I'm A Sheep Of My Word

Of course, this is assuming that some of those words are along the lines of:  "kinda," "sort of," "maybe", "if I remember" or "when I feel like it."  I think it's important to clarify these things when promoting myself and my many virtues.

When last we left our intrepid, yarn-loving Sheep, she was in possession of a fat gift certificate from Mommy and Daddy Sheep to a local yarn store and not afraid to use it.  Upon finishing her grueling, three day work week, she had but one thought:  

I needs me some yarn. 

OK.  I actually had two thoughts, the first being, "I needs me a frozen pepperoni pizza."  But I have that same thought on most days so it really doesn't count.  Frozen pepperoni pizza thoughts are really more along the lines of an autonomic function at this point given their regularity.  

Meanwhile, Friday was upon me, I had this gift certificate and a well-thought-out plan for its use.  The rules were simple and clear.  I put a great deal of brain work into this over the holiday break from school and felt that I was ready to put my plan into action.  My thoughts on the matter were these:

1.  Purchase smaller amounts of yarns with which I've never knit.  Specifically, look for Malabrigo and Noro.  I am tired of hiding my virginal status with regard to these yarns.

2.  Given the gloomy nature of the past holiday season, I shall endeavor to purchase the brightest and happiest colors possible.  Nothing in the browns or blacks...we're going for those colors that don't normally come home with me!  Let's bring back the light!!

3.  We fully accept that we are going to exceed the amount of the gift certificate.  But, if we can keep it to somewhere between ten and twenty dollars out-of-pocket, then we'll call it good.

4.  We do not need sock yarn.  We have enough sock yarn to see us through any unforeseen sock yarn droughts.  Should there ever be some sort of Prohibition on sock yarn, we are in good shape.  Love for sock yarn does not mean that you have to own it all.  Don't buy sock yarn.  (Let's face it.  We are going to be buying sock yarn at SPA next month anyway...)

That's it.  Those were the parameters.  Easy-Peasy!  There were a few issues getting out of the school building since I am the only one who is taking my arrangement with the administration that allows for leaving earlier on Friday with any seriousness, but these things happen.  And it's not like the average 5th grader is just dying to adjust his behavior in order to make it possible for me to leave.  Even with this little obstacle in place, I made it to The Promised Land, aka The Yarn Sellar, with a full hour of shopping available to me before closing time.

  Let's see how I did, shall we?

The desired Malabrigo was, fortuitously, located quite close to the entrance.  As I was still in the early stages of the shopping process, it was a simple matter to remember the rules and I set aside the skeins in my usual palette for this lovely punkin-type stuff:

It's so soft, I nearly took it to bed for use as an extra pillow...

From there, I moved to the Noro Nook.  Here, things took a little turn, I fear.  Yes, I now have Noro Kureyon in my possession.

But, I found myself seduced by the soothing darker tones.  We sort of fell off the rule wagon a bit at this point.

I can't even look you in the eye when I tell you what happened next.  I blame the store.  I blame Patti for her uncanny ability to stock and display fine yarns.  I blame global warming and the Republicans.  I blame everyone.

Bearfoot sock yarn.  In my defense, there are one or two pretty bright colors in the mix there.  Work with me on this one...

By now, I was  hopelessly off track.  The rules had been utterly disregarded.  I had shed them without a thought and was mindlessly grinding them into dust all over the shop floor.  In an attempt to do something practical, if not exactly in keeping with the self-made rules, I grabbed a skein of Debbie Bliss in the exact same shade as Beth sent me a year ago.  I'd been saving that yarn for something special and thought that maybe adding another skein to it might give me a little more inspiration.  And who doesn't like Baby Alpaca Silk DK, right?  It almost made it worth breaking the "buy what you don't already have" rule.  Or would have, had I actually read the label. 

 

Doh!!!!!

That's OK.  At least it matches.  And I still think I can make the two yarns work together.  They are both amazing and whatever you knit with amazing yarn is probably going to be amazing in its finished state even if the gauge is of your own making.  Again, I ask you to work with me...

By now, I couldn't even recall having made rules around this little expedition.  Frankly, I was so very happy with my basketful of yarn that you could have stepped on my foot, pointed out a large zit on my nose and told me that the only pizza left in the frozen food section was the pineapple kind and I would have still been pretty content with my lot.  

Which is why I happily handed over my debit card to cover the $25.00 that I owed after the gift certificate was wrung dry.  You can't put a price on contentment, after all.  And, once I hit the grocery store to purchase some of that sweet, frozen pepperoni pizza, my bliss was complete.  I may not have done so well with the rules, I suppose.  But there are some who say that rules are meant to be broken.

And Sheep who simply say, "What rules?"

SA