New Hobby.

But not for me! For the hubby. :)

Last week we made the (2hr) trip up to Northhampton, Masschusetts to the much-loved and always-awesome WEBS yarn store so he could take a 2 day class in......

WEAVING. Specifically weaving on a Rigid Heddle loom. 

He's always wanted to try it out and the basic class they offer is a good way to figure out if you like it or not. They provide the loom and most materials to take the class and a Rigid Heddle isn't too expensive an investment, as far as looms go, if you decide you want to continue on with it. (Very easy to store as well because it folds in half!)

Northampton is a college-y New England town and we were blessed with the most glorious fall weather while we were up there so I got to spend a lot of time walking around town, enjoying the fall weather and colors while he is in class. The Yarn Harlot was teaching classes all day there at the same time so I even got to bump into her - in the doorway of the restroom at WEBS. Because OF COURSE that is where I would literally bump into her. No nice conversation over yarn for me, just HEY LOOK........bathroom?

I didn't spend too much time in WEBS myself  but the time I did spend there was pretty neat - as far as customer watching. I never get tired of seeing what projects/yarn people are hunting for. :) They had 3-4 registers going, almost the entire time I was there, which is pretty nuts for a YARN STORE, you know? SUCH a busy place! I love it. The Freia yarn above is the only yarn I bought while I was there so I WAS REALLY GOOD, too, as far as that goes!! :)

Anyhoo. I hope he sticks with it...........I have dreams of woven cotton dishcloths and plaid scarves..and lots of stuff for ME *fingers crossed* Wait. No, no, no, I mean I hope he's happy and has fun with it. That's what I meant. *ahem*

This brown scarf is the first thing he worked on at home, made out of, I have to say, TRULY TERRIBLE yarn. Yarn I should have thrown out long ago but the colors are pretty so I never got around to it. (I did a pair of socks in another colorway in this stuff and had to THROW THEM OUT after *one* wearing because the yarn was THAT felty and awful to wear.) It looks great but I'm still throwing major shade and side eye at it because I just know that sucker is going to felt if worn out in wet or snowy weather. :(

Oh well. If it felts, it felts. He needs to do a bunch of basic scarves to work on his tension and stuff anyway. I'm always happy to share my yarn stash, too. Maybe not ALL of my yarn because I have a few favs that are too near-and-dear - but MOST of my yarn is up for grabs at any rate. It is an interesting thing, weaving. I could see me doing it but you can only have so many hobbies so I'll leave this one all to him. :)

I've been busy busy with bead orders lately but I've been TRYING to squeeze out a little time here and there to do a few new things as well. To that end, I've uploaded some new stuff over the last few days:

Fingers are totally frozen now putting this post together. Whew. Need to go do dishes or something to warm them up!! :) :)

Trip to Mecca aka WEBS.

Rays of light from heaven? COULD BE.

A trip to WEBS Yarn Store that is. 

AKA America's Yarn Store 

AKA the biggest yarn store you're ever likely to see in your lifetime. 

The place is legen........dary amongst knitters. For real. 

They even own the yarn.com domain. (How early did you have to get in on the internet craze to grab THAT?!?)  I've always meant to go there but it's in a part of Massachusetts I don't go to very often and over an hour away so it never happened until recently when we were in the area for something else.

This is about one third of the regular shop area.

And the verdict? It really is legendary. lol

From the size, from the sheer amount of employees buzz buzz buzzing around filling web orders..........the size.

It was so busy I didn't feel comfortable taking a picture inside the regular part of the store because there was no way to snap a pic without, literally, getting 6-7 strangers in the pic as well. I wasn't comfortable with that (knowing I was probably going to post it online) so I snagged this one off the web instead. There is so much yarn in the front room it's staggering. And overwhelming. I really think they might sell yarn from EVERY SINGLE KIND of premium/artisan seller out there. It's sheer crazytown makings. And that's before you get to the BACK OF THE STORE, which is.............

....A HUGE FREAKING WAREHOUSE.

With shopping carts. 0_o

Totally, totally BANANAS. It's enough to give you the vapors.

And you'll be totally shocked to learn that I only purchased this little purple knitting bag and one pattern booklet.

Well, that plus the yarn stuffed inside the bag. *ahem*

These are destined for socks for my mother though...

...because she loves purple (as do I) and it's hard to find purple sock yarn WITHOUT it being paired with blue. Always, always with the blue! I get the whole blue-violet thing but how about some purple yarn that's just.....*gasp*.......PURPLE? At least one of these fits that, and the other is, thankfully, devoid of blue for a change so clearly I had to buy them. :)

The other yarn is just a little something for a little scarf...moving along......nothing to see here..

It was fun trip but I don't think I will be going back for a long time. It's waaaaaaay too dangerous awesome and my heart might not be able to take being exposed to all those mountains of yummy yarn that I can NOT resist buying that awesomeness. Might have to be a once a year thing for me. :)



Oh boy. I found these pics on my computer this week - already 'shopped and ready to post. They are from a couple days before Irene hit and we had no power, etc. and I TOTALLY forgot I had them and a whole post in mind for them. So this is a MUCH delayed post but I went through all that work with the pictures so...................ENJOY! :)