Is "braggy" a word? Because that's totally what I am in this post.

Frankly, I think I caught the easy cold. About 60% of the people I know have been stricken down quite dramatically with The Killer Bostonian Flu. I, however, have had about 3 days of an annoying cold, and I'm feeling a lot better today. Nice. That flu shot, even if it was the wrong one, seems to have helped at least somewhat. Because of it, however, I haven't posted the pics of all the exciting, new, fun, awesome, shwag I've purchased in the past week.

My trip to New York was really awesome, as per usual. Jane and I have an amazing time together, even when we're wandering aimlessly around the city with no real clue as to what to do next. I've never been much of a clothes shopper, and I really wasn't this time, either, but I was able to pick up a pretty blue sweater, a beautiful Tibetan scarf, a cheap but soft off-the-street "Pashmina" and another for my mom, a Sox cap for Ken, and 3 really pretty frames from Anthropologie (On sale, of course. I'm not Jenny Warbucks.)

I saw a bus that had the most ridiculous advertisement I've ever seen on its side. Unfortunately, when my camera finally clicked it had started moving again.



What it says is "Clay Aiken in SPAMALOT" with a picture of current-day Clay, complete with moody smirk and tousled, emotional hair, in chain maille. In chain maille.

Jane and I also had occasion to stop for a drink (or 5) and a quiet little Soho bar, with grisly regulars and a bahtendah from Fall Rivah. The conversation centered around the Oscars that night, and eventually to Jane's current boy-troubles. The question being "Will he call?" and the answer (from me) being "Yes, just be patient," with the answer (from the grisly regulars) being "Are you sure he's really a firefighter? Have you actually seen him at work? Are you sure he's not married? Have you actually been to his house?" Which, while funny, pretty much put my very sweet but paranoid best friend off her center and flipped her out for the rest of the night. Thanks, guys. We, very soon after that, decided we desperately needed food in our bellies, and it had to be somewhere close since we couldn't walk in a very straight line, which led us to some Italian restaurant somewhere else in Soho. The only thing I really remember about the rest of the night is us eating as much bread as possible and it not really making us any more sober, there were two people on a date about a foot away from us, which, I fear, we were loudly critiquing, and our waiter coming on VERY strongly to the obviously inebriated Jane, sweetly telling us that while a) he had a girlfriend, sometimes he b) just gets horny and wants to get it on. Jane, somehow, did not pick up on this part, and happily accepted his card, until the next day when I reminded her of what he had said, at which point she immediately tore it apart. I vaguely remember a cab with a driver from India who would speak to us in English, but then, mid sentence, change back to Indian and continue talking. Also, I recently found this picture, which I in NO way remember taking.



Unfortunately, I am not the pretty smiling brunette. Unfortunately, I am the one who looks like she just stumbled out of Zeta Chi on a Tuesday night.

MOVING on to what this post is REALLY about: The Real Purchases, which came from Knitty City on W. 79th st, and Webs on the way home.

DID YOU HEAR ME?!?? WEBS!!! I got to go to Webs. I NEVER get to go to Webs. This was great fun.

First, I'll talk about Knitty City. I'm pissed it didn't occur to me to take some pictures of it, but it's a GREAT little yarn shop on the Upper West Side that really packs a yarny punch. They have an entire wall of sock yarn, and some beautiful boutique yarns. The women working there were incredibly helpful, both with yarn suggestions and lunch recommendations (dosas down the street! Yum!) I picked up this ball of Sockina Cotton, which has a LOT less stretch than I would expect for sock yarn, but I'll give it a shot anyway because it feels wonderful and I love the colors



And my first ever skeins of Lorna's Laces:



A word on these two. First, the skein in the foreground is the colorway I really fell in love with. There was only one, however, and one makes one sock, so I chose the second colorway because it went well with the first. I think I'll stripe them.
Second, and this in no way takes away from the gorgeousness of the yarn, I bought these in the same way some people buy Prada. I became a brand whore for this yarn. :) Isn't it preeettyyyy???

Now for what I bought at Webs. I seriously planned to spend about a half hour here, maybe $50. Pshh. What a noob...

Here we have the colorway of Austermann Step that I've been searching for all my life. No one has it, but Webs, of course, came through. :)



Inspired by Ariel's near-criminal obsession with tweed and Macoco's Greta Garbo, I picked up 12 of these:



I have no idea what I'll do with them yet, but it's a-gonna be a-fabulous!

I flirted heavily with this at Knitty City, but then I saw it actually knit up at Webs, so that's where I purchased it:



It's an incredibly thin yarn, I'll knit it on size 0's, which I've never used before, and it looks like it'll stretch out a lot, so I think a ribbed-all-the-way-down pattern is the way to go. It's su-hu-hu-huper soft, though, and every time I look at it I think "Yikes! Stripes! Fruit Stripes Gum!" which makes me happy.

I also bought some fiber for spinning. I picked up some good old fashioned undyed merino, however this merino also has some silk in it, so I think I may try dyeing it in the hopes that the merino will pick up the color more than the silk will, making for a very pretty variegation:



And here's an example of the same merino/silk blend, which has already been dyed for me, in just about the most gorgeous shade of green EVER ACHIEVED. It's called "Lichen," which makes me love it even more. Unfortunately, I'm not sure my camera really picked up on how pretty it is, but at least you'll get the idea.



Finally, some merino (I love merino!) that was hand dyed by one of the lovelies at Webs:



Spinning this will be a really fun discovery, I think. :)

In addition to the above, I also bought an adorable wooly sheep measuring tape (you know the one), plus a bottle of Eucalan no-rinse delicate wash soap, flavored Lavender, plus a pair of bamboo size 1 circs.

VERY worthwhile trip to Webs. Very worthwhile indeed. :)

In some very cool family news, I have recently recruited my mother into the Knitter's Fold. I gave her instructions on how to felt a toaster pad she wanted, and she got so into it she's already finished the back of a Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Cardigan! And called me about 13 times in the last 3 days! :)