a cone of yarn

My friend K lives in New Hampshire, but was up last weekend (when I was out of town, of course...) and I told her about the sale at the store. She was excited, until she saw that it wasn't opening until 12 on Sunday and she had to head South before that. So she asked me to see if there was anything sort of earth-toned and nice for a shawl.

On Wednesday there wasn't a lot earth-toned left, but there was a lovely cone of a nice rich purple (rowan? I think? it's mislabeled... wool, anyway!) and I picked it up for her. This coincided nicely with the Yarn Harlot's tutorial on washing cone yarn (here and here), so I asked K if she minded me playing a little and she agreed. So, last night after doing lots of moving stuff, I skeined a little bit around my elbow, tied it off, gave it a bath in dish soap and baking soda, and let it dry. And Stephanie is right, it does come out so much softer and fluffier! I really wish my camera was here, I'd totally do a side-by-side comparison. :)

In moving news, I'm quickly running out of furniture!! My bed and desk are going today - my college-student cousin is adopting them. He's from CA but going to school here, and classes started at the usual time this fall, so when he expressed interest in the bed I asked what he'd been doing until now. The answer? "Well I have some couch cushions..." Poor guy, I'm glad the bed came up in conversation!

Update

All right, all right...
Here's the thing - I have not only been a bad blogger lately, but also a bad knitter!! And now that I'm actually knitting again, my camera is in Philly without me (I forgot it last time I was down there...). But I'll post an update on the life of Sue anyway!

My last day of work here is going to be next Friday, October 26. I've had two in-person interviews and one phone interview for jobs down that way, and I've heard back on one of them (the answer was no - but I didn't like that one that much anyway). I took my couch to a friend in RI last weekend, and my parents came and picked up the table and chairs and coffee table - the result of which is one seriously empty living room!! It still has a tv and a rocking chair, though, so I've been watching movies and knitting more the last few days.

More mittens - along the lines of the neverending mitten from a couple of months ago but easier - I admitted to myself that I would probably never actually make #2, that was one seriously annoying pattern for me! But I'm happy with my plan for these new ones. It's the boku yarn again, and they will still be flip-top, but no fingers and the pattern is a simple mitten one that I've had for a while and made several pairs from. Oh also I'm going to try using short rows to make the top instead of the normal start at the bottom and decrease method. We'll see how it goes, but I was really happy with my short row results when I made the ruby slippers for my sister, and I never really like the top of my mittens.

D is flying up on the evening of the 26th, and we're going to pack as much as we can fit in my car and drive down on the 28th and/or 29th. D told me a few weeks ago that after quitting a job it's important to do something fun, so on the 30th we're flying - together!! - out of Philly and heading to Miami for a week! Cool, no? We want to find a really good tour of the everglades, and spend a couple of days exploring the keys - I'm excited!