I’m beside myself, or near myself, or something. I’m so tired that I had to look at my birth certificate to be sure of my middle name today. It’s a sorry excuse for not blogging, but when I get back to the hotel room I keep falling asleep by accident. I have a few minutes here in the Pittsburgh Airport (Did you know Pittsburgh *is* Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood?) so I’ll tell you as much as I can before they call the flight. Here’s what I’ve been doing.
Wednesday Evening I was at home in Toronto for this…
That’s Sam playing the french horn. (She’s really quite good.)
That’s the sock figuring out how long the concert is. (It is important to use the schedule to work this out. It is impossible to properly judge the length of a school concert since they warp the time space continuum.) Wednesday evening was the last normal moment I remember.
Thursday afternoon:
The sock at Habu Textiles in New York City. Note the change in my location, Toronto – New York. (The sock loves Habu Textiles. It’s like the best buffet in the world. You pick what you want from the sample skeins on the wall and then a lady disappears into the back and comes back with your stuff. It’s like all you can eat for knitters. The sock suffered near fits when it realized that there was Shropshire laceweight to be had for about $1.37 per 307m. Cassie and I felt that the sock was not under-reacting, and we each now own….
a lot. Almost 3000m. I have conflicting feelings about this amount of yarn. I stood there in Habu trying to figure out if it was *too much*. During a weak moment I actually asked Cassie if she wanted to split one before we both came to our senses. At this price there was really no reason (except for that it’s an incredible amount of yarn) to not have it. 3000m for less than $12 pushes some kind of button for me. I see the price, the world goes a little black around the edges, I see flashing visions of enormous lace extravaganzas and next thing I know I’m on a NY sidewalk with 3000m of laceweight and a slightly dizzy feeling. I dare a laceknitter to go in there and come out without it. (The new laceweight is seen here reclining gracefully on the carpet in the hotel. I have a theory that there is only on carpet supply place for all hotels. It is almost eerily identical everywhere I’ve been.)
The sock saw The Empire State Building. I really love NY, it reminds me of Toronto, except that it is so iconic that you are stunned at every turn. You round a corner and think “Oh, I’ve been here” then realize that it’s really just that you have seen “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” or that you watch way, way too much “Law and Order”. It’s a wonderful place. (I haven’t forgotton I owe you the pictures from the first NY event.)
Reeling from our score, Cassie and I headed off to The Yarn Connection, a charming little local where I got nothing, but did work some voodoo on Cassie to get her to buy Kid Silk Haze for Birch. (We were back in the hotel room before she knew what had happened. I’m that good.) On the way back to the hotel we were walking along when I realize that I recognize a lovely wee baby in the stroller out front. I was trying to figure out what episode of “Law and Order” she was in when it hits me…
It’s baby Jaime from CurlsandPurlsNYC! With her is her charming Mummy Elisabeth, who I didn’t recognize straight off, but that baby!
What a treat. (Lets try to overlook that knitbloggers are now roaming the streets in sufficent numbers to run into each other at random moments, and that I can recognize the daughter of a complete stranger at 10 paces, and that I made an innocent babe hold the sock. It was lovely.)
Whoops….there’s my flight. More when my feet are on the ground.
Goodbye Pittsburgh, it’s been a slice.
Love the laceweight! And baby Jaime is adorable. How bad is it when one finds herself with a bad case of envy for a sock’s adventures?
3000m….that’s like…enough to do a spider queen shawl. With, like, 300m to spare. Suddenly the world snaps into perspective on exactly how much 3000m is. 3 KILOMETERS of yarn. You could stretch that yarn all the way from my house to your house and half way back again.
I’m glad I was sitting down when I figured that out. And I’m glad that it’s you that’s knitting it. 😉
http://www.blackberry-ridge.com/spdrquen.htm
No wonder you keep falling asleep it’s all the excitement lesser knittters would faint at the thought of walking down the street with 3000m of any yarn without the guilt of spending a small fortune.
Does the sock have to take little naps now and then too?
New York looks fantastic – I had similar I’ve been here sensations the first time I was in Syndey until I realised that I watch too many travel shows and have endured years of relatives photos of visits to the exact same spot!
Safe travel take care of the sock.
Molly
I can’t really even imagine 3000m of laceweight yarn, but it seems kind of scary. The good news is that you got it at such a steal (I didn’t even know you could buy any real amount of yarn for $12!) and you will make something fabulous with it (as only you can). I’m glad you had another successful trip. Welcome home.
sounds like a good trip so far! 🙂
Too much? You were really with the wrong person to ask that question.
