Only five stitchers remained, but they kept the spirit of the group lively with difficult projects and the interrogation of a new member! Wendy and Heléne worked on Tal’s hat, Kelly had some beautiful rainbow mittens going on teeny tiny needles and told tales of a knitting Mecca that she found in Maine, and Kat tackled the viney chart of Anney, which is terrifying to look at but not at all hard to knit!

The new member who got the interview spotlight tonight was Aurora, who found the group from the website. She taught herself to crochet with videos and then bought books and her husband decided she needed to get out and meet others who could help her out, where she’d have time for herself and have a few laughs as well — cue collective “awwww.” She has one step-daughter and three children. She was working on a beautiful baby blanket. She’s also a huge fan of True Blood, so she’ll fit right in to this quirky little bunch.

The knitters were also sad to learn that Kelly, one of the two regular waitresses was going to be leaving her post to pursue some other opportunities to do what she enjoys best – teaching dance. But, they weren’t too sad because this new development frees her up to knit with the group as a member now!

This sleepy little group looks forward to next week when the rest of the group comes back, and Aurora returns for her newcomer yarn and more laughs. Maybe the full moonish behavior of crazy people all around will go back to normal. Or maybe some folks will just pull a Steven Slater and remove themselves from the craziness – the knitters think he’s a hero! However it happens, they will go on happily ever after… until next week anyway!

before we continue…a brief interruption just to make Kat laugh:

Even snark leads to support ok in our own way…with group encouragement I finally finished my fairhope for summer cardigan – 3 skeins of rayon metallic! Photos soon – its too damn hot for anything with sleeves right now! We also supported Annette as she fearlessly frogged an entire sweater while sitting at the table…see how alcohol helps your knitting!? The one thing we all agree on is dont bother working on it the way it is if you’re going to hate the finished project!

Casey was visiting this week thanks to her mom and summer vacation. She was working hard on her fantastic pot holders. This caused our discussion to turn to Karen’s latest class offerings at KG Krafts coming up – which included macrame…which led to a discussion of crafts, and our desire for a retro crafts evening! Macrame plant holders, woven clothes hangers, gimp lanyards, scrapbooks…it’s unanimous, we have all been crafting in one way or another since we were kids. Of course we also turned to games we played when younger too – like paper fortune tellers, mad libs and something I had never heard of – a mash up?! Cranky expertly had me list boys I liked and didnt like; places I liked and cars etc…and then did this counting thing with circles that was totally foreign… you’ll all be thrilled to know that I am going to marry Steve, live in vermont, drive a porche and have 8 children… I just want to know which one of you would like to tell my husband and children of this development?

And now one more word from a beloved knitter tool – if only we could get them to be a sponsor!!!

A final note – Heather and her crazy hat society are moving to PA….what a total loss for us! We’ll miss you more than we can say! We all know you never really leave Taunton SnB though – you just take a little break so we’re looking forward to the day that you come back for a visit!

Remember – we love newcomers and visits from those who havent been for a while….treat yourself to some fun and come join us!

Toni is quite the driver as in Mario Andretti or more recent Dale Erndhart. You don’t follow Toni, you eat her dust! And She has the protection of the Govt. and a few good moves…just in case. It’s quite funny, but we did manage to keep close tabs on each other and arrived at Black Sheep safely and all lined up in a row.  Black sheep has been a favorite since our first visit there over a year ago. Now there are five new owners and what was already a great LYS is even better! It has been rearranged making it seem larger and easier to maneuver. They have lots of lovely yarns to choose , books, and accessories. Like kids on a field trip, we quickly went from one orderly  group to all out separation as everyone ran (almost) to check out all the yarns.  The ladies who now own the store were very helpful, friendly, and made us feel welcome.  They had ideas to share and suggestions for yarns and patterns. Tal did a little modeling for us!   She spied a really cute fall/winter wrap that looked great on her.  I asked her to clarify whether it was considered a wrap or a poncho,  because if you didn’t know before, you know now- I’m deathly allergic to ponchos!  It’s a wrap (phew!).  She loved it enough to buy the pattern!  One of the owners was nice enough to show Tal a part of the pattern that could be tricky because of the wording.   While Tal was reading, what was everyone else doing? Kelli was looking at cute knitted baby clothing; Helene was checking out yarns and talking computers with owner’s husband.  He’s their IT person.   Cranky and Julz sat at the table knitting/crocheting and talking Malabrigo. I swear they have their own yarn code language!  Meghan joined in and then Darcy. I think Tal and Julz will win the marathon knitting award. They could be found knitting everywhere went!  Good thing neither of them drove. Who knows where we would have ended up.   Cheryl could be found dreaming of lace and fondling cashmere. In the meantime, the rest of us were spending money!  What was baby A. doing? Learning all about yarn. Doesn’t she make that yarn look cute?

