Payback

As Mom says, I have received the punishment for my evil ways. I was going to go in to work for a while this afternoon after I had lunch with Paul. But first, I decided to quickly run to JoAnn and check on their Cotton-Ease supply. As I parked my car in the very first spot, I smiled, thinking about how evil I was for going to JoAnn right before work. As I walked through the door, I heard a low rumble that sounded like it could be thunder.

It was.

After I picked out five skeins of Cotton-Ease in Popsicle Blue and a pair of purse handles, I walked to the front of the store to watch the downpour. It was like nothing I had ever seen. I wouldn't have been surprised to see animals go walking by, two by two.

After making my purchase, I dashed out to my car. By the time I ran the 20 feet from the store, I looked like I'd gone swimming with my clothes on. My hair was a rat's nest, all soaked and blown. My shirt was stuck to me. I felt like I wet my pants. And my shirt. I called work and told them I wouldn't be coming.

But I did get my Cotton-Ease.

I can't imagine what kind of evil acts the woman behind me in line was being punished for. Not only did she have to run to her car in that downpour, but she had also thought to open her sunroof to cool off her car a bit while she ran into the store. She much have done something *really* bad...because the karma police kicked her good and hard.

I hope she at least got some Cotton-Ease out of the deal.

Sick, I tell you...

Yep. I'm sick. I have a serious illness that I just can't control. Today, after a gigantic iced coffee (and, go figure, it was free ice cream day at Starbucks, so I had one of those, too), I couldn't control my car. It drove straight to the Hobby Lobby parking lot and stopped, thereby forcing me to go inside and check for clearance skeins of Cotton-Ease.

Nada.

I just realized today that there was a sweater that I wanted to make out of Cotton-Ease, so I'm just going to have to break down and head to JoAnn's tomorrow after lunch with Paul and before heading to work.

I'm sick, I tell you. Sick.

Discontinued...

At some point, I will learn that discontinued yarn is merely discontinued. It's not going to become a collector's item.

Recently, Lion Brand discontinued Cotton-Ease, a yarn that I've happily worked with before -- and that I've heard is great for a few patterns that I've wanted to try out. So last week, I went to JoAnn's to buy a few skeins. I got five. The next day, I went to Michael's to see if they had any at a bargain-basement price. No such luck.

On Saturday, one of the regulars at the store told me how she'd gone to JoAnn's (a different one) the previous weekend and had got Cotton-Ease on sale for A BUCK FIFTY! She said it had been half off the $3 clearance price. So there I went on Sunday, off to the other JoAnn's to find Cotton-Ease, which I don't actually need right now, but you never know when it'll be the perfect thing for an upcoming project, though I won't be able to use it because it's discontinued.

At the other JoAnn, I found nothing. Well, I found the yarn, but it was back up to $3. They did, however, have a color that I hadn't previously purchased. Did I buy it? No, but I agonized over it for a while. And I have every intention of checking back on Thursday, when I'll be in the neighborhood. If it's any cheaper than $3 then, you can almost guarantee that I'll buy 'em out.

All this over discontinued yarn.

Weekend with a couple of kids...

There were supposed to be a lot of kids, but it didn't quite turn out that way. Saturday was Kids' Day at the store. It was supposed to be a major event, but thanks to a number of factors (not the least of which is major construction going on in front of the store), it wasn't so much of an overwhelming success. Actually, we had three kids. But two of them got to practice their knitting, and one more learned to knit, so it was still a good thing. And we'll be trying it again next month.

We did, however, learn a valuable lesson: if you want kids to sit quietly and learn a new skill, do not provide them with Kool-Aid and all the cookies and Krispy Kreme donuts they can consume. At some point, all hell is guaranteed to break loose, and you'll have crazed children running, shrieking, and disco-ing through the store.

And yesterday my Kids' Summer Camp started. This time, I held off on the cookies, and stuck with the Kool-Aid. Much better.

On top of that, we also had our monthly Knit Night at the store last night. I brought my sock -- which happens to be the same sock I was working on at last month's meeting. And I amazed the little old ladies with my two-circular-needle technique. I'm convinced, however, that I need to learn Sallie's two-socks-on-one-circ technique. It could help me actually finish both socks.

In other knitting news, I'm still working on the shrug, though I've almost finished the back...

Knit on, Uma!

Uma Thurman just stepped up a notch in my book today. I was doing my daily reading of Page Six, when I noticed this mention of Uma knitting in public. Knit on, Uma!

Ah...a weekend off!

Last Saturday was my one Saturday off this month. Paul's brother, Ed, came for the weekend -- and we had a blast. He showed up just after I got home from work on Friday night, and we quickly picked up Chinese food and a movie. And I continued working on my sky blue boucle ponchette. On Saturday, we went to a jazz and blues festival -- and I pulled out my knitting while the guys ate smoked meat products, all the while listening to a woman cover some great old jazz tunes. We had dinner at my favorite place in the whole wide world (okay...one of them...), Mongolian Barbeque. And on Sunday, we hit the outlet mall, where I got an orange suede jacket for $30!

