i AM the kind of person who says

i EFFING TOLD YOU SO

i told you here

and

here

and

here

and

here

i told you black and blue square not only emptied the town coffers (where is all of the money we were going to get back so our taxes wouldn't rise????????? how come no one is putting up a stink about that??????????) but would DRIVE STORES OUT OF THE CENTER AND BLACK AND BLUE SQUARE ITSELF. why? the rents keep going up and up and up. the stores jack their prices and NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO SHOP THERE

sit-n-knit was the ONLY reason i was going to the center. they moved a while ago to wintonbury mall in bloomfield. there's PARKING. PLENTY OF PARKING AND GUESS WHAT? it's FREE FREE FREE (on that note, when i went to northampton last month, their parking is quite reasonable. there are no meters at the parking spots. there's a little machine thing that spits out tickets. you put in a certain amout of money and it gives you a ticket with a time on it. you place that ticket on your windshield. how much is it to park in northampton you ask. IT'S FIFTEEN CENTS AN HOUR. yes, you read that correctly IT'S FIFTEEN CENTS AN HOUR. can you imagine that in west hartford??????)

but my peeps i digress. what i wanted to tell y'all was

and like an id-jit i didn't ask if i could name names so i won't

but i digress once again

a store that has been an institution in the center is MOVING. they've found another place in west hartford at far far far less rent. and what else do i have to tell you my peeps? well at least ONE store IN BLACK AND BLUE SQUARE is moving out. yup - has it even been a year? they're going at the end of 2008. there is a very good chance another store is going as well, however i cannot confirm that one.

that's only the ones i know about. i'm sure i don't know about the others contemplating MOVING OUT OF THE CENTER THANKS TO BLACK AND BLUE

way to go west hartford!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

finally!

sit-n-knit has moved from west hartford center (yuk yuk and triple yuk) to bloomfield. i stopped by yesterday on my way home from work. the new location is HUGE AND there is plenty of FREE parking (unlike west hartford center). it's easy to get to, about 10 minutes from the old location (give or take)

so do stop by. no need to rush through the store so you can hop out to feed the parking meter. take your time. sit n knit!

a cool little story on sit-n-knit on channel 3

i missed it (it was on yesterday morning) but the video is at the link below. sit-n-knit really IS a cool place. if you're ever in the hood (a store in wethersfield and one in west hartford - with one opening in bloomfield soon) DO stop in!

Sit'N Knit In West Hartford
Owners Barbara and Richard Fabian of Sit'N Knit in West Hartford have opened their store because there was nothing like it around. With walls and walls of yarn, thousands of different colors and materials, the store can look overwhelming -- but the Fabians said that if you show up with no experience, they'll teach you how to knit for free............

rick green writes a pretty decent

column about black and blue square. of course i was wickedly opposed to black and blue (and still am). mr green mentions a couple of times people walking more. so does that mean i am NOT going to be seeing all of those GIANT SUVs all over town taking up my parking spots? i doubt that. they (the they are the hep and happenin' west hartford, avon, simsbury in the center to see and be seen types and the like) are NOT going to WALK to the center. THEY will drive their horrid gas guzzling giant monstrosities (which they don't need because they either only have one or two children or one or two children and a dog) into town, park THEN walk into a few stores. several quotes on west hartford becoming urban in the story! urban??????????????? HARDLY. it will NEVER happen.



sit-n-knit is in the center. i'll continue to go there but attempt to go FIRST thing in the morning (when i have a day off that is). i just don't want to deal



again, i did think mr green's editorial was good. hit the nail on the head a FEW times.