Oh how we missed you… no more sleeping on the blog!
May you arrive home safe and sound.
I’m very guilty of watching way, way too much L&O. 🙂
Can’t wait to see what you do with the Habu laceweight!
Laceweight barely weight a thing, and I’d bet it tucks nicely into a suitcase, barely adding any volume at all….which leaves lots of room for more yarn!
two words….Doink Doink! *for those non law and order people..that’s the dingy noise for commercial breaks* I’m reading the Bookbookbook and I must say it’s the funniest thing ever!
I’m from Pittsburgh, and I thought everyone knew that we grew Capt. Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers there. Enjoy the next leg of your trip!
Laceweight for that price??? I am drooling (not a good thing for a judge to do, ruins the stern looks) and planning a great escape to NYC and Habu or being one of instant gratification ilk wonder if they have a web site where I can order some RIGHT THIS MINUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Holly
Hey – about the hotel carpet – you are almost right. Interface Carpeting is the largest carpet manufacturer in … the world? That might be an exaggeration, but yeah, they do most of the hotels, motels, hospitals, theatres, universities… big buyers. The good news is that the owner is a strong enviro and they recycle their used carpet to make more. I know some folks who work there – they make carpet seem neat.
Thank heaven. I was suffering withdrawal!
Please won’t you be my neighbor. I love Mr. Rogers. I love the fact even more that his mother knit all his cardigans, and he always requested one with a zipper. He’s sorely missed, but my parrot (and yes I said parrot) still watches his program each week. (he also watches Sesame Street – children’s programs are good for parrots minds to develop and not get bored preventing bad behaviors like feather plucking). But I digress. Have a great day.
Bad, bad woman. Pointing me in the direction of laceweight yarn for mere pennies.
Horrible, you are.
I desperately wanted to get to Greensburg, but instead I got to go to court and watch some people insist that their dog did not bite my child on the butt.
Much, much less fun.
That laceweight is such a find! And the price is CRAZY!! You had to get it. That sock gets around 🙂
I can’t wait for those NY pics!
OMG, I will soon get to roam the streets of New York for a few days (Law & Order, NYPD Blue, CSI:NY — it’ll be deja vu everywhere!) and I’m SO EXCITED! Habu Textiles is definitely on my list…
Can’t…breathe…lace…so… beautiful…so…cheap…
We ARE everywhere, slowly taking over the world one city at a time ;-).
Oh, almost forgot…good job Sam – French Horn ain’t easy, but it sure sounds pretty when its played right. And good job mum – you made it through another concert, sock and sanity still intact.
So, I have to ask. In the picture of the sock figuring out how long the concert is going to last – is that someone wearing the “libraries matter” bracelet I gave you? It sure looks like the same color blue so I’m hoping it is.
Sounds like you had fun but I bet it’s great to be home again.
You bought THREE KILOMETERS of yarn??
Wow.
I look at that gi-normous skein. I look at my dyepot. Oh the possibilities!
p.s. At that price, you ONLY bought three kilometers?
What restraint.
You visited my LYS! 🙂 The Yarn Connection is my favorite NYC yarn shop. Sounds like I need to check out Habu though. 3km… amazing! Are they strictly wholesale?
Yes, we are Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. Try explaining the difference between TV and the real world to your 5 year old when Mr. Negri’s music store *is* the local music store where he takes violin lessons and the martial arts school *is* the local school where he takes Judo….
Sorry I missed you while you were here, I was just leaving work @ 7:00 last night 🙁
(Another) Laurie
It sounds like a wonderful dream! Oh for the 3000m of laceweight for me me me!
What a delight to meet you last night in Greensburg! I found it amazing that so many of the attendees didn’t even know what a blog was! You know, I can’t believe that I forgot to bring along my thrum-a-long mittens to show you!Didn’t think of it til after we had driven all that way. My cousin and I learned to knit from different people as we grew up, but somehow still knit alike, and last night we discovered, apparently like no one else there! I wish I could have stood at your shoulder and watched you knit a while longer. How fascinating! Thank you so much!
Shropshire wool? Where’s my copy of In Sheep’s Clothing? Isn’t that one of the down varieties from the UK? As for the yardage, if anybody can do it, you can.
Laceweight… 3000 m for $12?
::dies a little inside::
You know the scene in When Harry Met Sally that ends with the line “I’ll have what she’s having”?
I just did that a little bit, here at my office, while thinking about that laceweight.
Holy canoli.
(do you think they’d notice if I took a 12 hour lunch break to go to Habu?)
