This will keep you going...

Admittedly this picture was stolen from cuteoverload.com, but who can resist giggling at this child is lovin' himself some pig snorgling?


This is why people have children. Full pig snout to tongue contact. I promise to take my future Aubrey and Owen* to the The Yellow River Game Ranch at least once a year just in hopes that they will do something similar I can catch on film.

***

Tuesday, I finished the second dishcloth. I very much liked this pattern, which I just pulled out of my Vogue Knitting Stitchonary, rather than from my favoritiest of dish cloth websites. I must say that I am a full dish cloth convert. I have never been into the sock thing, due to the use of dpn's and my craptacular joins, but these are bliss. Quick, easy and oh so flat. I plan on buying lots of cotton yarn at the new yarn store in town to make more of these.

Yes, I plan for shopping for yarn in an actual store rather than online. I know that you're shocked. Let's just say that it's not out of support for the store. Are you feeling a story time come on? You would be right.

Here in the sticks, you would expect a yarn store to be a BIG deal, however, they are unfortunately not. Why I have no idea. You would think a county that is made of for almost completely retiree's (our mean age is 65) and secondary homers would have a kick ass yarn store. Not so the case. Some how all we have are over priced acrylic junk or "fancy" ribbon yarns inside a store the size of a port-a-potty. It's not pretty. You would think I have learned not to enter these places, but the pull of a possibly buying new yarn is too strong and I always succumb.

Thursday, I had some free time between jobs and decided to do some errands and by errands I mean completely disregarding the milk I needed to get and buying yarn instead. I arrived at the new yarn shop after finally getting the correct directions from a Hallmark shop because the directions from the newspaper publisher, which printed the ad, couldn't draw a map to safe his life. Apparently, the publisher was not aware of the life-or-I'll-kill-new-yarn circumstances. The store was very neatly organized and I was shocked to find Debbie Bliss , Noro, Casade, Berroco and even Blue Sky Alpacas. Oh happy day! I must have fondled those yarns for at least half a hour. I think it was creeping out the shop owner, because she finally came by a talked with me. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Rowan Ribbon Twist and I promised myself that would be my next project. So I was out of luck in the yarn department.

However, I didn't want to leave empty handed, because it would make me feel bad for the store owner. So I went to look at the needle selection and I needed a size 5 in a 40" length to finish my brother's scarf (FINALLY). They had some Addis! Yay! I have never used a Addi, but I've heard great things (and some bad of course).

I love circular needles. I love that they feel lighter in your hand. I love that they are shorter, and don't stick way out past my elbows. I especially love metal circulars as I feel that they are the pointiest and have the smoothest joins. I have some plastic/resin circulars, and they work just fine, but I'm not in love with them. What can I say, I just LOVE the clackity-clack of metal needles; I feel more secure with them. Also, I knit with a lot of yarn that is NOT plied, but rather multi-stranded (I had not idea until I read this article on kitty), because I knit with a lot of cotton, bamboo and microfiber. This means that my needles need to be VERY smooth.

So, I decided to take the plunge and spend the each money on some Addis to see what all the fuss is about. the store didn't have and metal Addi's in the size I needed, so I let her talk me into bamboo needles against my better judgment. I did try to get an answer out of her several times about returns, but to no avail.

I will say that the Addi Naturas are much smoother than the size 7 clover's I have. Addi Naturas are also much lighter than metal needles, which was nice. The cord was wonderfully flexible. However, because they are made of bamboo and join to a plastic cord, a metal connector is necessary. Those joins are the needle's undoing. I hated those joins. My yarn hung on those stupid joins every stitch.

I took those needles back today- two days later. She didn't really want to let me and I was only able to get a store credit, which is why "I plan on buying lots of cotton yarn at the new yarn store in town." I can say that Mountain Yarn in Blairsville, just earned themselves unsatisfied customer. Once, I use that store credit, I'm going back to buying yarn online. I hear ebay has some inox express needles cheap...