It was now time to say good-bye to Black Sheep Knitting in Needham and head to Island Yarn in Waltham for the next part of our knitting adventures.  Outside of Black Sheep we synchronized our watches, GPSes and counted heads. Yep everyone is ready to go, but wait! Meghan was leaving at this point because she had to get home and ready herself for Bon Jovi. Enjoy!

We stayed in contact by phone as needed.  I did wonder why some of us needed 20 minutes to get to the next destination and others got there is 5 minutes (It seemed like it though I could be exxagerating a bit…not!)

By the time we got within the vicinity of Island Yarns, Kelli’s group (Julz riding shotgun, Cranky and baby A.)was outside of a Dunkin Donuts. We’re all suprized by that! After all Cranky’s in da house.  Toni was at Island yarns already and in the door with her hands in the yarn and Darcy’s group (Helene- shotgun and me, Kat and Tal ) was at CVS waiting for Tal to get some sunglasses.  Do these sunglasses look good with my hair (new haircut)?  In the meantime, Mario Brothers theme music …Julz calling..anyone want coffee? We met at DD and decided we’d rather eat first before decending upon Island Yarn.  Tal went into Island Yarns to let Tone in on our plans when… BOOM!!!!!!!!!  ZAP !!! POW!!! Toni was hit with Jet Lag and the need for a nap. So, she’s heading home.  Our group has shrunk to ten.  Mexican food got the final vote and we went to a restaurant in Waltham called Marguritas (I think or may I had to much tequilla ).  It was very cool and the food was good! While waiting for a table , we had a few minutes to chat and explore the scenery. Hi everyone we miss you!  Cheryl and Helene are catching up. For anyone who hasn’t met Cheryl, she’s our traveling SNBer. Her job takes her around the world ! Yah, our table is reading!  We raised a toast to all of us and our knitty friends . While Kellis baby took in the scenery and had her own commentary about yarn crawls.  Her cute yawn says it all. Yarn crawls take lots of energy!  She was sharing a moment with one of her aunties (Helene). Kelli has the best baby. She barely fussed and if she did there was a reason. Once her needs were met…she was good to go! Even her protests were minor.   I may be biased, but she was the cutest and most well behaved baby in the restaraunt. Definitely not exercising her lungs the way the baby behind us did.   I did get a picture of Baby A. checking out the cute hair bow on the other baby (what a girly-girl 8-> ) or maybe it was just an excuse for a little snuggle time!