In A Blue Back Minute
Like It Or Not, West Hartford Is The New Urban

Rick Green
November 4, 2007
I was there at the precious moment West Hartford became a city.It might have been in the town hall auditorium Thursday night. The connected and affluent raised their blue martinis, balancing small plates of apricot-glazed corned beef and sushi, in a self-confident celebration of the opening of West Hartford's trendy tableau of shopping and public life: Blue Back Square.Or was it Friday, when I bumped into a woman walking out of that large, new home furnishings store?
"I'm lost in West Hartford," she told me enthusiastically, standing at the busy new cobblestone corner of Isham and Memorial roads. She pulled a handful of movie tickets out of her pocket and informed me she was walking off to the new cinema with her kids...............

...................Blue Back's opening is a portentous snapshot in the history of West Hartford, perhaps the most self-analyzed, self-absorbed and over-debated suburb in Connecticut...................

..........Still, as I strolled back to Blue Back to meet my wife for her lunch break, I recalled the words of Rhea M. Lettiere. She looked at the new streetscape and proclaimed, "Gone is the dignity!"................

yarns i scooped up the other day

here's what i picked up at sit-n-knit the other day (ALL on sale. well the yarns were. i got some needles and a book as well)

in the middle the noro kureyon (100% wool). the black and white is bingo mouline (100% merino). the four skeins to the left are, haco. 2 of sapphire jade and 2 of deep blue ocean (100% hadn dyed marino). the orange/grey/brown is cool wool grossa, merino big print (100% merino). the light blue is kathmando aran tweed (85% merino, 10% silk, 5% cashmire) it is SO soffffffffffffffttttttttttt. the hanks are malabrigo merino (kettle dyed 100% wool) in jewel blue and frank orhre (i LOVE this yarn. i made my log cabin baby blanket out of it) and the big puffy colored balls are action ny yarns (70% acrylic and 30% wool).

there's a yarn sale

at sit-n-knit in west harford center (i think their old wethersfield store as well) through the week.

i got mine (i'll post a picture in a day or two)

speaking of my new specks....

my eye doctor is in the center. i dreaded going BUT i did have to pick up my new glasses AND i had to stop at sit-n-knit on lasalle road. i needed a few more skeins of the BEAUTIFUL and SOFT natural focus ecologie cotton (100% pima dyed with plant dyes. the colors are subtle and gentle). i have enough for the edging, i needed three other colors for the flowers.

i'm making THIS:






















for a friend of mine (wedding shower gift). the cover version is not made out of cotton, but i wanted to use it. each flower has a crystal sewn in the center. it's lovely. you make the edging first (which is the part i'm working on). then the individual flowers. they get sewn onto the edging (which has been folded in half and sewn in an oval)





i digress. i wanted to go down boulevard then take a right onto woodrow or four mile or whatever - then a right onto farmington ave so i wouldn't have to maneuver through the center itself. NOOOOOOOOOOO CONSTRUCTION corner of bouleavard and main. NO LIGHT four stop signs. it was UGLY. i get to the eye doctor (a sweatbomb i will say) and pick up my new specs. i'm not quite sure about them. i'm having an issue or two. i'll wear them a few days and see if i bond with them. anyway, i was going to leave my car in the doc's parking lot (shared with other bid-nez') but it was hot and i was cranky so i drove to lasalle. CONSTRUCTION farmington and lasalle. UGLY UGLY UGLY. the two GOOD parts were i found a parking spot RIGHT in front of sit-n-knit (thank the great parking spot goddess her own bad self) and of course sit-n-knit itself. i just LOVE LOVE LOVE that store! (barbara and richard got a new kitty too. her name is pearl)

anyway, i picked up a few more skeins, picked up some sock yarn (made out of corn) and a couple of other yarns i can't remember at this second. i DO have my eye on some incredible wool crepe from mountain colors. hand dyed and gorgeous. have to think about that though

anyway - I HATE WHAT THEY'RE DOING TO MY TOWN

the start of my

chevron scarf from last minute knitted gifts

tweedy cotton classic #476 (the pinkish purplish yarn)

cotton classic color #109 (the blue/green/purple)

both by tahki-stacy charles

(from sit-n-knit in west hartford center)