All Sorts of New Stuff!

     A change of scenery is in the air!  Lots of new happenings to report on.  First, is my semi-drastic haircut that I got today.  Below are photos of my 'before' hair:

     And here are the 'after' pictures:

     All courtesy of Will! :)  In the bottom picture, only half of my hair is pulled back; you can see the tips of it if you look closely.  So short!!  This is only the third time I have ever cut it so short, and it's been super hard to get used to.  The other two times were to donate my hair to Locks of Love, so the (lack of) length was necessary (and somehow thus easier to accept, for lack of a better word).

     Now for my knitting.  What I have on my needles right now are my very first two cable projects!  First the socks (completed August 10; picture below), and now my very own cables - I feel like I could literally conquer the knitting world now that I have these two skills. 

     The first one I started is a very chunky white scarf, with a 12 st cable; I figured, go big or go home!  It's knitting on size 15 needles.  Already, I am on the second skein, which I'm really disappointed about, because I was hoping that the yarn would go farther than it did.  But, oh well.  It's still going to be a really comfy, and warm scarf for the fall.

     The other cable project I started is a black cowl.  I'm not very far into it though; mostly I started it just to see what it would look like with 6 or 7 cables on a single project.  Either way, here's my progress, and I apologize for the lack of detail, due to the black yarn:

     And, since I promised, here is a picture of my newly finished socks:

      Pretty aren't they?  I knitted them in two different colors to match the rest of my mis-matching pairs of socks - ironic, right?

     So for the week, I'm down in Carmel, and staying in the house my dad's family owns, with Will, my mom, and grandmother.  These pictures are of the "courtyard" that is overlooked by the dining room and master bedroom.  You can also notice that this was where my 'before' pictures were taken.

     So, while here Carmel, I made a special stop at a local yarn store, called Knitting by the Sea.  A very quaint, and well-organized shop.  The woman working there was very helpful, and really knew her stuff about yarn.  She even had all the yardages of the different skeins memorized!  I was very impressed, to say the least, when I asked how many yards were in a particular skein, and she replied without even a blink of an eye.

     Will and I were in there for at least half an hour, because I found three skeins that I couldn't decide between.  It being Carmel (a very high-end town), and I being a poor college student, I had to pick only one, and in the end I went with a teal blue, hand-dyed, 4 ply yarn.  Absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself.  Slightly more expensive than I would have liked, but I'm satisfied with the yarn, and the quality definitely makes up for it.  I plan on making another cabled cowl out of it, and perhaps a matching beret to go with it!

     If you would like them, here are some links:
  -   Knitting by the Sea's website
  -   Anzula Yarns website


xo