OVERBOARD?

There has been a discussion on the sockknitters yahoo group about LYS versus online shopping. I didn't read the opinions, it would be too much time wasted on the computer. I'm trying to cut back on computer time. The funny thing about this topic is, that I was thinking about this myself. I went to a new (to me) LYS. I didn't even know it existed until a couple of weeks ago, and it's so close to where I shop for groceries. Maybe that's a good thing, saved me some money.
As soon as I found out about them, I had to pay them a visit. The store front was very pleasing and with a smile on my face I entered. What a nice yarn shop! You can actually breathe going in there. It's not overstuffed, you have room to walk around, and still, they have everything which is liked by so many right now. They have all the good stuff. I think my heart rate went up just looking at all the goodness.
The day I was there, there was still a SALE on the sock yarn going on. You can always use more sock yarn, right? Especially since they had Trekking XXL (bottom of next picture), Trekking Pro Natura (middle of picture), and Mega Boots Stretch (always wanted to knit at least once with this one). So I deposited it at the counter and kept looking. The Lady was nice, and I told her, that I thought I'd found my new favorite LYS. There was Lana Grossa Meilenweit cotton stretch in solid colors, beautiful!

I couldn't put this Hand Maiden Sea Silk back, and had to take a second one. I thought those two would look beautiful knit together. They are hard to photograph, they are almost solid, my favorite!

And of course, nobody can resist Koigu. The colorway on the left is just gorgeous! They had a finished Clapotis in this colorway, and even though I was never fond of the Clapotis, this one was so pretty, and showed off the colors so beautifully. I couldn't decide what to take, so I bought three different ones. They just wouldn't get back into the shelves. Naturally, as soon as I was at home, I realized, that I don't knit socks with this stuff, since it's a waste of the beautiful material. But you can knit anything else, with less or no friction. But with only two skeins of each color? I have some ideas! ;o)

Now, so far it was all very pleasant. I was happy like a kid in a candy store. Now we come to the LYS versus online shopping part of this post. As the Lady was adding up my purchase, she asked me, if I wasn't going overboard with my purchase! Huh??? All the joy of this visit trained away in that instant. Do you think this was too much? The sock yarn was 20% off, and I haven't purchased yarn in a while. When I order online, I don't have to put up with the opinion of the store owner/sales person. Mostly people are happy to sell their stuff! Sigh. When I look at my haul, there's some bittersweet feeling now. Am I too sensitive?

Have to pet my Sammy some, to get my blood pressure down again. I'm so glad that my dogs and my craft stuff fit together so well. They don't destroy stuff. New things get a good sniff, and that's it. I can leave everything out and don't have to worry. Good dogs!

I've gotten my ravelry invitation a few days ago. (I'm "yarnloopie" over there.) I found it in the junk mail box, so if anybody is waiting for theirs, check your junk mail as well. It seems I've signed up sometime in May, that's what they are processing right now. I was curious about it, since so many people were so excite about it.

I haven't done much with it yet. To tell the truth, it's a great new toy to play with, and a time sucker, which I don't need right now. Posting projects will take forever. If you are prone to have startitis, be careful. There are over 89,000 projects uploaded already, and there are so many beautiful things, you'll get sucked right in. So I closed my eyes, signed out, and took a deep breath. I have to do this slowly, because I mainly want to "produce" myself, and not look what others do (well, of course I want to see it, but in small doses). ;o)

So, what am I doing right now? I have one more square to knit for my blanket! Yes, ONE! Somehow I didn't get to show you the squares, but I will wait now, until the blanket is assembled. You could see the single squares on my flickr account. The last square will not be a magic mosaic square, but a square with the letter "H" on it. I wanted to personalize the blanket, since it's for my DD Hannah. Sybille made me the design, thank you very much. That saves me a lot of time. BTW: Happy Birthday, dear Sybille!

After that it will be sewing in ends, sewing together the squares, and I'd like to knit a border as well.

Besides that, I've finished spinning, and plying some lace weight yarn. As soon as it's dry I'll take pictures. I've already chosen the next roving to be spun.

I also have to make a few more mini socks, as gifts, but have to make some "stitch markers" for the connection, I'm all out.

It's still very hot and humid here. No rain. The thunder storms passed us by. There could be some this afternoon. The pool is closed. We are in stage 1 of preserving water. Stage 1 is voluntarily. Not everybody is helping out though. But I'm thinking, what is more important to me - green lawn, a sparkling pool? - or enough drinking water down the road? Anyway, one does, what one can. Did I mention that I don't like summer much? Don't throw stones now, be nice! ;o)