Kaleigh, Justine, and I needed a little bit of a break (needless to say today was a little rough...) - what's better than an escape to a craft store!

Lucky for us - the Jo-Ann's in Albany was having the official, grand-opening, "yarn cutting ceremony" for the (adorable) little Lion Brand Yarn Shop they've set up in the back!  Of course, none of us had cameras though... siiiigh....

With the first 100 people getting gifts, we headed out early - claiming spots 9, 10, and 11 in line.  Our gift bags included 2 skeins of fun fur (ehh... not our favorite but at least it's a good color...), a pattern book - Just Wraps, a Laugh With Lola cartoon book, and a GIANT reusable shopping bag (which of course we promptly filled).

Needless to say, we managed to find a few things we liked...

Walking the mile into lab in the pouring rain after oversleeping certainly didn't set me up very well for the afternoon...  I had high hopes of getting some serious work done and getting an experiment started but that was interrupted by the aftermath of the tornado that apparently swept through the MRC last night...

I guess the mysterious "they" brought in a new fridge and in the process moved all kinds of stuff around - including the flammables cabinet that is now too heavy for me to move back - and that was just the last straw.  

So I've spent the last 3 hours scrubbing, organizing, labeling, and reorganizing most of the lab and... well... frankly I'm tired and ready to call it a day!

What do ya think?

Hmm, yeah..... you're right..... still looks mostly disastrous...

But it's SOOOO much better!!!

*grumble, grumble... I KNEW I should have taken a before picture... no one will ever believe that this actually IS a huge improvement...*

Siiiiiiigh... C'est la vie....

 

I've FINALLY managed to get this finished!

It started off as a scarf using the left over yarn to match these b-e-a-utiful fingerless gloves --

(I used Plymouth Yarn's Encore Worsted Tweed, which I am absolutely in love with.  Other than adoring tweed, it's super soft and knits up beautifully with decorative stitches and patterns.)

Any-who!  Back to the improvised cowl...

I ended up with about half as much yarn and I needed to make a scarf, but there was no way I was ripping it out - just not happening!

So, I decided a few wooden toggle buttons would add a nice rustic touch to the delicate color and give me a way to transform my too-short-scarf into something adorable...  

I tried a lot of different arrangements but ended up using four toggle buttons to make two sets of (very large) cufflinks.  There was just something about an overlapping-seam situation that wasn't working for me... I love French cuffs and saw this as the perfect opportunity to give it a shot.

And? Voilà! 

I'm soooo happy with how it came out and can't wait to wear it!  And given this dreary rain, it might just be called for...