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This was dinner:

You cannot imagine how good this was.

No, I did not eat the whole thing.

Well, that’s a cheap way to get hits.

J’s up in New England with his family for the holiday. It’s a given that I don’t have to go. Since it was sunny and almost warm yesterday morning, I decided to do some shopping, which normally I hate, but it’s still better than answering in the negative, “Did you even leave the apartment while I was gone?” The usual answer is, in fact, no.

In a rare form of energy, I went all the way to Manhattan to check out Knit New York, which is really cool and full of temptations, many of which I succumbed to:

You’d be amazed how little time this took.

Clockwise from the top left, you see one hank of Cascade 220 Tweed in burgundy; Nicki Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge; 6 balls of Filatura di Crosa Zara merino in charcoal and two shades of green; 3 balls Filatura di Crosa Millefili Fine cotton, two in black, one bright orange; 1 hank Reynolds Rapturi (silk/wool) in brown; 1 hank Berrocco Denim Silk (rayon/silk); and two hanks of Koigu Premium Merino, (in Crayola terms) one in red-orange and another in orange-red.

I have to confess that the Tweed, the Rapturi and the Denim Silk did not come from Knit New York, and you will also note that the Tweed is no longer in hank format. That’s because I went hard core and bought a ball winder at Knit NY, but they didn’t have a swift, so I went to the LYS to get that and ended up getting the three hanks because they were there and I want to try them out.

I love the ball winder. And the center-pull balls you end up with are cool too. And it’s so much easier than sitting on the floor for an hour trying to resolve a 478yrd hank of Cascade Ecological Wool (two balls: under five minutes).

Further evidence that I’ve gone off the deep end is that I took my knitting to brunch, just me and a swatch for a hat to replace the one TrickyTricot now has. An ugly swatch too, on circs, with all the loose ends flapping around. In the Millefili Fine it looks like mutant lace. I might go with the merino instead.

The hat looks pretty good, BTW. The right model always helps.

If the spending seems excessive, it’s habitual. In the month leading up to my birthday (not telling), I buy myself every birthday present I could want. Really pisses J off.

In fact, I did not finish my shopping. I was supposed to buy pants for work, but didn’t get around to it.

Off to finish swatching.

Addendum

I sent the scarf off to my niece yesterday. It’s the first thing I’ve made for someone intentionally. Hope she likes it.