Thursday, September 14, 2006

Magazine conspiracy and Yarn score!!

Something good had to come out of my futile searches for magazines... it was, of course, yarn. I swear the crochet magazine companies are conspiring against me. First it was Crochet Today. I was a good fiber artist - in support of crochet publications, I dutifully, blindly, signed up in July for a subscription to this new magazine. It hit the stores in early August and I patiently waited. Others at Crochetville reported that there was a problem with the mailing labels and we subscribers should have our mag by the end of the month, so still I waited. It seemed this new magazine was in every store I walked into, I browsed, but always put it back. My subscription was coming. Then Interweave Crochet, my favorite crochet mag, was due out September 12th. Others reported buying it on the 8th so I began my hunt. On the 9th, I was at AC Moore, but no Interweave Crochet there. On the 11th, I went to Michael's, Borders, Barnes & Noble & Joann's. Nothing, nada, zilch, zippo. On the 12th, I went to my favorite LYS, "Yes we have some," they said, "they were in... the ones on the rack may have been sold... but there were more in back.... but we can't find them". To make matters worse, at every one of these stores, the premier issue of Crochet Today was there, taunting me.

So instead, I had to shop for yarn.

At AC Moore I bought the yarn for my husband's sweater. I'm making Jacob's sweater, designed by Peter Franzi, with my friends at crochet-a-long. I'll be using Red Heart worsted weight in Medium Spruce. Hopefully 8 skeins will be enough.

At Michael's I found the yarn for another crochet-a-long garment - the Matinee Swing Jacket from Lion Brand. I had a real problem using Homespun for a bolero once, so I decided to try Bernat Soft Boucle, in the Blue Shades colorway. The pattern calls for 5 skeins of homespun (185yds/skein). Four skeins with 255yd/skein should do it!



At Joann's I found nothing that caught my eye, but I more than made up for that when I hit the 25% off sale loft at my LYS, Ewe'll Love It. I grabbed some cotton yarns that I'll save for some summer or spring projects and some wool yarn that I need to make into something, anything...now! I bought 7 hanks of Classic Elite 'Imagine'. It's DK weight, 53% cotton, 47% rayon, with 93 yd/50g. I just love this colorway. Since it's Dry Clean Only (oops) this will have to be for me, not Abby!

Next I found some more Knit One Crochet Too '2nd Time Cotton' in a gorgeous deep red and purple colorway called Borealis. This is a worsted weight yarn, 75% cotton, 25% acrylic, 180yd/100g. I have 5 hanks of this gorgeous yarn. I fell in love with the colors and bought all they had. It is cotton but the color kind of says fall to me... hmm...maybe it's not for next summer...


Last was this scrumptious 'Lana de Oro' yarn from Cascade Yarns. The Tweed version of this yarn is 45% Superfine Alpaca, 45% Peruvuan Highland wool and 10% Donegal (tweed). It's a super soft, luxurious-feeling worsted weight yarn with 110yd/50g. I have 7 skeins of the maroon tweed and one skein of the charcoal tweed. I want to make something for me, with a charcoal edge, but with the limited yardage, it may become a sweater for Abby.

By the way, on the 13th, my magazine luck began to change. Crochet! arrived in the mail, and my LYS called me. They found more Interweave Crochet and they are holding one for me. I'll get it on Friday when my son has piano lessons (next door). Then today, the 14th, I called the publisher of Crochet Today. They have no record of my subscription (even though I have a confirmation e-mail) and will sign me up now at the price being offered now ($3.00 less than the intro price in July) and I should receive it within 2 weeks. I guess I shouldn't have been waiting so patiently!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well now I have been sitting here to admire your lovely yarn.
I really like this Classic Elite 'Imagine', it had a really lovely color.
I too want to buy some new yarn, but I promised my dh to use some of the yarn I already has. Stupid me. lol

Anonymous said...

The same thing happened to me after subscribing to the new magazine. How frustrating! But I wasn't able to buy new yarn to soothe my nerves. I love all of your purchases, and I can't wait to see what you make with them.
I've been reading your blog for some time, but I don't comment often. I really admire your work.
Linda in Oklahoma

sara said...

take me shopping with you