I’ve been meaning to get this post up for a while now, but it seems I just haven’t found the time until now…isn’t that how it goes? It’s not really for lack of time, it’s just that I’ve been doing other fun things that have kept my free hours occupied. Like blitzing through the first 4 Harry Potter books in 4 days! Obsessed much? Yeah, I definitely am. I wanted to read them all again in preparation for the new movie and book in a month, but I just got a bit carried away. And I’m already making headway on Book 5, so I’m pretty much unstoppable at this point. Oh well, at least I’m getting some fun reading in…that doesn’t happen often when you’re in grad school!
In addition to reading my brains out, I’ve done a bit of knitting and yarn purchasing in the last few days. Village Wools is having a big closeout sale on Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Wool (only $4 a skein!), so I picked up a few of those, since they look perfect for stranded knitting. I got some great colors to make a Red Light Special for myself, in Gray, Yellow and 2 shades of Brown. I was inspired by Knitting Philistine’s new Fiberlicious! Flickr Group, and had a late night photo shoot involving bananas, yarn and peanut butter. I think yarn as food is my favorite new art form!
a banana w/ peanut butter and some milk…my favorite snack!
Unfortunately, Dallas went on a bit of a stash rampage when I wasn’t paying attention, and chewed up a gray and a brown skein, plus 4 balls of Felted Tweed I got from Fricknits! I wasn’t too happy, but it was my fault for not closing the office door, so I suppose that’s a lesson learned. (Combined with the previous lesson of not leaving freshly dyed yarn on the table, maybe I’ll be able to prevent future yarn tragedies!) I guess I’ll just have to go pick up more of that Jamieson & Smith yarn…what a shame. 
I also picked up some Dale of Norway yarns, in black and white, for a secret gift project. I’m working on it now (and loving it!), but I’m afraid I won’t be able to give too many details until it’s gifted. It’s my first major project with stranded colorwork, and it’s quite interesting so far. It requires a lot of brain power to manipulate my left hand into holding one of the colors continental style, but I seem to be getting better at it. If anyone has any tips or tricks for stranded knitting, I’d love to hear them!
Then I spotted this fun swag at the checkout counter…“where my stitches at?” I’m not sure who got the buttons and dropped them off at Village Wools (Scout?), but I was sure happy to score one. Ravelry is an awesome site, and now I have a cool button to show it off!
You know what’s even cooler? Casey quit his day job so that he could work on Ravelry full time, because he and Jess feel that strongly about building an awesome site for us fiber lovers. That also means that development speed will pick up, so those of you still on the waiting list, don’t despair, because I promise they’re getting close!
Finally, in bike commuting news, my goal is to ride all 5 days this week, and so far I’m meeting that, having ridden today and yesterday. I’m getting lots more confident and really enjoying myself, so I’m determined to keep at it. The shrinking gas bill is definitely good motivation. Wish me luck on the last 3 days!
