This is part of my haul from the recent demise of Threadquarters. I think these balls of Brazilia Color were around $2 a ball. I usually get my yarn for the novelty scarves I make for the now-defunct Holiday Boutique from their bargain bin, and this year will have to be the last, I guess. Sniff. I bought 12 balls, thinking that 3 balls would make a scarf and I'd have 4 to donate.

Ta-Da! I made one child's scarf (4 feet long) and a little purse out of ONE BALL! Yay! So now I can make 12 things to donate out of $24 worth of yarn. That is, if I actually knit them all. Yeah, I will. November will crack the whip. The Urban Knitters will still have a sale, though without the appetizers passed on trays by local celebrities. I'll keep you posted. And I'm sure all donations will be accepted, if anyone is so inclined. Donations of yarn would be appreciated as well, as there are poor college students in the group who would like to help too. Of course, if November ever got her own blog, she could tell you all this herself... Oh, wait, there is one that no one ever posts to. Never mind.

Details: One ball of Brazilia Color. Scarf: 15 stitches garter stitch on sz 13 straights, 4' long. Purse: 18 stitches on sz 7 straights, garter stitch until you have about 3' of yarn left, bind off all but the last 3 stitches, then i-cord on sz 6 dpns until you have just enough left to bind up that side. If you work it right you can use your cast-on tail to bind up the other side. This little purse has a lot of stretch and will hold a video ipod or a cell phone, or nail polish, lip gloss and a picture of Scott Baio Jesse McCartney if she is so inclined.

It just opens and opens and opens and you know that all those little joints and blossoms are people and it's just so very cool!

Wanna try?

These are all of the green WIPs I found lurking in baskets and bags around my place. At the top, greyish-green, is Fletching. On the bottom right are two balls of Alpaca Cloud in Tidepool, someday to be Etsy's scarf (I think that's what it's called...or my etsy obsession is really starting to take over....) or is it Eenie's scarf, something like that, from Scarf Style. Bottom is Branching Out, or at least, 3 pattern repeats of it. And on the left is a Fuzzy Foot and the yarn for a second. On top of the pile is the project that I had hoped to start and finish in May - Backyard Leaves.

I lost some time on this project due to a false start. I used sz 7 needles as the pattern recommended at first (left) but switched to 9s instead (right). I liked it much better. At least, it was somewhat resembling scarf width and "flatness" rather than the 3D version of a yarn leaf sculpture that the 7s were giving me. I got through 1/2 of it, and...you know. (This is one of those scarves that you knit in 2 halves and sew together at the center.) It was off the needles. It was forgotten. I can't say that I'm very crazy about it either. It looks nothing like the picture. I used Wool of the Andes instead of the pretty stuff in the model. Actually, I think it was my first stash-buster type of project - using yarn that had no current purpose (original purpose being discarded when I saw the color in person.) So, it has that going for it, but not much else.

As for June, you all know that it's back to Bobble Hell, so I don't want to talk about it. Too depressing.

I blame her entirely. She flaunts these beautiful handpainted sock yarns online for all the world to see, tells you where to buy them, keeps buying them, keeps showing them to you .... I have no will of my own. Must. Buy. Sock yarn.
On the top (unwound because I forgot to ask - yes, these wonderful yarn artists will even wind your yarn for you!) is a superwash merino yarn in "The Shy Pea Hen" by Yarnahoy. On the bottom are two selections, "Dorothy" and "Melissa" by RubySapphire Yarns. also superwash. They are really beautiful yarns, I can't wait to use them, and you should all go to Etsy right now and support these people. Go just a little broke. But don't blame me - blame Ann.

Yesterday was a busy, busy day. It started with the Race for the Cure, which I documented on Spinster. I walked with my company team, which is a fiasco of a story that makes my company look bad (they do this without even trying) so I'm open to joining a different team next year. What do you knitters think of forming a team? What would we call it? The name should include those non-knitters so my Mom can come too.

