Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Geekend That Was, 4/14

Click now for JiffNotes

This weekend, the cake was not a lie.
 
Friday night we celebrated my dad's 79th birthday! (Yep, that's a 7 up there and not a 1...very tricky to make those things stand upright!) My dad and I share a love of dark chocolate cake with white icing. It's all he'll ever ask for for his birthday. My oldest sister made the cake (and cooked the best pork roast ever!), and knowing we both LOVE icing, she sat us together and put a bowl of extra icing between us. =)

But before the cake...there was shopping. Lots and lots of shopping. Stitches South was in town, so I set forth to bolster the economy and divest myself of that pesky tax refund, along with DFs Teresa, Jean and Jill. I normally give myself some "rules"...my main ones this year were that I could buy any solid or semi-solid sock yarn I wanted, but no random multicolored sock yarn, and anything else needed to be for something specific on my Ravelry queue. I was also allowed to buy "accessories", and I took a fairly small tote bag, thinking that when I filled that up, I was done.

I think I did pretty well!
 
Oh. Uh...gosh, that's a lot of yarn when you put it all together like that! Hmm, I guess when I picked my tote, I kinda forgot how much yarn can compress when you're determined inspired. The three at the top left are solid sock yarns, so that's good. The one to the right of those three is...ah...a multicolored sock yarn. BUT! It's really self-striping! And I had a pattern in mind for it! (It turns out it won't work for that pattern, but oh well.) I could not get the color to come out right for the life of me...it's a DARK purple (the left side) with SHOCKINGLY BRIGHT pink and deep turquoise. Also, it was dyed by a friend of Jean and Teresa's, so I kind of had to buy it.

Beneath that is some Tilli Thomas Disco Lights (it has sequins!) for a sweater that's been long queued...I had to pick that up because it was 40% off!! The yarn under that is interesting...its main fiber content is MILK! Whey protein, to be exact. It's very soft and silky, and will be a shawl. To the right is this crazy yarn that was sold by the pound, half off the marked price, so it's like 800 yards of fingering for $18. It will become a Mehndi.

Now, you might notice I skipped that yarn in the lower-left corner. Let's give you a closeup:
 
If you click on the picture, you can see the sparkly threads in the yarn (maybe). This is destined to be a Mithril Vest. This yarn has a special story, because we met the yarn manufacturer and her husband. You may have heard of her before if you do cross stitch. In fact, when I met her, I said, "OHMYGOSH, you're Vikki Clayton! You're FAMOUS!" which gave her a good laugh. =) Her husband invented a machine that spins the same silk she dyes for needlework with a cashmere yarn and sparkly fibers. She had some really luscious fibers, and it was difficult to choose, but the one that was closest in spirit to "mithril" won out. I was so happy to find this yarn, since the yarn that design calls for contains mohair (which I hate!)

I also did find a few things in the "accessories" category...my favorite dellaQ bag in a cheery print:
 
Some beads (for Kumihimo, that exactly match my just-finished sweater), and gorgeous antique Victorian brass buttons.
 
This booth had PILES of buttons, and I could have spent ages going through them. Can you find the one with the dragon on it?

Saturday and Sunday I was pretty wiped out (the super-high pollen count and being in a house with several furry animals will do that to you). Sunday afternoon was wet and dreary, so we decided high sugar snacks were in order. I bought this cute Easter bunny on sale for only 2 bucks:
 
He's about 5-6 inches tall. Do you recognize him? He came with some small friends, which I don't care too much for on their own...
 
...but they make great companions for graham crackers and dark chocolate!

JiffNotes
No real bunnies were harmed in the making of this post, but some Peeps got it, and good.

13 comments:

Ziggyeor said...

LOL I love the peeps Smores.

Love the yarn purchases, blues are really nice. I can't wait to see the mithril vest.

Gillie said...

would have been really, really rude not to have bought the yarn since it was a friend of a friend, definitely! Oh, lucky duck meeting Ms Clayton, I love her threads.....

cucki said...

Everything is so so sweet..
Big hugs x

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Lovely stash haul and a delicious looking cake.

Annie said...

Yummy looking cake. Congrats to your Dad.

Great shopping haul! Hard to pass up all those goodies.

I met Vikki once when she was in this area. She's really a lovely person and so hard-working! Silk yarns are her 'new thing'. Looks like a very pretty yarn that you selected.

Chris said...

Wonderful new supplies. It sounds like you guys had a wonderful time.
That is an awesome cake too. Happy Belated Birthday to your Dad.

Shirlee said...

Oh wow ... .I gotta be on the lookout for one of those bunnies next year : ) I saw huge ones in NYC ... like maybe 3' high ... but no small ones. Great yarn & other goodies! Happy belated birthday to your dad : )

Tama said...

Really nice haul - and the button on your bag, on top of that flower - I completely thought it was a little face with the tongue sticking out - had to look twice! Cute, though!!!

Melanie said...

Ooooooo, such nice pretties from the show. Aren't the Stitches shows the BEST? It's like cray-cray in the best way. Very bad for the wallet though. Heheh. Love the stuff you got. I've always wanted some Disco Lights and lord knows I can't resist a striped sock yarn.

Oreo Cake? YES PLEASE.

Nic said...

Awesome weekend. Love the haul that you brought home.
The yarn for the sweater.. Do you have more? One skein doesn't seem like enough, or is it a jumbo one?
Mmm, cake.. :)

Claire said...

Great stash and yummy cake.x

steph said...

This is the first year....in years!!! that I've skipped Stitches South. Looks like it was much much fun!!!!!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

It all makes perfect sense to me, logical explanations for each purchase!
And meeting Vikki Clayton too! How great is that?

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