The Land Of Music & Honey

Carytown is an area of Richmond that is closest to what I loved best about San Diego (my hometown). It has cool little shops that are owned by happy people who have passion for what they are doing. It has wonderful restaurants staffed with folks who are happy to see you & serve you good food & love seeing how much you enjoy it. It has wonderful old homes surrounding it with a warm neighborhood feel, with a quaint little library, unexpected little childrens parks & quiet side streets that you can enjoy lingering on.



Yesterday, Phil & I went there to just wander & enjoy ourselves. First we stopped at my favorite LYS so I could scout out some yarns. We got there 15 minutes before they closed, but I am always amazed at how friendly & helpful they are nonetheless! I know we kept them open another 10 minutes, but they never rushed me or mentioned the time. I think they like that Phil comes in with me. How can you not love it when a man comes in semi-regularly to ogle & ooh & ahh, and even compliments you on your personal hand-knits?!? He's a keeper! Plus, he always finds some yarn he likes & wants me to make a hat or scarf for him, which enables me to get some yarn I want & not have it come out of my allowance! Yay! He even recognizes yarn I've looked at before. He saw some Manos that I had admired previously & asked when I was going to knit it. I had to tell him I hadn't bought any yet, but that I hoped to soon. He was disappointed, because he thought it looked like neat yarn.



What I did get was some Rowan Chunky Print in Pit, which shows up on their website as a medium to light brown, but is really a gorgeous dark chocolate. For him, we picked up some Jaeger Extra-Fine Merino DK in Tabby for a hat & scarf combo. My yarn is already being made up into Paris Loop, which I have had my eye on for months. I am hoping the thick & thin of the Chunky Print will work as a sub for the yarn used in the pattern, since that yarn has been discontinued. So far so good!

I also have made my first attempt at using the Russian Join method to join my two balls of yarn, rather than weaving in the ends, etc. This could be one of the best knitting tricks I'll ever learn!



Sadly, I only managed to get 2 balls of this yarn, so I'll have to go back for 2 more. I'm no good at remembering neccessary yardage.



As for the title of this post, the best music store in Richmond, Plan 9, just happens to be in Carytown. While we wandered the streets we found a wonderful shop called Cultivated Living, that was full of treasures. She imports a lot of items, some were French, Ukranian, Italian. It was geared towards gardening, but everything was something useful & decorative that could fit in just about anywhere in a persons home. We picked up some local Tupelo honey from her shop & she was out of bags, so she decoratively wrapped the bottles up in a funky paper that she tied off with twine & dried lavender which smelled wonderful all day long as I carried it around.

A Blog Is Born!

Why am I doing this now? Boredom? Could be. This is certainly helping me to keep my hands busy, when they'd much rather be playing with Klaralund. Oh sure, there's always TiVo to occupy me (The Avengers are always good for fighting boredom...and crime!), but I'm just not in the mood. Apparently what I am in the mood for is exhibitionism. Not that I really think anyone will ever look in my dusty corner of cyberspace (God, does anyone really say cyberspace anymore, besides B-movie writers & "hip" seniors?), but there's always that miniscule modicum of possibility.



So, in respect of that possibility, I'll do the friendly thing & introduce myself, just this once, in case anyone should ever care to look.



Me: Gina

I work in a local (Richmond, VA) library, full-time, benefits & everything.

I am engaged to a man who is too deluded to realize he is too good for me & that I am just a cruel joke that life thought he would've gotten by now.

I am the very happy co-owner of 3 cats (Aleister, Betty & Cole...not named alphabetically on purpose, really) & 1 dog (Dharma, who was named alpha on purpose).

I live a mostly boring, but generally pleasant life in a town I was not born or raised in, but somedays fear I will be laid to rest in.

I like most things Japanese, French & British.

I am currently losing a staring contest with 30...it wins in October.

I like to knit, I admit it. It currently rules my life, but who knows what'll come up next? I'm ADD like that.

Anything else?

Nope, that covers the essentials, I think.



Well, my day was good. Minimum amount of stupid patrons.



Got a little swatching done for Klaralund. Definitely going to go with the size #10 needles. I am really enjoying the #84 colorway of the Noro Silk Garden. I think it'll be ok to wear against my skin, but if the V-neck is a bit low, I'll probably wear a tank or something under it anyway. Not that I'm so very prudish, more like I have a tendency towards being blemished on my breastbone area & that kind of ruins the lovely effect of the sweater. Dontcha think?



Well, that's more than I thought I'd spout off with for the first time. Good job. Hope I keep this up.