What Friends Are For

aka "Doing Our Part For The Economy."

We're not calling it 'shopping' or 'enabling' or even 'enhancing the stash'. Thursday's Craft Shop Crawl was done strictly as a way to show our support for local shops; it was our patriotic duty. Yeah, hubby didn't buy that one either. But the three of us had a great time visiting yarn shops - my $3.53 total-price-including-tax haul 

book stores, both new (Mysteries to Die For) and used (Bookaneer) -$5 used book with some great projects 

 

a new-to-us quilt store called Cotton and Chocolate (how perfect is that??) -where I picked up a few items, including the sew-on tags below, and their extensive list of classes.  Definitely plan on going back to C&C.
Then we hit Joann's, where I cleaned up on the remnants rack again, getting most of this for 75-80% off. Over a yard of fleece for less that $3.50? Quilt-able cotton fabric for $1.00? I'll take it! It'll join the growing pile of Christmas gifts-in-the-making I have stashed in the closet. 

Our last stop was our great local bead store, Creative Castle, because they had the great good sense to stay open until 8 pm. I was shopped out by that point, but my buddies made up for it. 

All in all, it was a fun, patriotic day. And a great warm-up for our trip to Vogue Knitting Live on Saturday . . . .

Next Obsession

Tomorrow's the last day for the Tour de France and the knit-along. It's been amazing fun - I was assigned to the Yellow Jersey team (go Team CSC!) and I accomplished all my KAL goals, so I also earned my Polka Dot jersey for King of the Mountain. Unfortunately, I pushed too hard and re-injured my shoulder. I won't be doing any knitting or crocheting for at least 30 days. I'm hoping I can still spin (probably not) and weave (more hopeful). I'm bummed but at least I finished my projects before I went on the disabled list.

So what's my next obsession? Fleece baby blankets with satin binding. For the last year or so, I've been buying fleece remnants whenever I find them at a good price. The Joann's in Loveland is my best source; they often discount their remnants by 75%, after marking them down 50% from the regular price. My original plan was to crochet edgings on them but I really don't like having to hand stitch around the edge to give the yarn something to hold on to.

A passing comment about how much babies love satin-trimmed blankets sent me back to Joann's. I hand-sewed one blanket for Addy (8-hours later I was firmly convinced to never, ever do that again.) For these four blankets, I pinned and sewed the trim while watching the Tour de France. The white/pink (Marie's favorite) and orange/yellow blankets (my favorite) are presents for Baby Leia. The other two (it's been a loooong time since I've seen Pokemon!) are for us to use when the grandbabies come to visit. I have a couple more remnants but I'm out of satin binding - and truth be told, I'm bored with pinning and sewing. I need to come up with another way to trim them. Any ideas???