Hair and yarn

Tuesday I went and got a haircut. At the Spouse Club meeting last week, one of the spouses dropped off her cards and so I decided to give her a try. She was very nice and I think she did an excellent job with my hair. I just wish it wasn't so stinking expensive! Even with the military spouse discount, I spent more than $50. Ugh. And I thought that $35 in Pensacola was expensive.

After that I decided to go to Carmel and visit the third local yarn shop, Knitting by the Sea. I really liked this shop and the owner. After one regular customer left, I talked to her about whether she needed/wanted help with the business or a teacher for classes. She does not at this time, but took my information and said she'd call if she found she did need something. I told her a little about myself, being a shop owner, and all that and I think that put her mind more at ease. As it turns out, she was a mechanical engineer before opening her shop. We had a good laugh over all the things we had in common. I enjoyed my visit there.

I have been working on Regina's sweater, but having gone so long without a finished project, I decided that I needed some instant gratification. Or maybe I was finding it too hard to resist the jonz to cast on the Thermis. I have wanted to do this project for months or longer!

I had the perfect yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in 173 Stonechat (towards the bottom under "variegated". I was a little hesitant, as my last experience with Malabrigo was less than satisfying on many levels. It made my hands dry and crackly and it pooled something fierce. This experience more than made up for it. I am really pleased with the final product, although I may change out the buttons.

If I do this again, I will likely not do the recommended sewn bind off, but rather a tubular bind off, or maybe Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off. The sewn bind off does give it a lot of stretch, but it makes it lose the tightness of the ribbing.

On Monday I had the pleasure of teaching Mina to knit after our run. She picked it up very quickly and I know she will become a great knitter, if her interest stays and if she finds the time to practice. I really enjoy seeing people learn to knit.

Having completed this little ego booster, I think I will be able to get back into Regina's sweater. I'll still mix in a few other projects to keep me from going crazy from the 1x1 ribbing. I still have the other Vaunt sock to finish as well as two shawls that are on the needles.