Then, just to be sure that I was really tired, I walked around the CWE Art Fair and Taste. Can't say much for the art. Mostly it was a lot of jewelry. Usually I find a piece of pottery or something that wants to come home with me, but not this year. I checked out the Green Market. It's tiny. If they and the Tower Grove Farmers Market would join up, they'd have something worthwhile. And the setting in TGP is much nicer. I like to go to markets for the people-watching and to get out of my apartment on a weekend morning, but I rarely find anything that I want to buy. (An RFT Article from May 31st called "Produce Row" gives some perspective on the Farmers Market situation in STL.)

Back to the Art Fair, the Taste part is usually good, if alcohol-heavy. I sampled the new Skinny Dip beer by New Belgium, makers of Fat Tire. I like it a lot and will be picking some up soon. I have a nostalgic fondness for New Belgium products. When I first got out of college I lived in Denver for a summer. Back then you could only get Fat Tire locally and I really loved it. I was just discovering microbreweries after growing up in Budweiser City, and I will always remember New Belgium (which then I think was Fort Collins Brewery, but I could be wrong) with a special fondness.

Feeling fully exhausted, I stopped by Shaw's Coffee on the way home for an iced latte and a chance to sit down and page through the RFT. I like Shaw's Coffee a lot, but I'd love them if they were open evenings and Sundays. Wi-fi wouldn't hurt either. I only go every couple months. But as far as independent coffee houses go, it's definitely the classiest. If you've never been there, you should check it out. Just not after 5pm or on Sundays.

Then it was home for a shower and clean clothes and the knitting portion of the day. I headed over to Ann's
for Worldwide Knit in Public Day, made ever more public by the tour bus that drove by a couple times. It was nice to catch up with Ann, who I haven't seen in years, meet new people, hear about a LYS I've never been to, and enjoy the outside in a shady spot. All of you who missed out (especially you county folks who think its soooo faaar to drive into the city) well, you missed out. Her neighborhood is so gorgeous that ... well ... tour buses drive through!

Then, as if that wasn't a full day, I headed to Forest Park for the Shakespeare Festival's production of "Julius Caesar". I got there around 5, found a perfect spot for my blanket, drank some wine, people-watched, knitted a row once in a while, and enjoyed the antics of the pre-show performers until just about 8. That's when the sky got black and lightning flashed on the horizon and I packed up along with most of the other folks and headed out. I got to my car just as the downpour began. I'll try to go back this week to catch the show, but I don't feel that the evening was wasted - it was cool and fun and relaxing.

So, that was my Saturday. Today? Serious couch time with some foreign films and the kitties and some charity knitting. Possibly create a few more posts for this week. If the sky looks better later on than it does now I might go for a walk. Maybe play in my martini bar. Mostly I'm just forgetting that I have to go back to my hellmouth of a salt mine tomorrow.

Cara is supporting my favorite charity, Heifer International, in a very big way. Donate through this page, and every $10 gives you a slip in the drawing for a spinning wheel. Check her June 7th post for details.

So yesterday I finally e-mailed the guy and told him I still hadn't received the photo software. He said he'd send another. And guess what was on my doorstep when I got home. Yep. Postdated the day he'd said he sent it - May 24th. And yesterday was one of the rare days that I didn't take my laptop home.

So today I brought the disk and the camera with me to work to get crackin' on these photos. And I forgot the cable.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Threadquarters saying that they'll be closing due to lack of a buyer. I went in today and she says that she's still hopeful, but they will probably end up closing for good. In anticippation of that, everything in the store is 30% off.

Everything. Seriously. Noro? 30% off. Rowan? 30% off. Lantern Moon needles? Yes, dearies, 30% off. The only thing that I couldn't get her to sell me was her old store copy of Interweave Knits Spring '04. I did pick up 3 old Rebeccas and several other patterns, and some basic tools like an extra stitch counter clicker thingy. But the 2 pairs of Lantern Moons make me all warm inside. There isn't enough yarn in any particular color for a sweater, that I can tell, but plenty if you want to do scarves or mittens or hats or whatever. And half the store is for needlepointing if you're so inclined.

This Saturday I'll be in Compton Heights to participate in St. Louis' KIP day that Anne has so thoughtfully organized, but then I think I'll be heading to Forest Park to knit a while before The Shakespeare Festival performs "Julius Caesar." Anyone want to join me?

And no, the *&%#%()* photo software has still not arrived.