Various & Sundry

Just a few little notes before I go to bed:

• I bought some yarn today! The Michaels near me was having a 2-for-$7 sale on Patons Shetland Chunky & Classic Merino. As much as I prefer supporting local business...I'm on a budget & trying to make Xmas gifts for lots of people, so I really cannot argue with that kind of a deal! With the Shetland Chunky Tweed I started on a hat for my brother:
  
  
  It's much more blue & less purple in real life!
  When I first asked 3 of my younger brothers whether they'd wear hats I made them, the response was lots of laughter & exclamations of "no way!" Then the oldest of them, Mac, saw the hat I made my boyfriend, and every time I've spoken (or exchanged emails or Facebook messages or whatever) with him since then it's been "how's my hat coming?!" He's really excited about it, but it took me until now to find a good yarn. He wanted blue, and all the blues I found were just too damn girly or otherwise unsuitable. I'm still not sure about this yarn...it looked good on the skein but I keep panicking and thinking he won't like it. Everyone I've showed it to has assured me otherwise, and I figure if he really hates it I can just keep it for myself (because I like it lots!) and take him yarn shopping so I can make another.


• I'm planning on these mittens for my friend for Xmas. I'll probably start them within the next couple of days & I'm pretty excited! I may make myself a pair, too, once I'm done with all this holiday stuff, because I really love the way they look.


• I'm eager to start on Dashing for my boyfriend's Xmas gift, but I kind of hate the yarn I bought for them (Reynolds Lite Lopi). I was completely seduced by the gorgeous, incredibly rich brown color + the nice price tag, but it's the itchiest stuff I've ever encountered and he hates itchy wool. I'm really not sure what to do, but I think I'm going to just buy something else. There's an LYS near school that I want to check out, anyway (Neighborhood Knits, to be exact), and this gives me the perfect excuse (not that I ever really need an excuse to drool over yarn, but it doesn't hurt)...


• I wore the vest to school today and do you know how hard it was not to brag to complete strangers that I made it all by myself? Really, really hard! In my head every conversation was going like this:

  Unsuspecting Friend: Hey, how are you?
  Me: Pretty good, what about you?
  UF: Oh, pr--
  Me: DO YOU LIKE MY VEST?! I MADE IT MYSELF! WITH YARN AND POINTY STICKS! Isn't that just the most exciting and impressive thing you've ever heard?!
  UF: *backs slowly away*
  Me: Isn't it?!?
  UF: *runs for shelter*

  I'm very proud to say I restrained myself.


• Knit Night was kind of a bummer tonight -- a very small group! I was by myself most of the time. Turns out there's a huge difference between knitting in a cafe all by your lonesome & knitting in a cafe with a group of fun & interesting people. One is lots of fun & one just kinda sucks. Some excellent people did show up eventually, but unfortunately for me I had to leave shortly after they all arrived! Oh well. It was my own fault for not being sure to bring enough money to pay for parking for longer than an hour (in fact, I only made it out of the structure because Kim was kind enough to loan me a quarter -- had she not, I guess I would've gotten a $30 ticket!). I suppose this is what I get for never using cash.


• Does it bother anyone else that there isn't an apostrophe in "Michaels"? Probably not, but it drives me nuts.

Oh, look, I'm up too late yet again... Have a great week, everyone!