Yarn Hop

I had some extra time, which doesn't happen to me often these days, so I decided to make the trip to St. Charles and check out this little yarn shop I had been googling over on the internet. Wool and Co. is only about an hour from my house, yet I can never seem to get there. I really hadn't a plan as to what I was going to buy, but I just knew that I needed to go... TODAY.

The town is super cute and has all the luxuries... cafes and coffee shops to get a tasty treat or a cuppa Joe, a theater, a music store, you know, the kind that sell actual instruments, and of course a store full of wonderfully, colorfully yarn! I would have loved to walked the town... antiquey stores, and quaint little boutiques to find the perfect gift for a treasured friend, but I was on a mission. I couldn't get inside the yarn store fast enough.

It was better than I imagined!
The first thing I wanted to do was touch everything!

It so reminded me of my grandmother's needlepoint store she had when I was a kid. It was called Pick-A-Stitch in downtown Naperville, Illinois. I'm talking in the late 70s... yikes! She too, had a big table in the center of the store welcoming any and all who wished to work on a project for the afternoon. Those chairs were always filled.

The yarns were endless...

And this one had the cutest little tag... All the way from Greece!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the sneak-peak inside my sorta local yarn shop...
Good times had by all,
xoxo
Nicky

PS. I am still working, slowly but surely, on the colorful The Granny 2.0!

I guessing that I am close to half way... I am most looking forward to the border :)

One a Day

Surround Yourself With Happiness

Where do you go to surround yourself with happiness if you're a crocheter? To Ravelry of course! The Ravelry site offers a wealth of friendly inspiration for people like me, you know...those who are just poking their big toe into a sea of wonderful.

While I was surfing, coffee cup in hand, some of my favorite, artfully inspiring blogs, Gingerbread Girl had a post about a group... One a Day... on the Ravelry site. This is great I thought, a group made to push me along to finish the never ending granny square by encouraging the groupies, myself included, to complete one square a day... hence the name... clever I thought.

I'm thinking that it's a group that you can just jump in, as some post people are on their 2nd week, and some are on their 4th, and I am now on my 1st. Tuesday is the day to reveal your progress for the week, so here goes...

I started The Granny back in the beginning of summer. I have 5 rows of seven squares completed and, as you can see in the picture, 2 squares finished on the 6th row. My intent is to have 9 ish rows, maybe 11 rows to complete the afghan. I think that when I get there, I'll know when I'm done.

So please join me in the Ravelry Group by clicking on the icon below, and don't forget to visit me next Tuesday for the Tuesday Tallies, my progress (I hope!) on the granny.

xoxo,
Nicky

How Many Do You Have???

Helllooo my fellow crafters...
Today's post is all about "stash" confessions!

OK, I'll start... I have more yarn that I care to admit! But... for some reason it still isn't enough. One of my very favorite things to do is to find small, independent yarn stores and go for a visit... and, by the way, I have a few indie yarn-store-visit posts I'm working on. The thing is, when I visit these cutsie little stores my creative gears begin to turn, and I am seduced into the idea of yet another project. I can't help myself. I need, need, need to buy enough yarn for said project because you never know when you're going to get back there. It's really all about being prepared. Really.


I am not the kind of girl that starts one project and sticks with it until it is finished before I start another! Oh, no. I need to have a few things going so I can choose which to work on according to how I'm feeling. Do I feel like I want to take the time for a lot of color changing? Or am I feeling lazy and want to veg out with long lines of color? Or am I feeling really lazy and just can't deal with any color change at all? It's all about the choices :)

With that said... Are you like me and have many projects going on at once... or do like to start and finish before moving on?

Above is my granny square I started over the summer, and with all that color changing, it's not the one I go for when I just want to hang out in front of the TV, or listen to the kids read their 30 minutes a night. I also have this one going...

The colors aren't all that exciting, it's Shaker from Lion Brand Home Spun, but it is super fabulously soft and will match everything it gets thrown on. I have, however, hit a road block and can't seen to find this particular color of yarn to finish. I've looked at 3 different Michaels stores only to find an empty bin labeled "Shaker". UGH! Oh well, that's OK because...

... I just bought yarn is some fabulous colors to make this...

I can not take credit for this picture, as I found it on Tangled Happy , who... follow me now... found it on Moogly. It is a free pattern, so I thought I would share the fabulousness here. Isn't the internet fun? When I saw this pattern I loved it immediately and off to the yarn store I went. My reasoning for this is it's a smaller baby blanket and it would be easy to travel with... Hey what ever you have to tell yourself in order to rationalize, right? I haven't started it, but I'm ready to go.

I've also been thinking about a ripple. Oh, how the world is my oyster.

Happy days,
Nicky

Welcome to Pick A Stitch

Helloooooo.

Have you ever tried to tuck your crafting gene away in order to get on with the rest of your life? If you're like me, the need to be creative brews from deep within! I've tried to ignore it, and have been successful for a week or two, maybe even a month... but then I see something awesomely artsy and before you know it I have bought every book about it, and the supplies needed to complete that awesomely artsy something. My craft lab contains vast amounts of art supplies that would rival even the most well stocked Hobby Lobby!

They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and needlework is no exception. Many years ago (in a land far far way... no, just kidding) my grandmother owned a needlework store called Pick A Stitch in downtown Naperville (Illinois). We're talking in the late 70's, early 80s. A very adventurous lady she was. Although I didn't realize it then, but she was following her passion in hopes to spread the love of needlework. How cool would it be if she still owned her store today?? I'd be in heaven!

My love for the yarn runs deep, just as it did with Dodi, and you could say I'm kind of following in her footsteps...with the help of technology. So, today I am joining the other talented, domesticated divas who also share the love of knitting and crocheting, by introducing the new-and-improved, technologically updated version of Pick A Stitch. If we all can't all meet around the big table in the center of the yarn store, at least we can gather around our computer screens, coffee in hand, and ravel in all the wonderful yarn goodness this magical internet brings together. I hope this blog finds you well, and offers you some encouragement, a little inspiration, and at the very least, lots of laughs.

I welcome you to leave many comments, and share your yarnish and fiberful experiences with the rest of us. Here's to a wonderful beginning... coffee cups clinking...

xoxo,
Nicky