On yarn, knitting projects and Shattered Halls
It's so hard not to buy yarn that I "could use, someday, for some project - it's so pretty!"
I made the mistake of subscribing to PurlSoho's newsletter, with goings-on, sales, new products, etc. Every so often they send me e-mails full of beautiful new yarn that I would just love to have... but, it costs money that I don't have in my yarn budget. Even if it could be knitted into something soft and useful for me/Mom/Dad/Luis/Grandma/anyone.
They had some beautiful new yarn from Blue Sky Alpacas, Skinny Cotton, and let me tell you, I was this close to buying a few skeins of it. Who could resist that color? They would have made beautiful fetchings for me, or a little sweater, or... the possibilities are endless.
I half wonder if sometimes I don't want a yarn just to have it in my stash - to look at once in a while and admire the beauty of it, the softness. Yes, I could think of all the things I could make out of it, but it's also nice just to have and look at. Kind of like that yarn from Tilli Tomas that I talked about in the last post. As the Yarn Harlot puts it, I want it for my "core stash" - to be looked at, but never touched.
I also have some yarn that I'd been saving for myself (for what, I don't exactly know, but again - it was one of those buys where it was so pretty I had to have it) that I think will be knit into a nice, light scarf for my Grandma. She had gifted me the money to buy an iPhone for Christmas after everyone pretty much bullied me out of buying it with my birthday money. (Long story - anyone remember reading that?) and even though I sent the prettiest thank you note, I don't feel like it was enough. I love this damn phone. So, what better than a nice soft scarf out of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody colorway 105, or a color I like to call Rose Garden?
Now that I've started the sock, and that it's going well, I've been going nuts lining up projects for myself. And I do feel like I'm getting ahead of myself. I had talked to my dad, and he wants me to knit my grandma in Mexico a cardigan and a scarf. To which I said, "What?!" because why would anyone in Mexico (especially where my grandma lives) want something wooly to wear? I would die if I wore a cardigan and a scarf down there. But apparently, she does get cold sometimes, and he thinks she would like them. Sure! I'll knit them. (Do I know how to knit a sweater? Not yet. But hey, hopefully it turns out ok.) Dad also says he'd like a scarf, which I think is a little... B.S. The man doesn't wear a hat in the winter, why would he wear a scarf? "I don't wear a scarf because I don't have one to wear!" Sure. I'll throw one together. In green, white and red stripes? I'll try. (I really think I'll cop out of that though - finding appropriately colored yarn to match the Mexican flag isn't easy.) I bullied Luis into choosing colorways he liked for a pair of socks and a hat (probably neither of which will be worn, but as I told him, "It's the thought that counts, so choose a damn color.")
I haven't yet knitted anything for myself yet - in large part because the things that I want for myself require more skill than I think I have at the moment, or I don't think that the pattern will fit me. So... I'm hanging back a little. Although I do have my eyes on Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Oregon Red Clover Honey, possibly to be knitted into some Pembrokeshire socks for me.
It's just too bad I don't have anyone to talk to about all this knitting stuff - not just someone that could help me when I have questions or problems, but someone who wants to hear about it and actually has an interest. There have been times when I've been proud enough of what I was doing that I wanted to share my triumph ("The cables worked!" - "This looks like it's supposed to!" - "I'm knitting a sock that looks like a sock!") or just acknowledge my progress. My first impulse is to show my mom, but I can't, since she's in Colorado. She would be the first person to care - she's crafty, she can appreciate the work I'm doing. The other "motherly figure" (and I use that term loosely as it applies to our relationship) is Tyler's mother, but she could care less, since I've tried other times to show her. I get a cursory look and some lame comment, and I'd rather not share at all than have that. Tyler himself is subjected to my sharing of yarn and wool, and he does look (sometimes - if the game is up, I might not get him to look) but he'll always listen and be encouraging and care. I need a knitting buddy so he doesn't bombarded by all this.
But enough knitterly chatter - I would like to take a moment to mention that right now (and since about 4 AM) it's been raining like Noah should have built his ark already. It's a good thing this house is raised, we're going to need the distance between the house and the lake that's forming outside.
The only WoW-news of note is that I am now the proud owner of a Cobalt War Talbuk. The grind wasn't as horrible as my rep grind for my kitty mount, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it might be. Either way, I got Tyler to help out with some AOE grinding and I got them before his hastily-scheduled heroic Shattered Halls run.
That was certainly an adventure - and a humbling one at that. I had just earlier that night been admiring how much mana I've managed to acquire, and then we step in that instance and all that just flew out the window. Tyler had wanted to start getting badges to get some gear, and I guess coincidentally Shattered Halls had some good boots that could drop, so he chose that as a heroic, not knowing that it's one of the hardest heroics in the game. We didn't know this until our guild leader came to help and said, "You've never run this on heroic? You're in for a treat..." Tyler had run it on normal the day before, and I hadn't ever run Shattered Halls. What a way to learn. Tyler died a lot, which I felt pretty bad about, but he was a little undergeared for the instance, and they hit pretty hard, so I was healing and healing with hardly any time for regen - and thank gawd I had made all those mana potions last week. I had never had to drink so many potions in one instance. Ever. But we made pretty good time, I guess, since one guy got to turn in whatever quest you get from the gnome. (Which we were told not to bother taking, since we wouldn't make it before the timer ran out. And if we had taken it, we could have completed it. Irony - no fun.)
Zul'Gurub is scheduled for tonight, and I'm pretty excited - I never got to run this in vanilla WoW, even though I heard so much about it from other people before the Burning Crusade came out. It will also be my first real run with the guild as a whole, so that will be a little nerve wracking, but it should be fun.
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