Having filled our bellies and quenched our thirst it was time to head to Island Yarns.  The constrast in stores was in layout only.  Black Sheep was open and full of light, while Island yarns was smaller with more ambiant light. She offered a good variety of yarn brands and types and some new ones we hadn’t seen yet. In fact, Helene bought one of the newer yarns and I can’t wait to see the shawl she’ll be making.  The reception at this LYS was very welcoming. She was friendly, helpful and obviously enjoys having a LYS.  Her excitement over yarns and knitting is contagious.  She made kits with her dyed yarn and pattern for anyone spending over 50.00 in the store. You know how what kind of shoppers we are!  A few of us left with our purchases and free kit in hand.  I spent time  with the baby while the others shopped.  My head stuffed with visions of yarn, books and the need for coffee. So I sat this one out. I did buy a booklet of summer patterns that I really liked.  Here’s a little view of Island yarns.   There was something there for everyone.  Tal was attracted to the more bulky yarns and some of the newer yarns. Madeline Tosh was calling Kat.  Cheryl was checking out lace yarn (the girls fallen hard for laceweight!). Kelli was exploring all kinds of yarn and we know Baby A. is going to look scrumptious in all her future handknits.   It was time to leave for our last store of the day.  We all still had energy to  shop. We do believe in the shop till you drop method.   Remember I said driving and rules of the road were a recurring theme. Well… here’s more of for you.  We discovered that Darcy is a secret city driver, even though she claims to not like city driving. She really knows how to maneuver and get where she’s going despite the fact her Phone GPS refused to join in the fun! I think its mad at her for removing the phone cozy. We suggest a phone cowl. that way she can still use the touch pad and keep the phone in good condition at the same time.  Well we don’t need no stinkin GPS. Here’s some modified rules:1.  when going around an island to get on the right side of the road, it’s acceptable to go to the the left of the island diagonally if no ones coming toward you. It saves time and gets your where your going.  Red means -STOP, Green means -Go and Yellow means HAUL ASS. Got it? good. Just watch out for any smokeys (cops for the new kids on the block er.. younger ones).  Helene pulled out her GPS  to tease Darcy’s into cooperation.  Just as we get on the highway towards brookline…no way…can’t be…something doesn’t sound right 8-( . Darcy pulls over to the breakdown lane and peeks under the car. See Darcy’s face.  See Darcys frown and scrunched eyebrows. This car is about to get an ass-kicking!  Tal says:” let me take a look.”  YUP, the muffler’s detached. But, its not hitting the ground and except for the noise, we’re good to go. Darcy gets the takes a licking and keeps on ticking award for today!  and we’re off to a Good Yarn!  The owner of the store couldn’t be there today, but the staff there were helped us find what was needed and pointed out all the sales and discounts (whoopee!). Tal could be found up to her elbows (literally ) in the discount yarn bin.  She knows how to scope out all the good yarnns (aslan trends, rowan, cashmere…) . There were lots of sweater samples around the store so people can see how yarn looks knitted. Julzs found some books and yarns to browse through. Kat discovered the buy one get one free (or half off)shelf. While Julz found a basket of free disontinued booklets.  There were some knitters hanging out knitting and getting knit help and thought it was cool that we got together to go yarn shopping. So there was some chit-chat with local knitters.  Again there was something for everyone at this store too. I managed to leave with the latest summer rowan book and some get your sunglasses out yarn. Kat found yarn for a sweater (abby) and there was other yarn buying.  I bet your wondering what’s going on here? Why it’s the Koigu yarn summit. There was lots of koigu yarn in varigated and solid colors. I have to say another of today’s draws at all the stores was the large selection of buttons. Darcy found buttons for a hat she’s making. Finally it was time to head home for show and tell and a bit of knitting to wind down from our busy day. We made it home safe and sound with visions of knitting dancing in our heads. (sorry damn X-mas in july themes on tv and radio this past weekend- stop it already!)   I do have one little aside about driving that made me chuckle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Helene levitate in a car and I don’t think I’ve ever been speechless, but both happened when Darcy took the exit to Helene’s.  Remember the rules of the road are only a suggestion.  When we got back to Helene’s everyone was pretty wiped out and many headed home. Helene , Kat and I hung out for a little show and tell of our purchases and had a mini SNB.  Thanks everyone for a fun time and those of you who couldn’t come today, we missed you and hope you can join us for the next one!

Yarn crawling is thirsty work!

