February 19, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day to ME!

I always thought getting Valentine's Day candy for half price on the 15th was a great deal. But hubby came home with a box of Russell Stovers AND Whitmans. Retail price was $8.99 for each. I was tickled even more when he said be paid less than $2.00 for both! OK, so I'm a cheap date!

Here's the latest on my Knitting Olympics:

I received my loom from The Knitting Board Company yesterday. I also bought some yarn and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The color is Smokey Blue and it is darker than it appears in the picture, but it's still gorgeous and very soft. I'll have to make something extra special with it as it is a little more than I usually pay for yarn, but well worth it.


The board (on the left) is made with nails (needles as the company calls them) and although it did take a bit to get used to I really do like them. I've found I point my pick downward when using this board, although I usually have it pointed up with my nylon peg boards.

The picture on the right is the front panel of my poncho made on the 30" AJAL Board from Decor Accents.
(That's it in the picure too.)

You can see the ribbing stitch at the bottom of the poncho. I'm sure the front and back will be quite different since I'm going to make the back panel on the loom actually used in the pattern! I'll fudge the numbers a little when it comes to adding the two panels together. Should be interesting!

But I've got to tell you about an absolutely FANTASTIC yarn shop I found yesterday in Winchester, VA. I've stopped by 2 times already hoping it would be opened and I guess the third time was the charm. It's called "Never Enough Yarn." The title alone made me want to stop. She also had the yarn I wanted to make the coat I have in mind from the Knitting Board Company. It's Plymouth Encore Worsted. On the color card, it's listed under "Heathers" and it's color number 355. I believe she called it Garnet (my birthstone!), but it looks more like a lavender or something like that. Gorgeous none the less! Natually, my math skills were not the greatest, so I didn't get quite enough while I was there Saturday, so I'll swing by again tomorrow and pick up the 4 or 5 more skeins I need to make the coat. And here's my gift from the store:
I can see me getting a lot of use out of this bag!

I asked the owner (I cannot, for the life of me, remember her name darn it!) about looms and she is not familiar with working with them, but she was recently asked by another customer about them. Guess I'll have to educate her won't I?! That won't be hard. Especially with as much as I've come to love looming! I'll take my looms to her tomorrow and give her a little lesson!

Thanks for looking y'all. I'm off to work on my back panel. Only a week left of the Olympics and I've got some stitching to do!!

5 comments:

Deb said...

Great looking blog, Debbie! Can't wait to see your finished poncho!

Sorka said...

wooo hooo! Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

I finally got a chance to visit Never Enough Yarn yesterday. They have the circular needles that I have been looking for. Thanks for letting me know where this store is located.

Amy said...

May I ask where you purchased the loom that is shown in the picture and what gauge it is? Congratulations on your blog, I don't have one and wouldn't know where to start!

Debbie said...

Hi Amy! The loom in the picture came from The Knitting Board company (www.knittingboard.com) and to be honest, I don't think there is a specific gauge on it. It's gauge is basically adjustable because you can remove and reposition the spacers. I absolutely love this loom. I really thought I would have trouble with it since the pegs are nails without a "head" to keep the yarn on it. I haven't had any problem whatsoever! The customer service with the Knitting Board Co is absolutely fantastic as well. Please email me if you have any other questions!