Errands

Around noonish I did my errands.  I thought about going earlier, I had every intention of going earlier but my I managed to find other less productive things to do...like surf the internet and drink lattes.

I got a hot tip that Wally Lambs new book, "The Hour I First Believed" was on sale at Target for 20.00!  Now notice how the link I just posted has the book on sale for $17.97!  And it's eligible for SuperSaver shipping IF you spend 25.00! I am a smart shopper, I did not fall for that deal.  

My plan:

Get gas - (before it goes over 2.00 again).  Whew, I squeeked under at 1.97.

Get coffee - Requires me to go into the store to grind it myself.  Barista's (nice but not always the most attentive).  I hand the bag of espresso beans to them and tell them "I need a grind for an espresso machine."  They chat to their coworkers and grind it for a drip machine.  Almost every time.  I think they must hear me say: "I need my espresso beans ground for a machine."  Grrrrr.  Maybe they just don't believe I have an espresso machine.

Get book - Gotta get it before the price goes up to 29.00!  And because it's 752 pages and I'm also reading "Quicksilver: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle" by Neal Stephenson, a whopping 960 pages, I need to get started for the next book club.

The day is sunny and I am on my way.  I get 3 blocks from the house and realize I haven't stopped by the Little Yarn Store the hub told me about.  It's very close to the house and right on the way to the grocery store if I go a way that I don't normally go...so I go that way.  That's how I roll...shopping?  I'm sure it's on the way. 

It's a smallish store but there are 5 ladies sitting at a table knitting.  One gets up, introduces herself as Kathy.  She asks about my knitting experience (I say beginner even tho I've been knitting for many years).  

I've knit (not purled mind you) just knitted rectangles for decades.  And I didn't knit something every decade, I just knew how to knit during some of those decades.  And I struggle thru pattern reading and more importantly cannot carry a pattern around with me and remember what row I'm on which is important if you want something to fit.  I eyeball.  Scary eh?  That is also why those 3 giant hats I knit are considering a second life as toilet seat covers.  What's next?  Toilet paper roll dolls? 

Recently I've forced myself to learn how to purl.  Painful.  Backassward knitting.  Awkward, and I have no control and no speed - you should see me flying thru a plain old knit stitch!

I learned Norwegian purl.  Convoluted but nice because the yarn is held to the back instead of the front.  But there are extra steps to it so my slow purling is even slower.

Must s p e e d   u p.   If you know me, you know speed is my middle name.  Why drive 45 when 55 is faster?

I find a pattern for Mistake Rib (groups of 4 + 3) knit 2, purl 2, purl the last single stitch).  It give me a lot of purling to do, only 2 at a time and knit stitches to speed thru.

The beginning of my scarf is loose but as I practiced purling off my thumb I finally got the tension right and I was able to purl as purls are supposed to be purled (without the thumb).  I've sped up.  Only took me about 4 inches of the length of the scarf (only 4 inches wide).  Not so bad.  But still I'm a beginner...I barely made it thru the one sock (with help) so I am not a true knitter...yet.

Kathy left me to browse the yarn.  Ohhhh, fun.  A lot of luxury yarn.  Pah-patooie, on Joannes and Michaels!  Wool, silk, soy, bamboo, cotton...nary a skein of yukky acrylic.  However, the prices are as luxurious as the yarn.  I bought some Noro Kureyon 212 yarn.  I didn't want to do it but I had to.  I'm just going to make a scarf out of it.  I can't afford to buy really nice yarn for something large.  One skein doesn't go very far. Or I suppose I could make a tube top for my daughter, because I certainly wouldn't wear a tube top!  

Kathy interupts my browsing with a question:  "Hey VO, I'm ordering pizza, would you like to sit with us knit and eat pizza with us?"

A lunch invite from strangers.  How strange.  How weird.  How fun is that?

I declined but was tickled that the people in the store were genuinely nice and want to help a beginner become a true knitter (and yes, there is the fact that I'd buy all my knitting needs at her store), but still.  

I read on their website they will give you a 10% discount if you sign up for a class and purchase your materials there.  I want to take a sock class so I could get the sock yarn there...I can get needles from Susan who has a bonanza of sock needles from her gramma.

Maybe 2009 is the year I'll become a real knitter?

Oh and yes, I got all my other stuff done!