sweetgeorgia

The Red Phase

Shopping your own stash is a good thing. There are beautiful yarns that I bought and put in the stash for a reason… specific things I wanted to make but then forgot about. So picking through your stash, re-organizing, poking around… it gets you inspired to make those things again. Here’s what I picked up:

Plain and simple (if you pick up the errata on PURL’s site), I’m knitting the Hourglass Sweater from “Last Minute Knitted Gifts”. I bought the Cash Iroha in Japan for this very purpose. The time has come… for cashmere.

And for the Harlot’s Knitting Olympics, I’ve picked…

This beautiful skein of Zephyr was purchased at the Salt Spring Island Fibre Festival last summer. It’s about 1170 yards but the pattern specifies 1260 yards. I’m hoping I can knit this shawl without running out of yarn… because, well, that would suck.

Where Carders Come From

Yesterday morning, we took our little mini-road trip to Chilliwack, stopping only for coffee and doughnuts at Tim’s (because that’s what Canadians do on road trips). The drive was easy and we enjoyed the amazing sunny weather that is unusual for Vancouver in February.

Patrick and Paula win the prize for most adorable couple, ever. Paula showed us parts of her massive garden (raised beds for asparagus) and even gave us a couple homegrown apples. They helped unpack my new drum carder, plug it in and show us how to use, maintain and repair it. Since we came to pick up the carder, they included a few additional toys (I mean, tools) — a flicker and a double-sided “side flicker”. Patrick was happy to show us the other equipment that they are working on, including the Supercard and Triple Pickers — Richard was so impressed with the workmanship that he even said on the drive home that my next drum carder (whenever that might be) can be a Supercard — remember, you are all witnesses now!

So this is what I got, a Patrick Green 3-speed Powered Fancicard:

And here are the bits and pieces that accompanied the carder:

Of course, I started playing with it as soon as we got it home — I blended some green Border Leicester and blue Coopworth into…

So. Much. Fun.

Louboutin vs. Green

Have you ever met something so beautiful, it a) made your heart stop, b) make you feel sick and lightheaded, c) gasp audibly, d) all of the above? I’ve felt it… with a pair of shoes, nonetheless.

A few days ago, I saw (and, unfortunately for me, tried on) the most beautiful pair of Christian Louboutin shoes — they made me want to lie down and cry, they were so gorgeous. Strappy, sandal-y and classic, I could wear them everyday, forever. More than once that day, it crossed my mind that I could take all the pennies I’d been saving for my drum carder and blow it all on this one beautiful moment with the shoes.

However, in an attempt to curb potentially bad shopping activity, I called up Paula this morning and ordered my drum carder. That’s right, there’s a drum carder out in Chilliwack with my name on it and I’m going to pick it up this weekend…

Because fashion is fleeting and drum carders are forever, right? Right?