Superbowl weekend is for shoppin'!

Every Superbowl weekend there's a huge bag sale at Fiberge, a cute and fantastic yarn shop in Terrace Park (that's Cincinnati-ish) and for the past couple years, a bunch of us have made the hour-long drive down there from Dayton.  It's totally worth it!  I mean there are quite a few yarn shops in Dayton, but Fiberge has yarn that I don't see around her - they stock Rowan yarns and Collinette - things I can get online, but not really hold in my hand 'round these here parts. Plus it's someplace new and different!  They're moving soon and I'm hoping it's not to some sterile stripmall-ish spot, because the little building they're in right now is super charming.  I didn't bring my camera for some reason, but I knew I could pretty much count on my friend Jeanette to have hers - and she did!  Now the question is whether she can take those pictures and send them to me - techonolgy isn't exactly her forte, but if I can walk her through it, I'll post pictures of the group!  Anyway, after some surprisingly polite elbowing and jostling to see all the yarn (which often involved Twister-ish moves to put left foot blue, left hand yellow, and right hand to the bottom of a thigh-high cardboard box full of bags of yarn!) This is what I came out with:  My splurge-y-est purchase, 7 balls of Classic Elite Princess, which was about $7 a ball, but originally $11 or $12, I think.  It's an amazing color - kind of orange-red, and made of everything splendid - Merino, angora, cashmere, etc.  Somehow they packed a little bit of it all in there!  Hopefully it'll be enough for a short sleeved sweater.  

Then I got 3 balls of Karabella Aurora 8 - about 300 yards, which is a weird amount, but it's such amazing stuff I couldn't turn it down.  I think it'd be great for a cowl or gloves - I've looked at all the Ravelry projects using Aurora 8, and it shows stitch definition fantastically - maybe it's calling for some cables!  

Then, because I just can't turn down Manos del Uruguay - especially when it's 40% off!  I got one hank of this brick red:  Delicious!  

Just outside of Terrace Park is the cutest little town called Milford and it's half the fun of making the trek to Fiberge.  We stopped for some coffee when we passed through the first time - our sly plans to arrive early and beat out all the other knitters was slightly miscalculated and we decided that getting coffee sounded better than standing outside the door of Fiberge for an hour!  Then on the way back through we got some quiche and tomato soup for lunch before hitting the wacky antique stores.  I got some great stuff, of course - it's about impossible for me to drive out of Milford empty handed!  Stay tuned for pictures of my old lady earrings, plaster birds, and more - I'll show them all in my next post!

It was like Christmas for my birthday!

Geesh, what friends I have!  My birthday was this week and I got all kinds of unexpected stuff - I couldn't believe it!  First, I found a gift bag on my desk at work from a Helen, a fellow knitter and co-worker, stuffed with bamboo needles, stitch markers, a scarf pattern, and a ball of this lovely wool/silk blend from Universal Yarns - mmmm!

Then Catherine - knitter, sewer, all around craftster - left me

 a gift bag with a full yard of this amazing Echino fabric:

Aaaaand two bags of chocolates - Ester Price, no less!

Theeenn, my newest friend and also neighbor, Samantha came by today with the Tudora she knit for me (that's the picture at the top of the post)!  

Can you believe that?!  I couldn't!  It's fantastic in a lovely tweedy orange - AND, knowing that I've got quite a stash of buttons, she brought a little hank of yarn so that I could personalize it myself and sew on one of my own buttons!  I chose a yellow fabric covered one which doesn't show up well in the picture, but the colors and textures look great together!  What a week, I tells ya!  Arent' they all just the greatest?