It was a very quick trip for me, and we only had a couple hours to get together, but we managed to cram in a lot of fun and laughs in a brief time. We did break away from Dave's Ass Watch long enough to go to a yarn shop on Newbury Street, appropriately named:
I need no yarn. We all know this. But I could not resist poking my little self into this shop. I bought something. And here's the thing about the shops on Newbury Street: The rule applies, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." In fact, I'm convinced that on Newbury Street, it'd be considered downright gauche to ask. So of course this yarn shop has no prices on their yarns.
After placing a call to Cara to ask her how many skeins of Euroflax I'd need (I knew she'd know, and I'd somehow neglected to put the ultimate resource's number in my phone. That situation has since been rectified.) for a Mason-Dixon hand towel, and blissfully ignorant of the rack price of Euroflax, I went to the counter to pay. I don't think I'm telling any tales out of school when I say that getting off the phone with Cara is no easy task, so, much to the consternation of Sandy and Dave, we kept on gabbing while the lady rang up my purchase. I nearly dropped the phone. $42. For a hand towel that still has to be knitted by me. And we all know my hourly rate. Well, we don't "all" know -- but *I* know. Hee. Anyhoo, still, it'll be worth it, should I ever, you know, take up knitting again.
But here's the kicker: The pattern calls for sport weight Euroflax. The one I bought? Light worsted. Perhaps this will be a body towel, not a hand towel.
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I managed to photograph some handknit socks.
Look! Cabin Cove socks! And Cookie Shut Up And Knit(ted) those pretty socks on the right. Fab!
What else. Oh, yes, a sky photo. It was a Sunday, not a Saturday, but still. I was with Sandy, after all.
And because Boston is so pleasant to drive into now that the Big Dig is done, I think I'll do it all again real soon -- next time with much more time to spare. See you then!
Yes, that Euroflax Linen is expensive stuff, but it sure is purty, no? I've got a coupla skeins waiting to become hand towels. Perhaps in the next century.
Posted by: Kristen | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 12:50 AM
That gives new meaning to the word "guest towels"...sheesh, that's spendy! For $42, can't you send it back to them for an exchange to the sportweight?
Posted by: Debi | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 12:58 AM
And here I thought the appropriate name was going to be ass yarns - boy was I off :)
Love the color you chose.
Posted by: michelle | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 02:41 AM
Newbury Yarns is oh so chi-chi.
Posted by: Carole | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 06:35 AM
Pleasant to drive into? Are you sure you were in the same Boston that I drive into all of the time? :)
Posted by: Teresa C | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 07:06 AM
You did all of that in two hours!? Good work.
Posted by: margene | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 07:49 AM
I get one Moss Grid hand towel out of one skein of (the correct) Euroflax. Yours will just be a little beefy! I'm still laughing after all of yesterday's ass-ness -- thanks to all three of you for the fun!
Posted by: Jane | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 07:59 AM
You and Dave's pics of the Prudential tower make remember this trip into the north end with dad and bro following uncle's funeral, http://knitnzu.com/?p=98. I dunno, 42$ for a towel?? Do you have enough for a summer top? Maybe a lacy top to make it go further? One that you'll wear when you go out to a 200$ a plate dinner?
Posted by: lisa | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 08:13 AM
I was going to say how insanely priced that yarn is until I thought about the fact that I tend to spend that on two skeins of indie dyer sock yarn. Maybe it just seems a lot since it is for towels?? The color is great, though!!
Posted by: Sara | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 08:27 AM
Hmmm... sounds like a Boston fiber gathering in the making.
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 08:46 AM
LOVED the AssWatch! Dave always gets me rolling with the laughter...LOVE the colour of the Euroflax, gorgeous...and what a fabulous day! Good for all and thank you!
Posted by: marianne | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Hey, I should have swapped shoes with Sandy. Those fuzzy brown clogs would have gone nicely with my brown jeans.
And the yarn price? Well, if you'd gotten off the phone with Cara, you could have asked the price. That's all I gots to say on that. :)
(Pssst! You forgot to mention the pricey tea, too.)
Posted by: Dave Daniels | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 10:31 AM
Socks! Did you keep your receipt? Now I want to know about the spendy tea. :D
Posted by: Cookie | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 11:19 AM
I was at my LYS not long ago, looking for some nicer-than-average cotton suitable for cloth-knitting for a gift. I was told that a customer was knitting dishcloths from Blue Sky Organic Cotton... um, yeah... a $13 dishcloth??? (She did say that the customer was over-the-moon about how well they -- the multiple $13 dishcloths in her drawer, apparently -- wrung out and I have this thing about that, myself, so maybe I'm just a teensy bit tempted, but haven't given in yet.)
Nice weekend.
Posted by: Vicki | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 11:51 AM
Holy moly! I hope you don't mind if I stick with Sugar n' Cream.
Posted by: Lucia | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 12:29 PM
The Euroflax is gorgeous but jeepers, creepers, $42.00? That's going to be a seriously lovely hand towel. :)
Posted by: April | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 12:50 PM
Hmm...maybe it was a blessing that the last several times I've been on Newbury Street, the yarn shops have been closed (dinner time).
Posted by: Kim | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 02:47 PM
That's one expensive hand towel!
Enjoyed the Asswatch posts; thanks :)
Posted by: Julie | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 03:06 PM
I like to pop into Newbury Yarns every so often, but it's hard to find what you want in there unless you are just looking for "red yarn" or whatever. The arrangement is very eyecatching, but you could spend all day trying to locate the Cascade 220 (or whatever) among all the "red" skeins.
On the other hand, they stock Koigu, and that has its own shelf! ;-)
Posted by: Beth S. | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 03:30 PM
Ahem..."Boston, pleasant to drive into". That leaves me just about speechless. Those words simply don't go together! Psychotic drivers. Unmarked streets. Potholes. Impatience. Gridlock. Detours to H*ll. Did I mention psychotic suicidal drivers? And, that's on a good day.
Posted by: Kate/Massachusetts | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 03:54 PM
Going back to Boston? Like yesterday's title says, poor Dave! Ha! That mean more buns! Yay...
Carol, who's obviously commenting from work.
Posted by: Carol | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 06:03 PM
AW hon, that hand towel will last forEVER. You amortize that thing over the next forty years, and you're MAKING MONEY. It'll be paying YOU!
Posted by: Ann in Nashville | Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 11:03 PM
Indeed.
Posted by: claudia | Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 09:19 AM
I love how that Ann thinks.
Posted by: Cookie | Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 07:55 PM