Bliss, Twist, Pissed... So List

So, a day... A SINGLE DAY... after posting about how great my new phone was, I picked it up off the desk AND THE SCREEN WAS CRACKED!

I hadn't dropped it, tossed it... indeed, I was being purposefully careful and gentle with it since our cases hadn't come in yet. Needless to say, I was pissed.

And through a bunch of bullshit, we have to pay a bunch of money to have it fixed.

So a comprehensive blog post isn't really something I can do today.

List post it is.

1. First and foremost, I want to take a second to acknowledge the conversation happening about racism in the knitting community. I apologize for my lateness in saying anything about this on here.

This article from Vox gives a good overview of the situation.

Please take a few minutes to read it and understand what's going on.

I'm working on a longer, more in-depth blog post about the whole situation, including links to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color) artisans who have been generous enough with their time and energy to help us white yarn crafters as we start to acknowledge and work on unpacking our own racial biases. I'll also have links to resources to help in that regard.

As you can imagine, it takes A LOT of emotional and mental energy when you really start digging into biases and racism that you didn't realize you were participating in. So it's taking longer than I like, and I apologize for that.

But I'll leave you with this statement: I refuse to be part of the "silent majority" that some of the worst perpetrators of the racism shown in the knitting community claim I am a part of. I will work on unpacking my own biases, do my best to listen to BIPOC when , apologize and change my behavior when I stumble. I will also do my best to amplify and support the voices and businesses of BIPOC yarn crafters.

2. I got some amazing squish mail today from Knitcraft & Knittery including this indigo test skein...

And these GORGEOUS skeins of her fingering weight in a fun AF colorway name, Drunk Mosquitoes.

These might actually be contenders for my ceremony shawl because...

3. I'm changing shawl patterns... again.

I KNOW, OKAY! I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON WHO CAN'T EVER MAKE A DECISION!

But to be fair, I also JUST found my dress, and it was not I expected I would end up with.

There are some minor changes I'm planning on making, but I am SO in love with it.

But you can see how having my super large cape-like shawl is going to cover up and overwhelm the dress.

So I've decided on a Boo Knits pattern instead. Still gorgeous, full of beads, but a better compliment to the dress.

But that means that I'm going to have to decide on what yarn I want to use.

Joy.

4. I'm still cranking away on Teroldego. I'm through the colorwork section and am on the striped section before the big lace section.

I was hoping to maybe have it done in time for the next pj party, but I don't think that's going to happen. Especially because my wrists have been bothering me, so I've been trying to give them a break.

5. I GOT MY BULBASAUR FUNKOS!

I want like 80 more, but John says no. :(

6. In addition to the new phones we got recently, we were able to get an iPad tacked onto our plan for just a couple more bucks a month, so I've been having fun playing with Procreate and the Apple Pencil.

7. I'm particularly proud of how this bujo spread came out.

8. It was hair color time for us. Saturday, John went to a purple with more blue undertones.

As for me, mermaid is officially out.

And witch is in.

I am SO in love with how it came out. I can't wait to see how it fades.

And in case you were wondering what I look like as a blonde...

9. And here's a picture of Oj to finish out the post.

If you'll excuse me, I have about a billion different green yarns to look through. 

Until next time.

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Yarn Discovery Tour, Personal Modifications, and a Wedding

Once again I must ask, dear friends, to think back a few weeks ago. Because, once again, I've fallen behind on my blogging duties.

Clear back on the 16th, I was supposed to be going for a special birthday trip with a couple of friends. Sadly, those plans fell through due to the lovely season of colds starting. So I took Caitlin up on her offer of joining her on this year's Yarn Discovery Tour.

I originally had no plans on participating this year due to a lack of funds and really feeling like I shouldn't be buying more yarn. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've reached SABLE at this point. But it sounded like a fun day out, so I figured what the hell, and went along.

We started out at Harps & Thistles, which was probably a mistake. Because of course, I started chatting. I needed to catch up, alright?

I actually didn't buy any yarn there. Instead, I got some lovely fiber for spinning. I want to give it another go and Caitlin's promised to teach me.

The next stop was The Designing Woman. (Please excuse the text in the pic. My front-facing camera mirrors everything and I'm too lazy to fix it right now.)

A quaint little shop with both yarn and fabrics, it was pleasant. I've never seen such a large collection of Berroco brand yarn.

I just picked up a skein of worsted weight from Rowan to use for more Bulbasaur.

After that, it was up the road to Crochet Innovations.

Another lovely shop tucked into a plaza. There was a bistro right next door that had all sorts of divine smells coming from it.

I picked up a hank of Cascade 220 Superwash Aran weight in a lovely charcoal grey. No pics of just it, though. It's already all in the edging of September's shawl.

We hit up Long Tail Knits after that.

This place is definitely a spinner's paradise. Caitlin and I are already making plans on hitting it up again in the near future.

I, however, fell in love with a hank of their in-house yarn line and couldn't walk away.

At this point, we were definitely starting to go into sensory overload, so we made our stop at Fine Points as brief as we could. I bought neither yarn nor fiber. Instead, I walked away with this FRIGGIN AWESOME PROJECT BAG!

Our final stop was River Colors in Cleveland, where we met up with Mikayla. This was her LYS and it was easy to see why. It was huge  and inviting. The selection was superb. And I found freakin' Tosh in the clearance section!

Mikayla said she'd make me a hat if I bought it since bulky weight is her jam. Can't really say no to that sort of offer.

I also picked up this lil' hank of Malabrigo lace.

We got some much-needed food after all of that. But my day was only half-done. Caitlin handed me off to Kayla and we went to her apartment for a hair appointment of epic proportions.

The darling woman had agreed to redo my hair for me, and well, we went a little wild. Rather than just redoing the color I had, we went full galaxy up in my mane.

It was great fun and the results are amazing.

Seriously, how awesome does it look?

I wanted it done for a wedding that John and I attended last Friday. Have to look good, right?

My wedding 'do actually came out ridiculously epic for doing it myself and I had people coming up to me all night just to compliment my hair.

I also wanted something else done for the wedding, so last Tuesday, Kayla and I made our way to the local needleman.

My nose is now a little bit shinier.

Shoutout to Kayla for the amazing birthday present. And to Caitlin for the fun day out.

As for that wedding I mentioned, it was for John and I's favorite cousin on his side of the family. And let me tell you...

We clean up pretty good.

Seriously, I had the hottest date there.

And before you ask yes...

I knit at the wedding.

Did you expect anything less?

So congrats to Danielle and Carl, you two lovely nerds. Enjoy the months of writing down the wrong name, the mountains of paperwork, and the little skip your heart does whenever you look at your spouse and realize, "holy shit, we're married."

And thanks for not mentioning the yarn spread across our table.