Stash and Burn....ing Yarn

Hi! I'm back! I'm really progressing on my wips. I finished the socks for Amy (I'll get them to you soon!). It's from Sensational Knitted Socks and is made from Neighborhood Fiber Company yarn. Amy is friends with Karida Collins, the owner, who makes a colorway for each neighborhood in DC. I think it'll be nice for Amy to have something knitted from a DC friend in a DC yarn :-).I'm also making amazing progress on Interweave's Lotus Blossom tank. But the blossoms look like aliens to me, thanks to comments made on the Stash & Burn podcast! Grr. I can't get that viewpoint out of my head now. I still love you guys. ;-)
Yesterday and today I played around with this leftover small ball of thick&thin yarn that I got from the craft exchange at the Crafty Bastards fair. I really like how the garter stitch on size 10 1/2 needles turned out.
I think what I will do is just add on more to this scarf with yarn from leftover projects. I started with plain worsted weight yarn so the edge wouldn't be thick& thin. It will also be cool to have around when someone visiting wants to learn to knit, an idea I heard about in Weekend Knitting.

I was really interested in seeing the content of the yarn, even though I was pretty sure it was only crappy acrylic. My naive idealism took over and I did a test I learned from a worker at Woolwinders: burn it! Apparently, acrylic will melt and smell like burnt plastic, and wool will not even catch on fire since it's fire resistent and will smell like wet dog (I wonder what different proportions of wool blend would do). Well here are the results:
Totally acrylic!

How about this segue...I lit the yarn with matches that I got from DC Coast. We got dolled up and went last night for restaurant week. We got an appetizer, main course, and dessert for only $35.08 each (though with wine, tax, and tip it ended up a lot more, but so worth it!). I got the Warm Balsamic Shrimp with wilted spinach, roasted peppers, and garlic toast as my appetizer. My main course was that night's special: Tilapia with garlic mashed potatoes and escargot. I really wanted to try a new fish, since I've only ever had salmon, canned tuna, and whatever whitefish is breaded and frozen into fish sticks. It was awesome. It was my second time having escargot. Last time was at a french restaurant in Georgetown and it was doused in garlic, which wasn't horrible. I actually liked it. But here I could taste the escargot more and it was really good! For dessert I got Creme Brulee, which is something I've been craving for a while. I don't love it, but it makes me feel so worldly eating it, and it was made well, with a slight almond flavor.

Also yesterday Wrap Style, which had been on sale for $5 on the website. I had given up on getting it, since I ordered it like a month ago and it seems like they didn't charge me. It was a nice surprise.


Well this weekend I am off to meet mom for lunch, get another ball of sugar n cream cotton for my alien...err lotus blossom tank, trying desperately to find a colorway that comes close. I swear next time I buy yarn for a project, no matter how exactly I calculate and buffer how much yarn I need, I will buy another extra ball. I hate running out of yarn!!

Happy knitting!