Saturday, January 05, 2008

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

20 comments:

sheep#100 said...

Ten, twenty, twenty-five - statistically insignificant.

Nice yarn.

knitmd said...

Looks as though all sorts of fibery fun is ahead for you. Since quilters own both sides of the fabric, and knitters can unvent to their hearts' content, it would seem as though sheep can break the "rules"! Have fun!

punkin said...

Beautiful choices.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, pretty yarn.

Sock yarn does not count. Everyone knows that.

Anonymous said...

Hey, you stayed within the same neighborhood as the rules.
You did some of what you said you were going to do... you got new stuff...
and the (whisper) sock (end whisper) yarn had brights, so it qualified.
right?

This is, of course, making my decision to stay OUT of the yarn store until I'd used up at least one ball of stash yarn more difficult.

Anonymous said...

I think you did great! It seems to me you had more of a guideline thing going and you met those guidelines just fine.
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/

Anonymous said...

Nice haul! Patti really is the one to blame for the rule breaking; she has too many yummy yarns to resist!

Marianne said...

A great amount of lip smacking commencing here over that punkin yarn!
I'm with you, rules? what rules...

yarnslinger said...

Oh, I just may have to get up to The Yarn Sellar and grab some Malabrigo for another Amanda hat.
The Debbie Bliss is enough to make a pair of Fetching, if that does anything for you!

Anonymous said...

Ooo, nice yarn! I'm impressed that you were able to look at and buy that much yarn in an hour. It usually takes me forever to decide what to buy. You made some great selections!

Kath said...

Okay on yarn issues I fell off the wagon a couple days ago so I've got nothing to say on those "rules"! And no matter how many people have praised the Noro I've managed to resist. But I'm very interested in trying Malabrigo so you'll have to let me know if it's as wonderful as people say.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like it was a very successful shopping trip to me!

Anonymous said...

Pretty stuff. As to rules, well, you are a big girl. You made the rules, you can change/bend/break the rules however you want.

Re: the Bearfoot. I personally am a big fan of the toes and heels and possibly a narrow band around the top knitted from contrasting yarn. You could brighten up the Bearfoot easy.

Donna Lee said...

I managed to be strong with my gift certificate as it was for a specific item. I bought everything I needed and have 11 dollars left. The saleswoman said "that's a pair of socks!". I almost agreed and then remembered the shaw I was buying yarn for. What if I RUN OUT? So, with a sigh, I put the sock yarn back and kept the 11 dollars for yarn emergencies. It's hard to be a grown up sometimes.

mehitabel said...

You did just fine...rules schmules! The GC was to make you happy. You got yarn that made you happy. Ergo, you did what you were supposed to do. The hypothetical guidelines (aka "rules") were just to encourage you to break out of your mold. Even the Cash Aran conspired to help you with that! (PS, Alpaca Silk sheds like crazy, do not knit with it anywhere near black pants or sweaters!)

Mia said...

Sometimes ya just gotta spoil yourself and I think you did a fine job! hehehe. The color of that Malabrigo is OUTSTANDING! And that's not usually my type of color either, but its gorgeous.

Can't wait to see what you knit with all that! And as for me... back to the acrylic *grin*

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

Oh my gosh! I have some serious yarn envy over that Malabrigo. Beautiful color choice!

April said...

Sheepie, fabulous choices. That Bearfoot looks especially yummy!

Knitting Linguist said...

Enjoy the malabrigo -- I just left malabrigo virginity behind myself, and I've got to say, if I could roll around in that yarn with no clothes on, I'd do it.

Ronni said...

As we say around here all the time when the grown-ups fall off a rule wagon:

They're more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.

We'll be in trouble when the kid realizes that quoting a movie character will get her off on the amusement technicality.