random stuff

The crochet spiral purse is almost finished. Making the lining is the next step, but I need to get a short zipper first.

Last week's trip to Terre Haute included a trip to a local yarn store--Riverwools on Wabash Avenue. What a great shop! They have lots of everything, and a very friendly staff. One of the ladies was working on a sock knitted from an unusual sock yarn. The company, Conjoined Creations, takes a machine-knitted swatch of sock yarn, paints on colors, and sells it as a flat piece of knitting. The instructions say to unravel the swatch and knit the socks directly from the unraveled yarn. I can't decide it I will do it that way, or if I'll wind it and soak it first to get rid of the kinks. Normally I don't like knitting with freshly unraveled yarn because those kinks make gauge hard to figure. Plus, the socks look wonky until you wash and block them. I say why not do the washing and blocking beforehand? Yeah, I know it ruins the novelty of the product not to knit directly from the swatch, but I'm not sure I care!


Finally, a rare photo of humans on my blog! Yesterday I spent the entire day at Raleigh's RBC Center rehearsing for and playing in a Barry Manilow concert. He was nice enough to pose for a few pictures between the sound check and the show. Wish I knew how he stays so slim!