Field Trip

I went on a field trip today to Hill Country Weavers, a specialty yarn, knitting, weaving, etc. store on South Congress, or SoCo as it's apparently called these days. I met Barb there; I get less overwhelmed by the mountains of yarn if I have a friendly face there for support.

I'm almost finished with my first pair of socks, and I needed new yarn to take on my trip to DC. I should have lots of knitting time on the plane and in airports, so I wanted a new project. I've promised B a pair of socks, so I spent an hour this morning looking at sock patterns on line. I went into the store with the sock "recipe" I liked and asked Barb and a nice girl who worked at the store for help. The girl guided me to the appropriate yarn, and I found the correct needles all on my own. Yay me. Barb picked out beautiful yarn for her first attempt at a sweater.

After leaving Hill Country Weavers, I went to lunch with my running friend Jen. When I told her about my morning trip to the yarn store, she got a puzzled look and asked why it was necessary to all the way to South Congress to buy sock yarn. My equally puzzled response was, "Well where else would you buy it?" It hadn't occurred to her that one needed a store just for yarn. I couldn't believe she didn't already know this. I think the addiction has begun.

I'm especially convinced that I'm in trouble because I saw skeins of yarn at the store that were just beautiful, and I almost bought them even though I have no idea what I'd do with them at all. Unless I'm knitting socks or a hat, I'd have no idea what to do with just one skein of yarn. And the stuff is expensive enough that I can't afford to buy lots of skeins just in case I get a wild hair and decide to make a sweater.

I did get wool for B's socks - a beautiful, soft, and very masculine, blue merino wool. He, very wisely, approved of the yarn when I showed him. He then started asking for very specific things with his socks, and I informed him that the proper response when I finish the socks, no matter how lumpy or misshapen they may be, is "Thank you honey. I love them!"

So now I'm just itching to get on the plane so I can get started.