Long, overdue post about buying too much yarn.

While I was on vacation in Santa Clara I did my best to go to a yarn shop - for the first time ever I might add - and I successfully went to 2. Bobbin's Nest and Green Planet Yarn, both of which were visited twice. The goods (because me? going to a knitting shop and not buying anything?! BAHAHA)

1. 2 skeins of Mirasol K'acha in Sunshine (it's more like a warm, buttery color). It's super soft, and super fuzzy, and super beautiful, and OH MY GAAH IT SHEDS MORE THAN A GOLDEN RETRIEVER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER!!

2. 2 skeins of Stonehenge Fiber Mills Sheperd's Wool in Blue Spruce (emerald green + teal = looooooove) and uhhh... some bright cobalt blue color.. let me go check *toddles over to room and rifles for four hours in the yarn bin trying to find the one stinking skein and..* AH! It's good, plain, Blue. Seriously? Lame. Anyways, yeah, in the skein it's alright, but as soon as it hits the needles it gets sooooooft. I can only imagine how much more it softens after a wash.

3. 1 skein of Malabrigo sock in the LAST AVAILABLE SKEIN OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COLORWAY THAT EVER EXISTED, or Solis. It's variegated with blues and greens and seriously, I'd kill somebody and run around the world naked for a skein of this yarn. And I got it, I'm so happy. I wasn't even expecting to find it because the yarn shop didn't claim to carry it (which they didn't, up until a month prior) and because it's the yarn I need for Onerva and the universe usually hates me in situations like that(rants about this topic a littler later, stay tuned).

4. 2 skeins of Atlante in a pretty lavender color(technically, shade 2107, but that's no fun). It came as a kit for the zig-zag lace scarf, I can't resist kits, they're just so easy. Problem? It's 100% bamboo. What does this mean? That the yarn, despite being smooth and beautiful, is ridiculously splitty and a paaaaaaaaaaain to knit with.


So total? 7 skeins.. And quite a few new sets of needles (straights, curculars, and DPNS).


Oh, and as if I didn't buy enough yarn, lets go off on a completely unrelated rant about how my mother found a pattern at a quilting convention for a handknit tote bag out of pieces of fabric tied together. She picked hot pink, forest green, black with multi-color polka dots, and baby blue. Individually they're pretty, but together? It's relatable to clown vomit. Half-way through me knitting the giant thing, she went off and finally recovered her sanity and decided she hated the colors together(Uhhh, I could've told you that mom) and wanted to pick new colors. You'd just assume I'd rip out the ugly thing and give her the fabric back but nooo, she wants to see how it's knitted up before she cuts more fabric in case she hates the pattern. *headdesk*

~~~

A a few weeks ago I found a pattern called Onerva. It's a triangular shawl and it's beautiful. Problem? The pattern is written in Finnish, the chart is weird and also in Finnish, I've never even read a chart before, I've never knit lace or anything like lace before, and I've never knit a triangular shawl before. Oh, and I don't speak Finnish or know anyone who does speak Finnish.

Of course this will be a piece of cake.. you know, after I find some sort of something on Ravelry that will help me decode this thing. And I did! Obscuriosity KAL, and old one, but still extremely helpful. Bonus: it included new charts in English, and I like things written in English.

Case #1 of the universe helping me out.

Then I decided to go to a yarn shop and see if I could find some yarn comparable to the yarn required for the pattern. Turns out the yarn shop had just started carrying the yarn I needed.

Case #2 of the universe being cool.

Oh, and I found one single skein of the most beautiful colorway that ever existed. They had sold out of all of the skeins except for one, which was all I needed.

Case #3 of the universe handing me everything I wanted.

Oh, and I found the right sized needles, the only pair, hidden behind a bunch of needles that were too short.

Okay, 4 for 4.


So you'd think that as soon as I got home and got my hands on the pattern I would instantly start it up.. right? Maybe not. Well you see, I have a bunch of unfinished projects, and most of them are Christmas/birthday gifts that I should get started on, and well you know how these things are.. FINE, I'LL ADMIT IT, I AM THE WORLD'S BIGGEST WEENIE. Yup. I printed out the pattern, I read everything that is about Onerva, I've looked at 46,856,235 pictures of it and I practically drooled all over my keyboard. Thing is, I've never done this before, and I'm a little intimidated.

Why the heck should I be scared of a shawl. What's the worst that will happen? It won't work out and I'll have to frog the entire thing? Seriously, it's not going to eat me, no one will throw eggs at me if I mess up, it won't kill anyone, I can pretend like it never happened. And hey, you know, I might even be able to do it right and have it look just as fantastically as everyone else's. You never know.

I will knit this damn shawl because I AM BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN YOU ONERVA, YOU HEAR ME? I CAN FROG YOU AND SEND YOU TO THE BACK OF THE CLOSET JUST LIKE SERPENTINA, GOT IT! I AM THE MASTER, I AM KING! (Or er.. you know, queen.)

~~~

No finished objects, just a few WIPs. (I got some serious staritis this week, it was the yarn fumes.)


Oh, and as an added note, my yarn stash is growing at an alarming rate. It's overflowing the 3 available yarn bins I have for it. As of now, I'm on a yarn diet. WOOT!