Tonight was another great Wednesday, filled with snark and laughs. Cranky sent out a mayday on Ravelry for yarn and patterns help for a crochet garter. Supportive knitters that we all are, we showed up in droves with bags filled to the brim with yarn and patterns perfect for the best wedding garter. But was Cranky there? No! She dared to ditch us again, our guess as to why – the rain. We analyzed Cranky’s pattern of absences and realized she skips knitting when it rains, is too hot, too cold, is PMSing, or when Charles is making something Tastefully Simple. Let’s just say it, we’re feeling neglected. Cranky, come back!

Tal also showed us a new side, a whiney side, a selfish side. Who’d have thunk it? She vented loudly about false advertising in one of the latest contests she’s entered and we all encouraged her just as loudly. We had some noise complaints from the neighbors. Tal calmed down and explained to us the situation, and we all felt her pain, but we’re sure she’ll be amazing, as always!

Tal also enlightened us all with some very technical designer terminology when describing her newest bag. It is both bumpety and rectangly. Please make sure to use those properly when describing your knitting.

Other highlights of the night — Julz completed a pair of baby booties… as soon as she finds the first booty to truly complete the pair!

Finally, some LYS talk. As a group, we’ve decided to stop patronizing Knitting Treasures in Plymouth. The owner has been rude or unhelpful to several of our members, and the rudeness she showed Julz’s little one, Chloe today was the last straw.

As for happy LYS news — we’re heading on our Yarn Crawl on July 24! We’ll be visiting Black Sheep Knitting in Needham and Island Yarns in Waltham, both have given us 10% discounts. A third stop will be determined next week before we embark on our next great adventure. Be there or be square! Join the discussion on Ravelry and let us know if you’re in!

It was a quiet group aside from Miss Alexis, we tried to decide where we’d go on our Yarn Crawl on July 24 but most of the group was more excited to get out and didn’t really care about where we went. It sounds like we might be headed up to Needham and Black Sheep. Does anyone have any other must sees?

We also learned this week that many of our members are speed demons when we traded our ticket stories. I won’t name names, but come to knitting and you might learn some tricks to get out of tickets!

Come next week and take part in the fun!

It seems as if we have so much to celebrate these days – from the small to the large…perhaps one of the things that really works with our group is that we love to celebrate even the smallest events in our collective lives – which frankly I think is a pretty good way to live your life!

First off and long overdue so my apologies are the celebration of new members
Andrea aka WitchyEditor on ravelry has been with us for a few weeks. She totally has fit right into the group and once again we seem to be pooling in the career themes too. Andrea’s commute right through Taunton on her way from work to home is what got her to us and we couldnt be more thrilled! Also a formal welcome to Toni aka Yarnpimper on ravelry who jumped in with both feet months before moving to Taunton. Just as she is online she totally is a great fit for all our insanity! Welcome to both of you lovely ladies!

Watching Caroline aka Cranky’s wedding was a treat – what was more fun was the total scheming that we were doing while she was partying and making Chuck and honest man in Vegas. Our celebration came together with a fantastic wedding party this week. Our unsuspecting bride took several minutes to see the wedding cake we had for her off to the side! This cake was a group effort from Wendy, Melissa (and Lila) and myself – Wendy and I are very good at watching Melissa expertly handling fondant. I think we did a pretty good job of incorporating the bride and groom theme with yarn dont you?! If I could knit actual shrugs as quickly as the one for the bride on the cake I’d really be celebrating! Caroline and Chuck now have a wedding cake top to freeze and try and eat on their anniversary – brave souls!

Chuck will be celebrating whatever his blushing bride purchases with the little Victoria’s secret gift card we gave her – although I think that will fall under TMI!

Tal created a special bridal hot pink mask for our Cranky…can’t link to this one missy!

Now lucky for us there are many in our group who at one time or another decide its their turn to take a theme to an extreme – and Annette stepped right up this time adding some true wedding celebration hilarity. I will only mention the glow in the dark handcuffs in passing ok. Running with our favorite recurring dirty type theme,

Annette found the perfect shot glasses for the occasion and had them filled before presenting them to the group.

Naughty candies all around – and wouldn’t you know the bride got one with her anniversary on it! How lucky is that?!

