It's Saturday, it must be knitting time...

Saturdays so far is when I meet with my knitting buddy Maria, an awesome family friend. She has been knitting for so long and teaches me so much and its so nice to just sit with her every Saturday afternoon and just knit. I recently discovered when I am at her house I really like to read knitting magazines while I knit and talk. Today we looked through a ton of books in the living room and took a break and went to the local Yarn Store and then came back and knit some more.

Ok, I have to admit that I use to avoid Yarn Stores. I was a crocheter for so long. We tend to feel unwelcome in Yarn Stores that are aimed mainly for Knitters and I have found that many yarn store owners are can be mean or snooty to knitters. There is this wonderful yarn store in Wakefield RI that is not like that at all, but in general when I crocheted I bought cheap yarn from Joanne's or another cheap craft store. Last Friday I went with Maria to Windsor Button for the first time and it was wonderful. I love that store, the staff were fun and very helpful. I liked that there was a wide range of yarn prices so that I could get a moderately cheap yarn that was still very soft and looks wonderful.

The Yarn Store we went to today ( I forget the name) was more of the snootiness I remembered. One of the ladies there was not knowledgeable and the other was very snooty. The yarn was wonderful but totally out of my price range. (I also was refusing to buy yarn not for a project at this time). I spent a bunch of time looking at the needles and tools and the bags and books. I however bought nothing but I had a good idea from there. I decided that I did want to get a good knitting bag to either take to work with me or to use around town since I don't have a bag in between a small purse or a large tote work bag. I however am addicted to bags and probably have way to many. I found online a really nice knitting bag that I am going to order and I emailed the designer about colors: I want something in blue/purple. I really like that it will be made for me, that makes it even more special.

I looked at the Denise Needle Set. I have been going back and forth for a week or so about if to get Denise or KnitPicks Option Sets. Today after touching the Denise I finally decided on ordering the Knitpicks Options when I feel like I have the money. I love the plastic needles that I am knitting on now (the original Boye set that I borrowed from Maria) but I did start on metal. I really like the case and the connectors and I think it will work great with the projects I like.

Tempting Update: 7 1/2 inches and done with the first skein of yarn. I feel like I am really making progress with it, being halfway done with the body. I hope that between tomorrow and Monday I will make a ton of progress on it.

I was looking through Maria's books, as I mentioned before and I found some more designs that I want to do. I found this wonderful shawl that is on the to do list and another sweater or two sweaters from the catalogue that the other sweater I like is in. In fact I love so many of the designs in that catalogue. I can't wait to begin working on the long purple sweater. I just have to finish Tempting and Tempting II first. I am excited about Tempting II, since I have no idea what color to do it in and I haven't done 1 and 1 ribbing before.