Last evening four of us FTC SnBers gathered at a pub in Loveland for some great food and beverage. Two of us brought our men with us. Michael and Drew were great sports. After dining we sent the men on their way and headed to Woolen Treasures with the intention of socializing and shopping, but we ended up more or less socializing amongst ourselves and shopping.
I must say that Ashley was the smartest. She checked out early so she wasn’t tempted to keep adding more things to her purchasing. Amanda should have been working there as she kept showing us all yarns that we “needed.” Of course she had been in this past weekend so she had the whole shop scoped out, LOL!
I mostly stuck to my list of sock yarn and needles. Though I had originally intended to only buy sock yarn if it would work for Spearfish v2.0. I think what I did pick up will make a great pair of Spearfish v2.0, but am not sure it is the right color for photographing for a pattern. So, I picked up three skeins in case I ended up making a textured sock for DH with it since it is a nice manly color. Of course the more I look at and fondle it, the more I want it to be for me, LOL!
It’s a little washed out here. But it is just the perfect color of gray (Gunsmoke) and has this perfect sheen to it as well that makes it kind of elegant.
I went a little crazy on sock needles. But, she had the Swallow Casien colored DPNs. The colors you see on many of the websites are indeed not very representative of the actual colors, just as Amanda has said. They have much more depth and variation of value that makes them seem quite rich. Her stock was a little spotty by this point, but I picked up 2.0mm and 2.25mm sizes. One is red and one is green - Merry Christmas to me I guess, LOL! It’ll be nice to have the sizes different colors even though if she would have had the sock sizes in the purple I probably would have bought all the sizes in that color, LOL! I also picked up two addi turbo 1s to try the two circ method. There were some issues I had with the completed Spearfish v1.0 that I think will disappear or decrease if I’m not chaning needles in the middle of the lace panels on the leg, so I think Spearfish v2.0 is the perfect candidate for trying the 2 circ method. I *hated* (yes, that strong of a word) the magic loop so I have some doubts, but then again, Snow hates magic loop and loves the two circ, as did several people on the Socknitter’s list. While I was buying needles I also bought a pack of point protectors…
I know they recommend 24″ circs or longer for the 2-circ method, but part of what I disliked about magic loop was all that extra cable and I know some use 16-inch and even 12-inch circs for it so I opted for the 16″ variety. If I don’t like it, it can always be used for baby hats…
On the topic of point protectors, I got a great tip in yesterday’s comments from Midge…
I use erasers to protect things from thosae pokey ends of my sock needles. Just buy a retractible one, and cut in quarter inch lengths….poke the needle ends in and that’s all there is to it!!
I knew you could use erasers, but I hadn’t ever thought to use one of those retractable refills. My mom always used the ones you slip over the used up erasers on pencils, but she mostly knits with 7s or 8s and not 1s and2s so I was a bit stymied for what erasers to use for those. This is one of those hands to forehead moments, LOL! I’m pretty sure I even have some of those around the house here - somewhere. Thanks, Midge!