For those who want to know just mix 1/4 oz Bailey’s® Irish cream and 1/2 oz amaretto almond liqueur topped with whipped cream – and of course a cherry. Again I will restrain my comments by just saying we have some talented girls in our group!

Deep Breath…..ok…onto a celebration of another kind – tada….a YARN CRAWL! Group consensus is that July 24th is the next date that the largest amount of us can make this happen. We’ve yet to decide where we’re headed so get yourself to SnB to help decide what shops we will grace with our collective presence!

At the end of the day – I dont think I can say enough about what joy there is in having this group of women together on a weekly basis.

Don’t drop any stitches!

Alesis Bryanne
7 pounds 13 ounces
20 inches long
arrived at 11:38 on June 9th

Looks like Caroline and Chuck wont forget Alexis’ birthday – and when she is older Alexis will always remember Caroline and Chuck’s anniversary!

Kelly – the appletini’s are on us – she is truly beautiful and we cant wait to spoil her!

There were smiles and giggles and awwwwws…ok and maybe even a few tears…and even some knitting.

In our very own snb way we decided that while their vows were lovely, they could have been improved upon…just a bit…and would go something like this…

To each other:
I Charles take you Caroline, to be my wedded wife.
I Caroline take you Charles, to be my wedded husband.

Then together:
to have and to hold
from this skein forward
for knits and purls
for love and understanding of cables
surrounded by stash
in style and in farty scraves

From this project forward
never to frog this marriage
I pledge you my heart

We now pronounce you
Tastefully simply wed

On the tame side…We had a star appearance by the lovely and tiny Merrin who has truly grown so much in such a short time. That baby is all smiles and faces….so much fun and beyond adorable in her little polka dot sunsuit.

Throughout the evening Kim kept telling everyone that “we really are that kind of group” face it – you know what she meant…I dont believe that modeling my bloom shawl, or feza scarf was meant to be done to the humming of the stripper song….but yep we just go with it! I did what any self respecting knitter would have done and put my feza scarf around my neck, covered by my bloom shawl and carrying my Tal KAL Bag – which of course prompted Tal to ask “what’s that show that highlights what not to wear?” “Oh, What Not To Wear” was the response…you can just see how the evening was going can’t you? This prompted the discussion of putting together a book of things that people should never knit…we may be onto something here you know.

Julz and Cranky were in total impersonation form – both leaning to the New York / New Jersey accent hysteria…my favorite Julz moment was her SNL Coffee Talk directive…”boston college is neither in boston nor a college…discuss”. She just needed the wig. Cranky does a mean New Jersey housewife …real or otherwise it was perfect.

We pushed Kat to provide us with a recounting of her date with a certain musician…getting information from Kat is kind of like trying to do lace work using black yarn on size zero needles in the dark… for the record we are split on the base your decision on whether or not you know if you want to….ummmm “be” with him within the first 5 minutes. We still dont know if there willl be another date in the near future – nor do we know if Kat will share that information with us!

There was the trying of of the asparagus bridesmaid dress for Tal to sew boobs into – which probably would not have been half as funny if the wearer of said bridesmaid dress was not swinging her bra around the top of her head.

As the sarcasm and snark made its way around the entire table…no one was immune or safe…and Melissa summed it all up perfectly when she declared that as a group – “we see no need to sugar coat” which we all decided should be the official motto of Taunton SnB! This combined with carrying over the use of agree and disagree buttons from ravelry to spoken commentary on pretty much everything was the flavor of the evening.

We had a surprise visit from the Taunton Junior Chamber of Commerce last night too…they were looking for new members to join in for networking and community building….I will only say that Kim and I are officially out of the target age range and therefore not eligible to participate…which produced thunderous laughter…way to make a girl feel special huh?!

