When I signed up for Soctoberfest I figured that not only would it be a great way to de-stash some of my sock yarn, but it would give me an excuse to try Magic Loop.

Evidently the cosmos is not interested in me learning a new technique.

Sunday I decided to take a drive to my so-called Local Yarn Store. In reality, it's not all that local... it takes at least half an hour to get there. On back roads. During the non-snow months, the drive is fine, but once the snow flies it might as well be an hour and a half because the roads suck so much. So we drive... Seth and Sebastian came along just to get out of the house for a bit. We drive into the parking lot to find it closed.

Now seeing that this is Maine, and there are still plenty of places that close up tight on Sunday, I just chalked it up to bad luck. One of my friends occasionally attends a knitting group at the store on Monday nights from 6:30-9:30PM, so at work yesterday I figured I'd drive back out after I got out of work at 5. Drive through rush hour traffic... to get there and find that the store closes at 5PM. They close at 5 and then re-open at 6:15 for knitting group members only.

This is starting to kind of suck nuts. On my way back home I think "Well Michaels usually doesn't have bamboo circs in small sizes, but screw it... I'll just go and get a new set of dpns so I can at least start the damn socks."

Michaels only has dpns in 10s. Wtf? And their circs only go down to a 6. So I guess no one in the area knits socks.

There is another yarn store in this area... down the street a bit. So I called this morning to find out if I could get there and back during my lunch hour to find that they are closed on Tuesdays.

I'm beginning to feel like my best option would be to drive 40 minutes south to hit Halcyon, but considering the amount of gas I have drained in the past two days ($2.36 for a gallon of gas is not a bargain!), I don't see that being feasible until I get paid in two weeks.

I don't get it... I don't understand why it's so doggone hard to get a set of size 1 needles!

Inspired by Dave's recent post about running out of yarn before finishing his sock and Jackie's post about pulling out her UFOs, I decided to take my unfinished Jaywalkers off my shelf and put them on.

*le sigh*



I suppose the upside is that I finished a whole on and got mostly finished with the second. The downside is that there is no way I will have enough yarn to finish the pair.





Camilla couldn't believe how little yarn I had left either, so she had to stick her nose in to investigate.

Even though my Jaywalkers will remain unfinished, I have joined Soctoberfest (I'll put the button in the sidebar later) to see about destashing some of the sock yarn I've been accumulating. This is my sock yarn stash:


It will be wonderful to actually be able to wear a handknit pair of socks since it is starting to get rather chilly at night!

And finally, my wonderful Jessica has been keeping a beer exploration blog, so I wanted to snap a picture and give a quick review of a new one that we tried the other night.



This being central Maine, we admittedly do not have the best variety of beer in the area. Usually we stick to Shipyard, Sam Adams, Bass or Red Stripe. This beer was pretty decent... rather light compared to what I have been drinking lately (it being autumn, Pumpkin ale and Octoberfest beers are usually in the fridge). It reminded me a lot of Heineken.

After reading the comments from yesterday, I have decided that y'all are going to be stuck with me. Stuck with me, damn it!

Well the truth is, I decided last night that I am going to start some new projects and remember why I love knitting and crocheting so much instead of forcing myself to work on the old stuff first. Who cares that I have 10 unfinished projects, right?

In the Fall 2006 issue of one of the knitting magazines I picked up the other day (don't ask which one... I know it wasn't Knitscene, Vogue or Interweave, but who the heck knows which other one I picked up) it ended with a list of why a knitter can always knit scarves for people as gifts. Inspired, I have decided to make most of the people on my gift list drop stitch scarves. Why? Because it is simple and because each one can be dramatically different simply by changing the type of yarn. Easy peasy holiday gifts is where I'm at this year... I don't have the attention span for anything else.

Other than holiday stuff, here is the rest of the need-to-do projects:

Baby blanket in chocolate brown and cream for Micah's not-yet-here baby (her color choice)
Baby girl sweater for Meridith's not-yet-here baby
A whole bunch of baby stuff for Stef's not-yet-here baby. She doesn't know it, but she is going to be slathered with baby knitting.

And go figure, I still have 4 sweaters worth of yarn in my stash that I have yet to open.

Reader Participation time! If you've gotten this far, congratulations! Sorry, I don't have prizes. I do have a question, though. I have 4 skeins of Bagdad Blue Peace Fleece that are calling my name. I was thinking maybe a felted bag but so far, nothing has really struck me. Any ideas? I'm not thinking anything wearable since it would itch like mad, so scarves and hats and such are out. Links and ideas will receive my extreme gratitude and maybe someday a cookie or two.

It's been a while since my last post. Why? Well frankly, I haven't done jack lately. I told myself a few months ago that I was not going to start any new projects until I finished my old ones... and... yeah. I pick them up... knit a few rows and then put it down again. Without anything new I am realizing that the excitement is nowhere to be found. This weekend is the Commonground Fair, though... which means yummy organic yarn. I'm also looking into purchasing a drop spindle.

So what happens next?

I don't know... I've even contemplated closing this site down just because I'm only writing in here once a month lately and I keep losing readers (sorry to drive you away, folks!), but then I think about how nice it is to have the documentation of my finished projects (once I finally get on the ball and finish one). Perhaps I should just get rid of the bloglines feed so I won't be cluttering anyones' bloglines list?

Thoughts from anyone that still visits? I'd love some honest opinions!!!