was so excited because I’ve been looking for some yellow wool to make a felted bag for my Mother-in-law for Christmas, and they had 3 (yes 3) different yellows to pick from!!! The ladies there were wonderful… and even gave middle guy a free bag of yarn from their dollar bin! He wants me to knit him something from it…

I mostly got felting wool (Naturally Nazareth, which is aran weight 100% domestic wool, and Mauch Chunky, 60% New Zealand wool, 40% domestic wool) for some Christmas bags I need to knit up… but I also picked up some super soft green shades of crystal palace Bunny Hop to knit some baby gifts for my dear friend Elizabeth who’s expecting her first baby in March!

ok… the knitting is calling… today’s a stay at home and relax and knit day! I’m nearly done with my felted bag for my swap and my tea swap will be done today too… ready to mail tomorrow which is the deadline day!

oh… and before I forget.. I’m so excited about something I’ve wanted to try for a long time now.. and finally just DID… .something for my HSKS3 pal… I need to work on my wire ends, but I really enjoyed making these… maybe there’s more in my future..