Tal’s bag KAL is still underway for many of us…I loved making my bag – learned how to cable without needles and had a total blast working on something that I had no idea what the finished product would look like. I have opted to give my bag to our bride to be – it’s a bit on the smaller side for me and she was in love with it…her payment was only to model it…next time I will be more specific as to how I wanted her to model it! Of course when silliness has run amouk as it often does at SnB we take it to extremes…and forced the following photos from other bag knitters…aren’t they all pretty!

After last weeks’s SnB and Tal’s yarn sorting I was totally motivated to take a good hard look at my yarn closet and stash too. What a great chance to go through and review what I have, what I really want to knit with, what I have no idea why I bought and what I totally could never see on a pair of my needles…now I have a nicely organized stash with a refreshed view of what I want to find project wise over the next few months…I highly recommend a good stash review…

I will also let you know that as a result of my destash, I brought in a big bag of yarn that I no longer felt connected to in for the taking…so if you’re bummed out that you missed all the hilarity kick yourself once more people…yep – you missed free yarn!

Keep on stitchin girls!
Til next time!

Here’s some of what you missed!

Cinco de Mayo was celebrated in grand fashion…yarn, beer and a crochet ahem…well lets call it an adult toy that had everyone giggling. True to form when we asked the cute waiter helping out that evening how big he thought it was – he quickly proved that 6 inches will always appear to be 10 inches to one gender.

We had a fabulous May birthday celebration complete with paper tiaras for the birthday girls; chocolate fountain and tons of fresh fruit to dip – even some of Melissa’s totally amazing homemade graham crackers. It wasnt easy to order dinner first with chocolate just begging to be indulged upon but we were all good – as a matter of fact, no one stuck their tongue under the running chocolate so I’d say everyone really behaved well!

An off SnB night activity was Kim’s surprise party – what fun that several of us made it over to the Long Branch to help with the surprise – although honestly, I think we were all more surprised at the array of friends that Kim has – seriously, people from all over with stories that must be told! It was fun to see Kim actually surprised – Eric did a superb job! Some of us are much better than others at staying up and partying very late – for a full review of burger king, dancing and wooing check the Ravelry board!

New to SnB is my lovely friend and nutritionist extraordinaire, Nicole. She’s been talking about coming to learn to knit for ages and finally got to join us. We had a group effort of teaching as it was her first attempt with our favorite pointy sticks. Julz’s teaching skills to help her learn the long tail cast on were fantastic, then it was off to learn the good old knit stitch. Between good teaching, and amazing student and total positive support from the room we had Nicole knitting like a pro in no time – seriously the girl didnt drop a stitch the entire evening! Next time she comes back…we will teach her to purl!

Tal’s bag KAL is in full swing – there are a bunch of us working on it at various stages. t really is a blast to see how it comes out in all of our different color combination’s. For a while we just werent sure how it was going to look or how it was going together – thats the whole fun of the mystery don’t you know! Seriously – was it a bag or a hood or a hat or a mask or what…and how much do I adore Tal to allow this photo of me wearing the bag in the blog??? Overall we were pretty good at not wanting to know where we were headed just going clue by clue but last night we finally agreed that it was time to see the completed bag – adorable!!!

As if providing us with a majorly fun project wasnt enough – Tal also was a busy lady and did some serious spring stash cleaning – it was like birthday presents for everyone as she emptied bag after bag after bag of yummy yarn on the table free to a good home. Let me say this – yarn gives us all the vulture mentality. We all act like free yarn is the last yarn on the planet and we must grab our portion before anyone else touches it! It is wedding dress day at filene’s basement – only with string. Some would say we’re ridiculous – I say we’re just typical. It was so much fun I for one suggest that perhaps some of us also have stash closets that need cleaning…anyone anyone?

Even if one or more of us decide to do a stash thinning there is always yarn in our future…which brings us to our next subject – a proposed yarn crawl. General consensus is that we are long overdue for a yarn crawl. We’re thinking of late June – the question is to where?!

Finally super congratulations to Kim on the birth of her beautiful grandson and to Julz who is graduating with her Master’s today! Yay to both of you!

Thats about all my brain can remember for now…
’til next time
Keep your stitches on the needles!