yarntherapy

Close call

So you all know I love baseball. One of the most funnest things about baseball is the minor leagues. I mean, the names alone: the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Hickory Crawdads, the Montgomery Biscuits.... how do you not love that?

I recently discovered that the A-ball club in Lowell, Massachusetts is called the Lowell Spinners! A nod to the mill-town history of Lowell. One of their mascots is even named Millie! (Why she's an alligator, I have no idea.)

This is their logo:

Baseball and yarn! What could be better?

I was thisclose to buying a T-shirt online because it's so damn cute. Then I saw it.....

Yeah. The Spinners are a Red Sox club. They call themselves .... oh, the pain... "Thread Sox Nation".

And one of their big causes is the Yankee Elimination Project.

So that's one cute T-shirt I won't be buying. Sniff.

kid in a candy store

For the last month or so, I've been like a little kid waiting for the candy store to open, hanging on the gate, wistfully looking at the goodies inside. On Saturday, the owner of the store finally came and rolled up the gate and let me in.

I got my Ravelry invite!

I know there are a lot of folks out there who are also waiting patiently, and I know it's annoying to read people's blogs raving about how it's the best thing since sliced bread Clapotis. I won't gush too much - there's a great, thoughtful review here if you're interested. I will say that it's worth the wait. Just seeing what everyone is up to is inspiring to me, and I am more excited to knit - and to blog about it - than I have been in a while.

I finally got my Spain photos up on flickr - it's a LOT of photos. Feel free to browse :-)

Not on flickr but here are my purchases from Persones Llanes in Barcelona:

On the right is a yummy bunch of merino fiber from Germany, ready to spin if I ever get proficient with my spindle. On the left, a sari remnant from India - the silk threads are easily pulled apart and can be used in spinning or other crafts. I loved these two together, and I envision yarn with the sari silk accenting the merino.

I also picked up a skein of rustic wool from a farm in Spain - a sheep-to-skein sort of operation. I wanted something local as a souvenir - it's a really pretty berry color, but it's really scratchy. I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

Well, now I guess I need to go photograph my stash for Ravelry :-) See you all there soon, I hope!

So I went to Barcelona...

  persones llanes 
  Originally uploaded by laurelann

...and I found me a yarn shop! This is Persones Llanes and it was such a pleasant surprise to find while I was wandering around the old city. I had a lovely chat with its charming owner, Miquel - hopefully I can take him on a yarn crawl of NYC one of these days!

Coolest thing about this shop? It's located on Placa de la Llana - literally, the wool plaza! It's in an area where most of the streets are named for the businesses that used to be located on them.

I might have purchased a few things......

I'm in the process of editing and uploading photos from my trip. I took a whole lotta photos. I knew I was in trouble on Day 2 when I realized that the first of my two 2-gig flash cards was nearly full. I had purchased the little thingie that allows me to transfer photos directly to my iPod but I left the cord at home. Duh. Luckily, the prices on flash cards at the camera shop near my hotel were really low, so I just picked up a third card for 20 euro.

And yes, I filled up all three cards!