That Harry Met Sally scene takes place in Katz’s Deli, which now has a sign over the table where it happened. I always thought that was silly, but then again my heart *still* skips a beat whenever I look up and see the Chrysler Bldg, and when I’m on a bridge that overlooks it I gaze adoringly at it, I love that building so…so to each her own.
So sorry I missed you this time around.
Um, Harlot….you have a new bookbookbook coming out and you didn’t tell us? I’m crushed.
Blame BoogaJ for blowing the book whistle. Her literary reviews can be most enlightening…
http://boogaj.typepad.com/knitting/2005/06/colorful_spinni.html
You know you’re already listed at Amazon.
Too much Law & Order? Are you nuts? That’s like saying “too much yarn”. Marathon L&O days on cable are the best knitting days ever.
Oh what a life you and the sock lead!
Does the carpet phenomenon add to the confusion of where you are and why you’re there when you wake up in the middle of the night?
Not only are you the wrong person to be asking Cassie, “Is this too much?” but…ahem…Cassie’s blog is called “Too Much Wool”….
You didn’t seriously think she would say yes, did you? whoooboy, darlin’, you sure do need a rest 😉
Glad to see the sock is having its usual rocking good time, and congratulations on another book coming out. You’re just plain awesome, Steph 🙂
That’s so cool that you met up with Curls and PurlsNYC and baby Jamie! That’s amazing that you recognized the baby! So funny. Glad you had a good time in NYC again. I sure hope that you might be able to make it Denver sometime.
I don’t blame you at all for buying the laceweight yarn. How sad is it that before I even got to the part of the post where you mentioned the price, I was diving 3000m/300m and multiplying by $1.37 to figure out how much it was. I don’t even knit lace, but for that price, I’d have bought some too and figuring it would have been an impetus to begin knitting some lace.
Farkin’ good thing you finally posted. A riot was about to break out, I heard. Rams even broke down and wrote ME. A sorry substitute for you, to be sure, but that is just an indication of how desperate things were getting around here. Not that I would have noticed, since I’ve been drowning in my own sh — I mean work. But work is good. I’m not complaining. I’ve had another good dose of reality/just how good I really have it/how much do I love it that my work reminds me of this on a daily basis/period of time. Just saying.
As a knitter, 3000 m is a huge amount, but as a weaver, it is a nice amount, good for a few days’ weaving, making a few yards of fabric. I have been spinning a bit lately, and thinking about the time-ratio of spinning, knitting, buying yarn, dyeing, buying a sock, weaving, earning money, all that. I think one spinner equals one knitter, more or less. Meaning that a spinner can create yarn about as fast as a knitter can use it. And one weaver equals many spinners, which is why, when I was a weaver, I only wove one or two things of handspun. And why weavers think of yarn in pounds/kilos, not yards/meters.
Oh Pooh, you were in Pittsburgh! And I didn’t know it – much sadness here. If I had known you were in Pittsburgh I would have come to see you and brought along my current sock. The area I live in doesn’t even have a LYS. Just a few chain stores that carry icky yarn. Come again, please!
Oh my…so much yarn. I think I might make a little trip to NYC. Or perhaps when my Genius Mother goes on a Physics Convention there, I will bribe her to go there for me. 😉
Take it easy, being exhausted is no proper state to be in. I am in a similar way, though it’s not from knitting, I’m afraid. Friends and Family have me up until 11pm and then Nursing Work has me up at 4am again.
Good to hear from you again!
So glad you are back! I am even happier that you and Cassie have revealed to me in such a timely fashion the necessary yarn stops in New York City — our whole family is taking a long weekend at the end of the month. Although the Yarn Connection is a BIG favorite of mine and has been for a while, I have never been to Habu — and I am going this time…. Yippee!!
I get that same “oh, I’ve seen this before!” in NYC, but usually because of Sex And The City.
As for the yarn, well, the price supersedes any logic and therefore all purchases are perfectly justified. Just think how much dental floss that is!
That feeling about New York never goes away, and I’m sure it won’t for you or the sock.
Thanks for the NYC pics. I used to work right around the corner from Yarn Connection. I had this one disorienting moment when I was trying to place that corner, then remembered that it was Castro’s on Madison Ave. LOL. Great shot!
I am still looking for thr Festival Shawl pattern , with no luck. Please help, Thanks , Judy
Do you actually remember where Habu Textiles is located? are their “locations” seem to be stores that carry their yarns. Do they actually have a store, or is it just a store in NYC that sells a lot of their yarns? Thanks!