Talk about a great weekend! It was sad to see Ed go, but it was great to have him here. It was fun -- and relaxing. I even finished that ponchette on Saturday night. And now I've started on a shrug...

One night, Two FOs!

Believe it or not, I finished TWO projects yesterday! The shawl is for me. I've recently fallen in love with shawls, and I decided that I needed to quickly throw a nice, neutral shawl together for myself. Don't tell my boss -- I bought the yarn at Michael's. It's TLC Amore, and it was on sale for $5 a week or two ago. It took a skein and a half, and I should have enough left over for a scarf for...someone.

The scarf is a sample for the store -- and yes, the yarn really is that bright. It's GORGEOUS! It's made out of one ball of Southwest Trading Company's Bamboo Feather (10 stitches on #13s), which won't be available for another month or so yet -- but we got a sample from the rep to play with. I love it -- and I even love the color. In fact, I saw the other colors at TNNA, and none of them are nearly as fun as this one. I plan on buying a ball when it comes in -- so I can have a scarf of my own.


2 FOs! 

TNNA = Wicked cool

So the part-time job at the yarn store definitely has its perks. One of them: TNNA. Over the weekend, the National NeedleArts Association graced Columbus with its presence for its semi-annual show.

On Friday night, we went to the fashion show, where the quote of the night (credited to my boss, Jan) was: "Hey, look. There's Lily Chin stuffing her face at the chocolate fountain."

Yesterday, my two coworkers and I were set loose on the show. For eight hours. Here are a few of the highlights:

- We met Sally Melville, who's totally cool (and I got an autographed poster)

- We drank champagne while waiting for an autograph from Candi Jensen, who assured me that if I can knit, I can totally crochet the stuff in her book.

- We also met Julie and Jordana of Yarn Girls fame.

- We saw a few others, like Teva Durham, Nicky Epstein, and Melanie Falick, who was wearing the same poncho as my coworker, Barbara (who got the pattern from Melanie's Weekend Knitting).

- The highlight, however, was when Hanne Falkenberg took the jacket off her back for me to try on. I'm totally making one. I don't care how much it costs.

It was interesting to meet all those designers. They were all totally down-to-earth and chatty. There was only one person there who was especially full of herself -- despite the fact that she has no right to be -- though I won't name names.

Overall, it was exhausting, but it was a blast. And now I've got to head back to the store, where I will spend the day dreaming of the stuff I saw yesterday...

Yarn-a-rama!

Remember last week, when I said that my stash accumulation had gotten out of control -- and I needed to stop buying yarn?

Yeah, like that was going to happen...

Yesterday, Paul flew out to Chicago, for a two-day conference. So after work (the a/c was so chilly that I wore my sample capelet -- and got lots of compliments :) ), I went out on the town. First, I hit the library, where I picked up two girly movies (I watched one last night, and I'll watch the other one tonight, since Paul doesn't get in until later). Then I hit Big Lots. Mom told me that she's seen novelty yarn in their ad for $2, so I rushed over and bought $12 worth. Then, since I was on a yarn spree anyway, I headed to JoAnn, where (can you even believe it?) I didn't find anything I needed. So I went to Michael's instead. There, I found a plethora of fibrous delights (as I quietly prayed that I wouldn't see anyone I knew from the store). I found some gorgeous dusty sky blue boucle for a little poncho I wanted, and I got some Amore (on sale for $5) for a shawl.

On my way home, I called in an order for Chinese food. I picked it up, went home, gorged myself on General Tso's Chicken and crab rangoons while watching a movie and anxiously finishing a dishcloth (so I can start one of my new projects -- despite the fact that I still have a sock and a bag to finish...). It was a glorious evening, but it only proves that it's dangerous to leave me home alone. I'm almost guaranteed to buy things I shouldn't, eat things I shouldn't, and generally get in trouble.

Back to work...

After a side trip to the doctor today, I'm headed back to work. I was there all day Friday and all day Saturday, too. Fortunately, I had yesterday off (and we could explore the Arts Festival), but it wasn't nearly enough recovery time.

This week, TNNA arrives in Columbus. It means I have to work again on Friday, Saturday, and Monday (and I have to hang out with my coworkers on Sunday), but since I have connections, I get to check out the goods on Sunday. I can't wait (and I'll be sure to take pictures).

Unfortunately, however, it's made me totally burned out on knitting. I can't seem to feel like working on anything but dishcloths. I need to do something about that...

Out of control

I rewrote my knit list yesterday -- my list of stuff I want to make in the near future. I put 12 things on it -- just off the top of my head -- and it doesn't even include Christmas gifts or anything. It's just the stuff that I want to do right now. It's pretty much all stuff for me. I'm so selfish. I did, however, finish one of the things on my list last night, so there's a start...

Another thing that's out of control: my stash. Mom brought me a pile of stuff she recently bought at a garage sale. And I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought some bright blue eyelash for another furry pillow for the living room (I'm desperately trying to liven it up). As I was putting stuff away in my yarn closet, I realized just how much stuff I have. It's totally out of control. So I told myself NO MORE! No more yarn. Start knitting, and stop buying.

But I work in a yarn store. Do you really think it's possible for me to not buy yarn?

I don't think so, either.