Summertime, and the living is HOT!

I am not a fan of hot weather. I have not melted yet, but I came pretty close yesterday. Susan invited me to Threadbear Fiberarts in Lansing to meet her and some of her knitting friends. Lansing is about 45 minutes from me, and I have easily made the trip before. But not in a car with no air-conditioning! Yep, the car's AC died a couple of weeks ago.

I set out on my adventure, and arrived a mere hour and a half later, very red-faced and dripping with sweat. I was red-faced, not only because it was nearly 100 degrees F. in the car, but also because I got lost. Susan had very kindly offered to give me directions, but I have access to the Internet -- I know how to use Mapquest and Google Maps -- I am an independent modern woman! So, I got lost, and it serves me right because I know that Susan's directions would have included landmarks.

Once I was surrounded by a very welcoming group of knitters and tons and tons of fabulous yarn, I forgot the heat and had a great time. I met several knitters whose blogs I read (a big hello to Sharon, Kristi, Sarah ), Karen and two lovely ladies who I was told were blog free (isn't that a nicer sounding term than blogless?) I also met Rob and Matt, the store owners. I can see why their shop is so successful: it is huge, it has the aforementioned tons of yarn and other goodies, and there are many nice little seating areas set aside for conversation and needlecraft, and the owners are completely charming, as is their staff. If you are ever in the Lansing area, this is a must-see for fiberholics.

Did I buy anything? You know I did. I limited myself to sock yarn, some yummy Colinette Jitterbug in the Mardi Gras colorway. Oh, and some ChiaoGoo bamboo DP needles. And thanks to Sharon who just had to let me see Abby's Angel sweater (so adorable, you could just die), I had to buy the pattern. I came home and immediately found some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport yarn (River colorway) that I had been saving for some unknown special something, and , 0h joy!, there was enough to make the sweater. It will be too small for Amelia, so I will make it for Baby Whosie (Amelia's name for her sister who will be born in November). That's OK, the big sister calls herself YaYa, even though she can now say Amelia.

My daughter Shelly is visiting her sister in Colorado and has the digital camera with her, so I can't show you any pictures of my purchases. But I need to stay in practice, so here is a gratuitous YaYa picture that was taken at the Estes Park Wool Market in June.



Amelia's mother knit the little green top with Cotton-Ease. Here is a view of the front (and some Australian shepherds).

By the way, mostly garter stitch Cotton-ease will stretch -- a lot!